My physical and virtual workspace

Trying to explain my physical and virtual workspace is a bit like opening a drawer full of cables: I know there is some kind of logic in there, but explaining it to another human being requires courage, coffee, and possibly a small ritual.

Still, let’s try.

The main setup: the mothership

My main work machine runs Windows. It is not technically a server. It is “just” a workstation. In practice, though, it is the kind of computer that looks at a heavy workload and says, “That’s cute.”

The setup looks roughly like this:

• Motherboard: ASRock
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X, with 16 cores and 32 threads
• Memory: 192 GB of DDR5 RAM
• GPU: NVIDIA RTX 5090
• Storage: more than 60 TB of hard drives

I use this machine to run local processes that need serious resources: experiments, automation, heavy workloads, and local LLMs. Again, it is not a server. It just behaves suspiciously like one when nobody is looking.

The portable machine: because sometimes the monster has to leave the house

My portable machine is an Avell Storm 570 TI, with:

• GPU: RTX 5070 Ti
• Storage: 4 TB NVMe
• Memory: 96 GB DDR5 RAM

It is still technically a laptop, as long as we agree that “portable” means “possible to carry” and not necessarily “light enough to casually toss into a backpack without rethinking your life choices.”

I also have servers and a secondary machine, but let’s pretend I have self-control and not open that chapter right now.

Operating systems: Windows in the cockpit, Debian in the engine room

My main desktop runs Windows, because that is where a lot of my daily tools behave the way I need them to behave.

When it comes to Linux, I keep it simple: Debian without a desktop environment, shell only. No decorations, no friendly animations, no graphical environment trying to make eye contact. Just terminal, silence, and consequences.

Code, writing, and notes

For coding, I still use the classic and unavoidable Visual Studio Code. It has been with me for years and, like any tool you use constantly, it has basically become an extra limb.

Every now and then, especially in Unix environments, I use Vim, because sometimes you just need to edit a file in the terminal and escape from it feeling like you passed a tiny spiritual exam.

For notes, ideas, and personal knowledge management, I use:

• Obsidian as my digital garden
• Notion when a note needs databases, relations, tables, or anything that starts as “just a simple note” and somehow becomes a private ERP for thoughts

For writing, I rotate between:

• Microsoft Office 365
• LibreOffice on Unix
• Calmly Writer
• iA Writer

So yes, I have enough writing tools to draft a novel, a thesis, three manifestos, and still open a plain text editor because “this is just a quick note.”

Notepad++: the loyal sidekick

For quick notes and fast code edits, I use Notepad++.

It is basically my inseparable companion. It is not glamorous. It does not try to become a futuristic AI-powered IDE with rockets, widgets, and a sidebar that wants to manage my feelings. It opens fast, works well, and does not betray me. In software terms, that is almost true love.

Browser, terminal, and files

My main browser is Vivaldi, because I like having control over tabs, workflows, and tiny browsing obsessions that normal browsers tend to treat as character flaws.

For remote terminals and connections, I use Termius. That is where a lot of the serious conversations with remote machines happen.

For file management, I use Directory Opus. The default Windows Explorer is fine, sure, but sometimes it feels like it was designed by someone who never had to deal with a truly unreasonable number of files.

And yes, I still use the classic calculators on Windows and Linux. Sometimes the most reliable piece of technology is the one that just adds, subtracts, and does not try to sync anything to the cloud.

Communication

For email, I use Thunderbird. Yes, email still exists. Yes, I use an email client. Yes, I know this says something about me.

For real-time communication, I use:

• Quassel IRC, with core and client
• WhatsApp
• Telegram

So my communication stack goes from modern messaging with stickers all the way back to IRC, which is basically living internet archaeology chatting with you in plain text.

Music

For music, I use Spotify. Every setup needs a soundtrack, even if it is just to make server maintenance feel like a dramatic scene from a mid-budget cyberpunk movie.

Phone

My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. It acts as my notification hub, camera, emergency notebook, pocket-sized second brain, and the object I occasionally look for while it is already in my hand.

My favorite corners of the internet

A few sites and services are part of my daily flow, or at least show up often when I still have enough social and cognitive energy to pretend I am an organized person.

Links Expert

This is my Linkding instance, where I save links, references, and all the things I am absolutely, definitely, without question going to read later. Spoiler: sometimes I actually do.

MD Murad

My commonplace book. It is where ideas, notes, references, and mental fragments go to live before I completely forget why they seemed so important at 2 a.m.

omg.lol

A lovely, charming community, especially when I am not completely exhausted and still feel like socializing as if I were a functioning human being.

Reddit

My mandatory social network. Chaotic, useful, annoying, brilliant, absurd. Reddit is like a public library inside a street market during an electrical storm.

Inoreader

I use it to aggregate my RSS feeds. RSS is still one of the best ways to follow the internet without fully surrendering to algorithms trying to guess the shape of your soul.

The honest summary

My workspace is a mix of powerful hardware, classic tools, pragmatic software, too many notes, too many links, too many terminals, and a probably unhealthy attachment to tools that simply work.

It is not minimalist. It is not “clean.” It was not designed to look pretty in a setup photo with purple lights and a tiny plant next to the monitor.

But it is mine: physical, virtual, slightly chaotic, very functional, and perfectly tuned for switching between code, writing, research, local LLMs, reading, music, and that inevitable moment when I open Notepad++ just to paste one line of text and somehow end up reorganizing half my life.