Valhalla Island

Not famous enough to be featured on The Setup at Waferbaby, here’s the hardware and software I use to get the job done. That is, making websites.

Hardware

My primary computer is a black 24″ iMac with 4GB of RAM and a 20″ Dell Ultrasharp screen in portrait orientation beside it. I use a fantastic wireless Apple keyboard and a Logitech MX Revolution mouse. I used a Wacom Bamboo for about a year until I dropped the pen and it stopped working. I’ve switched back to the mouse because using a tablet with big screens and especially dual screens requires a much bigger, much more expensive tablet to be practical.

My second computer is a maxed out 12″ PowerBook G4. It’s not powerful but it’s portable and perfect as a supplement to a quite powerful desktop.

I listen to music with a pair of Sennheiser HD595 headphones that I run through a Behringer MA400 headphone amplifier. I very much doubt it’s worth it. I can barely afford my iPhone 3G.

Software

The huge majority of my day is spent between TextMate, Safari and Terminal.app for interacting with Git. I use Things religiously for managing my tasks — 588 completed tasks since July last year. I use Apple’s iCal, iTunes, iPhoto and Mail. YoJimbo is a filing cabinet for my brain. NetNewsWire reads my feeds, I use MarsEdit to publish to this blog and Transmit to transfer files.

On the server side github manages my code repositories, Basecamp does projects and collaboration, Blinksale handles my invoicing, Flickr presents my photos, WordPress runs this blog and Mint makes sure I know just how few people visit this website.

My Ultimate Setup?

I spend a lot of time trying new tools and systems, trying to find what’s ideal within my constraints. I have no trouble scrapping something that works for something that has the potential to work better. Currently I’m pretty happy with my setup. I don’t know whether a 30″ display or two would be better or just too big, I’d love to try.

The few things I would like are accessories. I’d love a pair of Audioengine A5N speakers or KRK Rockits so I could get the same quality I do out of my headphones without the headphones. A more comfortable chair, maybe an Aeron, would be nice. And a height adjustable desk, something that’d allow me to alternate between standing and sitting during the day.