I consider that a good workflow with the correct tools are essential to be productive. Who doesn't want to be comfortable and efficient? When I was in college, I was always looking to help my classmates with tools I found useful. I think that can be impactful for them, so I decided to share them here.
Installed in my Thinkpad T470 and desktop computer. I switched to Arch Linux because I can better manage the configurations and share them between machines. My window manager is Sway , so now I'm in the fields of Wayland.
For years I used bash, but I decided to switch to zsh due to its better plugin support.
My swiss army knife. I use it for everything since my first year of college.
Finally replaced the Rust-based nice terminal with another nice terminal, but written in C.
I use it because of my JetBrains free license for students.
Chosen for simplicity and no privacy concerns. I prefer avoiding Mozilla's trend of bloating the browser with AI features, like everyone else in software these days.
Running apolo13x/Qwen3.5-27B-NVFP4. Useful for code generation and code explanation. However, I don't rely on it entirely because I'm not a vibe-coder. I prefer to "operate" it and understand the solution before using it, avoiding the "copy-paste" mentality that can be harmful for learning and understanding the code.
Since I use it for daily notes, my mind is more focused and I can remember things better. The decision to stay away from digital tools for this purpose is because of the distraction they can cause.
Don't look me in the eyes, I know it's not physical as the notebooks, but it's extremely useful for managing events and tasks. I use it in Neovim thanks to nvim-orgmode, and thanks to it a message is always sent to my family and friends on the day of their birthday.
Using it as my wallet too. I write down ideas, to-do lists, and other things I want to remember or to transfer to another notebook later. Thanks to its size, I can carry it everywhere and never forget what I should do or what I want to do.
My resume, books, papers, orgfiles, and other important files are synced between my devices. I don't want to rely on third-party services for this. Adding a VPN to the mix, I can access my files from anywhere without worrying about privacy or security.
Jose Esparza | 2026