Tools

Tools

A list of tools I use.

Programming

  • python: general purpose language
    • conda/poetry/uv/pipenv/pip - package managers. prefer uv for speed/simplicity.
    • pil/pillow: image processing library
    • numpy: numerical computing library
    • pandas: xlsx/csv manipulation library
    • matplotlib: data visualization library
  • rust: faster than python.
  • bash: scripting language
  • just: very good build tool
  • postman: http requests
    • bruno is probably better, TODO use it

Text Editing

  • windsurf: bloated, use zeditor

  • cursor: bloated, use zeditor

  • vscode - bloated, only use if you absolutely need to. It's slow and used to be my favorite, but...

  • zeditor - Fast and simple text editor. Rust backend.

  • nano - command line editor

OS

i highly recommend never using windows, for many, many reasons

  • ubuntu - server OS
  • nixos - server/desktop OS
  • cachyOS - easy arch based OS, fast
  • TrueNAS CORE - freebsd based NAS OS that uses ZFS, ZFS is superior for use as a NAS for many reasons

Hardware

I run various cheap laptops and a few HEPC (High-End Personal Computer) setups. Only Linux, except for a Windows computer I use for piano playing.

  • https://pcpartpicker.com/user/henryfbp/saved/

AI

My current AI stack is here. I used to use ollama but it has issues with ROCm drivers on AMD GPUs.

https://github.com/meltingscales/cachyos-whitedragon-ai-lab

Current working stack:

  • llama.cpp: text generation backend (works with ROCm)
  • openwebui: frontend for LLM interaction (TBD)
  • comfyui: image/video/audio generation (TBD)
  • stablediffusion: image generation (TBD)

Corpo AI for coding

  • claude: You can use this, but you can also self-host local AI and use CLI tools like:
    • aider: OSS claude cli clone
    • etc...TODO: Add more coding agents here from testing.

The basic pattern to locally host is just to run llama.cpp (or ollama if you have NVIDIA GPUs) on a powerful PC, set up a VPN with tailscale, and then connect to the LLM endpoint with your less powerful computer via a coding agent like aider or a frontend like openwebui.

Local AI models

These models were intended for ollama but can be converted for llama.cpp. I plan on running my own benchmarks on each.

  • llama3.2:3b
    • TODO: Test.
  • yuiseki/devstral-small-2507:24b
    • TODO: Test.
  • hf.co/bartowski/Qwen2.5-Coder-14B-Instruct-abliterated-GGUF:Q4_K_S
    • TODO: Test.
  • hf.co/mlabonne/gemma-3-27b-it-abliterated-GGUF:Q4_K_M
    • TODO: Test.

Anti AI/Anti Slop

  • https://zadzmo.org/code/nepenthes/
    • Markov chain babble generator. Waste the time/CPU of scrapers.

Infra

  • docker: containerization platform
  • kubernetes: container orchestration
  • grafana: monitoring visualization
  • prometheus: monitoring metrics/backend

Backup

  • dd - data duplicator/data destroyer

Media

  • yt-dlp: youtube downloader, before youtube killed it with session cookie enforcement.
  • transmission: torrent client
  • jellyfin: media server
  • immich: self hosted google photos clone
  • romm: emulation ROM/retro game database
  • seanime: anime media server
    • extensions: TODO
  • gallery-dl: image downloader

Other

  • handy.computer - offline text transcription
  • sshx.io - share terminal (dangerous)

Hacking links

  • https://book.hacktricks.xyz/welcome/readme
  • https://www.revshells.com/
  • https://eclypsium.com/
  • https://ddosecrets.com/wiki/Distributed_Denial_of_Secrets
  • https://news.ycombinator.com/
  • https://www.darkreading.com/application-security
  • https://www.sans.org/newsletters/ouch/
  • https://www.databreachtoday.com/
  • https://medium.com/vmacwrites/tools-to-visualize-your-terraform-plan-d421c6255f9f
  • https://www.scaledagileframework.com/implementation-roadmap/
  • https://www.cia.gov/static/5c875f3ec660e092cf893f60b4a288df/SimpleSabotage.pdf
  • https://www.privacytools.io/
  • https://blog.openalgo.in/algorithmic-trading-roadmap-2025-from-curious-coder-to-confident-execution-0662572a7838
  • https://www.lesswrong.com/