Computer Customization

8/20/2019 Computer Customization

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Customization

Tips and Hacks for Everyday Life

Computer Programmers

What are some cool ways programmers customize

their laptops?16 Answers

Alex Weber, Incorrigible tinkerer, electronics repairer, aesthete

26.6k Views • Upvoted byStan Hanks, building "the Internet" since 1981, now building web-scale

companiesIn regards to customizing the exterior of your laptop…

Apply A Decal

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Sure, many folks have a MacBook Air, but mine is more geometrically satisfying I like tothink of it as a !riangleBook

If you"ve got money to burn, consider this MacBook customization #hich highlights

$ord%ress&


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As per customizing the inside…

+ther commenters on this thread have offered excellent suggestions about setting up

scripts, installing alternate +S, etc

I"d like to highlight a fe# specifics&

System Monitoring I love iStat Menus for this

Browser Plugins (veryone #ill have their favorites, but I"ll list a couple of mine, for

hrome&

https://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/https://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/


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- uBlock +rigin . block ads and trackers

/ *!!%S (very#here . enforce encrypted communication

0 Momentum . prevent some distraction #hen opening a ne# tab

1 2ast%ass . store pass#ords and personal information3 !ampermonkey . enable user modification of #ebsite functionality

*ope this helps4

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Ambroise Dhenain, AKA "Vadorequest" - Developper, software engineer, web lover, geek,gamer.

9.2k Views

I never customized the exterior of any of my laptops About #hat"s inside though, it"s a real

hand.made customized +S I mostly use $indo#s, but also 5buntu

Before to explain in details #hat are the +S customization, I"ll give a fe# tips about #hat can

be done #ith components6hard#are I use this computer& !oshiba 7osmio 89:.A.-0

• 5se a 5SB hub, especially useful to plug my remote mouse and hard.drives

;onsider plug.in hard.drive directly in the computer ports for faster #rite though, but

#hen it"s


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• I7 ;or good I3= processor or similar So useful to compile and install packages

fast, even for a #eb developper ;compiling offeeScript or !ypeScript or installing

packages through npm, bower or alike takes time, much more time #ith a I0, believe

me= ust time saver, #ith a SS' it"s a fe# seconds a#ay from a completed boot from

scratch

• I use a remote mouse designed to help #ith the right.hand position, #hich helps

#hen you use your computer for hours every single day *ere is the one I use ;french

description= S2 . Souris optiCue !M-095

• !he total storage of my computer is / D -!o *'' > /3@o SS' I


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And my presentation screen is a soft one #ithout shortcuts or only those useful for the

presentation, I use it #hen I must sho# something to people through meeting or stuff like

that I prefer to have a clean and soft background #hen I do that

!o achieve this, I use ?irtual desktops for $indo#s #hich is really great even though it #as

hard at first to configure different icons for config ;shortcuts and so on=, but configuring a

different background for each screen #as kinda easy !here is no latency nor bugs, it


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Jou can add the components you #ant, but once again, it takes time to read, find and

configure #hat you #ant, but you"ll definitely have a uniCue desktop after that &=

Eote t

;more=

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Gerry Kavanagh

17k Views • Upvoted by Stan Hanks, building "the Internet" since 1981, now building web-scale

companies

I don"t kno# if it"s all that cool, but I replaced the stock spinning drive #ith an SS',

andreplaced the '?' drive #ith a caddy into #hich I placed the original spinning drive, so I

have 93:@B of "slo#" storage #here stuff like media and things I am not directly #orking on

live and /3@B of "fast" storage #here the +S and most applications live

It runs Arch 2inux, #hich I like because it is so fast and small !he full install, including all

appplications and #indo#ing environment is about /3@B . and thats after about -F months

of usage Also, the Arch #iki is probably the best source of documentation any#here on the

Internet

I use zsh as a shell, and urxvt as a console I use )irefox #ith ?imperator as a bro#ser and

mutt for email I use hl#m as my #indo# manager All of these lend themselves to

keyboard.only interaction, #hich makes things much faster as I don"t need to keep reaching

for a mouse6touchpad

I have zsh configured to be "git a#are" using Kim !his means that the prompt #ill tell me if I

am in a repo that needs an add or commit #ithout having to do continual "git status" I have

multiple versions of things like %ython installed and use tools like virtualenv and some

custom scripts to make everything ust $ork

I have a pretty comprehensive ?im configuration #hich could probably do #ith some

tidying up, but it #orks #ell for me and is pretty fast to use It also has custom keystroke

help for #hen I have a senior moment and forget #hat key I assigned to "sho# #hitespace"

I also have "portable" 2inux configuration courtesy of github and


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I have a udev rule #hich #hen it recognises my backup drive being plugged in,

automatically mounts it and rsyncs a bunch of important stuff

I use B!)S as a volume manager6filesystem, #hich gives fast, immediately accessible

point.in.time snapshots

Most of the customisation I have done is to make an already pretty fast laptop faster, and to

enable me to


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Basit Saeed, Professional web developer, passionate mobile developer; love open source.

6.7k Views

I like customizing the physical aspects of my laptop I am an avid Android fan and I develop

Android apps as #ell, so I have Cuite a collection of Android collectibles including their

stickers Jou can see one Android developer sticker on the MacBook %ro along #ith a sticker

of git logo ;because #hich developer doesn"t love gitL=

I actually ordered a couple of stickers a fe# days ago, one #ith a @ of @oogle and a +pen

Source logo to stick to the device

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Andrew Greimann, author of the Poem project


companies

!his Cuestion is a fun one4 &= !he real first thing, of course, is to put a proper flavor of

@nu62inux ;ie Slack#are, 'ebian, @entoo= or a DBS' on it ;although my main Mac runs

+S 8= !he second is to pop more memory in ;in scenarios #here its not soldered=, and to

optimize the cooling system so that it doesn"t overheat #hen you throttle it up #ith kvm,

xen, or that big pro


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But any#ay, there"s my input on this because I


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Gilles Castel, I write in js and python

4.3k Views

I"m going to talk about the inside !his is ho# it looks&

I use the Arc theme #ith Eumix icons, &sh shell ;+h My Ksh #ith the agnoster theme= in a

transparent terminal

+h My Ksh can come in very handy #hen #orking #ith git repositories&

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I have very good synta' completion ;gifs= and I have synta' highlighting too


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I"ve also installed

thefuck

!his is a program that tries to correct your commands $hen I press

esc esc

, the program suggest a corrected command )or example ;screenshot= I typed

1. touch /test/blah/blah/test.py

$hich didn"t #ork !hen I pressed

esc esc enter

Eo# it suggests to make the directory and touch the file !he problem no# is that I don"t

have the permissions I press

esc esc enter

again, and it suggests to use

sudo


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I have also some handy aliases&

1. alias ytmp3='youtube-dl --extract-audo --audo-!ualty " --audo-#ormat

mp3 ' # works for playlists too

$. alias update='sudo apt-%et update'

3. alias up%rade='sudo apt-%et up%rade'

&. alias aptnstall='sudo apt-%et nstall -y'

. alias ..='cd ..'

(. alias ...='cd ../../../'

). alias *!='ext' # vim user :)

+. ...

(mu' is an a#esome terminal multiplexer #hich I use a lot

+ther things that make my life better&

• 2ike a lot of other programmers use flux, I use edshift to reduce eye strain

• %rintscreen invokes shutter #hich saves the screenshot in a folder and puts it

on my clipboard

• trl.%rintscreen invokes a script that records a gi) from my desktop

• ?ariety sho#s me a new desktop wallpaper e*ery day It tries to fit my

taste

• I mapped extra mouse buttons to switch between *irtual desktops

• hrome extensions&

o 5ser agent s#itcher ;!hanks %aul +laru= for s#itching to I( -: to get

back the old editor on 7uora

o Stylebot

o ?imium for vim shortcuts to na*igate the web at light speed

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o Ee# tab redirect

o Block list from @oogle

I #rote my o#n ne# tab page, that lets me open #ebpages in a fe# keystrokes Cdfytc sho#s

me the follo#ing and opens 7uora, 'rive, )acebook, Jou!ube, !#itter and odepen a fe#

milliseconds after I pressed the keys

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Rok Kralj23.6k Views • Upvoted byStan Hanks, building "the Internet" since 1981, now building web-scale

companies

I have done a huge amount of customization to my laptop It is a year old *% probook and

#e get along very #ell together 2et me tell you some examples&

• As a geek, I #ant the latest and greatest I have replaced *'' #ith a SS', added

the best possible processor ;core/ duo !H::= and added F @B ram

• I have replaced thermal pads #ith thermal paste and copper shims, making it

really cool

• I have sanded off all the glossy surfaces

• Most laptop screens, especially in the past came #ith a disgusting blue tint I

have used olor*ug color calibrator to correct this shortcoming

• I have a lot of stickers that remind me of the events #e have attended

together &=

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Similarly to @erry Navanagh, I updated my old MacBook #hite from /::F and gave it a ne#

life, by&

• eplacing the ' drive #ith& support > /3 *'' ;#hich I unmounted from an

(xternal *'' I had=

• eplacing the original *'' by an SS' disk

• eplacing the AM memory in order to upgrade from /@b to 1@b

• hanging the battery ;#hich #as completely dead=

• Installing a light#eight 2inux distribution ;8ubuntu=

*ere are some pictures of the process&


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Surprisingly, installing 8ubuntu turned out to be the most complex part of the process, due

to limitations in boot mechanism and 5()I system

!oday, almost 0 years after the upgrade, the laptop continues to #ork like a charm

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Sruti Srinivasa Ragavan, Can write code.

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I usually get good enough hard#are, for my needs .. often not much customization needed

there

I get a good shell 6 case Eo scratches, eh4

As for the soft#are stuff, nothing particularly cool,


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I had a %o#erbook @1 !itanium that I decorated #ith reproductions of airline stickers from

the golden age of air travel A friend made the central ring #ith the art.deco style fonts

!hen I upgraded to a -9 %o#erbook @1, I got a custom skin It"s a picture of the Sno#birds

and I took it to an airsho# and got the Sno#birds pilots to sign it 5nfortunately I don"t have

a picture of it #ith the signatures

$hen I got a ne#er MacBook %ro -9, I made another skin for it&


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Jes, I like the Sno#birds My ne#est laptop doesn"t have a skin,


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David Ecale, Computer Systems Analyst/Prgrammer with OS Experience from IBM.

UNIVAC & CRAY

220.7k Views • David is a Most Viewed Writer inComputer Programmers.

)irst, B5J !*( I@*! 2A%!+%4 Jup,


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My complete setup&

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Daniel Dvorkin


companies

Matt Mullen#eg got a custom lid for his Macbook #here they carved out the $ord%ress logo

instead of the Apple & Special $ord%ress Macbook Air

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Foo Fii

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3.2k Views

2ike many other have said I"ll start by buying the right laptop #hich should be&

Screen&

I think this is the vital part of the laptop and that it"s a life.teaching lesson that I"ve learned #hile I"ve bought different laptops&

-. At least -3" Eo #ay to #ork many hours a day in a smaller one ;at least for me=

/. )ull *' ;-HF:x-:F:= It"s vital to use I'(s like eclipse in #hich you have many frames

inside a #indo# 2o#er resolutions become annoying because you have to S+22 a lot of

;vertical an horizontally=

0. Matte Because you #ill move it and, if you are going to #ork in a laptop, eventually, one

day, you #ill #ant to #ork in a pub #ith a cold beer and you"ll realize that you can"t do it

comfortably in a glossy one

Neyboard&

Much more important than you think& they are not the same

)or example the one that is in the AS5S gaming series uses the "(nd" button as "po#er

s#itch", so you haven"t "end" button &+

In my personal point of vie# I tend to buy keyboards #ith backligth because are much more

usable #ith poor illumination

%56@%56Memory&

Something not.too.bad An actual %5 ;i0, i3, 3xxx, xxx= and a standar @%5 ;if any, a

H1:L=

After buying a laptop&

-. If it don"t have one, remove the '?'.+M ;#hich you #ill E(?( user, seriously= and

put a SS' #ith a caddy in its place to load +S and most.used applications Jou #ill save A

2+! +) time !hink that the laptop disk usually are lo#.rpm.energy.saving.*'' disks

SS' saves more energy and its much more fast

/. If you aren"t going to develop net& 2IE58 I think that its much more productive I use

ubuntu

!his points for me are M5S! from that point on as you like

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Answers that need improvementWhy?

Bob Castleman

'on"t any of you guys have a BedazzlerLWritten Thu • View Upvotes

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ROmano. COppola

-

Written 10h ago

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Paul Olaru, False certainty is worse than no certainty.

My 2inux system can have the same high resolution on both the internal and external screen

and duplicate Scaling too $ith no display damage

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Dennis J Frailey, Semi-Retired Software Engineer, specialist in management issues

!he coolest #ay is to do something on your o#n, something that you thought of yourself

that is useful to you and #asn"t copied from somebody else


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Anonymous

2aptops are not very easy to customize, but instead desktops are usually personalized #ith

2(' lights, and other sorts 2aptops might be customized #ith stickers But if you mean the

+S, programmers usually use linux, as skins can be do#nloaded or created to make it easierto use, or to make it

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