Who are you, and what do you do?
I’m Chloé, and I’m a Lead DevOps at XXX. I contribute to the design and realization of infrastructures and systems that deliver a huge catalog of music from all kinds of artists to streaming platforms worldwide. As I have to document everything I spend a lot of time writing mails, docs, architecture documents, code… and therefore need the most comfortable and unobstrusive typing setup available.
I’m based in Paris but love to travel on my own whenever possible. I love (retro)gaming, anime, music and cats.
I’m also an occasional Open Source contributor, writer and film maker.
What hardware do you use?
Let’s talk about machines
At work: a 13” QWERTY-UK Macbook Pro resting on a Bestand desk stand with 2 27” LG UD88-W (one portrait and one landscape). At home and on the go: a 14” Lenovo T460S resting on my lap. At home when editing, either a 27” Retina 5k iMac (for grading) or my gaming rig, which is a custom-built Windows PC with a recent i7 processor and 64 GB RAM.
…and fun…
I also have a number of gaming consoles (Xbox One X, PS4 Pro, Nintendo Switch, Super NES, Megadrive/Genesis, original Xbox…) plugged either to a 48” LG TV or to a Trinitron 19” CRT TV.
At home I use an Alesis Q49 MIDI keyboard connected in USB to my workstation and in MIDI to my old-school rack. At work I use an M-Audio Keystation Mini 32 mk3
Last but not least, input devices
At work, I use nothing but my Black, Cherry MX Brown, Glow ErgoDox EZ with sculpted blank keys, tilt kit and wrist rests. It is very pleasant to use and does more than I could do with a trackpad + keyboard set.
At home I mostly use a Logitech G413 keyboard for gaming and occasionally a DIY orthogonal keyboard. For gaming and productivity, I alternate between G502 and G903 mice, and a M570 trackball.
I consider buying another ErgoDox EZ set, this time Shine and White and with gaming-oriented switches for sedentary use. I’d also love to give the Planck EZ a go for mobile use.
I type in Dvorak but use either US, US-Intl, or Hebrew-QWERTY software layouts. This is made possible by the fact that Dvorak is a permutation of the QWERTY layout. I know I can plug my keyboard anywhere on any computer with a US layout and it will just work.
And what software?
At work: OSX with iTerm, Office and a Visio VM. I access a large number of Gentoo and Debian boxes.
At home and on-the-go: Ubuntu and Debian for my creative activities, Windows for gaming and photo/video editing.
My favorite window manager is i3wm. I use Adobe Premiere Pro for editing, vim+TeX or Markdown for writing and a mix of Firefox and Chrome for web browsing.
What’s your keyboard setup like? Do you use a custom layout or custom keycaps?
The two halves of my ErgoDox EZ are spread as far from each other as made possible by the cable (which I happen to find a little short sometimes). In the middle there’s often a note book and pens for my architecture work, or a 32 keys MIDI keyboard when I need to chill and let an idea infuse.
I don’t use a mouse or trackpad except for gaming and Visio so I have a WASD-like softmouse layout to move the cursor around my 3 screens.
I love to minimize hand movement so my keyboard is the best compromise between usability and comfort without switching to a chording device like the Twiddler (which I am considering to buy for toying).
What would be your dream setup?
An armchair with one half of an ErgoDox EZ on each arm, a projector and an integrated sound system. I love to have my arms spread in order to minimize strain.