Leonard LinInterview
Independent technologist
Adapted from Leonard Lin's interview on Uses This, published 6 April 2018. The kit is drawn from their answers and each reason is an excerpt, lightly edited. Shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the full interview ↗
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I went through a number of esoteric portable VR workstation setups, but there are now compact (2kg/2L) VR capable laptop options like the Gigabyte AERO 14 available.
I am using an Olycam Aerofara hub (there are a lot of tradeoffs when picking one it turns out) which has gigabit ethernet, 4KP30 HDMI, 3 x USB-A 3.0, SDXC and microSD slots (that can be used simultaneously) and USB-C PD passthrough support (49W max).
For charging I use the Anker PowerPort Speed PD 5 (this is the newest version with an updated IC for better compatibility and can supply PD up to 30W).
Recently, I revisited to see if there's anything better and I am currently trying out the Road Warrior Power Strip/Adapter set which is a slightly lighter and less-volume combo.
Sometimes I travel with a bigger power bank like the RAVPower 23000mAh which offers 9-20V/4.5A output that can be useful for DC powering various gear.
I am using an unlocked iPhone X as my main mobile device (with a prepaid T-Mobile SIM card for the free global roaming, although I pick up local data SIMs if I am in a country for longer than a few days).
I listen to a lot of music, so I'll mention that while I'm traveling (or when I'm out and about anywhere, honestly) I have a pair of FitEar ToGo 334s that are my favs.
I have a variety of portable DACs but one I just picked up that I like is the Advanced Accessport, which gives a bit more power if I need to drive something beefier, but more importantly, has a Lightning charging pass-through for charging while listening.
My current favorite is the EarStudio ES100.
One last audio related piece of equipment - I carry a pair of Earasers earplugs with me just about everywhere - these are incredibly discreet and comfortable and perform almost as well as my old custom-molded Etymotic Musicians Earplugs for clarity/flat attenuation.
The most useful shooting accessory I've discovered (I carry a few, they're so useful) is the LensPen.
The past few years I've used an Ortlieb MountainX 31 backpack and have largely yet to find anything better.
It has slightly more organization than your typical drybag, and while largely a top-loader, it has a beefy transverse TIZIP Masterseal 10 zipper for slightly easier access (depending on how things are packed).
I'm using a new RMU Core Pack 35L on my current trip, which seems to be fine, although I'm still figuring all the straps and I'm a bit unsure of just how water/snowproof it really is (it'll have a bit of a trial by fire coming shortly as I head to Hokkaido next).
A couple years back while in Japan I found the best nail clippers ever, the Green Bell G-1111s.
I've since switched to an Arc'teryx Alpha SV (arguably what I should have started with anyway, considering my year-round moderate adventurism and constant travel) which seems to have worn well so far, but I plan on making full use of their warranty/repair service if I run into future issues.
Communication
Productivity
I read and write a lot, and primarily use Pocket Premium as my dumping ground/TOREAD backlog.
Notes
I am also a heavy Evernote user (along with the web clipper), although with over 10,000 notes, hundreds of notebooks, and a completely ineffectual search, it's practically useless to me these days for even basic information retrieval.
I've also found myself enjoying taking notes with the Apple Pencil in GoodNotes (the best fit for me of all the iPad apps I've tried) but I'm constantly on the lookout for a better note-taking solution.
Security
While I still depend on 1Password for most of my account logins, these days I am also TOTP 2FA'd and U2F hardware keyed out the wazoo.
Coding & Development
These days I find myself spending more time doing research and analysis, devops/janitorial work, poking around with hardware, or simply rat-holing into internet esoterica than doing pure development, but when I get around to it, Python is still by far my preferred programming language, and I tend to use it even when I probably shouldn't.
Along those lines, Mosh is also incredibly useful when on bad internet.
Media
Storage
Other
While I've been using Linux for over 20 years now, on the desktop side, although I'd occasionally dip my toes back in, it had always been easier and more productive for me to use Macs since OS X was introduced.
The tides started turning for me a few years back as first I started having more and more problems with a fleet of production Macss that I used for Lensley (we eventually switched almost all of these to tiny PCs running Ubuntu LTS).
After an abortive attempt to use Ubuntu, I ended building again from the ground up with Arch Linux (yak-shaving for over a month fixing broken things in the evenings while touring through New Zealand in a minivan camper).
I strongly prefer dark color schemes these days and I've largely standardized around Base16 Ocean.