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    <title>Giorgio Camozzi</title>
    <link>https://grgcmz.github.io/</link>
    <description>Recent content on Giorgio Camozzi</description>
    <generator>Hugo -- gohugo.io</generator>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <lastBuildDate>Sat, 20 Nov 2021 10:15:38 +0100</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://grgcmz.github.io/index.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
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      <title>My Personal Tech Setup for 2021/2022</title>
      <link>https://grgcmz.github.io/posts/personal-tech/</link>
      <pubDate>Sat, 20 Nov 2021 10:15:38 +0100</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://grgcmz.github.io/posts/personal-tech/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;I always enjoy reading about what other people use on a day to day basis. I think it&amp;rsquo;s entertaining but also interesting to see and sometimes provides a good learning opportunity. In this short article I will go into all the computers, peripherals and software I use on a daily basis and tell you my opinion about them.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h1 id=&#34;laptops&#34;&gt;
  Laptops
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#laptops&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h1&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As I am always working in different places, moving between lectures, work and coffee shops, I do not own a desktop computer. I do all of my work on a laptop (actually, many laptops because I really like switching around). Here is a list of my main machines.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id=&#34;thinkpad-t14-gen-1&#34;&gt;
  Thinkpad T14 Gen 1
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#thinkpad-t14-gen-1&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;My main machine is a &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadt/thinkpad-t14-amd-g1/22tpt14t4a2&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;Thinkpad T14 Gen 1 AMD&lt;/a&gt;
. It has 32GB of RAM, a 1TB NVMe SSD, an 8 core AMD Ryzen chip and a 1080p screen. It has all the ports you would ever need in this day and age and the battery life is good. I have never tried Windows on this laptop, so I cannot attest to how well it works with it. On Linux, I have not had any problems really. Everything, including the fingerprint reader, microphone, camera and touchpad, worked out of the box. I am currently running &lt;a href=&#34;https://getfedora.org/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;Fedora 34&lt;/a&gt;
 on it, which might just be my favorite distro I have ever used. It is smooth, stable and polished. The touchpad gestures work well, it has a great release cycle and software is usually up to date. I am really happy with it and am not really missing something (besides photo and video editing software, which I am going to come to later). The only thing I really do not like about this laptop is the touchpad. It is awful. I used to be a mac user, so I have had a taste of the fancy fancy, but I have also tried an XPS 13 running Fedora 34 and the touchpad was so much better. It is not too much of a problem for me as I usually have my mouse with me everywhere anyway, but it is still an important thing to note.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;figure&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;https://grgcmz.github.io/img/02_tech/image_1.jpg&#34;
         alt=&#34;Thinkpad T14 Gen 1, Kinesis Advantage 2 and Logitech MX Ergo&#34; width=&#34;1000&#34;/&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;
            &lt;p&gt;Thinkpad T14 Gen 1, Kinesis Advantage 2 and Logitech MX Ergo&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;/figcaption&gt;
&lt;/figure&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&#34;macbook-pro-15-inch-mid-2015&#34;&gt;
  MacBook Pro 15 inch, Mid 2015
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#macbook-pro-15-inch-mid-2015&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I used to be a Mac user before switching to Linux about two years ago. This MacBook Pro is a great machine. The hardware is top notch, it has many ports, it is quite powerful for a 2015 laptop and still works great to this day. I am running it with the latest macOS Monterey and I am a bit of a sucker for the user interface to be honest. The reason why I have this laptop is that I am also a photographer and sometimes make videos. There are options on Linux such as &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.rawtherapee.com/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;RawTherapee&lt;/a&gt;
 and &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.darktable.org/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;Darktable&lt;/a&gt;
 for photo editing, and &lt;a href=&#34;https://kdenlive.org/en/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;Kdenlive&lt;/a&gt;
 for video editing. But coming from the Adobe suite of products, it is really hard to get along with these programs. They may be great if you are used to them, but I often feel very limited when using them. For video editing, there exists &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;Davinci Resolve&lt;/a&gt;
 which also has a Linux version (horay!), but sadly, for now, it does not work on AMD discrete graphics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id=&#34;thinkpad-x230&#34;&gt;
  Thinkpad X230
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#thinkpad-x230&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;Thinkpad X230&lt;/a&gt;
 is the newest addition to my collection of laptops. I bought it used for CHF 150. It came with 8GB of RAM, which I then upgraded to 16GB, an Intel i5-3220 CPU, 128GB of SATA III SSD storage (which I will upgrade as well) and the much nicer IPS panel (rather than the TN panel). It has a swedish keyboard, which I actually find quite cool, though I have it set to a US layout. I am planning on modding this laptop to use the &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Install_Classic_Keyboard_on_xx30_Series_ThinkPads&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;X220 classic keyboard&lt;/a&gt;
 once I find an original one that does not cost as much as the laptop itself. I bought this laptop for three main reasons. The first one is the fact that it is just a really cool laptop in my opinion. The second is the fact that it is one of the few laptops that supports &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.qubes-os.org/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;Qubes OS&lt;/a&gt;
 out of the box (read the section further down for more information). The third reason is that it is one of the few laptops supported by the &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.coreboot.org/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;Coreboot&lt;/a&gt;
 project (read more about this further down). Overall, this laptop has blown me away. It is a laptop from 2012 with a dual core CPU that cost less than the USB-C dock I use for my thinkpad. Still, it handles day to day usage no problem and all the virtualization needed to run Qubes OS. I have not tried it with a normal Linux distrubution yet, but I am sure that it will handle everything like a champ.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;figure&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;https://grgcmz.github.io/img/02_tech/image_3.jpg&#34;
         alt=&#34;Corebooted Thinkpad X230 running Qubes OS and i3WM&#34; width=&#34;1000&#34;/&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;
            &lt;p&gt;Corebooted Thinkpad X230 running Qubes OS and i3WM&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;/figcaption&gt;
&lt;/figure&gt;

&lt;figure&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;https://grgcmz.github.io/img/02_tech/image_2.jpg&#34;
         alt=&#34;Closeup of the Thinkpad X230&amp;amp;rsquo;s swedish keyboard&#34; width=&#34;1000&#34;/&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;
            &lt;p&gt;Closeup of the Thinkpad X230&amp;rsquo;s swedish keyboard&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;/figcaption&gt;
&lt;/figure&gt;

&lt;h1 id=&#34;peripherals&#34;&gt;
  Peripherals
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#peripherals&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h1&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I have had some problems with RSI and other posture related pain over the past couple of years. These are some peripherals that really helped me a lot.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id=&#34;logitech-mx-ergo-mouse&#34;&gt;
  Logitech MX Ergo Mouse
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#logitech-mx-ergo-mouse&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I love &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/mice/mx-ergo-wireless-trackball-mouse.910-005178.html&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;this mouse&lt;/a&gt;
. I will never go back to using a normal mouse, ever. The Logitech Ergo is an ergonomic mouse made to help with RSI. In short, with a ordinary mouse you have to move your entire wrist and forearm to operate it. This is bad for your arm and can cause you loads of pain. With a trackball, you move the cursor by moving the ball on the mouse. There are &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/trackman-marble-mouse/apd/a2538222/pc-accessories&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;some mice&lt;/a&gt;
 that have the ball on the top of the mouse which you operate with your whole hand. The MX Ergo positions moves the trackball to the side and lets you move the cursor by rotating the ball with just your thumb. The mouse can be used in two positions: a more classic, flat position, and a tilted, more natural position (which I prefere). It is wireless but can be used with a USB receiver (which I have installed on my X230 since Qubes and bluetooth are no friends). I highly reccomend this mouse! I could not use my computer without it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id=&#34;kinesis-advantage-2&#34;&gt;
  Kinesis Advantage 2
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#kinesis-advantage-2&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&#34;https://kinesis-ergo.com/shop/advantage2/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;Kinesis Advantage 2&lt;/a&gt;
 is another ergnomic product made to improve your posture while typing. By splitting the keyboard, it enables you to keep a good posture and keep your hands shoulder width apart. It places many frequently used keys (e.g. space, enter, backspace, etc.) in two thumb clusters, enabling you to use these strong, but otherwise not very much used digits more often while typing. The keys are placed ortholinearly and the keywells are concave, enabling your fingers to lie in a more natural position and eliminating pronation. The keyboard is also programmable, so you can remap any key to whichever key you like and create macros. I use it with a modified US layout, but would like to learn dvorak in the future. This keyboard is very expensive, but if you suffer from RSI like me, it is well worth it in my opinion. There is a new version coming out at the end of 2021 called the &lt;a href=&#34;https://kinesis-ergo.com/adv360/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;Kinesis Advantage 360&lt;/a&gt;
. It is very much the same keywells, but in a truly split design and apparently even more programmable. If you can, I would wait for that one to be released as it looks like it is going to be a great product.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id=&#34;monitor&#34;&gt;
  Monitor
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#monitor&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Sadly, I do not have an external monitor as I do not have a fixed office. Whenever I can, I just use some books to raise my laptop so that I can sit more upright and keep a good posture.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h1 id=&#34;other-tech&#34;&gt;
  Other Tech
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#other-tech&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h1&gt;
&lt;h3 id=&#34;google-pixel-4a&#34;&gt;
  Google Pixel 4a
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#google-pixel-4a&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;My phone of choice is a Google Pixel 4a. I really do not like Google. I think they have too much power and are too big of a monopoly. They also do very questionable things. Sadly, their phones are the only ones supported by projects such as &lt;a href=&#34;https://calyxos.org/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;Calyx OS&lt;/a&gt;
 and &lt;a href=&#34;https://grapheneos.org/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;Graphene OS&lt;/a&gt;
, which is why I have one (read more about Calyx OS in the section below). It is a great phone overall. It&amp;rsquo;s not as expensive as many other phones nowadays, it has a great camera and is fast enough for my needs.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;figure&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;https://grgcmz.github.io/img/02_tech/image_4.jpg&#34;
         alt=&#34;Google Pixel 4a running Calyx OS&#34; width=&#34;1000&#34;/&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;
            &lt;p&gt;Google Pixel 4a running Calyx OS&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;/figcaption&gt;
&lt;/figure&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&#34;ipad-pro-2018&#34;&gt;
  iPad Pro 2018
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#ipad-pro-2018&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I bought the iPad Pro for uni a couple of years ago and it is a good piece of hardware and software. The Apple Pen work great, the battery life is good and the screen is really nice. I have been using it less and less lately though and I would like to get rid of it. It still comes in handy from time to time, especially for uni. Maybe I&amp;rsquo;ll sell it after university as I don&amp;rsquo;t like the closed nature of iPad OS.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h1 id=&#34;noteworthy-operating-systems&#34;&gt;
  Noteworthy Operating Systems
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#noteworthy-operating-systems&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h1&gt;
&lt;h3 id=&#34;fedora-34-gnome&#34;&gt;
  Fedora 34 Gnome
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#fedora-34-gnome&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://getfedora.org/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;Fedora 34&lt;/a&gt;
 is my current distro of choice and the one I would reccomend to pretty much anyone (unless you have an Nvidia GPU, then just get &lt;a href=&#34;https://pop.system76.com/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;Pop!_OS&lt;/a&gt;
). It&amp;rsquo;s super easy to use, it has good software selection, it is always up to date, it has 6 month release cycle and 13 months of support for each release. Red Hat, the company behind Fedora, seems to be doing a lot of things right in my opinion. They listen to the community, push a lot of new technologies to the Linux desktop (such as Wayland, Btrfs and Pipewire) and work with OEMs to bring Linux to the &amp;ldquo;masses&amp;rdquo;. Fedora uses Wayland as it&amp;rsquo;s default display server protocol, which is great, and it comes in many different flavors, such as Gnome, KDE and XFCE. I personally use the Gnome Desktop Environment as I think it looks good out of the box, it&amp;rsquo;s stable and requires no faffing around. It simply works and lets you work.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id=&#34;qubes-os&#34;&gt;
  Qubes OS
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#qubes-os&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://www.qubes-os.org/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;Qubes OS&lt;/a&gt;
 is a big topic which I would like to cover in a future blog post. I&amp;rsquo;ll try to keep it short for now. If you don&amp;rsquo;t know Qubes OS, it is a security focused operating system that uses compartimentalization through virtualization (that&amp;rsquo;s a mouth full!). What this basically means, is that Qubes uses many virtual machines (virtual computers running on your main OS) to separate various parts of your life. These VMs are all sandboxed environments that can be persistent (like where you store your personal or work files) or disposable (like where you would open a shady email attachment or surf the web). This makes your computer much more secure in theory, as it keeps all the parts of your life separated one from the other and a virus downloaded while browsing the web would not have access to your whole computer with your private files. There is much more to it, but I&amp;rsquo;ll leave it at that for now.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Qubes OS as it is today is not for your average computer user as it requires quite a bit of technical understanding to use as a daily machine. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to try it out in the first place. My plan is to learn bit by bit how to use it and create guides as I go that are hopefully also easy to follow for non-technical users. I think non-technical users are often the ones that would benefit the most from such an OS. Here I am thinking of activists, laywers, politicians, or other people with a stricter threat model.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Though for me this OS goes far beyond my threat model, I am really enjoying using it on a daily basis and might even switch to it full time. There is something to compartimentalizing everything. If it&amp;rsquo;s not for security reasons, it can also be to separate work and personal life and maybe remove some distractions. Weirdly enough, there is just such simplicity in, for example, having your filesystem only show you personal files when you are in your personal VM and only work files in your work VM. Watch out for future reviews and updates.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id=&#34;calyx-os&#34;&gt;
  Calyx OS
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#calyx-os&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This is one of my favorite things in the world right now. Calyx OS is a degoogled version of Android that is avialable for Google Pixel phones (which is kind of paradoxical but actually makes total sense). It maintains the security model of stock android (not improving on it like, for example, &lt;a href=&#34;https://grapheneos.org/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;Graphene OS&lt;/a&gt;
 does) but removes all/most proprietary bits that talk to google. It offers a great commandline installer that is super easy to use and gives you one click installs during the first boot to install, among other things, &lt;a href=&#34;https://microg.org/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;MicroG&lt;/a&gt;
 (alternative to Google&amp;rsquo;s GSM), Signal, Fdroid and Aurora Store. There is a Matrix chat with the developers where you can ask questions if you get stuck somewhere or have a bug or so, and is backed by a non-profit foundation called the Calyx institute. If you wish to learn more about the Calyx Institute and &lt;a href=&#34;https://calyxos.org/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;Calyx OS&lt;/a&gt;
, head over to &lt;a href=&#34;https://calyx.org/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;Calyx.org&lt;/a&gt;
 to learn more.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id=&#34;skulls&#34;&gt;
  Skulls
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#skulls&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While not an operating system in and of itself, &lt;a href=&#34;https://github.com/merge/skulls&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;Skulls&lt;/a&gt;
 enables to boot into operating systems, hence I included it into this post. Skulls makes it easier to flash coreboot onto supported thinkpad devices. There are very few devices supported, one of which is the X230. Coreboot is an opensource, minimal bootloader which also gives you the possibilty to neuter the &lt;a href=&#34;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Management_Engine&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;Intel Management Engine&lt;/a&gt;
. The Skulls project basically provides pre-built images of coreboot for specific laptop models. I have flashed my X230 with Skulls and have not had any problem whatsoever for now. If you are interested, there is a jailbreak called 1vyrain that enables Xx30 Series Thinkpads to be flashed without specialized hardware flashers (i.e. only using software), which is what I did. Find out more &lt;a href=&#34;https://github.com/n4ru/1vyrain/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;
.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id=&#34;final-words&#34;&gt;
  Final words
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#final-words&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I hope you enjoyed reading about my personal tech setup. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me via email by taking this website&amp;rsquo;s subdomain at pm dot me.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <title>About</title>
      <link>https://grgcmz.github.io/about/</link>
      <pubDate>Tue, 24 Aug 2021 19:24:00 +0200</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://grgcmz.github.io/about/</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;My name is Giorgio. I am a computer scientist from Switzerland. I am passionate about the free and open source software movement and digital privacy. I am a big fan of many things, among which are linux, photography and ergonomic keyboards (&lt;a href=&#34;https://kinesis-ergo.com/shop/advantage2/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;
 one in particular). This website is a place for me to share my thoughts, technical guides and personal projects.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <title>Securing your Online Accounts with Bitwarden</title>
      <link>https://grgcmz.github.io/posts/passwords/</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 26 May 2021 22:52:53 +0200</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://grgcmz.github.io/posts/passwords/</guid>
      <description>&lt;h1 id=&#34;securing-your-online-accounts-with-bitwarden&#34;&gt;
  Securing your Online Accounts with Bitwarden
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#securing-your-online-accounts-with-bitwarden&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h1&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The combination of username and password has long been the standard way of authenticating users when they log into a website, service, etc. This combination is what keeps our personal messages with friends and family, our emails, our pictures and all the rest that is online from being accessed by everyone. They are the gatekeepers to our online presence which is why it is so important that they are secure. We are taught many things in school, but nobody ever told us how to choose a good password and how to secure our online accounts so it is obvious that most people don&amp;rsquo;t know how to do it. This is where this guide hopefully comes in handy.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id=&#34;1st-step-get-a-password-manager&#34;&gt;
  1st Step: Get a Password Manager
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#1st-step-get-a-password-manager&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The most important thing in my opinion is to have different passwords and possibly different emails and usernames for different websites. Since nowadays it is not unusual to have dozens of online accounts, it can be very hard to keep track of all login data. Here is where Password Managers come in. These are apps that can be installed on your phone, laptop or tablet where all your passwords are stored in one place. Some of them are more bare bones and don&amp;rsquo;t do a lot more than store passwords, others offer features like random password generation, password synchronization and password sharing. I have tried different password managers, but the best one I have found up until now has been Bitwarden. This password manager is Free and Open Source, but also offers paid plans for more advanced functionality. I recommend starting with the free version, which is more than enough in the beginning. You can always upgrade later.
Bitwarden is available on Android, IOS, Mac OS, Windows and Linux. It also offers a browser extension for Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and other Chromium based browsers. If you want to know more about Bitwarden, click &lt;a href=&#34;https://bitwarden.com/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;
 to visit their website. They also regularly publish results from their Security Audits on their Blog (You can find the latest one &lt;a href=&#34;https://bitwarden.com/blog/post/bitwarden-network-security-assessment-2020/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;
. This shows the company&amp;rsquo;s interest in being as transparent as possible, which is a must if you need to put so much trust in an application.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id=&#34;2nd-step-choose-a-strong-master-password&#34;&gt;
  2nd Step: Choose a strong Master Password
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#2nd-step-choose-a-strong-master-password&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Once you have downloaded the Bitwarden App from the Google Play Store, Apple App Store, &lt;a href=&#34;https://mobileapp.bitwarden.com/fdroid/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;F-Droid&lt;/a&gt;
 or whatever store you might be using, you need to create an account. The master password in conjunction with your email address is what is needed to access your vault. The vault is where all of your passwords are stored. It goes without saying that this password needs to be extremely secure. One common misconception is that for a password to be secure it needs to be hard to remember and some weird combination of characters. This is true of your other passwords in your vault, but not for your master password. Instead of thinking of it as a pass&lt;strong&gt;word&lt;/strong&gt;, I would rather think of it as a pass&lt;strong&gt;phrase&lt;/strong&gt;. The way an attacker will crack your password is either by using a word list attack, a Brute-force attack or through Social Engineering. The latter is (possibly) mitigated by using things like 2 Factor Authentication (2FA), the former two are what a good passphrase should prevent. The longer your passphrase, the more possible combinations there exist and thus the longer it will take for a computer to crack it. What I do is I try to think of a silly but easy to remember phrase. An example could be: &amp;ldquo;&lt;em&gt;Fred Westerson walks on rotten Bananas&lt;/em&gt;&amp;rdquo;. I hope there is nobody out there called Fred Westerson, but for some reason that is what I came up with spontaneously. This passphrase should take around 10,826,447,514,211,228 centuries to crack. Pretty secure, right?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;figure&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;https://grgcmz.github.io/img/passwords/image_1.png&#34;
         alt=&#34;Image showing the creation of a new account on Bitwarden&#34; width=&#34;400&#34;/&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;
            &lt;p&gt;Image showing the creation of a new account on Bitwarden&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;/figcaption&gt;
&lt;/figure&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&#34;3rd-step-start-changing-your-passwords&#34;&gt;
  3rd Step: Start changing your passwords
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#3rd-step-start-changing-your-passwords&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This is probably the most tedious part since you need to go in and change every password from every online account you have. I suggest you do this step by step and change a password the next time you use a service.
If you had to think about a new random password for each account, you&amp;rsquo;d run out of words to use fairly quickly. This is why Bitwarden (and other password managers) have a password generation feature. Just go into the app, create a new password and click on the circular arrows next to the password box. I suggest you to use a password that has around 25 characters and that uses numbers, upper and lower case letters as well as special symbols. This way you have a very secure password, but not too long so that it is impossible to type out if you cannot copy paste it once for some reason.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;figure&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;https://grgcmz.github.io/img/passwords/image_2.png&#34;
         alt=&#34;Your Vault the first time you start the application should look something like this. Click on Add an item to add a new entry to your vault.&#34; width=&#34;400&#34;/&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;
            &lt;p&gt;Your Vault the first time you start the application should look something like this. Click on &lt;em&gt;Add an item&lt;/em&gt; to add a new entry to your vault.&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;/figcaption&gt;
&lt;/figure&gt;

&lt;figure&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;https://grgcmz.github.io/img/passwords/image_3.png&#34;
         alt=&#34;Type in the Name of the Service, your email/username you use for this account and click on the arrows to generate a new random password.&#34; width=&#34;400&#34;/&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;
            &lt;p&gt;Type in the Name of the Service, your email/username you use for this account and click on the arrows to generate a new random password.&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;/figcaption&gt;
&lt;/figure&gt;

&lt;figure&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;https://grgcmz.github.io/img/passwords/image_4.png&#34;
         alt=&#34;Toggle the types of characters you want your password to contain. I always toggle all four and set the length to 25 characters.&#34; width=&#34;400&#34;/&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;
            &lt;p&gt;Toggle the types of characters you want your password to contain. I always toggle all four and set the length to 25 characters.&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;/figcaption&gt;
&lt;/figure&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&#34;extra-tips-and-tricks&#34;&gt;
  Extra Tips and Tricks
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#extra-tips-and-tricks&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;h3 id=&#34;change-your-autofill-service&#34;&gt;
  Change your autofill service
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#change-your-autofill-service&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you want to make your life that much easier, change your default Auto fill Service to be Bitwarden. This way you get prompted to &amp;ldquo;Auto fill with Bitwarden&amp;rdquo; if you ever have to login somewhere.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h4 id=&#34;on-ios&#34;&gt;
  On IOS
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#on-ios&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h4&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Go to Settings &amp;gt; Passwords &amp;amp; Accounts &amp;gt; Autofill Passwords &amp;gt; Choose Bitwarden from the list&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;figure&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;https://grgcmz.github.io/img/passwords/image_5.png&#34;
         alt=&#34;Autofill with Bitwarden on Iphone.&#34; width=&#34;400&#34;/&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;
            &lt;p&gt;Autofill with Bitwarden on Iphone.&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;/figcaption&gt;
&lt;/figure&gt;

&lt;h4 id=&#34;on-android&#34;&gt;
  On Android
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#on-android&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h4&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Open the Bitwarden App &amp;gt; Click on Settings &amp;gt; Click on Auto-fill Service to enable it (follow the instructions) &amp;gt; go back to the settings and click on Auto-fill Accessibility Service to enable it (again follow the instructions)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id=&#34;install-the-extension-for-your-browser-on-your-laptop-or-desktop&#34;&gt;
  Install the extension for your browser on your Laptop or Desktop
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#install-the-extension-for-your-browser-on-your-laptop-or-desktop&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Do a quick DuckDuckGo Search (or Google Search if you are still using Google&amp;hellip;) for &amp;ldquo;Bitwarden Extension [Your Browser Name]&amp;rdquo; replacing the square brackets with the name of the browser you are using and install the extension. Please make sure that the extension is the original from the original developers (you can also tell that if it has like 50 downloads, it&amp;rsquo;s probably going to be fake) since that would really suck if you typed in your master password and Email in a fake version of the app.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id=&#34;enable-biometrics&#34;&gt;
  Enable Biometrics
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#enable-biometrics&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This is totally up to you. If you want to have a bit of an easier time, go to settings and turn on &amp;ldquo;Unlock with Biometrics&amp;rdquo; to use FaceID or your Fingerprint to unlock your vault. Be aware though, that this is going to make your Vault less secure if someone where to get his hands on your phone. You need to judge for yourself, if this is a worthwhile risk you want to accept. In my opinion, if you are not a high profile person that might be directly targeted (like maybe a Journalist, Lawyer, etc.) and forced to unlock your phone and password manager, you will be fine with this option turned on. But don&amp;rsquo;t quote me on that :wink:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id=&#34;for-the-nerds-and-techies-self-hosting&#34;&gt;
  For the Nerds and Techies: Self Hosting
  &lt;a class=&#34;heading-link&#34; href=&#34;#for-the-nerds-and-techies-self-hosting&#34;&gt;
    &lt;i class=&#34;fa fa-link&#34; aria-hidden=&#34;true&#34; title=&#34;Link to heading&#34;&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
    &lt;span class=&#34;sr-only&#34;&gt;Link to heading&lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Bitwarden can also be self hosted on a server of your choosing. Go &lt;a href=&#34;https://bitwarden.com/help/article/install-on-premise/&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noreferrer noopener&#34;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;
 to find instructions on self hosting your own instance of Bitwarden.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
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