
Ask HN: What do you put on a new computer? - davidwparker
I&#x27;m getting a new computer for the first time in ~6 years. I&#x27;ve been on MBP&#x2F;OSX for the last 8 years, and before that was running dual boot Ubuntu&#x2F;Windows for 7 years.<p>I&#x27;m switching back to a Thinkpad, and I&#x27;d like to see what you all do with a new computer? Do you wipe it? Use VMs? What flavor of OS?<p>If it&#x27;s any help, my full-time job is doing Ruby on Rails &#x2F; React &#x2F; Flutter. I also play around with Aseprite (pixel art) + Krita (using a Wacom) and game dev with Godot. And (very rare) gaming, though I would like to play more...<p>Thanks for your recommendations.
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catacombs
> I'm switching back to a Thinkpad, and I'd like to see what you all do with a
> new computer? Do you wipe it? Use VMs? What flavor of OS?

I have Arch installed on my ThinkPad (a meme, I know, but I love it.) One of
the first things I install is Emacs, with all my configurations. That way I
can work on getting everything else set up on my new machine.

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codedrome
I would certainly install Ubuntu or Mint as a dual boot. It comes with plenty
of software such as LibreOffice, Firefox and Gimp which I use all the time.

I currently use Atom for coding but I'm not sure how good that is with RoR.

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croo
On windows: java dev tools(git,jdk,intellij/vscode), irfanview, notepad++ and
total commander is a must have.

On Linux: vim and my .vimrc .

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runninganyways
On windows:

\- firefix (w/ adblock plus)

\- chrome (w/ adblock plus)

\- git

\- vscode

\- visual studio community

\- desk pins (utility to keep window on top)

\- "a ruler for windows" (on screen ruler)

...and that's pretty much it. Everything else I just do when I need it.

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disposedtrolley
On a Mac, Homebrew is the first thing I install. I then pull my dotfiles repo
which has some scripts to get most of my dev tools installed.

