Nice Setup

Via John Cook, I have run across an article that may well be unique on the Internet: a "my setup" post that goes straight to the point of why the author made the choices he made, and skips the all-too-common self-congratulations and [fill in a favorite brand of hardware/operating system/vendor] evangelism.

Cook pretty well sums up what makes the article so useful and interesting:

[T]he best part of the article was the criteria, not the solutions. It's not that I disapprove of his choices, but I appreciate more his explanation of the rationale behind his choices. I don't expect anybody is going to read the article and say "That's it! I'm going to copy that setup." I gather that in at least one detail, his choice of version control system, Vivek [Haldar] wouldn't even copy his own setup if he were to start over. But people will get ideas to consider in their own circumstances.

The article is worth a read whether you find that you're on the same page as Haldar about some of his points, or haven't thought about or had to worry much about others. You'll at least consider whether you've addressed the issues he raises adequately for your own purposes and, if you find that you haven't, you'll leave with at least one concrete solution to consider. In that vein, for example, I'll revisit his suggestions for avoiding RSI if my own strategy of keeping my keyboard (or netbook) on my lap and alternating my limited mouse use between hands ever proves inadequate.

-- CAV