Tools
Desktop
Emacs
The editor to end all editors. Or the OS in need of a good editor, depending who you ask.
Editing modes for every language, markup, conf file out there.
org-mode
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJTwQvgfgMM
TODO lists, GTD, hierarchical notes, et al.
Improved puppet-mode
https://github.com/ilikejam/puppet-syntax-emacs/commit/133afcd48f4e7188561981072c19c57644c1eb0d
Now apparently superseded by a different module, but if you like the original Puppetlabs mode there might be some nice changes in my patch branch
rainbow-delimiters
https://github.com/Fanael/rainbow-delimiters
Subtle colour hints for brackets etc.
Config
https://github.com/ilikejam/Environment/blob/master/OSX.emacs
Shell
iTerm2 (OSX)
The default terminal app on OSX is Just Fine, but there's no way to make text selections automatically go to the main clipboard, so that sucks.
iTerm2 can, and is better.
urxvt (Linux, Windows)
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Rxvt-unicode
Fast, unicode and TT font support, resizing works, most of the time
bash
https://github.com/git/git/blob/master/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash
https://github.com/ilikejam/git/blob/master/contrib/completion/git-prompt.sh
fonts
Only one font is acceptable in a shell, and that font is misc-fixed. No antialiasing, at 6x13.
https://monkey.org/~marius/beautiful-fixed-width-fonts-for-osx.html
csshi
Open ssh connections to multiple hosts in one iTerm2 window and type in all of the shells at the same time. Dangerous, but very useful.
https://github.com/ilikejam/csshi
Utils
Karabiner (OSX)
https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/
Keyboard remapping.
SensibleSideButtons (OSX)
https://sensible-side-buttons.archagon.net/
Make mouse back/forward buttons do what they're supposed to.
Rectangle (OSX)
https://rectangleapp.com/
Window management with keyboard shortcuts.
Middleclick (OSX)
https://github.com/DaFuqtor/MiddleClick-Catalina
Make trackpad triple-tap emulate middle-click.
Infra
goss (Linux)
https://github.com/aelsabbahy/goss (original)
https://github.com/ilikejam/goss (updated dgoss)
Serverspec without the horrific syntax.
Has a party trick - it can automatically analyse running systems and write a spec from what it finds. Very cool.
Unix
asciinema
https://asciinema.org/
Record terminal sessions to file, without messing up SIGWINCH like typescript does.
recode
https://linux.die.net/man/1/recode
Convert text streams between formats, e.g. de-escape strings in XML, convert utf8 to ascii.
jq
https://stedolan.github.io/jq/
sed for json.
jo
https://github.com/jpmens/jo
Create json from your shell.
Heavy lifting
XML
xmltodict
https://github.com/martinblech/xmltodict
Audio
Airfoil (OSX)
https://rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/
Send audio to chromecast, airplay, and bluetooth from individual apps (or the system) to multiple sinks.
Combine with Chromecast Audios (sadly discontinued now) for dirt cheap multi-room audio.
Headphones: Office / Loud environments
Sennheiser HD25
My current general-purpose headphone.
Excellent isolation, excellent sound, easy to drive, largely bombproof, replaceable parts, available everywhere.
Only had these a few years, so I can't comment on their very-long-term use, but mine still look brand-new.
Frequency response with decent amplification is very flat, but YMMV with high impedance sources. I've run them from phones, HP laptops, Macbooks, and dedicated amps, and they sound great in every case.
I like these so much I own 3 pairs.
Sony MDR-7506 / V6
My previous can of choice.
Excellent isolation, sound great, will survive a nuclear holocaust, good value, available everywhere.
My pair lasted 15 years of terrible abuse - if you need a headphone that will absolutely definitely work no matter what, get a pair of these. They sound genuinely good, but the bass response is a bit lumpy and loose in places - if you're listening to anything except house/techno/DnB, though, you probably won't notice it.
Get the velour pads - the pleather standard ones fall apart in a few months of heavy use, and the velour ones are more comfy. You'll lose a bit of isolation, but they improve the lumpy bass response slightly.
If the V6 are cheaper, get them - they're identical to the 7506's. (Well, the 3.5mm plug body's plastic on the V6, metal on the 7506. If you manage to break the V6 plug without the aid of a vice and sledgehammer, I'll buy you a pair of 7506's myself).
Headphones: Travel
Beyerdynamic Byron
The best sounding in-ear 'phones I've heard that I'd be willing to subject to the abuse of every-day travel.
Reasonably flat response, lightweight, non-microphonic cable, not hugely expensive. Can't fault them at all.
Soundmagic E10
My backup in-ear 'phones.
Sound great most of the time, but bass can be overblown. Dirt cheap, though, and depending on what you're listening to the bass response might not be an issue.
Headphones: Home
Sennheiser HD650
Incredible sounding headphones. Bass that goes all the way to the floor and extremely tight all the way down, very well balanced, airy, comfortable. Very expensive, though.
These are very high impedance, so they really need decent amplification to make them work properly.
Headphones: Amplification
My goto is Objective2 / ODAC stuff - JDS Labs and the now-defunct Epiphany Audio. I hear the Topping gear is also very good.
There's a lot of snake oil in headphone amps, so be careful. Look for actual measurements in reviews. If your headphone amp has valves in it, then you need to have a word with yourself. Seriously. Stop. Get some help.