Architecture of my laptop

The following information represents the situation at the end of April 2026.

1 - Hardware and OS

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Hardware bought (total price 300 EUR):

• Refurbished Laptop "Lenovo Thinkpad T495"
  with AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 3500U cpu (4 cores/8 threads), 16GB DDR4 RAM, 256GB NVMe SSD,
  14.0" FHD (1920 x 1080) 250 nits lcd display, HDMI 2.0,
  720p camera, headphone/microphone combo jack,
  Ethernet (RJ-45), Intel Wireless-AC 9260 (802.11ac) Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.1,
  1x USB 3.1 Gen 1 + 1x USB 3.1 Gen 2 + 2x USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 (for data transfer, Power Delivery),
  and integrated Li-Polymer 50Wh battery included
• additional laptop sleeve + extra velcro straps:
  "LAB31" sleeve
• additional external battery/powerbank:
  "UGREEN Nexode 145W External Battery 25000mAh Power Bank"
  (we want power autonomy and the integrated battery is old)
  the laptop utilizes USB-C Power Delivery (PD) to charge,
  with a primary operating voltage of 20V and 65W power;
  after disabling the internal battery,
  I could continuously work around 5 hours using this external battery
  (watching youtube videos using wifi)
• additional old spare wireless mouse and Ethernet cable

Software as OS installed:

• Linux Mint 22.3 Cinnamon edition
  (based on Ubuntu 24.04)

Because I already had a KVM and switch in my workplace at home,
I can easily connect my laptop to a big screen, ethernet cable,
external HDD, mouse and keyboard (like a docking station) to have more comfort.

When I need more power autonomy (easily 6 hours),
I will use my external battery attached to the back of the display using velcro straps.

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2 - Initial Installation

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2.1 - Install Linux Mint

I erased the complete internal disk drive and installed a clean and latest Linux Mint OS.

• download "linuxmint-22.3-cinnamon-64bit.iso" file from Linux Mint website,
  download balenaEtcher, and flash the iso file on a USB flash drive using etcher
• boot laptop from injected iso flash drive, and install Linux Mint;
  when installing, choose to (1) install multimedia codecs (2) erase disk
  (3) create local account
• restart laptop, remove iso flash drive,
  login and close Welcome Wizard

2.2 - Adapt visual settings

I have made the following adjustments due to my poor eyesight.

• change brightness of display to around 75%
• open "Panel" settings, and adapt:
  "Customise -> Panel height" to "60" (max),
  "Panel appearance -> Left Zone -> Font size" to "Allow theme...",
  "Panel appearance -> Left Zone -> Symbolic icon size" to "28",
  "Panel appearance -> Right Zone -> Font size" to "Allow theme...",
  "Panel appearance -> Right Zone -> Symbolic icon size" to "32"
• open "Mouse and Touchpad" settings, and adapt:
  "Pointer size and speed -> Size" to 75% (larger)
• open "Themes" settings, and adapt:
  "Advanced settings -> Mouse Pointer" to "Bibata-Modern-Classic"
• open "Backgrounds" desktop settings, and adapt:
  "Linux Mint" to "Linux Mint - Sele / green"

2.3 - Updates & Snapshots

I have made the following adjustments to improve management of software updates,
and to improve availibility of having automatic snapshots/backups.

• open "Update Manager" from shield icon in right panel,
  click "Software Sources" & choose faster local mirror,
  and click "Install Updates" (by default, no automatic updates)
• launch "Timeshift" for the first time;
  select "RSYNC" as "Type", select ssd disk as "Location",
  select "Weekly/3" as "Schedule", and "/root" & "~" as "Filters - Pattern";
  create your first snapshot (snapshots are incremental after this)
• open "System Reports" from notifications icon in right panel

I have made the following adjustments due to my poor eyesight.

• open "Software Manager" from shield icon in right panel,
  search & install "Fonts-ubuntu-classic", and restart
• open "Font Selection" settings, and adapt:
  "Font Selection -> Default font" to "Ubuntu Regular / 12",
  "Font Selection -> Desktop font" to "Ubuntu Regular / 12",
  "Font Settings -> Text scaling factor" to "1,2"

2.4 - Add useful applications

• add shortcuts to Desktop for note taking application:
  "Office -> LibreOffice Writer": the LibreOffice alternative for MS Word;
• open "Software Manager" to install some applications (and add them to desktop):
  "Stacer": system monitoring tool as alternative for MS Task Manager;
  "PDF Arranger": tool to easily manage pdf files;
• open "Software Manager" to install multimedia applications (and add them to desktop):
  "Screenshot": tool to easily take screenshots;
  "Gimp": tool to edit bitmap image files;
  "Inkscape": tool to edit vector image files;
  "Audacity": tool to edit audio files;
  "Kdenlive": tool to edit video files;
  "VLC media player": tool to play audio/video files
• install eID software:
  eID is an electronic proof of identity (with chip) in Belgium with which you can carry out electronic transactions;
  for an eID card reader to function, you need to install eID software on your computer;
  use "apt" in terminal and download to install "eID-archive", "eid-viewer" and "eid-mw" packages

2.5 - Access shared Windows folder in Linux Mint

• open "Software Manager" to install "Samba" application in Mint
• create user to access the shared folder in windows 11:
  search "user" in system menu, click "Add, edit, or remove other users",
  click "Accounts", click "Other Users -> Add account",
  click "I don't have this person's sign-in information",
  click "Add a user without a Microsoft account",
  enter new username "shareuser" & password, and click "Next";
• create shared folder in windows:
  create folder "DataShare" in root folder using file manager,
  click "Sharing -> Share" in folder properties,
  make it available for user "shareuser", and click "Share";
  click "Show me all the network shares on this computer",
  and view all share names;
  create file "test-windows.txt" in this folder for testing;
• access windows share in Linux Mint:
  open file manager, click "Network", click "CTRL+L",
  enter "smb://WIN_IP" & select "DataShare" as share,
  & "shareuser" as "User name" & password as "Password";
  right-click on Desktop, click "Customize", click "Desktop Settings",
  and enable "Desktop Icons -> Mounted Drives";

3 - Install Developer Tools

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3.1 Text Editing & Diagramming Tools

• install "Fresh":
  fresh is a lightweight, fast and powerful Terminal Text Editor (better than Nano);
  use "curl" in terminal to install fresh,
• install "Visual Studio Code":
  vscode is a lightweight and powerful text/code editor with a lot of extensions/plugins;
  download the .deb package (64-bit) via browser from official vscode website;
  install the .deb package by double-clicking in file manager and clicking "Install Package";
  open "Programming -> Visual Studio Code" via start menu (and add shortcut to desktop)
• install editor extensions in vscode:
  "Prettier - Code formatter": improve text/code formatting;
  "Markdown All in One", "markdownlint": improve markdown validation and export;
  "vscode-pdf": add support for viewing pdf files;
  "YAML": improve support for yaml files;
• install extensions in vscode for creating diagrams:
  "Draw.io Integration": add support for editing/viewing draw.io diagrams;
  "Markdown Preview Mermaid Support", "Mermaid Export": add support for editing/viewing mermaid diagrams;
  "PlantUML": add support for editing/viewing plantuml diagrams;

3.2 System Utilities

• open "Software Manager" to install "Screenfetch" application:
  "Screenfetch": a lightweight system info tool that displays OS, hardware, and software details in the terminal;
• open "Software Manager" to install "KeePassXC" application (and add to desktop):
  "KeePassXC": tool to safely store and access secrets (like usernames, passwords, encryption keys) in local vault;
  create and use a "KeePassXC" example database:
  store url, username and password for a website in the "KD-MySecrets" database,
  and use these credentials to login in this website via clipboard
• install "ssh", "ufw" and "curl":
  ssh is a tool for secure remote login, command execution, and file transfers over unsecured networks;
  UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) is the default firewall management tool for Debian-based Linux systems,
  designed to simplify iptables or nftables configuration;
  curl is a command-line tool for downloading or uploading data using various protocols;
  ssh, ufw and curl are by default already installed in Linux Mint;
  by default, ufw will allow all outgoing traffic, but not allow any incoming traffic;
  add an inbound rule for ufw to allow incoming ssh requests, and enable ufw;
  add shortcut to Desktop for "Firewall Configuration" application;
  this is a user-friendly gui on top of ufw;
• install "git":
  git is a distributed version control system and can be used to distribute source code;
  use "apt" in terminal to install git, and init global config settings
  'user.name', 'user.email', 'core.autocrlf', 'pull.ff', 'init.defaultBranch';
  install "Git Graph" extension in vscode;
• install "docker":
  docker is used to download software packages and run them in isolation as containers;
  use "apt" and "curl" in terminal to install docker-engine;
• install "portainer":
  portainer is a lightweight, web-based management UI for containerized environments,
  specializing in simplifying Docker, Docker Swarm, and Kubernetes management;
  use "apt" and "curl" in terminal to install docker-engine; use "docker" to create volume and run portainer;
  access "portainer" via browser;
  create admin account and store credentials for portainer in "KD-MySecrets" database;
• install ssh and docker extensions in vscode:
  "Docker (Extension Pack) -> Container Tools", "Docker DX",
  "Remote Development Extension Pack -> WSL & Dev Containers & Remote - SSH & Remote - Tunnels",
  "Remote SSH: Editing Configuration Files", "Remote Development", "Remote Explorer"
• install "zsh":
  zsh is a shell and programming language for the Unix/Linux command line (compatible with the Bourne/Bash shell);
  zsh is great for interactive use, with advanced autocomplete features, built-in history manipulation, etc;
  use "apt" and "curl" in terminal to install zsh with its plugins;
• install "GNU Stow":
  stow is a symbolic link manager that ensures that different software packages,
  located in separate folders on the file system, appear to be installed in the same location;
  use "apt" in terminal to install stow,
  and create "dotfiles" git repo to contain configuration files for all applications;

3.3 - Development Tools

• install "Obsidian":
  obsidian is a tool to simplify knowledge management and documentation creation;
  download the .deb package (64-bit) via browser from official obsidian website;
  install the .deb package by double-clicking in file manager and clicking "Install Package";
  open "Office -> Obsidian" via start menu (and add shortcut to desktop);
  create and use "Obsidian" example vaults:
  create the "OV-ComputerTech" vault for storing publicly accessible documentation,
  and the "OV-MyHomeLab" vault for storing privately accessible documentation

I want to develop and deploy web applications and services in the future,
and for this I will use "Tailwind CSS", "Golang" and "SQLite" as core technologies.

• install extensions in vscode for web development:
  "Live Server", "REST Client",
  "Tailwind CSS IntelliSense", "Tailwind Docs", "Tailwind Fold"
• install extensions in vscode for golang development:
  "Go", "Makefile Tools",
  "SQLite", "SQLite Viewer"