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Shane Khalid

NLP Machine Learning Engineer

• on computer set up, hardware, software, piracy

Computer Neatness

Surface Pro 7

I have about a dozen moleskine notebooks of detailed notes in various subjects. I realized that I could condense them and bring them all together in a digital format. After doing a lot of research on tablets, I decided to get the Microsoft Surface Pro 7. Why? IPad’s and Amazon’s Fire Tablets don’t run on an computer’s OS. It’s always some shitty mobile-type of OS that restricts you from getting pirated copies of software. I am of the opinion that if you pay for software you are a cuck. So here’s what I do when I get a new computer!

Immediately install a fresh copy of Windows 10 Professional 64-bit. This involves putting the ISO on a USB drive with a program like Rufus, and then you use it to boot your computer. Strangely, whenever you look up how to enter the BIOS for the Surface Pro 7 they instruct you to hold the (+) volume key as you power up and to release once you see the Microsoft logo. This does not work, and only a video showed me that you only let go once you actually enter the BIOS. From this point on, you will start to do things that are risky but that is part and parcel of pirating software. So you turn off SafeBoot, and boot from your USB drive. Install Windows 10 Professional 64-bit, takes like 5 minutes.

Once it’s installed, it’s pretty much a brick without its drivers and you can’t access the internet through it because you lack the internet drivers so make sure you have another computer with access to the internet. Download the drivers, place them on a USB drive, and plug that bad boy into your Surface Pro 7 and have the drivers install. There’s quite a bunch that give you the special functionality of the tablet and pen.

I immediately use ninite to batch install some staple programs. Though not as much as I’d usually install, considering I’m only using this as a tablet. I should also tell you that this is an even better list of software. Some that are must-haves are:

  • Sublime Text 3 : something I am currently using to write this very post!
  • f.lux : just get it, your eyes will thank you.
  • Alacritty : this I highly recommend. It’s a terminal that is GPU-based.
  • Speccy : it’s a good utility to see detailed statistics on every piece of your computer, too bad it fucks up the temperature reading for AMD processors.
  • Malwarebytes : but download the Professional version from your favorite pirate bay.
  • Office 2019 : particularly OneNote is useful for me when I am tutoring online because it’s a whiteboard that updates in real-time for your student to see. Also pirate this.
  • Adobe Photoshop CC 2019: pirate this
  • Adobe Illustrator CC 2019: pirate this
  • CCleaner Professional : pirate this
  • Everything : excellent file search engine
  • Defraggler : excellent defragging software

For the Tablet:

  • Bamboo Paper : excellent notebook app
  • Skype for Business: lets you use a whiteboard with skype which is perfect for online tutoring.
  • PDF Reader by Xodo : lets you annotate and write on pdf files which reminds me to say that you should not ever pay for textbooks either. I wrote a little guide on how to find free books online, here it is.
  • Fluidmath
  • Naturplay Calculator

There’s a bunch of other apps here. I am only starting to use this tablet so I have not yet explored the true potential of any of these apps nor this device.

I must say though that I am pretty impressed with it. The Surface Pro 7 is gorgeous with a 2736x1824 resolution screen. High resolution cannot be understated. It boosts your productivity 1000-fold. The desktop that I’m writing this on has a 4096x2160 resolution, and it’s also connected to another monitor that’s 1920x1080. I sometimes plug in my Surface Pro 7 to this 1080p Samsung TV I have had for like a decade. I also have a Thinkpad T450S that I use when I’m in bed and it’s the one that I experiment on.

It’s quite easy to get a used Thinkpad online for like $250 and just replace it with your own SSD and RAM. My Thinkpad T450S has a nice SSD and 20GB of RAM (its maximum capacity). This Thinkpad is the latest in a long line of Thinkpads that I’ve been using for the better part of a decade. I have about 5 defunct earlier models somewhere in my closet. They’re pretty much the best laptops that exist, there’s a nice subreddit for it if you want to get some.