Jonathan Bossenger

Uses

I’ve been building PCs since high school, even though back then they were made up of whatever I could find in bargain bins or second-hand. Computers are the tools I use to earn a living, support my family and pay for my hobbies, two of which also involve computers. This page lists what my current setups are.

Laptop – 14-inch MacBook Pro (Apple M1 chip)

Since I joined Automattic, my new daily driver is a company-sponsored 14-inch MacBook Pro, with the new Apple M1 chip. This laptop is a beast, and while I still don’t like macOS, the new Apple hardware is impressive.

  • Apple M1 Pro chip with 10-core CPU & 16 core GPU
  • 32GB unified memory
  • 1TB SSD

Office Workstation

Custom-built as a new workstation in Dec 2020. I don’t use this as my daily driver anymore, but I still have it hooked up in my office if I ever need to access Ubuntu, Windows, or for gaming. During the course of 2022 I doubled the RAM to 32GB and in Jan 2023 I upgraded the graphics to an RTX 3060.

  • AMD Ryzen 5 3600 CPU
  • Asus TUF GAMING B550M-PLUS (WIFI) Motherboard
  • 32GB 16GB Corsair VENGEANCE LPX DDR 4 RAM
  • Palit GeForce RTX 3060 12GB Graphics Card Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Ti OC 6GB
  • Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB NVMe SSD
  • 2 x WD Blue 1TB 3.5″ SATA Storage Drives
  • Cooler Master MWE GOLD 650W ATX PSU
  • Cooler Master Masterbox K500L ATX case

Home PC

Ex office workstation, this was a 2018 “workstation” upgrade for my previous PC, which I’d custom-built in 2010. Now that I have the MacBook Pro, I’m probably going to turn this into a media center for the home, to replace the old Lenovo I have for that purpose. I had originally planned to turn this into a media centre, but it doubles as an Ubuntu workstation when I need one at home, and for home gaming. In Jan 2023 I migrated the GTX 1660 Ti graphics card to this PC when I upgraded the office workstation.

  • AMD Ryzen 5 2600x CPU
  • MSI x470 Gaming Plus Motherboard
  • 16GB G.Skill Ripjaws DDR4 RAM
  • Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Ti OC 6GB Zotac Geforce GTX 1060 3GB Graphics Card
  • 128 GB m.2 SSD – Ubuntu
  • 128 GB Transcend 2.5″ SSD – Windows
  • WD Blue 1TB 3.5″ SATA Storage Drive
  • Samsung 1TB 3.5″ SATA Storage Drive

Latest Posts

  • 45

    I turn 45 today, in a world where right-wing politics is tearing down individual rights, unjust wars are being allowed to kill innocents, and tech, in general, is just one big scam after another. I’m finding it hard to be positive about all this, but the one thing that keeps me going is the fact […]

  • Configuring Ubuntu in Multipass for Local Web Development on a MacBook

    black and white browsing business coffee

    I’ve been using an Apple MacBook since June 2021. While I don’t totally hate it, I still prefer a LAMP or LEMP stack as my default local web development environment. The best alternative I’ve found on the Mac is Laravel Valet, but it’s not without some minor niggles, mostly the fact that the web server […]

  • I’ll Remember the Days Before I Knew Everything

    The first time I heard about the Automattic creed was on a plane flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg, sitting next to Hugh Lashbrooke, as we flew to attend the first WordCamp in Johannesburg in 2016. I’d met the Johannesburg organizing team at that year’s Cape Town WordCamp, where we were all speakers, and I […]

  • Coding Words

    The slides from my https://www.devconf.co.za/ 2022 talk. If you’d like to get early access to the book I’m writing on this topic, please fill in this Google form.

  • Screen Recording Options for Code Editors

    turned on computer monitor displaying text

    In my Goals Setting post for 2022, I shared that I wanted to improve my blogging activity, and “try and expand into some online videos and possibly even do some live streaming.” One of the biggest hurdles with creating technical video content is making sure that any code in the code editor is readable when […]

  • The Slap That Changed My Life.

    woman with beaded necklace covering her mouth with her hand

    I don’t generally go into the personal details of my life in this blog, but this is one of those moments. Apologies if you are here for tech/WordPress-related stuff, and real-world stuff bums you out. I turn 45 this year, and that moment in my 16-year-old life is still as vivid to me today as […]

  • What Does a Better Notification System for WordPress Actually Look Like?

    beach bottle cold daylight

    Last week I had the opportunity to join some amazing WordPress folks to talk about WordPress notifications. In that chat I mentioned that one of my biggest “hurdles” is getting the word out about WP Notify, sharing what the team has been working on, and what we envision for notifications in WordPress. And then it […]

  • 2022 Office Update: Technical Writer Edition

    brown broom and white plastic bucket

    It has been 2 years since I last posted a workstation/office update. If I am honest, posting regular updates about my “daily drivers” was not something I ever planned, but I am always trying to refine and improve my work tools. I find it interesting to take a look back at what has changed over […]

  • 2022 Goal Setting

    clear light bulb on black surface

    I’ve never been one to set new years resolutions. I’m generally aware that most resolutions made on January 1st are never taken seriously, or only taken seriously for the first 2 weeks or so until one inevitably falls back on old habits. I also am not a solopreneur, business owner, or freelancer, so compiling a […]