1. Compilers and editors. Fte for writing the programs and gcc with Makefiles for compiling. Cygwin whenever we're in Windows (which thankfully is not that frequent anymore). Some C++-compiling via g++ if any outside libraries absolutely need it. The programs themselves are always pure C.

2. Libraries. SDL for multimedia, Portaudio for sound, OpenGL for 3d acceleration and maybe in the future, Portmidi for MIDI (at the moment these chores are handled by polling /dev/midi0).

3. Operating systems. A Debian Linux definitely.

4. Graphic tools. Gimp for image processing, Wings 3d for real modeling (not a lot) and XFIG for vector graphics (even less). As you may gather here, a whole lot of the 2d and 3d forms are generated real time.

5. Writing and spreadsheets. I use openoffice.org and abiword for word processing; both are free, but unfortunately, quite slow to use with my vintage machinery (abiword used to be fast before a late upgrade). For spreadsheets, I've just lately discovered gnumeric , which appears to be excellent: it's fast, fluent to use and keeps all the functions you truly need close-at-hand. Maybe I should try to join some of these threads by learning some LaTeX or LyX - I know many people take that as a recommended route. Finally, thesaurus.com and efe.scape.net are handy online dictionaries, but I've yet to discover a likewise good resource for idioms.

6. Computer. At home, an old PC with a Soundblaster 128 PCI and a cheapo Geforce 4 adapter the Assembly organizers granted us for winning the 4k intro competition. For gig use, we have an orange rack PC with Debian Linux, Soundblaster et cetera. The machine is owned by CNCD, but Ville Hyvönen has granted us to use it as gig machine otherwhere too. Thanks!