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Chao Peng

Software Developer

Who are you, and what do you do? What do you like to do outside of work?

I am Chao, a software developer at Google in Waterloo, Ontario. I mostly work on open source. I used to work on Chromium—if you remember a version of Chrome that supported Windows Precision Touchpad gestures, I did that.

We love pets. We have two pets, ChiChi (dog) and Snow White (bunny).

What hardware do you use?

I use a 2018 15-inch MacBook for work, but most my development work is on Linux in the cloud.

Chao Peng's setup — A place for everything and everything in its place

My 2020 home office setup for COVID:

Laptop: MacBook 15-inch 2018 32GB
Monitor: Philips 278E1A 4K 27-inch monitor
Keyboard: ErgoDox EZ with tilt kit, wing rest, and Shine
Touchpad: Apple Magic Trackpad 2
Mouse for backup: Logitech MX518 (used more than 10 years)
Desk: IKEA IDÅSEN sit-and-stand frame with IKEA KARLBY countertop
Chair: Staples Hyken

I have a custom keycap set I designed myself for ErgoDox EZ, ChaosEZ: Dye PBT XDA keycap set for ErgoDox EZ.

Chao Peng's keycap set — Sometimes you have to design it yourself to get what you want

I designed the keycap set based on my layout and made it compatible with some popular layouts on the ErgoDox EZ website. I am collecting feedback now and may start a group buy later.

Chao Peng's keyboard — QWERTY with a twist

The design:

Keys are light in color for less distraction
All keys have a plain color option to make them easily compatible with different layouts
Some keys have colorful options for good looks
Some unprinted keys for compatibility with keys I did not cover

Chao Peng's keycaps installed, plus extras — He designed extra keycaps in case someone else needed them

And what software?

I am mostly developing on Go now. My daily development software is IntelliJ Idea. Other than that I use G Suite for work and personal.

What’s your keyboard setup like? Do you use a custom layout or custom keycaps?

My layout is a little weird. I place only left brackets on layer 0, as my IDE can complete the right brackets in most cases.

Chao Peng's keyboard layout — A layout that works the way he does

What would be your dream setup?

I actually want to use a lightweight setup and do the heavy computing in the cloud, eg. phone or Chromebook as terminal device. Currently, a Chromebook may be more like what I want, but it is still not easy for switching between work and personal accounts.

Chao Peng's pets — Who could *not* love these pets? Thank you, ChiChi and Snow White!