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+  • [3]Interviews
+  • [4]Categories
+  • [5]About
+
+A picture of Roly Allen
+
+Roly Allen
+
+Writer
+
+September 27, 2025 in [6]mac, [7]writer
+
+Who are you, and what do you do?
+
+I'm the author of [8]The Notebook, a History of Thinking on Paper, which so far
+as I know is the first and only book on the subject, and thank-you-Jesus has
+been well received. I'm currently writing another history, but I can't tell you
+what of, and my day job is in illustrated book publishing.
+
+What hardware do you use?
+
+At the age of 49, I've owned two computers. The first was a colleague's 2010 
+[9]iMac which I stole from my employer when they upgraded in 2015. (I say
+stole: the IT manager was disgusted by the company's old-machine-destruction
+policy, as was I, and looked the other way when I walked out of the office
+carrying it in a bin liner). It was a great machine (although the CD drive had
+been long dead), especially after I installed Linux (I think Ubuntu) on it.
+
+I replaced it with computer #2 in late 2021 – a very new 24-inch iMac. It has a
+gooooorgeous screen, which is the main thing, and has so far given me no grief
+apart from the dumb 'No! You CAN'T charge and use at the same time!' mouse.
+Seriously – someone was paid A Lot Of Money to design that, wtf. When it
+becomes too old for the current [10]macOS, I'll install Linux again and all
+being well this will be my last computer purchase as well as my first.
+
+Other kit: a cheap Zealsound USB microphone for being interviewed remotely; 
+[11]B&O Beoplay H4 headphones ditto; an [12]HP Officejet 8100 printer which
+can't do colour anymore yet still costs a fortune to keep tonered-up; a [13]
+Fairphone 5 which I plan to use until at least 2032, kept in a drawer to reduce
+its mind-melting distraction potential.
+
+But my main hardware is a shelf of notebooks. The daily diary is an A5 Stalogy
+368-page Editor notebook which I love for the fine paper, indestructible
+binding, and real-cloth cover. Loose threads dangle out of the edges as it gets
+worn! For note-taking for my books, I have a stack of B5 softcover exercise
+books, mostly the 72-page model from Stalogy. Each chapter, or potential
+project, gets its own notebook so I have about ten on the go at present. For
+the pocket, some slim Kokuyo 'Sketch Books' which aren't sketchbooks, but look
+enviably elegant when I get them out in public. In the past I've filled many
+Moleskines and Leuchtturms over the years, but I fell in love with Japanese
+paper and bindings about five years ago and don't see myself going back.
+
+I write with the [14]Uniball Eye Micro UB-150 gel pen, mostly in black but with
+occasional other colours for contrast or beauty when making timelines,
+spidergrams, diagrams, or flowcharts. This pen is one of the absolute miracles
+of the industrial age and I would fly to Japan to shake the hand of whoever
+designed it. My wife gave me a beautiful brass propelling pencil (ystudio)
+which I use (with HB leads) for marking up printed drafts.
+
+My lovely employers supply me with a 16-inch [15]MacBook Pro. It's overpowered
+for my needs, the screen has various shadows where I seem to have applied
+intolerable pressure on the closed case in my backpack, and I much prefer [16]
+MacBook Airs. Such is life.
+
+And what software?
+
+[17]OpenOffice for writing and spreadsheets. Love it. I experimented with [18]
+Zotero for references and organising my research but didn't get on with it,
+possibly because no-one showed me how to use it properly.
+
+I installed [19]Freedom a couple of years ago to break a terrible Facebook /
+Twitter-checking habit. When it expired after a year, I found that I didn't
+need it again. Hard recommend.
+
+Software for notebooks: common-placing, listing, daily diary, zibaldone-ing,
+spontaneous short aide-memoire-making, various late-90s-academic note-taking
+and planning techniques.
+
+Work is [20]Microsoft Office and [21]365, our [22]FileMaker DB, [23]Adobe CC
+(for [24]InDesign and [25]Acrobat), plus web apps for monitoring UK and US
+stock and sales.
+
+What would be your dream setup?
+
+I'd not change anything mentioned above, although I'd prefer not to be working
+in a corner of the living room. So please can I have an office, with a door and
+a view and ample bookshelves, located a pleasant walk from home? Like a
+Robert-Caro-kind-of-deal? Thank you. Also, thinking about it, a printer which
+works and doesn't eat gold bars for breakfast.
+
+Search: [26][                    ] [28][Go]
+You can keep track of new interviews by [29]subscribing to the feed. Unless
+otherwise noted, everything is available via the [30]Attribution-Share Alike
+licence. Last updated September 26, 2025.
+
+
+References:
+
+[1] https://usesthis.com/
+[2] https://ko-fi.com/waferbaby
+[3] https://usesthis.com/
+[4] https://usesthis.com/categories/
+[5] https://usesthis.com/about/
+[6] https://usesthis.com/categories/mac/
+[7] https://usesthis.com/categories/writer/
+[8] https://roland-allen.com/
+[9] https://www.apple.com/imac-24/
+[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS
+[11] https://www.bang-olufsen.com/en/us/headphones/beoplay-h4
+[12] http://web.archive.org/web/20230706203032/https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/hp-officejet-pro-8100-eprinter---n811a-n811d
+[13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairphone_5
+[14] https://uniball.co.uk/brands/eye/uni-ball-eye-micro-ub-150/
+[15] https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/
+[16] https://www.apple.com/macbook-air/
+[17] http://www.openoffice.org/
+[18] https://www.zotero.org/
+[19] https://freedom.to/
+[20] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365
+[21] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_365
+[22] http://web.archive.org/web/20230317135854/https://www.claris.com/filemaker/pro/
+[23] https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud.html
+[24] https://www.adobe.com/products/indesign.html
+[25] https://www.adobe.com/acrobat.html
+[29] https://usesthis.com/feed.atom
+[30] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/