Trying to discover new/unheard Linux desktop programs (Sorry for the confusion).
Edit: I apologise for confusing a lot of people. I meant Linux desktop “programs” coming from Windows/Mac. I’m used to calling them “apps”.
Edit: 🙌 I’m overwhelmed with the great “programs” people have recommended in the comment section. Thank you guys.
QuodLibet: I’m waiting for Amarok 3 to be ported but right now this is the best music collector/player in my experience.
Agreed
Have you tried Strawberry?
Yes, I’ve tried pretty much everything. Strawberry is pretty good but it doesn’t have a grid view for albums, it also shows the contents in a way that is not very intuitive imo (I want albums in publication order with original release date). I sincerely expect something new from the next Amarok in terms of intuitiveness of use, I hope the good man who is bringing it back wants to innovate something in this sense.
BleachBit is a must have and PhotoGIMP is pretty neat.
Because you asked about “apps”, people are replying with mobile apps. I think you wanted to write “programs” considering the community. Maybe you should edit this
deleted by creator
I would say apps are software run with a runtime (PortableApps, Android apps, Windows Apps) while software runs by itself.
Another interpretation could be “little (software) tools”. I assumed with “apps” you wanted some shell tools.
Software is the antonym of hardware.
deleted by creator
I mean, i’m a software developer too. I just sometines forget all he context.
Hmm, thinking about it like that, the whole software stack has a similiar situation to the modern web: historical layers upon layers. Maybe we should sometime start from scratch, if the situation with vulnerabilities, reliability and brittleness becomes bad enough/gets more weigth.
Generally speaking, all runtimes have been traditionally called programs. (On Unix systems runtimes are often synonymous to executables. I guess the term runtime is used more often by devs on the Windows and Java platform, and I think it is specifically an antonym of library, but not sure because I don’t develop on those often) Applications traditionally referred to programs that were exposed to the user through a mouse interaction by intention. On macOS an app has the .app extension and is thus a special type of a program.
Although, depending on the context, an “application” might just mean programs because even official tech manuals aren’t perfectly rigorous.
On Linux and Windows it is similar. They don’t have a specific extension (some .exe binaries on Windows are meant to be run through the commandline.)
Software is the antonym of hardware, as I wrote in another comment.
Honestly I’m surprised that people here don’t share this. The terminology was rather cleanly separated before iPhone. Unfortunately, due to smartphones the word “app” entered the mass population and it lost meaning as usual.
I would assume that “application” (or its short form “app”) implies some kind of GUI.
That makes sense. Maybe I’m just old but they are called as programs since punched cards, as well as on Unix, Linux, Windows (until recently apparently).
Not exactly sure but I think the term “application >> apps” started with mobile phones. So, to me they are different. At least that evokes this meaning in my mind. It seems not with younger people though.
Go search Usenet posts from the 80s. We’ve used the short term “app” for “application” for goddamn forever.
It seems I’m not that old and apparently it first appeared around between 50’s and 60’s as a term. I assume it’s only used among programmers back then (until Apple, approximately late 80’s). Though it was not so common as today I guess.
People started saying apps to programs on computer as well. No idea who’s fault it is. Apple’s? Only old people call it software or so.
Not exactly sure whose fault is this but if OP still wants to use the term “app”, they should at least mention it’s “desktop apps”, or just go with “programs” which is the proper term. Because even with “desktop apps” I still understand it is as web apps more likely.
Distrobox supports waydroid to use android apps on wayland. There are many small purpose built apps for android than can be useful on desktop.
No one seems to be mentioning apps in this specific kind of context, and I don’t consider a locked down and stripped orphan kernel to be “Linux” but a lot of this stuff it FOSS and can now run on both.
True but isn’t it safe to assume the OP meant desktop (considering the community)? There aren’t that many people using Linux phones.
I suppose since more than one response is related to mobile apps, it’s not a safe assumption that the OP intended for desktop apps/programs.
Considering the community, that’s what should happen. However sometimes people don’t realize which community they are in and they just look at the title. If the first person who replied started with mobile apps, others possibly didn’t notice because of them and continued adding up.
However sometimes people don’t realize which community they are in and they just look at the title.
Guilty as charged. After reading the title it didn’t even cross my mind that it could possibly refer to anything other than mobile apps so I saw no reason whatsoever to look at what community it was posted in as the app I came to think of as a good recommendation is cross platform.
oxipng, pngquant and svgcleaner for optimizing images
auto-editor for removing silent portions from video recordings
I prefer Scour for SVGs, but as long as we can agree that svgo is trash, we can be friends.
When I finally learned about Pocket just a few years ago it surprised me greatly that I didn’t know about it before and now I use it daily:
It does collect your data though, and it’s not open source. Omnivore is a good FOSS alternative
We liked Readeck way better than Omnivore. Their browser extension is also very good.
I’ve never heard of it! I’ll check it out.
KDE Itinerary. To keep all your travel (rail tickets, hotel reservations…) documents and Infos in one place.
Tokodon/Tuba a great mastodon client for KDE and GNOME respectively
Lollypop a beautiful and useful Mediaplayer and Jukebox for GNOME.
Geary a great mail client by the same developer as Lollypop, also for GNOME.
I like to pack services in containers so ctop has been a great basic ui to manage and monitor them in the shell
I think that the question is primarily about Desktop Apps, since this is the Linux community.
I understand your point. “Program” is a more wider term. Javascript executed in your browser could be a program too. App is just a short term for a standalone program with a GUI, IMO.
It’s just how languages change with time. For example what we simply call “libs” today used to be called by their full name “program libraries”. You don’t often see someone calling them like that anymore. I feel that communication nowadays requires us to constantly check the context in order to avoid misunderstandings. It’s maybe a reason why I don’t write that much online anymore.
I also use Floorp! Firefox is my favourite mobile browser, with the address bar at the bottom for easy access, and also easy-access, reliable tab sync, with Floorp on the desktop for its workspaces feature + the ability to use the old Firefox style (with minimal tabs) with a simple toggle.
The only browser that could measure up to it (meaning it has the same feature set for both desktop and mobile) is Vivaldi (Correction: Last time I used it, Vivaldi was missing a crucial feature: the ability to only show bookmarks on a new tab) but that often feels too complicated and takes too long to set up. If Vivaldi had the ability to, say, sync up all your settings and customisations, as well as tabs, I’d probably be using it right now, or at least consider it. I mean, neither is fully open source, but I’m more likely to trust the Vivaldi team than Ablaze (the company behind Floorp).
I agree with pretty much everything you’ve said. My biggest reason for not using Vivaldi is due to it being based on chromium. I’m trying to do my best to reduce the market share of chromium based browsers
I get it. For me, that’s just a nice-to-have.
deleted by creator
I’ve been trying to figure out a way to use vanilla Firefox instead but also have a web panel like Floorp. Being able to open and close a webpage on the side like that is pretty handy. Vivaldi has the same feature but I don’t want to use that.
For the most part, that works fine. It’s more of a convenience feature since I can quite easily switch between different sites I have saved in the panel.
No way! i thought it was open-source.
deleted by creator
It is
deleted by creator
Logseq.
What is Logseq?
It’s a non-linear note taking app that allows smart linking and is made as a second brain.
It makes use of the Zettelkasten system, where, in theory, you make notes of everything and categorize it. Over time, you offload your brain and make it free for more productive stuff.
Logseq is often considered as a FOSS alternative to Obsidian.
I’m actively looking for a Logseq replacement, since they require CLA signing and can pull the rug at any moment.
We discovered Trilium and will be trying it out to see if we can migrate.
Trillium is great. I’ve been scrolling through here to see if anyone mentioned it, and was gonna put it out there if nobody had.
I haven’t tried it out on android (if that even exists), though.
Well, I just realized they don’t support multi user which is kind of a deal breaker for us, since we are a couple sharing a homelab. We always wanted to share a few files when using Logseq and it seems this won’t be solved with Trilium either. This sucks.
I was wondering about that…
Trillium will not get any major updates. It has a new successor Trilium Next has multiple discussions going on.
deleted by creator
I tried it and really wanted to like it, but the Android client’s UI is just unusable for me. as much as I prefer going FOSS whenever I can, I tried Obsidian and stuck with it. it’s electron on desktop and definitely not native UI on mobile, but feels much more polished.
Yeah, the Android app is horrible. I only use it if I don’t have my PC in arm’s reach.
It feels sluggish, buggy, is overloaded, I always get sync issues (usually the last words I just typed go missing), and some features (especially the graph overview) don’t work at all sometimes. And the whole app sometimes feels like an alpha version, which is just a no-go…
I really hope the mobile app gets polished more over the next months. Many people nowadays mostly use mobile devices, and having such an unpolished app really hurts the image. And, PLEASE devs, test your software before shipping it out. Especially the mobile app is broken half the time.
I still gladly pay the 5$/ month for the optional sync and to support the devs.
I was never able to fully get into Logseq, might give it another try at some point.
Have you tried QOwnNotes? I think it’s pretty good
QOwnNotes
Thank you for recommending this. I started using Joplin about week or two ago, but this one seems even better for me.
I have not, I’m using Standard Notes at the moment. I’ll have a look at QOwnNotes though, thanks for the recommendation
Do it!
I had some initial problems in the beginning, because I was used to linear note taking apps like OneNote or Joplin, but once I watched a guide on how it works, it clicked and now it’s my second nature. I even began to write my hand written notes in Logseq style!
TL;DR, if you don’t wanna watch any guides/ read docs:
- Indentation matters. Logseq works with a parent-child hierarchy
- You usually don’t open or create new pages, you write everything in your journal and link stuff there.
- Use links, either with
[[Link]]or#Tag, which are the same. They crosslink different topics and reveal connections. - Make use of plugins. There are thousands of it. Especially the Graph Analysis plugin should be included by default.
I used Obsidian extensively at a previous job. The linking of notes was super helpful! I don’t think it’ll work as well for my needs at the moment (at work) but I’ll give it a go
What do you do at your job? As long as you don’t work at an assembly belt in a factory, you will still probably get benefits out of it.
Examples:
- Notes about colleagues or customers
- Project ideas
- Random thoughts
- Writing down meetings and mails
- And much more!
Mainly data entry. I’m writing bullet form (pro for Logseq) justifications that the QA uses to understand my ratings (the data entry aspect). I will occasionally work on the same task so I open up the original note and just add to it.
I know that I could use Logseq to link -
[[link]]- the different task projects together (maybe). Something likeProject->individual task.My notes look like this currently:
A: - some thoughts B: - more thoughts C: - this is bad D: - this is goodI would then copy and paste all of that into a text box on our system (per task) where the QA can use that to understand my ratings of the task. My role title is Advanced AI Data Trainer, it sounds more impressive than it is. It’s glorified data entry.
Do you feel like offloading stuff into your notes helps your cognition?
Yeah, definitely, especially at work.
It really helped me to switch off my “work brain”, because I know, that everything I did today is written down, and I don’t have to keep things in my mind anymore after work. Doing that was a blessing for my stress level and mental health.It also gives me the edge above my colleagues that I “remember” everything I did in the last months, which is nice when my boss wants to know details of a project I did a year ago.
I basically can’t even remember what I did 5 minutes ago (ADHD says hello), but I know exactly where I can find that knowledge. This frees up my working memory (psychological term, not related to work) immensely. It’s basically like transfering more tasks onto your hard drive instead of keeping it in the RAM.
It’s also great to give me an graphical overview of all I think and work on all day, and unveals connections I never thought of between different topics.
For private use, it’s also great as a journal, though I gave up on that because I’m too busy for it and it cost too much time in my everyday life. But I still use it daily for normal note taking, e.g. results of some experiments at home, hobbies, thoughts, and much more.
Fuck you I’m sold. That sounds so useful if I can stick with it enough.
That sounds so useful if I can stick with it enough.
That’s my main issue for private use. At my job, I never had problems sticking with the habit of writing everything down. I work in a science job, and documentation is key there. So, I basically get paid for exactly that.
But in my free time, the whole concept of task management, knowledge offloading, and more, is a bit harder for me, especially when I come home tired.
Welcome in the life of someone with ADHD. I need my life to be organized, but have a hard time with exactly that. It’s like needing to find your contact lenses because you dropped them…
All of this makes sense, but I still can’t wrap my head around the “finding” of information. How do you search for it? Do you remember keywords or the location of the note (this I feel like maybe defeats the purpose of Logseq’s write anywhere idea)
I use a mix of
- Search bar, very powerful
- The graph overview, which allows me to “hunt” for the thing I need
- Filters
- And a lot of tags, aliases and crosslinks
I don’t use Logseq, I use Silverbullet, and yes, it helps A LOT. I have lots of random notes on random pages on how to do things at work, or on my personal servers or whatever. You know that feeling of “I’ve already had to deal with this, how the hell did I do it?” It’s completely gone.
If you use a good organization system with a hierarchy that makes sense and tags you can easily find stuff, so you can turn off your brain from having to remember all of that and it can focus on the thing you need to actually solve now. Don’t know if you’re old enough to remember a time before cellphones, we had to remember our friends number, nowadays this is not a concern, because your phone will remember the number for you, it’s like that but for everything, very liberating.
I tried it on desktop but the fact that it’s “paragraph-based” so to say is annoying. I’d like to format text freely and hit return to go to a new line, not create bullet points for everything I write. It seems a bit contrived in this way, but perhaps I just haven’t found how to make it work the way I want yet
EDIT: realized this was for desktop, so removed the original list of mostly android apps. Here’s my go to desktop apps:
Lollypop - music player
Invoiceninja - open source invoicing service
Meld - file/folder comparison
Librewolf - hardened Firefox
Joplin - notes
QEMU/Virt-Manager - virtualization for that one windows app you still need
KeepassXC - password management
Element-desktop - Matrix client
Gparted - no fuss partition management
Lutris - game launcher that works with epic games (among many others)
PDFarranger - best PDF management I’ve found on Linux Soundconverter - easy to use file converter
Restic - backups
Fdupes - duplicate file finder
Freetube - privacy respecting YouTube client
Paperless-ngx - very well built electronic document storage. Must be run as a server.On linux?
Whoops, didn’t notice the /c this was posted to 🤦♂️
I second that. It’s been brutal trying to find a good FOSS 2FA app for desktop.
If you’re already using keepassxc, you can import OTP codes and use that. That’s what I do when my phone is not around to use aegis. It’s not as pretty, but it works.
I have a few codes duplicated in my keepass vault for the services I log in to often on desktop. The autotype is super nice in those cases. Other than that I do generally prefer having a separation between password manager and 2fa data though. Probably only a theoretical safeguard in my case, but simple enough to keep in place for the time being.
If you’re in the GNOME ecosystem, you could give Authenticator a shot. It’s worked quite well for me so far.
I’m on KDE 🥲 That Gnome app has been almost enough to get me to switch though. There’s a few Gnome apps that KDE doesn’t have a comparable parallel to.
You could try https://2fas.com/ open source mobile application with browser extensions and cloud sync for backups.
Or www.bitwarden.com password manager is also open source and for a small “premium” supports 2FA for mobile/desktop/browser.
I haven’t heard of 2fas before, they seem pretty interesting. I’m inclined to keep my password and 2fa vaults out of the cloud (thus Aegis and Keepass) so I’m interested in how the browser extension syncs data with a phone. If it uses a shared network or ephemeral data transfers that would be pretty nice.
My thought exactly
You should try Organic Maps.
K9S, it is a TUI kubernetes manager that really integrates well into my workflow.
I don’t know about you specifically, but I’m surprised how many people haven’t heard of Krita, a FOSS image editing app with an optional AI Image Generation plugin.
Huh, didn’t know Krita had a plugin for that. Is it for Stable Diffusion?
It uses Stable Diffusion, yes (specifically comfy UI for the backend), but it has a much better in app UI that any stable diffusion web UI I’ve tried.
STOP ADDING AI TO EVERYTHING PLEASE
Am I going to be able to use a computer in any way at all in the future without having freaking world power-sucking, thieving, inaccurate, laughable AI doing stuff for me?
Chilax it is optional
First of all, I actually find it quite helpful, AI is not bad in itself, just the people who use it for things it’s not designed for are misguided. Secondly, did you miss the part where this AI is optional?
The fact that it’s optional now is irrelevant. Most people aren’t going to disable AI and will thus use a horrible, broken feature that has never been proven to work reliably. And what is “optional” now becomes the standard later. Best to kill it now before it becomes the complete ruination of the tech industry.
deleted by creator
