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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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ffmpeg - www.deb-multimedia.org . I edit podcast videos for distribution to subscribers. High-quality video produces very large files but if they're only going to be watched on laptops, tablets, and phones, I can throw away a lot of bits without noticeably affecting quality on a phone screen.
And nothing does that better or faster than ffmpeg.
I'm trying Linux for the first time as soon as a serving hard drive arrives, bookmarking this thread!
I do a fair amount of pentesting and I'm on mobile, so I'll just list software.
Trufflehog & nosey parker (both kinda suck, but there's nothing better)
Subfinder
Nuclei
Credmaster
To name a few.
Can you expand on these later when you have time?
Pinta is the main one that comes to mind. I don't use it every day, far from it, and that's a part of why I love it. On the rare occasion that I have to do some image editing, I load up Gimp and then proceed to fight against it for at least a whole day to make it do the simplest of things before finally ragequitting. Then I load up Pinta and actually get the task done in either minutes or hours at most.
It's like old school MS Paint, but better. Simple, intuitive, no huge learning curve, just enough features to get my nonprofessional tasks done. It should be a distro default.
Aside from ones listed here:
Happy to list out the self hosted stuff too if there is interest.
Morphosis & DSNote
Thanks, upvoting for those two.
UpNote. I use it like a combination of the gollum wiki described by OP, but I just put everything in there. I have watch and reading lists for things I want to check out, writing projects, notes for TTRPG games, I keep extensive notes on healthcare-related stuff, and so on. I like UpNote because it's lightweight, has windows, linux, and android apps, and because it has a one-time $25 lifetime membership that does free syncing forever instead of a monthly subscription like most other things seem to. I've tried OneNote, Evernote, Obsidian, Joplin, AnyType, and a bunch of others and didn't like them for various reasons, but UpNote is both pretty small and also has a pretty full-featured editor that can do rich text, all kinds of formatting, media files, etc.
The only thing I've run into that UpNote wasn't ideal for is I started writing a novel a couple months ago and managing the structure and notes and all that got a little unwieldy so I picked up Scrivener. Still wish they had an updated linux client or there was some good, complete, feature-rich linux-native equivalent, but it runs pretty good under wine, so.
Well, my main reason to use Zim Wiki and Gollum is that all the information stays on my computers -no sync service is needed, I sync via git + ssh to a Raspberry Pi that runs in my home. And this is a critical requirement for me since as a result of many experiences, my trust in commercial companies that collect data to respect data privacy has reached zero.
The differences between Zim and Gollum are gradual: Zim is tailored as a Desktop Wiki, so each page is already in editing mode which is slightly quicker, while Gollum is more like a classical server-based wiki, which is normally accessed over the browser (but by default, without user authentication). The difference is a bit blurry since both just modify a git repo, and Gollum can be run in localhost, so it is good for capturing changes on a laptop while on the road, and syncing them later. A further difference is that Zim is a but better for the "quick but not (yet) organized" style of work, while Gollum is better for a designed and maintained structure.
Both can capture media files and support different kinds of markup, while always storing in plain text. Gollum can also handle well things like PDFs which are displayed in the browser, and supports syntax highlighthing in many programming langages, which makes it nice for programming projects - it is perfect for writing outlines and documentation of software, and I often work by writing documentation first.
Localsend is rad, super useful: https://localsend.org/
Send any file across different devices over the network. FOSS and fast. Highly recommend.
I mean if it's local network I'd use kde connect. It has a bazillion features, but sending files through the normal share button is one of them.
You can send to different machines then your kde connect one with localsend, e.g. wife's PC, kid's tablet, brother's phone, etc.
Qalc. Best calculator ever hands down
You mean Qalculate, right? If so, I agree.
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✍︎ arscyni.cc: modernity ∝ nature.
better than bc ?
digiKam was the first Linux application I encountered that was so polished and useful for what it does that I tried to shoe-horn it into any and every DE I experimented with, as well as installing it onto my windows machines under KDE4Win.
Logseq for notes and task tracking. It’s an open source alternative to obsidian. Life saver for tracking stuff at work.
KDE Connect
I've used it a lot just to control audio or video playing on my computer from my phone. (Sometimes when I'm sat at my computer with multiple windows and workspaces open, I even find it easier just to hit my phone's lockscreen to pause the music.)
I'm starting to use some of its other features, too. E.g. copying & pasting and sharing files between phone and computer.
There's more too I need to explore.
(Unfortunately, sometimes I get a 'device unreachable' error when both devices clearly have a working connection to the same router.)
Kde connect is great. You can get notifications on pc and read texts fully in messages. I also use it to file share and send 2fa codes.
I've been using that a lot, but I wish there was a "disconnect" on the phone's app, rather than keeping a persistent connection.
It could be helpful if you explain what they do and how they relate to your computing needs. For example, I have been using Linux for over 25 years, and the only name in yor list which I have an idea about what it does is Deja Dup (personally, I use tar for backups, in a simple incremental setup).
I know Strawberry, because I use it too. It's a music player, forked from Clementine years ago. I find it the best for my use case, as it can handle library by tags, do folder view for separate locations, do tag editing, lyrics and art download, etc. Can highly recommend!
FreeTube, a desktop client to watch YouTube videos, without an account. Why not use a browser without an account? Well, it has a watch history, favorites and subscriptions as if you had an account - but its all "offline" account, without Google involved (besides watching their video). So it manages an account with subscriptions, without YouTube account. Plus it integrates an ad blocker and SponsorBlock, and has a few more features on its sleeve.
kdotool, a xdotool like program for KDE on Wayland. Just learned about it when setting up another application. But I will use it for independently too.
There are more, but this is what came to my mind right now.
Qalculate!, the calculator I use every time I need to do a calculation, especially if it involves units or currency conversion. Does everything I've ever needed out of an everyday calculator (even symbolic calculation and exact results), while keeping the usual simple calculator interface.
Great topic. I'm going to have to investigate some of these suggestions later.
Since my first pick, helix, was already mentioned here and i commented on it, I'll add gitui. Git can be very overwhelming for me. Gitui arranges frequently used git commands in a sensible, visual layout and makes it easy for me to understand and interact with git.
For doing more complex tasks with git, you could have a look at jujutsu. It is really good and provides most of git's power in an conceptually much simpler CLI interface.
Thanks for the rec! The anonymous branches and working-copy-as-commit subsuming git stashes is intriguing. I'll give it a closer look when I have a chance.