Vim!
If you really don't want to then try kwrite for something more simple or kate for a full IDE. There both developed by kde and been around for a while.
this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2025
37 points (97.4% liked)
Linux
58574 readers
884 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
Someone recently recommended me Textadept: https://orbitalquark.github.io/textadept/. Haven't tried it on linux, and I am not really using it, but the interface is clean, it also has a CLI, and I thought I could give you another option :)
I prefer editing in the terminal, but when it comes to gui editors i've heard a lot of good things about kate and geany.
If push comes to shove, you can still use Notepad++ under Wine. It works.
I use Kate for my editing needs, fast and good regexp work, which is important for me.
If you want a GUI, Kate is my favorite. Otherwise Neovim
I have been using kate a bit and it has been a decent experience so far.
Try Kwrite. I've liked it a lot more than Kate.
I get random crashes from kate in the last few versions (appimage). But other than that, it's the best foss gui code editor.
If you want a gui editor maybe Kate?
+1 for Kate
Sublime Text. On any platform. Nimble, mighty, extendable.
I'm a big fan of Sublime. It's powerful while also good at getting out of the way
Text editors are a really personal choice and there are a million different ones. I use either Kate or Micro. Both are great for my use.
Fair point. I have worn many hats through my IT career, I started out as a Windows NT admin back when it was cutting edge technology in the 90s. I fell in love with a text editor called Ultraedit that my org had a site license for. When I left that org after many years I missed Ultraedit and was delighted to find Notepad++ had most of features I loved. Now the course of my career has found me become a Linux admin and personal linux user for many years now. I have been using Notedpad-qq for years, but recently it seems to have gotten worse and I have had instances where crashes resulted in lost data. I liked the idea of having the same general UI and features as Notepad++ because I still need to use Windows at work. But I am reluctantly admitting maybe it is a time for a change.
Apologies for the digression, but I wanted to share some of the waypoints in my journey that influenced my personal choice.
VSCodium, or some similar VSCode build/derivative.
I know, I know, but the critical mass is just so useful. As a random example, there are specific extensions to support game modding in Paradox scripting language, or Rimworld XML. Nothing else has so many random niches filled.
It's fast with big files (faster than anything I've tried other than 'specialized' log readers and such), it's a fast search, it's got good git support, it's got support for sudo file editing...
Nothing else has so many random niches filled.
I don't know the VSCode ecosystem at all -- but you you know the emacs one?
Pretty much everyone at work is using VSCode, maybe this is a good opportunity to dive in, thanks.
Notepadqq not the best reimplementation of notepad++ I am using NotepadNext https://github.com/dail8859/NotepadNext
I have gotten a lot of great feedback to this post, but if I had to give points for the most spot-on answer, you would get it. Thanks!
Honestly just use whatever you want whenever you want. I mean for myself I'm currently using DOOM Emacs but that'll change in a month or two when I decide to use something else. I'll routinely rotate through Neovim/LazyVim, DOOM Emacs, Zed, Kate, whatever really. if something new comes along, i'll use that for a bit. Hell sometimes I just can't be bothered and will just use Nano.
But yeah, they're all fine. use whatever you want.
Neovim is the way and here's imo why:
- Vim keybinds: yes, we take more time editing then actually writing text/code so it's faster to use a modal text editor, you just have to learn it a bit at the start. Vim language is easy, you just tell it what you want it to do (ie. diw: delete inner word, ciw: change inner word etc.)
- highly customisable, even if you don't want to cherry pick your plugins and choose a config, there are many out of the box configured (lazyvvim comes to mind but there are many)
- if you're a developer you can find plugins for everything you need, debugger, lsp, autocompletion etc.
Ultra Edit 32 was excellent.
Try Geany if you don't want a heavyweight; it's in the repos. IMHO pretty similar to notepadqq.
BTW, I also have trouble with Qt apps crashing/freezing on Debian Stable. What distro/version are you on?
my path was 15-20 years of vim, a decade of emacs, and a couple of years on sublime. these days i am using zed and i like it quite a bit (you can ignore the llm agent stuff, it's only there if you want it). sometimes i just use the built-in gnome text editor. notepad++ is my go-to on windows and i didn't find anything quite like it on linux.
geany and vscode are decent options as well.
as somebody else pointed out: text editors are deeply personal. you're just gonna have to try a few and see what you like.
Scite is the notepad++ replacement on Linux.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SciTE
As it shares the same source code as notepad++ (for the editing libraries)
Although the traditional recommendation is either Vim or Emacs as they are much more powerful
I think I once tried vanilla SciTE and did not like it. Geany does a good job of packaging it into a well-integrated code-editor with IDE functionality.
Why don't you just use the one you like? Wine isn't the clunky near-useless thing it once was, you can probably just run the Notepad++ installer and use it like any other app.
I see it is Platinum on WineHQ, will give that a try thanks.
https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=2983
The Solaris version of vi, hardened against escape to shell and with no quality of life improvements. Builds character.
I also recommend giving up electricity and motor vehicles, real men calculate subnet masks by hand.
Notepadqq has given me crashes and issues for years, and I once lost data. I use gedit for notes and fancy code editors for everything else
It depends on what you are doing wiþ it. Programming? Taking notes? Writing books?
For all-around, vim is a good choice. Þere's even gvim, which helps get over þe learning curve a little. Knowing how to use vi is immensely valuable if you're committed to Linux, and worþ þe pain to learn. And it is a pain to learn.
Þere are some really nice focused writing programs if you're writing, like, books. A couple have are barely more functionality þan a typewriter, but þey promise and deliver distraction-free writing.
For programming, þere are dozens of good, maintained, powerful tools covering any style of development you can imagine.
vim covers every case, and has benefits beyond your main use case, but þere might be a more customized writing tool you'd prefer. What sorts of þings are you writing?