Notepad++ - This piece of software is a very advanced form of Notepad. Fuck that basic Notepad shit that Windows or any other OS gives you. This one is all you’ll ever need for basic note-taking needs. But it does a hell of a lot more. One thing I love about it is that, if for any reason I put my PC to sleep, it crashes, power outage, I can run this again and everything I’ve ever written and no matter how many tabs - it’s all retained.
AIMP - The definitive media player that you’ll ever need for just playing stuff (music only, sorry if I mislead those thinking it can do video). Winamp and all the other software are just around for nostalgia (though Winamp has it’s uses where you need it to play specific formats like video game music such as SNES with .SPC). One feature that attracted me to it was, it used to infuriate me when I am playing something and something crashes in any other media player. And you boot up that media player and you have to play your playlist all over again or that song from the beginning.
Not AIMP, if I accidentally close it, crash or whatever, I can bring it back up and it’ll have the song or whatever on Pause so I can resume. Why isn’t shit like this more implemented in software?
KiCad - electrical engieneering
FreeCAD - mechanical engieneering
Blender - 3d modeling, rendering, animation
Krita - raster painting
Kdenlive - video editing
LMMS - music creation
Ardour - sound processing
Nheko - Matrix client
Xonotic - FPS game
KDE - K Desktop Enviroment
Hotspot - GUI for perf sampling profiler
KCachegrind - GUI for valgrind cache simulator
QT Creator - C(++)/QML(and prob JS) IDE
Graphvis - graph visualizer
Adding on:
Inkscape - vector graphics program
Meshrom - photogrammetry
Handbrake - video transcoding
MakeMKV - rips DVDs and Blu Ray into video files
7zip - file compression and decompression
Droid48 - Truly excellent HP48 emulator for android
LibreOffice - free word processor & office suite (not without some recent drama though, I guess)
I’m sure I’m forgetting plenty, but hey, more for additional commenters to name.
Edit: Removed Audacity, apparently I’d missed privatization drama around that one too
Handbrake - video transcoding
FFmpeg.
Edit: Removed Audacity, apparently I’d missed privatization drama around that one too
Still GPL.
Synfig Studio - 2d animation software
I definitely considered FFmpeg (I mean, it does everything, and pretty much as fast as possible), but the sense I had was that people were mostly posting about tools that were reasonably accessible to novice users, with nice-ish interfaces. FFmpeg is pretty daunting to newcomers.
OpenSCAD (CAD, but with a programming language-style interface) is kind of in a similar category. It’s pretty powerful, and for someone who thinks like a programmer it can be relatively easy to learn, but if you don’t already understand 3d transformations on a pretty intuitive level, the program doesn’t have a lot of features to ease you into that.
“Everything” - find any file on your machine instantly. No need to update an index, it uses the NTFS master file table directly.
It is my pet peeve that instead of using the MFT, they gave us the bloody abomination they call windows search.
I mean, make it a hidden tool like regedit, for all I care. It’s really not that hard.
Microsoft made NTFS, but not even Windows uses it properly. For example, the
:character is perfectly valid in NTFS file names, but not in Windows. If you mount an NTFS volume in Linux without specifying thewindows_namesoption, you can very easily make it unusable in Windows. It’s a sick joke, but nobody’s laughing.Hey, to be fair, ‘/’ and the null character are the only illegal character for file names on Linux (which is a blessing AND a curse)
Is that because it indexes the contents of files? (or pretends to.)
This my top-used non-windows-component bestest utility for finding info on my pc. It’s da bomb!
I find it almost criminal the amount of people who do not know about this. Absolute life saver for work.
Wizfile as an alternative to this which I prefer
Also Wiztree from the same devs as a WinDirStat alternative
Love them. Though, WizFile occasionally starts eating up a lot of CPU on my machine until I force close it.
If you want something efficient and free of bullshit you probably first need to change your OS to a GNU/Linux distro
“Free, efficient, no bullshit” is kind of the default for Linux software.
not unless you count UX as partof the “efficiency”. A lot of oss software has top-notch functionality, but horrible ux
Yeah that front still needs improvement, but I will say things have gotten a lot better, especially in the past 5 years. Regardless of personal opinion on their approaches, projects like GNOME, Inkscape, GIMP, KDE (sort of, the settings app is still confusing as hell), even Blender’s recent UI updates have been pretty solid. There’s still a lot of room to improve though, and plenty of older software still hasn’t seen much of its UX addressed.
I don’t think this is generally true at a higher rate than for any other software. Multi-billion dollar companies will have more polished UX, but step outside of the major flagship apps and things quickly degrade. Even the best in the business have plenty of problems, you can’t design a perfect UX that will please all users.
I did consider posting a screenshot of just all the applications on my PC… 🙃
But yeah, not much OP can do with hundreds of recommendations that don’t work on their OS.
Note that there’s a severe vulnerability that was only patched very recently in 7zip. I’ve seen recommendations to fully uninstall it and then reinstall the latest version.
Report: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-11612
7-zip doesn’t have an integrated installer so yes you have to uninstall the old version and install the new one.
Paint.NET has filled a “I need an image editor with some packed in features that isn’t as complicated as Photoshop for some quick work” niche for me for years. From simple crops and edits to some layer-and-effects work.
I did not know Aseprite was free if you compile it but they deserve the money anyway.
Paint dot net has layers, rotation, magic wand, and layers. The Editable Text plugin completes my amateur photo editing requirements. And no bloatware! No spyware!
Oh, I forgot one. If you actually need something a bit more like Photoshop, I can recommend Photopea as well. It’s online but it runs locally and it has some ads on the side, but it beats getting an Adobe Cloud license.
Pixelorama is completely free and is a pretty good alternative to Aseprite
LocalSend - like AirDrop, but cross platform
2nded
Been using this for a few weeks now, and it is really fucking convenient
Nice suggestion!
LocalSend is just so effortless and good! I love it.
KeePassXC, or any kind of KeePass-compatible client. It uses strong encryption to store passwords, passkeys, and arbitrary data. Also does TOTP. Not using a password manager in current year is stupid.
QOwnNotes - a note-taking app that uses plain markdown files. None of that stupid metadata-inside-markdown-inside-database bullshit.
I can confirm both these. Although Qownnotes is a bit of mess in UI, it does its job well. I wanted something simple that will just load bunch of locally saved md files and this is the best I could find so far.
If you want a similar markdown editor, Obsidian does much the same, but with a much nicer single-panel UI. The client is free (as in no-cost), but closed-source.
I’m kind of hesitant with it since it’s not FOSS. To be honest I never really understood why anyone makes free (no $$) software but not open source it. I might give it a try though.
There’s Zettlr & Logseq Or… you use Org-Roam/Org-Agenda in Emacs to get a 2nd brain functionality
I’ve tried both and did not like either. Logseq would be probably ok if it didn’t sort every note as a bullet list.
Zettlr was veeery slow for me.
Obsidian also operates a paid cloud storage and public hosting service. Releasing the client for free is a way to gain good publicity and hook new customers, but making it open-source (or even nonfree source-available) would make adapting it to a different storage service trivial, which would hurt Obsidian’s business.
It works well with syncthing…
Well, yes, but also no. There are other similarly strucuted SW that can survive even though they’re open sourced. Things like Standard Notes, Notesnook, Stingle photos, etc. I believe most people would go hassle free route if the accompanying “cloud service” were good enough. And FOSS sticker is a good bonus on top. Just my 2 cents.
I love Keypass XC for it’s better User interface but the Kee Broswer addon for Keepass 2.0 is just astronomically better. You can search and edit entries and it doesn’t close on you when the page reloads.
Obsidian and VLC.
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EMACS:- No I’m not kidding, Yes it has a learning curve but the real fun is AFTER you figure it out & find out that it can do more than just edit texts
- You can play music
- You can turn it into an Email client
- Browse the internet
- A fully-fledged IDE
- There’s Tetris in it
- A File-Manager
- Even a Chat Client
- Remote-Server interaction
- Even have it function like Obsidian
- Have Vim-keybindings (For VIM-users)
- A Git interface
- Even use it as a Linux Distro
EMACS is a great OS, all it lacks is a decent text editor.
If I had a nickel for everytime someone said that I’d be a billionaire
Funniest is when a vim user says that, since emacs includes a vim.
I tried Emacs once a long time ago, and recoiled from the weird key combos. Especially how you have to first enter one combo and then a second one for what you actually want to do.
My memory is a bit fuzzy, but I remember it feeling pretty clunky.Yeah I definitely prefer vim bindings over emacs. Though as other commenters have mentioned, it’s totally possible to use vim bindings with emacs. I’ve never tried it but if the other features attract you it might be worth trying.
Emacs is a part time job!
As a vim user, I’m always super envious of emac’s orgmode.
As a vim user who recently started with Emacs, if you ever want to try it, use evil-mode to get vim motions.
Maybe better to recommend Doom Emacs, if no BS is a requirement. It takes time to make friends with vanilla Emacs.
Why would you want any of that in a text editor…?
Because it all connects together, and you can program them jointly to help solve tasks.
Having email and version control inside emacs makes it easy to set up an email based patch system.
Of course this system will then benefit from the existing code highlighting, introspection, and an integrated debugger.
Integrating it with your time planner means you can automatically add commits to your journal as a way of tracking what you’ve been working on.
The old joke always was emacs is a great operating system, it just needs a good text editor.
The real downside for me is everything is just a little bit janky. It all almost works perfectly and the code is right there to fix it, if you can be bothered. Generally I can’t.
Well it’s not really a text-editor, it’s a productivity environment (That is poor advertisement on GNU’s part)
& these are all extensions, the real question is Why WOULDN’T you want it in a text-editor ?
All that is not in a text editor. A text editor is in all that. A few text editors actually.
No one mentioned SolveSpace, so… SolveSpace. Solvespace is a fully functional 3D parametric CAD solver in a free, cross-platform, open-source, portable, single self-contained executable 10 MB file.
I do a fair amount of hobby 3d printing and SolveSpace makes design and CAD stupid easy. The interface is perfectly laid out, the hotkeys are intuitive, and the capabilities make small-scale projects a breeze.
Now, the program has its limitations, but if I just want something quick and simple, there is nothing better.
SolveSpace… I remember that. Interesting thing, but I ended up using FreeCAD.
I’ve been using FreeCAD, it’s extremely powerful, and just hit 1.0. Might be a bit harder to learn, but worth it.
Yeah, FreeCAD is great, but I can only think of one project that I’ve done where SolveSpace absolutely could not work for the geometry I needed and I had to rebuild it in FreeCAD. But that’s just a product of what I am building: simple things like brackets, knobs, and replacement lids mostly. I don’t need chamfers, drafts, lofts, etc. and I get what I need with minimum of time and effort using SolveSpace.
When I do need those features, complex geometries, or modification of pre-built step files, FreeCAD has never failed me.
Wireguard, I find it both simpler and easier to use than OpenVPN.
dd. No other iso writing utility has worked as consistently, even if my usb devices would gain weird glitches after using it.
Believe it or not I am a person who goes out of their way to avoid using the terminal, so this is very much vouching for the software itself rather than the ux it’s based on.
Bitwarden
It’s a FOSS password manager that you can self host, or use their cloud infrastructure. Their free plan is more than enough for basic users, and their paid personal plan is less than $1 a month and is packed with features.
Runs in your browser, Android, iOS, Chrome and Firefox extensions, and has native desktop apps for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Super easy to set up and use, no BS, works damn near perfectly. I’ve been using it for years and I love it, it’s the only password manager I recommend to folks now days.
Bitwarden’s recent licence “oopsie” has shaken folks trust in them a bit. Not that it’s not a good software currently, but now we know what may happen at a moment’s notice.
FLOSS games that are solid:
Shattered Pixel Dungeon
Luanti (aka Minetest)
sgt-puzzles
Glaring omission: OpenTTD, still in contention for the greatest train (and other transport) game ever made.
Looks so good. I haven’t tried city-sims in 30yrs.
I just watched this drokkin excellent overview of what is possible in OpenTTD. Very polished.
I am sure it can be played as a serious endeavor too.
SuperTuxKart is a cool one
Sure is! It’s had so much work done since the early days.
The single player campaign is huge and hilarious. Very satisfying to complete.
Shattered Pixel Dungeon
This has been the only version of the game I’ve ever gotten close to beating. For that reason alone it’s worth mentioning.
Yes, I also tried the original Pixel Dungeon one time. Crazy hard mode.
For tips, hide behind doors for as many strikes as possible.
Try to enhance a Glaive with speed, from the Stone of Augmentation(stay with staff for mage). Then upgrade and add a glyph. Plate armour up to +4-6.
For tips, hide behind doors for as many strikes as possible.
I’ve definitely ‘abused’ the hell out of that. But at a certain point with the original, it seems like all the little tricks I learned hit an upper limit to their usefulness.
The original was just brutal.
Try to enhance a Glaive with speed, from the Stone of Augmentation(stay with staff for mage). Then upgrade and add a glyph.
I’ll definitely have to give that a try next time.
I tried for a day or 2 to get strafe-running, could not do it.
Would love to play Xonotic though, it has lots of old-school FPS flavour.
Strafing and moving mouse will make you turn faster, strafing with forward and moving mouse will accelerate you faster. You can see it on strafing bar.
Also read the guide: https://xonotic.org/guide/#bunny-hopping
And I recommend you to join xonotic-relax.ru discord server. It is most active xonotic community, and we do speak English when needed.
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VLC. If it can’t play it, nothing can.
Perhaps MPV can, if VLC can’t. I much prefer MPV over VLC.
Is a part of me that wants to go back to Linux just for Mplayer. That blows VLC and mpv out of the water. You could watch movies on a potato with that
If vlc fails , ffplay via way of ffmpeg should, if THAT fails, you are going to have a tough time
Pretty sure VLC is built on top of ffmpeg but I could be wrong
yes, both vlc and mpv use libffmpeg, but they sometimes have different support because of different version, or while compiling, they may enable/disable some optional bits
Kinda, vlc uses libavcodec, which ffmpeg also exposes via CMD line, ffplay is a very very stripped down player, and handles a much wider scope of video than vlc does, for a multitude of reasons.
Terminal based text editors are garbage in the eyes of most people
Notepad++ is the simplicity of notepad with a few extra features to make it exactly what most people neef
Micro-team checking in!
Bitwarden, Kdenlive, Firefox, OBS, Steam.
Steam
Freewhat?
Do you pay for steam?
Yes, about 30% of the purchase price of every game.
Buying games through steam is optional. Steam itself is the game manager. I run many of my non steam games through it and don’t pay a dime for it. Alternatively I can buy steam games through 3rd party stores. The steam client on your machine is free.
They just get statistical data instead, then. I know some folks don’t care about companies knowing your activity and other telemetry data, but I’d probably still count that within the “bullshit around” exclusion criteria that OP defined.
To be fair, you can just refuse to take part in that. They’ll keep asking, every now and then, and you can keep saying no.
Not the optional hardware survey, but they automatically collect other data just through usage of Steam and applications run through Steam.
Lots of free games on there. Valve themselves just recently gave away half life 2 for free.
I can tell Dr steve doesn’t game!
