I want to know what kind of apps/programs y’all recommend to people or just use personally. This is just in general, could be anything from a game to a media codec. I personally use Linux but stuff for other operating systems is welcome too.
Newpipe, KDEconnect, Vlc, KeepassXC, Syncthing, convert (CLI program for converting files eg jpg to PNG ), Yakuake (a dropdown terminal)
Do you mean on phones? Windows? Macs? Watches?
I like Merlin on iOS cos it identifies birds by their calls.
Android users can use ‘BirdNET’ it’s FOSS and works most of the time.
Merlin is also on Android too for anybody looking for it
Scoop is my favourite package manager on Windows. I’m also familiar with Winget and Chocolatey, but something has always felt off with them.
AltSnap is something that lets you drag and/or resize a window by holding the Win key and then clicking anywhere on the window instead of having to reach for the edges or the titlebar.
ClickMonitorDDC is my go-to for controlling brightness of desktop monitors. Also, on my work laptop I’ve set it to sync the laptop display brightness with the brightness of the external monitors. In combination with a macropad/keyboard with rotary encoders it is pretty good. Sadly, it’s practically abandonware at this point - the original site is down and there are only a few mirrors - but it still works fine for the most part.
Clink + Clink completions + oh-my-posh + fzf is my favourite combo for the command line. The cool thing about oh-my-posh is that it’s multiplatform and that its configuration is portable, so I can also install it on top of bash/zsh and have the same prompt I’m used to.
FanControl is something that I can’t believe exists as a free app. It’s so much better than motherboard vendor software for the same purpose - not only works reliably, but also lets you do things that the motherboard software usually does not - e.g. linking a case fan curve to the GPU temp. Last time I used GNU/Linux I had to manually write configs for lm-sensors, which works, but is a tedious process. I just found out about CoolerControl - looks promising, but haven’t tried it myself.
+1 for scoop. I’ve got a windows PC that I keep around for certain programs I can’t use with wine and scoop makes it bearable.
Here’s a mixture of applications, some for Linux, some for Android, some for both. And some of them might work on other platforms as well, but I’m not sure.
Borg for making backups. For the first glance it could look overwhelming, but after reading through the quick start guide, it’s really easy to use.
VeraCrypt for encryption of removable media.
Megalodon as a Mastodon client.
Voyager as a Lemmy client. It has a very weird and unintuitive UI, but there are no ads and the content is well readable, well presented.
OsmAnd for offline navigation. It’s especially great for cycling and hiking, as even the most insignificant trails are on the map. It isn’t free, but it’s cheap.
Thunderbird for emails. Until recently I just used the online interface for my emails, but ever since I got a Proton subscription and multiple aliases with it, I started to use Thunderbird so I can see everything in one place, and also it has advanced filtering capabilities (the best of any email client I’ve ever used).
Proton Calendar, just for the sake of not to use Google.
Firefox with uBlock Origin. These two together is the bare minimum nowadays if you are thinking about browsing the internet.
VS Code for smaller stuff. Not gonna list my extensions here, but there are a few less known ones that I always install.
Zed is in early development, but if it gets as mature as VS Code, I’ll consider using this instead.
JetBrains IDEs for software development. It makes me cry every year when I spend a buttload of money on renewing my license, but for me it’s worth it. No other IDE ever made it so easy for me to set up and work with projects.
Dia for UML or database schema diagrams, and bunch of others. Sadly it’s a bit outdated, but it’s simple and easy to use.
GameMaker is awesome for… making games, but also automation and simple apps as well. Excel can be used for automating things and be a useful calculator. I like doing digital art on Artrage as it has realistic tools and has a simpler interface without all that clutter. The Kustom apps (android) are awesome for making live wallpapers, lock screens, smart watch faces, and widgets. GraphicsGale is useful for pixel art. Offline Games (android) is a compilation of… offline games. They’re well made and worth the no-ads purchase. I think that’s about all my personal favorites unless I include Boost for lemmy
Will put a disclaimer here that it’s not going to be for everyone but I use emacs for pretty much everything.
It’s a competent code editor with a lot of plugins similar to vscode. It has email, web browsing and IRC built-in out of the box. One of the best of the bundled packages is org-mode which is a fully featured note taking application that can export to HTML and latex. Then there are a wide ecosystem of packages like music players (emms) and visual git interfaces (magit) you can install too. It can even work as a WM!
Before we get into a text editor holy war I still use vim for quick edits.
Mullvad, Ente Auth, VS Codium, Librewolf, VLC, Steam
Snagit, it’s like Windows snipping tool on steroids. I was introduced to it at work and loved it so much I bought a license for my personal computer.
I’m also a huge fan of Dashlane for managing my passwords. It’s one of the pricier options, but it works so much better than everything else I’ve tried (and has a nicer UI, too)
