Been awhile since I saw a thread like this and they’re always good for at least one or two things I’ve never heard of before. Bonus points if the software is open source and cross platform. Extra bonus points if you link to where we can see it/get it.
My contribution: Destiny which is an anonymous, P2P, E2EE file sharing app - its basically a GUI for a Magic Wormhole implementation. Works on Linux (tarball or appimage), Win, Mac, Android (inc f-droid) and iOS. Only downside is it’s not been updated for 2 years.
QuickLook for Windows. Coming from a Mac this thing is super useful to replicate that functionality on Windows.
Small apps available on Flathub that have only one purpose
Latest examples:
- Trilium Notes: note-taking
- Foliate: .epub reader
- Shortwave: radio player
My brain works in a way that 1 software = 1 single and unique thing, and you shouldn’t have to go through a roundabout way to do that thing.
Apparently many don’t know libre office is thing and free. Seeing people ask for goggle doc alternative amd all they need is a word processor.
DGT GTD is an old Android app for task tracking. It is ugly and incredibly useful. Lives entirely in the phone, no cloud subscription, no paid plans, nothing.
I have used it forever. There is no good alternative.
The current app “Chaos Control” is a close contender, but pricey and cloud connected.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dg.gtd.android.lite
For Windows users, I want to recommend PowerToys: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/
The “toys” that I use a lot are: PowerToys Awake: to keep my laptop awake even if I’m away from keyboard for a while.
Fancy Zones: to create my own layout of windows, especially on the ultra-wide monitor I have at work, it’s easy to have 3 smaller windows next to each other according to my layout.
Mouse Utilities, I often can’t find my mouse cursor, just pressing a hotkey will literally spotlight the cursor.
Quick Accent, especially for multi-lingual people this is really handy, though it takes a bit to get used to its working.
I use fancy zones, and also the one that finds your mouse cursor as I’m always losing it, and the always on top mode for when I don’t want a teams call to vanish while I do something else
Be like me, just make your mouse cursor neon green and huge.
LocalSend is open-source and great for file transfer (or even just sending text) between my devices.
Never occurred to me to even look for such a thing!
I’m surprised how many people don’t know about a Linux utility called “fuck”. When you make a mistake on the command line and get an error, you just type “fuck” and it looks at what happened and suggests a fix. If this looks correct - and it almost always is - you just hit Enter and it types that in for you. Best thing ever!
If any of you still aren’t using YT Revanced… why?! So yeah, that one, cause God knows my limit for insipid and repetitive ads is extremely small.
Because I don’t watch videos on my phone.
YouTube has broken uBlock and Firefox. Still works on Edge, but I’d rather not switch browsers back and forth. Yes, I’ve cleared my cache.
Anyone?
Is it because of your religion or…?
Why would I watch videos on a shitty little screen? My PC is hooked to 40" and 55" TVs.
What if you’re on the bus?
Bulk Rename Utility for Windows:
dired
This is so powerful, I use it all the time.
Here’s a bunch of equivalent things for desktop OSes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batch_renaming#List_of_software
PowerToys has something like this roo
Greenshot is free, open-source, and the built-in image editor is perfect (for my use-case, ymmv). ShareX is also FOSS but more well-known.
Another vote for Greenshot, I use it nearly daily for my work.
I used to use Greenshot but switched over to Flameshot. Also Free software, but has better and easier editing tools. The numbered arrows are so handy.
The last version on the website is from 2017. I wonder what’s going on? The repo seems to be alive. I used it for years but switched recently to ShareX since Greenshot GUI can’t really handle high screen resolution
Edit: Just checked the Blog. They didn’t had time in the last years but it seems to pick up speed again now. A new version is coming.
Yeah, it’s been solid/stable but no new developments until 1.3 is coming. You can download the pre-release version if you want to try it again, because that version has zoom options. I imagine that’s what you missed, unless you meant something else with older versions not handling high res well
Qalculate is a fancy calculator available for Linux, MacOS and Windows. I use it for calculations that involve unit conversions, but it can do much more.
I acutally use Qalculate as well when I have to use my Windows laptop
Fuck Microsoft for not bothering to improve on the calculator app for decades.
Best of all, you can also install it using winget. Yes, package management through the cmd in Windows. Well, as long as you’re the admin of that computer. Don’t expect this to work with all corporate laptops.
And Android!!
Oh that’s a good point. Totally missed that one. Seems that there’s also a webapp for other platforms.
Just in case, a big thread this week for Linux users: https://feddit.org/post/14167855
OmniDiskSweeper. Forget apps that help manage disk space with some ugly graph that’s difficult to understand. This just lists files and directories with the heaviest / most space used from top to bottom in a file tree. Essential. Here’s what it looks like:
URLCheck on Android. Displays a popup on opening links allowing editing the URL before opening (with such features as removing chosen parameters with one button), applying transformations like Shitter→Nitter, http→https, sharing the URL, copying and selecting the application to open the URL in. Oh, and if you decide to open in Firefox or Fennec, you have the option to open in the incognito mode. Can’t imagine using Android without it now. Absolute gamechanger
From the store, or else where???
F-Droid. IzzyOnDroid has a tad quicker releases
Ah yup nice, thank you :)
Everything, the only thing that makes Windows usable.
