Essential applications (Linux, Android, Windows): Difference between revisions
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== Packaging Systems (on Gentoo) == | == Packaging Systems (on Gentoo) == | ||
*; emerge: THE | *; emerge: THE best package manager for Linux. | ||
*; flatpak: Works well on Gentoo (OpenRC) and allows to install some programs that don't have ebuilds available. | |||
*; appimage: another good package system, entirely self contained (no need to install a package manager to run appimage packages). | |||
*; snap: requires systemd, so bad choice for Gentoo OpenRC systems. Better to avoid snap packages. | |||
== Console Applications == | == Console Applications == | ||
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*; wgetpaste: Excellent small utility to post to an online paste service. | *; wgetpaste: Excellent small utility to post to an online paste service. | ||
== Desktop == | == Desktop & File Sharing == | ||
*; Dolphin: Best file manager available on any platform due to its excellent integration with any protocol (SFTP, FTP, etc). | *; Dolphin: Best file manager available on any platform due to its excellent integration with any protocol (SFTP, FTP, etc). | ||
*; Nextcloud: Very good free file sharing platform (similar to Google Drive or Dropbox). You must setup your own server. | |||
*; Insync: Good Google Drive synchronization client for Linux. Not free, but I was unable to find a correct free client. | |||
== Internet == | == Internet == | ||
*; Chromium | *; Brave: Better and more lightweight than Chromium. | ||
*; Firefox: The standard open-source browser that you can trust. Emerge <tt>netscape-flash</tt> or <tt>gnash</tt> to get Flash support. | *; Firefox: The standard open-source browser that you can trust. Emerge <tt>netscape-flash</tt> or <tt>gnash</tt> to get Flash support. | ||
*; Chromium: Was best browser available for Linux, now bloated and second to Firefox. | |||
*; Opera: Another good web browser. Development tools are awful, and not free. | *; Opera: Another good web browser. Development tools are awful, and not free. | ||
*; | *; Floccus: Easy bookmarks synchronization service. Required with Firefox & Chromium. | ||
*; Thunderbird: Good open-source email client from Mozilla. | *; Thunderbird: Good open-source email client from Mozilla. | ||
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*; Filezilla: Best fully featured FTP client currently available on Linux. | *; Filezilla: Best fully featured FTP client currently available on Linux. | ||
*; X-Chat | *; Konversation: IRC client for KDE, better integration with KDE than X-Chat. | ||
*; Kopete: Excellent, ultra-customizable multi-protocol IM client. | *; Kopete: Excellent, ultra-customizable multi-protocol IM client. | ||
*; | *; Krdc: VNC / Rdesktop client for KDE. | ||
*; TightVNC: VNC client. | *; TightVNC: VNC client. | ||
*; Ekiga: SIP (Audio / Video) client. For webcams or remote conferences. Very buggy still. | *; Ekiga: SIP (Audio / Video) client. For webcams or remote conferences. Very buggy still. | ||
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*; aMule: Best client for eMule P2P networks. | *; aMule: Best client for eMule P2P networks. | ||
*; | *; kTorrent: Nice client for torrent downloads. | ||
*; Eiskalt DC ++: Client for Direct Connect networks. | |||
== Development == | == Development == | ||
*; GCC: The whole GNU tool chain will be of course included in the system. | *; GCC: The whole GNU tool chain will be of course included in the system. | ||
*; VSCode: Excellent, fast IDE. | |||
*; Eclipse: Excellent, complex IDE for Java and other languages as well with plugins. | *; Eclipse: Excellent, complex IDE for Java and other languages as well with plugins. | ||
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== Office == | == Office == | ||
*; | *; Okular: Free PDF viewer. Lighter than Acrobat Reader. Can reload files instantly, so very useful for LaTeX development. In theory can also open .epub and .mobi files. | ||
*; Xournal++: Tool to easily add text to a PDF document (very useful for some documents that don't have PDF forms). | |||
*; | *; Foliate: Great e-book reader. | ||
*; | *; CoolReader: Another e-book reader. | ||
*; FBReader: Epub / mobi / azw reader. Has some issues with some .epub files. Exists on Android too. | |||
*; Calibre: Excellent software to manage collections. The viewer features are not interesting. | |||
*; Tellico: Organizes a collection. Can be used with file collections, although it is not ideal. | |||
*; LibreOffice: Necessary to open Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. | |||
*; Odoo: Web based accounting application (very powerful, can be used as a fully featured ERP). Open-source, can be self-hosted, but a paying SaaS version also exists. | |||
*; KAddressBook: Good address book / contact manager. | *; KAddressBook: Good address book / contact manager. | ||
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== Graphics == | == Graphics == | ||
*; Gwenview: Excellent KDE image viewer. | |||
*; Inkscape: Excellent SVG editor. Same as Adobe Illustrator. | *; Inkscape: Excellent SVG editor. Same as Adobe Illustrator. | ||
*; The GIMP: Excellent graphics manipulation program. Can be automated via scripts. | *; The GIMP: Excellent graphics manipulation program. Can be automated via scripts. | ||
*; Digikam: Very good image library management program. Very useful as well to find image duplicates (by content / similarity). | |||
*; Geeqie: Also able to search for image duplicates (but worse than Digikam). | |||
*; Skanlite: Application to scan documents from a scanner. Minimalistic but decent. | *; Skanlite: Application to scan documents from a scanner. Minimalistic but decent. | ||
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== Multimedia == | == Multimedia == | ||
*; | *; SMPlayer: Best video player interface. Can use mplayer or mpv (recommended) as backend. | ||
*; | *; Kodi: Excellent Home Theater software. | ||
*; | *; Strawberry: iTunes like audio player and collection manager. | ||
*; | *; Clementine: Another iTunes clone. | ||
*; | *; MComix: Really excellent viewer for reading comics. | ||
*; Gwenview: Best image viewer (for collections). | *; Gwenview: Best image viewer (for collections). | ||
*; VLC: It will play less files than MPlayer, but is still good. Allows streaming over a network. | |||
*; Showimg: Excellent image viewer. | *; Showimg: Excellent image viewer. | ||
*; | *; MPlayer: This is the player that will play almost all your media files. On Linux you should use a different GUI. | ||
*; OBS Studio: Great software to record (and stream) movies to disk. | |||
*; Kdenlive: A video editor with advanced features. | *; Kdenlive: A video editor with advanced features. | ||
*; Avidemux: A tool that allows you to split videos with a GUI (among other things). | *; Avidemux: A tool that allows you to split videos with a GUI (among other things). | ||
*; K3b: Nice GUI to burn CDs/DVDs. Also able to rip audio CDs to Ogg / Flac / MP3. | |||
*; Amarok: iTunes like audio player and collection manager. Not actively developed anymore. | |||
== Utilities == | == Utilities == | ||
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*; Ark: With the Konqueror plugin, it has a [[Uncompress_files_directly_from_Konqueror | nice integration into your system.]] Allows you to uncompress archives directly from Konqueror / your desktop. | *; Ark: With the Konqueror plugin, it has a [[Uncompress_files_directly_from_Konqueror | nice integration into your system.]] Allows you to uncompress archives directly from Konqueror / your desktop. | ||
*; | *; Authy: 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) application. Better than Google Authenticator, as it works on Android and Linux, but unfortunately is very buggy (automated backups don't sync well across devices, Linux app does not start with some versions...). Note also that the name of the accounts are not synced across devices, only the keys themselves. If it worked well, it would be the best 2FA available. | ||
*; 2FAS: Another 2FA application that has to be tested. Available in Android and as a Chrome browser extension. | |||
*; Virtual Volumes View: File indexer / volume cataloger. Very basic, but no better alternatives right now. | |||
*; Basenji: | *; Basenji: Another file indexer. | ||
*; smartmontools: Tool to monitor the SMART status of your hard drive. | *; smartmontools: Tool to monitor the SMART status of your hard drive. | ||
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*; VirtualBox: A free and excellent virtualization software. Allows you to run Windows natively on your Linux guest OS. | *; VirtualBox: A free and excellent virtualization software. Allows you to run Windows natively on your Linux guest OS. | ||
*; RetroArch: Great front-end to many virtualization systems (especially arcade and console emulators). | |||
*; DosBox: Emulator for the DOS operating system, allows you to play old PC games. | *; DosBox: Emulator for the DOS operating system, allows you to play old PC games. | ||
*; GXMame: Front-end for the XMame Linux version. | *; Qcmame: Front-end for the SDLMame Linux version. | ||
*; GXMame: Front-end for the XMame Linux version (obsolete, does not work anymore with SDLMame). | |||
*; Gens: Sega Genesis emulator. | *; Gens: Sega Genesis emulator. | ||
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*; Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Native port of the FPS game. | *; Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Native port of the FPS game. | ||
= Android Applications = | |||
== Multimedia == | |||
*; Kodi: Best video player on Android. Can be configured to auto-hide OSD (Settings -> Interface -> Configure Screen -> On screen display). | |||
*; Kore: Remote control application for Kodi. | |||
*; Perfect Viewer: Great application for reading comics. | |||
*; VLC: Good video player on Android. | |||
== Utilities == | |||
* File Manager +: Good file manager. | |||
= Windows Applications = | |||
== Development == | |||
*; MinGW: This allows you to use the GCC compiler on Windows, allowing your applications to be portable. | |||
*; Eclipse: Excellent, complex IDE for Java and other languages as well with plugins. | |||
*; Notepad++: Very good lightweight text editor. | |||
*; TortoiseSVN: Excellent GUI front-end for Subversion. | |||
== Utilities == | |||
*; Avira: Free antivirus tool. | |||
= Mac OS X Applications = | = Mac OS X Applications = | ||
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*; smartmontools : Tool to monitor the SMART status of your hard drive. If you install using the Apple installer, the daemon will be automatically launched at startup (remove the StartupItem to prevent that). | *; smartmontools : Tool to monitor the SMART status of your hard drive. If you install using the Apple installer, the daemon will be automatically launched at startup (remove the StartupItem to prevent that). | ||
Latest revision as of 11:10, 26 March 2024
A list of all the applications that I use, on various platforms.
Linux Applications
Packaging Systems (on Gentoo)
- emerge
- THE best package manager for Linux.
- flatpak
- Works well on Gentoo (OpenRC) and allows to install some programs that don't have ebuilds available.
- appimage
- another good package system, entirely self contained (no need to install a package manager to run appimage packages).
- snap
- requires systemd, so bad choice for Gentoo OpenRC systems. Better to avoid snap packages.
Console Applications
- htop
- Small utility to monitor your system's resource usage (CPU and RAM).
- nano
- Good console text editor.
- screen
- Utility to allow to launch long commands on remote hosts, disconnect and later reconnect to your previous session.
- wgetpaste
- Excellent small utility to post to an online paste service.
Desktop & File Sharing
- Dolphin
- Best file manager available on any platform due to its excellent integration with any protocol (SFTP, FTP, etc).
- Nextcloud
- Very good free file sharing platform (similar to Google Drive or Dropbox). You must setup your own server.
- Insync
- Good Google Drive synchronization client for Linux. Not free, but I was unable to find a correct free client.
Internet
- Brave
- Better and more lightweight than Chromium.
- Firefox
- The standard open-source browser that you can trust. Emerge netscape-flash or gnash to get Flash support.
- Chromium
- Was best browser available for Linux, now bloated and second to Firefox.
- Opera
- Another good web browser. Development tools are awful, and not free.
- Floccus
- Easy bookmarks synchronization service. Required with Firefox & Chromium.
- Thunderbird
- Good open-source email client from Mozilla.
- Filezilla
- Best fully featured FTP client currently available on Linux.
- Konversation
- IRC client for KDE, better integration with KDE than X-Chat.
- Kopete
- Excellent, ultra-customizable multi-protocol IM client.
- Krdc
- VNC / Rdesktop client for KDE.
- TightVNC
- VNC client.
- Ekiga
- SIP (Audio / Video) client. For webcams or remote conferences. Very buggy still.
- aMule
- Best client for eMule P2P networks.
- kTorrent
- Nice client for torrent downloads.
- Eiskalt DC ++
- Client for Direct Connect networks.
Development
- GCC
- The whole GNU tool chain will be of course included in the system.
- VSCode
- Excellent, fast IDE.
- Eclipse
- Excellent, complex IDE for Java and other languages as well with plugins.
- Kate
- Lightweight text editor.
- Quanta
- Good text editor oriented towards web development (PHP, Javascript, HTML).
- KDevelop
- Very good IDE for C/C++ development.
- Subversion with KDEsvn
- Excellent source management system. KDEsvn is the best GUI front-end available currently under KDE. It has Konqueror integration.
- Kompare
- Good program to visualize diffs.
- Kdiff3
- GUI for the diff3 utility. Needed to create patches.
- Okteta
- This is an hex editor, sometimes useful.
Office
- Okular
- Free PDF viewer. Lighter than Acrobat Reader. Can reload files instantly, so very useful for LaTeX development. In theory can also open .epub and .mobi files.
- Xournal++
- Tool to easily add text to a PDF document (very useful for some documents that don't have PDF forms).
- Foliate
- Great e-book reader.
- CoolReader
- Another e-book reader.
- FBReader
- Epub / mobi / azw reader. Has some issues with some .epub files. Exists on Android too.
- Calibre
- Excellent software to manage collections. The viewer features are not interesting.
- Tellico
- Organizes a collection. Can be used with file collections, although it is not ideal.
- LibreOffice
- Necessary to open Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files.
- Odoo
- Web based accounting application (very powerful, can be used as a fully featured ERP). Open-source, can be self-hosted, but a paying SaaS version also exists.
- KAddressBook
- Good address book / contact manager.
- PortableSigner
- Tool in Java to electronically sign a PDF document. Comes with a Swing interface.
Graphics
- Gwenview
- Excellent KDE image viewer.
- Inkscape
- Excellent SVG editor. Same as Adobe Illustrator.
- The GIMP
- Excellent graphics manipulation program. Can be automated via scripts.
- Digikam
- Very good image library management program. Very useful as well to find image duplicates (by content / similarity).
- Geeqie
- Also able to search for image duplicates (but worse than Digikam).
- Skanlite
- Application to scan documents from a scanner. Minimalistic but decent.
Multimedia
- SMPlayer
- Best video player interface. Can use mplayer or mpv (recommended) as backend.
- Kodi
- Excellent Home Theater software.
- Strawberry
- iTunes like audio player and collection manager.
- Clementine
- Another iTunes clone.
- MComix
- Really excellent viewer for reading comics.
- Gwenview
- Best image viewer (for collections).
- VLC
- It will play less files than MPlayer, but is still good. Allows streaming over a network.
- Showimg
- Excellent image viewer.
- MPlayer
- This is the player that will play almost all your media files. On Linux you should use a different GUI.
- OBS Studio
- Great software to record (and stream) movies to disk.
- Kdenlive
- A video editor with advanced features.
- Avidemux
- A tool that allows you to split videos with a GUI (among other things).
- K3b
- Nice GUI to burn CDs/DVDs. Also able to rip audio CDs to Ogg / Flac / MP3.
- Amarok
- iTunes like audio player and collection manager. Not actively developed anymore.
Utilities
- Ark
- With the Konqueror plugin, it has a nice integration into your system. Allows you to uncompress archives directly from Konqueror / your desktop.
- Authy
- 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) application. Better than Google Authenticator, as it works on Android and Linux, but unfortunately is very buggy (automated backups don't sync well across devices, Linux app does not start with some versions...). Note also that the name of the accounts are not synced across devices, only the keys themselves. If it worked well, it would be the best 2FA available.
- 2FAS
- Another 2FA application that has to be tested. Available in Android and as a Chrome browser extension.
- Virtual Volumes View
- File indexer / volume cataloger. Very basic, but no better alternatives right now.
- Basenji
- Another file indexer.
- smartmontools
- Tool to monitor the SMART status of your hard drive.
- phoronix-test-suite
- benchmarking tool. It is actually a test suite manager, you can install and run many different test suites.
- bonnie / bonnie++
- I/O (hard drive) benchmarking tool.
Emulation & Virtualization
- Wine
- This is absolutely necessary to play Blizzard games (Warcraft III), and many other Windows games as well. Latest versions are really impressive.
- VirtualBox
- A free and excellent virtualization software. Allows you to run Windows natively on your Linux guest OS.
- RetroArch
- Great front-end to many virtualization systems (especially arcade and console emulators).
- DosBox
- Emulator for the DOS operating system, allows you to play old PC games.
- Qcmame
- Front-end for the SDLMame Linux version.
- GXMame
- Front-end for the XMame Linux version (obsolete, does not work anymore with SDLMame).
- Gens
- Sega Genesis emulator.
- Yabause
- Sega Saturn emulator.
Games
- Battle for Wesnoth
- A great wargame with nice art.
- Majesty
- Native port of the great fantasy kingdom simulation game.
- Pingus
- Free clone of Lemmings, excellent.
- Return to Castle Wolfenstein
- Native port of the FPS game.
Android Applications
Multimedia
- Kodi
- Best video player on Android. Can be configured to auto-hide OSD (Settings -> Interface -> Configure Screen -> On screen display).
- Kore
- Remote control application for Kodi.
- Perfect Viewer
- Great application for reading comics.
- VLC
- Good video player on Android.
Utilities
- File Manager +: Good file manager.
Windows Applications
Development
- MinGW
- This allows you to use the GCC compiler on Windows, allowing your applications to be portable.
- Eclipse
- Excellent, complex IDE for Java and other languages as well with plugins.
- Notepad++
- Very good lightweight text editor.
- TortoiseSVN
- Excellent GUI front-end for Subversion.
Utilities
- Avira
- Free antivirus tool.
Mac OS X Applications
Packaging Systems
- SoftwareUpdate
- Built-in (from Apple), will only update the OS and Apple applications. Very easy.
- Fink
- Large repository of UNIX open-source software.
- DarwinPorts
- Other package manager. The repository has a lot of server software. Easy to use.
Internet
- Free as in beer (from Apple), good client except for the Spotlight search feature taking hours (and not returning anything useful, generally).
- Thunderbird
- Good open-source email client from Mozilla.
- Firefox
- The standard open-source browser that you can trust.
- Safari
- Probably the best browser available for OS X (very fast). Based on Konqueror so should be open.
- Cyberduck
- FTP client, open-source. I don't like it that much but it seems one of the best for the Mac.
- X-Chat Aqua
- Open-source IRC client. Not awesome, but ok.
- Fire
- Open-source multi-protocol IM client.
Development
- GCC
- Included in the system from Apple.
- X-Code
- Good IDE for C++/Objective-C/Java, unfortunately only available on the Mac. It manages its own build system, but this is not portable.
Multimedia
- iTunes
- Excellent audio player.
- MPlayer
- Best video player available on the Mac, but should be compiled from source. The binaries versions are not maintained it seems. Also, the GUI sucks. Update: new binaries seem available directly from the official site.
- VLC
- It will play less files than MPlayer, but the Mac port is official and better.
- Adobe Photoshop
- Best image editing program.
- Roxio Toast
- Good CD/DVD-burning software, but not free.
Office
- Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Essential to read PDF files.
- Address Book
- Nice contact book manager.
Utilities
- Built-in Unarchiver
- It will decompress .tar, .zip, and other formats. Nice integration into the Finder.
- CDFinder
- Organizes a CD/DVD collection. Good but not multiplatform nor Open-Source.
- CDCat
- Organizes a CD/DVD collection. Free as in speech, multiplatform, uses Qt3. But you must compile it yourself.
- smartmontools
- Tool to monitor the SMART status of your hard drive. If you install using the Apple installer, the daemon will be automatically launched at startup (remove the StartupItem to prevent that).