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.
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
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.
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:
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!
- Converter Now: An all-in-one convert everything to everything app.
- Light Meter: Calculate light levels and color temps for photography and videography.
- Stellarium: Honestly don’t know how “well known” it might be. But it’s fun to point at stars and planets.
+1 for converter now, close to my most used app on Android.
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!
sl is a classic command line program for something harmlessly pointless
calibre for digital library software (cataloging books/docs/articles)
Comic book reader, it’s a cbz/CBR comic book archive reader that tries to do the panel/smart auto zoom that used to be a part of comixology until Amazon bought it to kill it as competition to their shitty books app
I donated to calibre, makes my eBook viable.
Pixelorama, a good, open-source pixel art program
A windows app that shows you the space things are taking up on your computer so you can easily delete them. Usually helps me clear out a ton of space.
ncduin LinuxWiztree and Treesize are both much faster.
Windirstat is still relevant… But slow.
I prefer WizTree. It’ll show you space usage, but you can also search for files, and it’s incredibly fast.
It’s also much faster
Edit: you said that already lol sorry
I’ll have to give it a try one day.
dua-cli is good for this.
The same disk space visualisation, on Linux, can be shown with:
(Available from your distro package-manager)
https://www.sportismygame.app/ Helped me get of my fat ass and move every once in a while
Freedom - https://freedom.to/
A very powerful cross platform website/app blocker with a lifetime membership option. Works well for blocking multiple fediverse domains.
Everything, the only thing that makes Windows usable.
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.
FancyZones is literally the only thing I’m missing from Windows after switching to Linux. I’ve looked around stack and reddit but have only found posts asking for that functionality, haven’t found a solution. Is there a DE/window manager/etc that has similar functionality?
Isn’t Fancy Zones just window tiling? KDE has a tiling built in (hit meta+t to set up and then hold shift while dragging a window) and there are a hundred way more nerdy tiling window managers.
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.
It’s an android app that uses your display to make a “glow” to light a room rather than using the camera flash like a torch.
It’s in F-Droid.
Obviously the camera flash is more powerful if you’re outside or whatever, but using the display this way is way better inside. That tiny little dazzling pin-prick of light is just… unpleasant.
With candle you can also set whatever color you like. Red is nice to avoid waking people or ruining night vision.
I discovered this app when we had twins and waking up to nurse them overnight. Gonna sound weird if you’ve not been through this but basically they won’t really wake up they make a gentle sooky noise, and you put a bottle or boob in their mouth and they suckle while they sleep. If you turn a light on they’re gonna wake up which is sub-optimal.
I fell down the everyday carry flashlight pipeline / rabbit hole instead. Not recommended if you don’t want to ruin your perception of what’s a great tint of light to you.
This is the first app in this thread that made me go “I need this!” and immediately downloaded it!
Thanks!
It’s weird how much i like this app.
It’s free / open, solves a problem elegantly, and I use it all the time.
One of the first type programs I got when i got an original iPad touch. Loved it!
