Lemmy seems like the right place to ask this. Personally I’ve really enjoyed Gurgle, which is a FOSS Wordle clone app.
Libre office, a great office option. I’ve been using it for 15 years. Foreshadowing
VLC, Plays media. It’s a tank. Also Highways use VLC to mark many winter potholes.
Linux, It’s not that hard to use anymore.( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
WINE, not just for one night stands! it’s great for running Windows Stuff on Linux.
Also, and my personal favorite, your mom is free and open source. Mic Drop going to bed. With your mom. Wasn’t expecting that twice were you? Well, neither was your mom. Got 'em.
Ublock Origin. The amount of people going through life exposing themselves to ads is tragic. It’s so unhealthy and most people aren’t aware that there is a simple and free way of protecting yourself from the psychological warfare that corpos use against society
I don’t understand how people do not get blood red angry at advertising more often. Its the root of a lot of our problems with censorship and they flat out just exploit what little free time we all get.
By the time I get home I got 3 hours to chill. Then these ads take up 1/3 of that selling me shit I never asked for. They indirectly forced every platform I ever enjoyed to become these homogenous boring vanilla time sinks. That’s because they pay one content safe creator and then the rest start to copy them. Now if I want to avoid ads, I have to pay extra fees which fuck it, the content creators circumvent by putting ads directly into the media.
We should all be more hostile to any encroachment of ads into our lives. Its weird that instead I see people embracing it like it isn’t a cancer. We’ve lost the freedoms we had on thr internet to these ads and nobody seems to care.
PC:
- Libreoffice – the best, most customisable and powerful office software available
- Onlyoffice – alternative for less-advanced users who are used to the UI of contemporary MSO
- Zotero – great bibliography manager useful when writing scientific papers: lets you collect books, journal articles and all other types of sources, automatically finds full text PDFs online, fills in metadata and then inserts dynamic citations in thousands of different, customisable styles. Also generates bibliographies. Works with LO, MSO and GDocs
- Caprine – clean Facebook Messenger client (web wrapper based)
- TeXStudio – my LATeX editor of choice; integral (ha!) when formatting maths-heavy documents
Android:
- Cloudstream — free streaming app, works with SFlix, Sodastream, PH and other legally dubious streaming providers. Takes some trickery to set up though.
- Osmand — OpenStreetMap client with offline (optional online) navigation and plenty of plugins; loads of customisation
- Material Files — nicest file manager, especially for rooted devices
- Showly — freemium open-source TV and film tracker. Syncs with Trakt.tv
- Simple Gallery — out of all Simple Apps by this developer, this is the only one which is in fact superior to its alternatives. Highly customisable, powerful, lightweight gallery app
Question about zotero, I just started using it and I can’t seem to find a way to direct it to PDFs I have already downloaded? Is there a way to do that or does it only have the PDF finding feature? The citation thing is pretty cool though, it’s gonna make my writing class easier and I won’t have to use mybib anymore. Also, is there a way to make it always use the classic interface when adding a citation? I keep having to click “show classic interface” or whatever the button is, and it’s a tad annoying.
Question about zotero, I just started using it and I can’t seem to find a way to direct it to PDFs I have already downloaded? Is there a way to do that or does it only have the PDF finding feature?
You can just drag and drop PDFs. Either to the list to create a new item or to an existing item if you already have it there.
Also, is there a way to make it always use the classic interface when adding a citation? I keep having to click “show classic interface” or whatever the button is, and it’s a tad annoying.
Zotero: Edit: Preferences: Cite: Word processors: Use classic Add Citation dialog [X]
Thank you much!
BTW, why use classic dialog? The quick one is great, when you learn to use it: it allows you to easily find a bibliography item by any keyword or tag; lists previously cited items on top; can automatically add locator (page number) and also lets you modify the citation appearance by double-clicking the cited item. I can’t imagine how the classic interface could be more usable in any application
I guess I just didn’t like having to type and find what I wanted to cite when I knew I wanted to cite the first or second article in my paper. But I guess that could become a problem once I have more citations, so I’ll definitely try to get used to the other way too.
Obtainium - - app with which you can download & update apps (apk’s) directly from github/gitlab/etc. (and even f-droid).
Absolutely awesome 👍
I use it, but I don’t understand the auto update feature. When it’s closed the app shows a number of updates and when I open it I have to click on every update manually, it never auto updates, even though it’s enabled in the options. Does it work for you?
This app isn’t fully ready yet but Accrescent is a secure and private app store for Android. It aims to be a better alternative app store on Android rather than using the Google Play Store. It currently has 11 apps right now and more to come soon.
Highly recommend to check out and support this project cuz this appstore is the best out there right now security and privacy wise.
Try F-Droid instead.
F-Droid has many security vulnerabilities and has many issues such as:
- Hosting an outdated APK client.
- Utilizes an obsolete installation method.
- Does not take advantage of modern appstore features.
- Has no moderation.
- Has no old app deletion.
- Has an arbitrary FOSS only rule.
- Does all building and signing themselves.
If you want more details about these issues read this:
#2 can be solved by using one of several alternative clients with root permissions. Yes, manual APK install is tedious but not inherently insecure, and the only option for nonroot devices without an ADB host.
#4 is not really true. They are just very lenient, mostly just flagging apps with problems (known vulnerabilities, telemetry, non-FOSS services/assets/libs, ads).
#5, #6 and #7 are actually advantages. It’s nice to know that all apps are FOSS and correspond to source, and I can install old apps / earlier versions on old phones – as opposed to Google Play, which denies an app’s existence if your device is incompatible, resulting in shady alternatives and adware typosquatters topping search results.
2 - Manual installation methods can be insecure because a lot of people don’t update their apps all the time. Obviously rooting a phone is insecure, but having no auto updates in 2023 is crazy.
4 - It is very true, having zero quality control on new apps. The flagging of apps with problems is just following the FOSS philosophy. Any FOSS app can be added to F-Droid.
5 - Not sure why you would want to install abandoned apps on F-Droid, let alone use an EOL device. A lot of people don’t check if apps are maintained because they trust their app store.
6 - FOSS doesn’t automatically mean its secure or private. Also, why is it that I have to install proprietary apps only on the Google Play Store?
7 - FDroid signing keys isn’t an advantage because it requires an extra layer of trust. I’m already trusting the developer by installing their app, so the developer should be signing the keys. This is a reason why Signal is not on F-Droid.
The point of free software isn’t security, but freedom. For people who want control of their computing, this is not an “arbitrary restriction” but rather a basic requirement. Just because you don’t particularly care about a concern doesn’t make it “arbitrary.” I’m not a vegan or vegetarian but I don’t complain about the “arbitrary restriction” of a plant-based diet.
I think your thinking im against FOSS but you’re not understanding. Many people in the FOSS community only care about privacy and ignore security. A developer can implement security benefits to FOSS but many people don’t care to do it.
Accrescent is FOSS and it has much higher security benefits than F-Droid. Accrescent allows both open and closed sourced apps because there’s no benefit being exclusive to having FOSS apps in their catalog.
If the user chooses to not use proprietary apps on Accrescent, they don’t have to install them.
It’s a misconception to say that free software is “about privacy.” Many people in the free software community care about having the four freedoms (the freedom to use, share, modify, and share modified copies). We don’t like free software because we think it’s more secure, we like it because it’s free software. Freedom doesn’t need a justification other than freedom itself.
For us, a catalogue offering only free software isn’t an “arbitrary rule” that’s the whole point. If F-Droid carries an app I know I have the four freedoms with that app, because they put in the work to verify that, by building the app according to their (relatively strict, not strict enough IMO) standards. Accrescent and Obtainium fans have different priorities, which is okay, but I don’t understand why they spend so much time shitting on F-Droid and the free software movement.
Security is important in free software, but security in proprietary software is often user-hostile (for example, DRM and WEI). Often times the only way to regain freedom in a proprietary environment is to exploit a security hole, so sometimes we prefer that proprietary software actually not be very secure.
As for F-Droid’s and the free software’s community towards “old” apps, we understand that software does not lose value simply by being unmaintained. Of course, if something is particularly security-critical and/or has a large attack surface (for example an operating system or a web browser). I would stay away from anything unmaintained. That doesn’t apply to all software, though.
2 - You cannot really fix this unless an alternative F-Droid client is installed as a system app by the manufacturer, or they allow relocking the bootloader. Good luck convincing them.
5 - I can run anything of any age on my devices, accepting the security risk. I want to be able to factory reset and use one of my Android 4.4 phones with an unmatched speaker as an Internet radio receiver instead of throwing it out. F-Droid explicitly tells you how long it’s been since the last update and ranks old apps low in lists and searches.
I’ll second Openstreetmap, I use it exclusively. There’s also a set of lightweight versions that are locally hosted, so I use osmap.nl if I want to quickly look at where something is. It also forces the names to the language of the server, so you can use it to improve a second language.
I use an adblocker on my phone called Blokada. It blocks adverts in apps as well as on websites, so I don’t get adverts if I play something like Words With Friends for example. Also blocks adverts on Youtube which is an absolute godsend. Advertising is one of the few things I get irrationally upset about.
I make music using LMMS. It has its limitations but it’s quite versatile if you’re handy with it. This song was made in it for example: https://on.soundcloud.com/dTqgb
I use Betterbird for email on my PC. It’s Spartan in design, which is what I’m into, and you can sign in with multiple addresses. I use K-9 Mail on my phone which has the same advantages.
I use an app called Saisonkalender to look at what veg is in season. Quite niche but it’s handy for ordering ingredients for soup of the day in work.
I have a game on my phone called Lexica which is basically Boggle. It’s good fun.
Do betterbird and K-9 work with exchange?
LogSeq for taking notes.
It is a markdown editor and has a lot of features i didn’t know I wanted. Like you can mark in PDFs and those marks will be made into notes with shortcuts to that place right into your other notes.
Besides software mentioned by others:
NeoVim: The single most perfect editor of all time.
QOwnNotes: A pretty good note taking app for markdown notes with tons of extension and options. But tbh Obsidian is still the gold standard.
SSH: It’s everywhere. Controlling my servers from remote is a trivial task. Also, it does tunneling.
Syncthing: Syncing files around has never been easier than with syncthing. And it’s decentralized, encrypted, private.
Kitty: A great Terminal Emulator
I used to use Kitty, but I switched to Konsole due to the lack of tabs.
Kitty has tabs, I use them all the time
I read somewhere that it hasn’t have tabs, but I might have mistaken Kitty with some other terminal emulator.
Alacrity does not have tabs. Maybe you mistook them? I can definitely say that Kitty has very well working tabs
DaVinci Resolve. It’s insane to me that you can get that much video editin functionality for free.
Edit: I somehow missed the open source-part. Nvm me.
That’s not even free, and more importantly not free and open source.
Oops, I mentally skipped the “open source” part. It’s definitely free as long as you don’t need the premium features. But maybe that doesn’t qualify as free?
Free is a loaded word and in FOSS it means “free as in freedom” as opposed to “free as in free beer”.
GNU/Linux and the PineTime
Why PT?
Its very cool and I love the minimalism. I love, that I have so many choices. I can choose what OS I want, I can choose which Watchface I wanna flash and so on.
Termux: A terminal emulator for Android.
I love a good terminal. But help me understand, why for Android?
I can use the same tools/scripts on my phone that I use on desktop (using mostly terminal apps there, too)
Blender is my favorite open source tool I wish I knew how to use :)
I’d love to use it for creating my own designs and took several attempts at learning it. But I always end up giving up on it due to lack of time and energy.Blender has one of the hardest learning curves I have experienced so far. It simply does so much and there is so much to remember. It’s worth it, but man, it’s intense.
A little different from many of the things mentioned, but…
- Tales of Maj’Eyal - an open source Roguelike with a ton of content. There are paid expansions but the engine and base game are FOSS.
- 0 A.D. - AOE-like
- Battle for Wesnoth - a really fun TBS
- gzdoom + freedoom - while the assets aren’t quite on par with the commercial Doom assets, this will allow you to play through any Doom mod/TC
Casual: Puzzles by Simon Tatham (the Android port is great)
And OpenRCT2 and OpenTTD, of course.
Firefox+uBlock (web browser)
MEncoder (video encoder)
OBS (screen recording and streaming software)
Inkscape (vector illustration software)
Mumble (VoIP chat room server/client/protocol)
Julia (programming language great for scripting and mathematics)For Unix systems:
Wezterm (terminal multiplexor)
i3 (window manager)As a (former?) developer of Mumble I’m delighted to see it mentioned.
Immich: Google Photos alternative (link)
