The good part of having a personal blog is that I can write about whatever comes to my mind. Today I was thinking of how people find the software they use, how many people end up using the same apps because they don’t know any alternatives, and the fact that many creators (especially open-source ones) deserve more recognition.
Over the years I already shared some of the software I use, and I’m glad it exists. On those posts you can find:
- Thunderbird
- Aegis
- AntennaPod
- VLC
- [Syncthing](https://sync…
The good part of having a personal blog is that I can write about whatever comes to my mind. Today I was thinking of how people find the software they use, how many people end up using the same apps because they don’t know any alternatives, and the fact that many creators (especially open-source ones) deserve more recognition.
Over the years I already shared some of the software I use, and I’m glad it exists. On those posts you can find:
I still stand behind those choices, and now I will introduce a few more. The key difference this time is that I will focus on apps that, I believe, aren’t as well known as the ones mentioned above while being as useful in my day-to-day.
Skanlite
On my Linux system, this little tool doesn’t let me down; it detects and connects to my network printer and allows me to quickly scan documents. Just works.
Strawberry Music Player
I’m not an audiophile, but whenever I need to play or organize some audio files stored locally, it provides all the features that I need. In the past I used VLC for everything, but it feels nice to have a dedicated tool.
DBeaver
From past discussions, I don’t know many people that resort to these graphical tools to explore and manage their databases. I also don’t use them often, but when I do, DBeaver always works like a charm. It is also useful to design some ER diagrams.
Spectacle
What can I say? The default tool to take screenshots in KDE’s Plasma desktop is the best one I ever used for that purpose.
QOwnNotes
Perhaps one of the app categories with more alternatives out there. “Note Taking.” I tried many; this was the one that worked for me. Very versatile, works with plain text documents, and has useful integrations with Nextcloud.
All local apps that respect your “freedom.” Given I try very hard to avoid Electron apps, especially those that require an internet connection to work. That type of software I run on the web browser.
OK, OK… I still have Signal installed, but I don’t have solid alternatives there. But it is the last remaining Electron app on the system.
Let me know what you think and if there’s a better replacement for any of them.