...

Hello!

I'd like to share some software that I use on a daily basis that you might find interesting if you haven't heard of it before. The majority of what I use is free software, and I sometimes recommend it to people who are close to me.

Operating System

I've been using Zorin OS for a year and a half and I've been surprised at how functional it is as a daily driver. No longer I have to worry about software licenses, antivirus, no need to install a file decompressor (because it already has File Roller), I don't need a driver package, because all the drivers are already in the Linux kernel, and the store lets me easily install any other useful software that I might need. Another option that I don't use, but is also excellent, is Linux Mint.

Office Suite

Although I recognize that LibreOffice pre-installed on Zorin is a good software for office tasks, I prefer to use OnlyOffice. The UI is much more familiar to me, and it has everything I need to use.

Web Browser

I recommend using Firefox-based browsers as they are not affected by Manifest V3, and therefore have support for older extensions which are pretty good, such as uBlock Origin, LocalCDN and ClearURLs. LibreWolf and Firefox with a custom user.js are the the way to go. If you must use a Chromium-based browser, Ungoogled Chromium is a decent choice. Like LibreWolf, it's a browser with privacy by default that you enable only the features you need.

Note Taking

For a long time I used Notion to store my notes. The problem was that if I didn't have access to the Internet, I couldn't make a quick note if an idea crossed my mind at that moment. Then I found Anytype, which I've been using for a year now! It's an offline-first program, meaning that you can create an account offline, store your notes locally and then synchronize them peer-to-peer over local networks. It's truly an amazing project and I'm looking forward to its development!

Backup and Sync

As far as backup and synchronization goes, Syncthing is absolutely an amazing software that allows you to define folders to synchronize between devices connected on local networks. Think of it as cloud storage but local. This is very useful if you want to backup files and maintaining its versions up to date.

Video Editor

Sometimes I like making edits for myself and share to friends, and for that I use ShotCut. As I've used this software over the last few years, I've learned a lot of cool features, and I always recommend it to anyone who is starting out or needs to edit a video. Other options that I haven't tested, but heard good things about them, are Kdenlive and DaVinci Resolve.

Screen Recording

For screen recording, OBS Studio goes without saying. It's a free software that's very popular with people who record screen footage. It's simple, straight to the point and it works pretty well.

Chat and VoIP

XMPP and Matrix are decentralized communication protocols that allow users to send texts, make voice calls, share images, videos, audio, and files across different servers and clients. For XMPP I use Dino on the desktop and Monocles Chat on the phone. For Matrix, I use Cinny on the desktop and FluffyChat on the phone. For VoIP, Mumble is a free, encrypted, and self-hosted voice chat program. There is also a phone client for it, which is called Mumla. Setup guide on how to self-host Mumble Server on Ubuntu-based systems is here.

Disk Software

I use the pre-installed Disks for checking partitions and Disk Usage Analyzer to see which files or folders are taking the most space on my system, alongside BleachBit to free disk space and GSmartControl for checking disk health status.

Multimedia Player

I use VLC as multimedia player.