Hi everyone! So I’ve recently switched to Linux and I’m having a lot of fun downloading software and replacing my old stuff with it. I’m wondering what you all use?
My switched softwares:
Obsidian -> Logseq - Obsidian is great and all but I think Logseq is also competent in its own way even without plugins. I am currently exploring templates to create my own daily journal/habit tracker like I did in Obsidian.
Word/Notepad -> LibreOffice - Seems to have a lot of options. Currently using the writer software for quick notes.
Canva -> Inkscape - I am aware that Canva is a website/android app, but I decided to switch from it to Inkscape by utilizing open source illustrations such as Undraw for graphics needs. I still need to look up tutorials on how to use it properly, though!
Clip Studio Paint -> Krita - I actually made this switch a month or two ago, but I’m really enjoying Krita a lot more than I ever did Clip Studio Paint. Less things to get distracted by, giving you more chances to learn how to utilize the essentials.
Things I’d like to explore in more detail:
- Thunderbird as a calendar/email/task software
- Whether or not I should stick with Calibre for book management
- Kdenlive as a video creating program. I haven’t created videos before, but it seems fun.
How about you? What do you enjoy?
Thunderbird is brilliant and I highly recommend it. As someone who maintains an IMAP server used by a dozen or so people, I can attest that the Thunderbird users never seem to call me up and complain that things are breaking. Outlook, on the other hand…
Similarly, Firefox is a great web browser. I’m not a fan of how they handle money, but just the same I’m not about to go back to a chromium browser.
Kdenlive takes a bit of getting used to, but it’s very powerful, and once you’ve wrapped your head around it, it becomes quite intuitive. It runs well even on 10 year old hardware. You’ll want to learn ffmpeg while you’re at it, though. That’s a godsend.
I don’t understand the hate for libre Office. Many complain that it’s good, but not at the level of Microsoft Office. I disagree - I’ve used it exclusively for over three years, and always completed reports, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. to at least the same if not better calibre than my peers.
Edit: I can’t believe I never mentioned Xournalpp! It’s basically a clone of the old Windows Journal (precursor to OneNote) and I use it daily for drawing on PDFs, note-taking, etc… Very handy for tablet computing.
Hahaha. Ha. God, I hate Outlook.
Can I ask what exactly ffmpeg does? I’m actually very, very new to video creation as a whole. I’m one of those folks that last touched a video creator back in the days of Windows Movie Maker. It seems to be a command line script, but is there any GUI for it?
I wanted a software that lets me write text on a blank paper, and Libre Office does that. Therefore, it’s already a solid replacement. 10/10.
Don’t get me started on Outlook!
ffmpeg is a command line tool. I’m not familiar with any GUI - but a quick Google search will usually find you whatever command you need. It’s an extremely useful tool for all things video. You can extract audio from video, re-encode files with a different codec, access hardware devices such as your webcam, split video, trim video, convert file formats, compress video, resize resolutions, convert a series of images to a video or GIF and vice-versa, add a subtitle stream, etc… It’s very handy to have.