This is the things I use on my computer. :)

Conditions for a good software accoridng to me

  • Least number of visual stimulations. No notifications, no sounds, no tons of button everywhere… Best if it can be only used using keyboard.
  • Light, my computer also wants to benefit from minimalism.
  • Respects its users. It needs to be “free software” (free as freedom)
  • Being necessary for you.

The basic stuff

  • Xubuntu is my operating system.
  • dwm (plus dmenu) is my window manager. Everything is done using a few shortcuts and takes no space on the screen. The shortcuts are easy to get, but the installation might be tricky for new linux users.
  • st is my terminal. I use it for coding, writing and managing my system. The only thing I changed to it was to change the fontsize and enable the scrollback patch. But again it might be tricky to install for new linux users.

Browsing online

I already tried other stuff like “surf” but I don’t like it because I want to use an adblocker.

  • Firefox is my favorite browser. I use it because it’s lighter than other browsers, and I can install uBlock Origin.

Writing

I need to write things for school and for myself. So I mainly use Marktext or nano to write my stuff.

  • Marktext is a markdown editor. I like markdown because I don’t want to pass the majority of my time on choosing fonts and stuff like that. Also I think it’s more handy and reliable. I only use this app for exporting into pdf. I write using nano
  • Nano is a terminal-based editor. Very easy to use, only terminal based. I use for both writing markdown and writing code.
  • Libreoffice if I really need to have a “classic” office suite.

Communication

Chatting

  • dino (xmpp client), it is my favorite chatting software. I like it more than Discord because, instead of joining a ton of useless channels, you only join the ones you want. (Also it’s lighter than Matrix.)
  • HexChat is my favorite IRC client. Yes I still use IRC, it’s so simple and stupid, I love it!

Emails

  • Thunderbird, it has a very “brut” interface, but very handy and powerful. You can setup filters to automatically clean your inbox. I never get up to 20 messages in my inbox this way.

Coding

I use nano as my code editor. That’s it, same thing as said above.

  • nano and st is my IDE :)
  • openscad is the cad software I use. Basically, design things in 3D using code.

Video

  • Shotcut is a nice video editor. Pretty straight forward. When I need something more advanced, I use kdenlive.
  • VLC is a nice video viewer.

Photo

  • Firefox is my image viewer.
  • GIMP is my image editor. I don’t want to use photoshop.

Sound

  • Audacity is useful when I need to record sound
  • pavucontrol is the tool I use to manage the input/output audio stuff.
  • Musecore is a score editor I use to digitalize and read piano scores.