this post was submitted on 23 May 2024
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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And why do you use them?

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[–] [email protected] 90 points 5 months ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago

Valve has put a lot of work into helping WINE & Linux. Even if it was a selfish play to break free from Microsoft & other app stores to lock those into their marketplace fee, I can’t help but be grateful for the better ecosystem & uptick in users. Since they are privately held too, they aren’t in the same business of chasing quartely profits or making the experience worse & worse by selling your data & slapping ads everywhere.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I won't say it's "best", as I just want to run a game without friendlists and other bloat, so I really hate the fact Steam is nessesary for so many games.

But I would call it "essentiall".

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yup, as time went on, I simply felt less need to have proprietary software on my system. Steam remains as an exception; simply by virtue of having no F(L)OSS alternative (AFAIK).

[–] [email protected] 21 points 5 months ago

Steam itself isn't that special and things like Heroic exist but where Steam wins is the ecosystem. Also Valve sponsor developments of Linux desktop technologies, so even if Steam itself is proprietary, some of the money ends up advancing open source.

[–] [email protected] 53 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Although I don't use them, the Jetbrains products should be near the top of the list.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

Was going to say this. Pycharm is probably the only paid software I use. With that being said, students don’t need to pay for it, so I don’t have to worry about that.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 5 months ago (4 children)

DaVinci Resolve is THE video editor on Linux. Unfortunately the libre apps for it don't get even close, to the point that even with all the limitations in the free and paid versions, it still is the best option.

Also shout out to Bitwig Studio, although I don't use it.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 months ago (5 children)

KDEndlive is pretty solid, imho

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Honestly IMO it's not even a comparison whatsoever. Kdenlive cannot be used professionally for any real work, it will just crash on you before you even find out it can't even do what you want. I've tried it off and on for many years and it's always a massive disappointment compared to pro solutions.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

In the past 5 years stability has improved significantly, like I haven't had a crash in the past year of casual use. ymmv but I would recommend it to new users at this point.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

I had to switch from kdenlive to DaVinci Resolve recently and it breaks my heart. I'm by no means a professional, but I am a heavy user who is frequently sifting throughout footage. Unfortunately, crashes are still very common for a power user. After encountering a memory corruption bug for the second time that resulted in lost project work (despite saving to disk!!!), I had to switch to something better.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

It is, but when it comes to more complex needs, it falls short. It is really good for simpler editing needs and it is getting better fast.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago

If you haven't done it yet, please consider contributing by writing down what you believe is currently missing, either as your own blogpost or via https://community.kde.org/Kdenlive#Contact

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

I see it has two different products for two different use cases. Kdenlive is for those who missed Windows Movie maker or iMovie. Something to stitch together videos, or split apart videos.

DaVinci Resolve is for those who need stable professional software like adobe.

Not saying that kdenlive can’t be used professionally but I found its stability lacking, its tools unpolished and its functionality limited. The only benefit is that it can handle aac audio, and export it too thanks to ffmpeg.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (4 children)

KDEnLive is a good "editor" for simpler projects, but not a good video editing "suite". It comes nowhere near Resolve's color grading ability, or even audio editing ability these days. And it has no compositing ability at all. In fact, except Natron on Linux (that gets updated once every 2-3 years with just bug fixes and not many features), there's nothing about compositing. Blender's compositing is unusable btw.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Reaper. Great usability and decent Linux support out of the box (looking at you, davinci resolve). Generous free trial and a cheap one-time payment for a license. LMMS has served me well and is fine for basic stuff, but reaper is a whole other level, both in features and usability. I've heard good things about ardour too but have yet to give it a try.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

Reaper is awesome.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Half-life: Alyx, Baldur's Gate 3, Elden Ring, ... you get the idea. It's not so much those apps per se, and I'd prefer them to be FLOSS too, rather it's the amazing content and in such rare cases, I'm happy to financially support the creators.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Does it count as paid if I donated what I think is a reasonable price?
Cause then it's KDE, Firefox, Thunderbird, LibreOffice and Gimp. I'd prefer those programs even if their proprietary counterparts were free.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

Came here to say this too... I contribute a few €/£/$ per month to various projects...

I won't get all righteous here, but just because you don't have to pay, doesn't mean you to say you can't support the developer(s)...

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Lightburn for controlling laser engravers.

It's pretty much the only choice on Linux (though it is cross platform). Free 30 day trial, then ~$80 lifetime licence.

The other choice is LaserGRBL, which is open source, but doesn't seem to have a Linux port for some reason. And it has a lot fewer features, with a more complex workflow.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Pycharm professional and Steam are pretty dope

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (3 children)

It’s so odd how proprietary software is frowned upon so much in this community, but no one cares when it comes to gaming.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

Even Stallman said games are an unfortunate, but reasonable exception. Of he can see it, anyone can.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I paid for Vuescan. There are a ton of Linux scanning apps, but pretty much all of them require editing all pictures to some extent after the scan. Vuescan applies a useful set of defaults that work for most pictures, speeding up the work flow. I had over 4,000 pictures to scan so anything to simplify that was worth it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Vuescan is great, and near as I can tell it's one guy. Totally worth it.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (1 children)

gitkraken has a lot of features that I never use. But showing the various branches and their connections as a color-coded tree is worth paying money for.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago (3 children)

I would never willingly use proprietary software. I don't mind paying if I also have access to source code that is licensed foss.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 months ago (6 children)

That's nice. Some of us have work to get done though.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

I while I understand the sentiment, I have found that paid software is more polished than foss software… most of the time. And when I need to get work done, I want to ensure that my software is stable and I will pay to do so.

That said, I feel software is like a bell curve, and the older the type of software is, the more it should be FOSS. Like word processors, 3D modelling, or image manipulation should be foss, while video editing and 3D scanning software is OK to be paid.

What I feel everyone should agree with is not being forced to use a subscription service to use the software. I will boycott software if it forces that upon their customers, looking at you Adobe, Autodesk and Microsoft.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I wish that was possible, but it's not feasible to get a lot done on a 15 year old ThinkPad or whatever, that doesn't have any proprietary firmware.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

When it comes to 2D CAD/CAM, then QCad is the best. They have a GPL version, but their commercial version has a lot more features, like importing/exporting most Autocad files, and CAM functionality. For just $40 bucks, it's worth every penny. The only disadvantage it has is that it can't ever have an ARM version, because the plugin they use for Autocad files is licensed, and it only exists for x86 afaik.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

I like Sublime Text and Sublime Merge and use both daily.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (3 children)

I like Insync. It synchronizes with Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox. It is not the only client out there but it works better than the other ones I’ve used.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

OpenAudible - because Audible cycles books in and out of the membership too fast and sometimes their phone app sucks.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (7 children)

R-Studio, the single most powerful forensics and disk diagnostics and recovery software for all OSes.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Dungeondraft, Wonderdraft, FoundryVTT. Battle map making, world map making, and virtual table top respectively

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I know you can't make battle maps with it but have you hear of azgaar ? It's an awesome open source world map maping web app !

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

Does Unraid count as paid Linux itself, not just a Linux utility?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

L Vue scan pro is a must if you're into analog photography. The software that usually comes with scanners and printers generally doesn't work on Linux and if it does it's terrible.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

MakeMKV. It's better than anything else.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

I plan to pay for Immich

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Bitwig studio

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