For me, it was perhaps simple-scan, a very simple and efficient GUI to scan documents. I used it with my Brother printer / scanner and it works like a charm. Especially since I do not scan stuff often, so a program with more complex UI would have the effect that I forget how to use it until the next time.
Vuescan.
I was really surprised by some libre games with really good graphics for free software, like Xonotic or Unvainquished. And also very cool projects like Speed-Dreams, that is not as beautiful but is really promising
Otherwise, very cool stuff like Kdenlive, Ardour, LMMS, Puredata, … This is a long list! 😅
The one that surprised me the most was Steam, honestly.
Tux racer was neat.
There was also a weird space game that started with a Q. I never progressed and it gave me existential crisis as it felt like nothing was out there. I’d get lost in space every time.
Yeah that looks like it
MagicQ
LocalSend.
No more USBs ever (outside of install media). So so simple, fast, and works on all devices and FOSS.
It is really the best UX of any file sharing app I have experienced (outside of airdrop I guess, but obvious problems there)
Okular is also a favorite of mine.
I really like LocalSend as well, but it’s very inconsistent with me. I think it has to do with one device being on a VPN, but I’m not totally sure. Basically I have some “one way” connections where one device can see and send to the one connected to a VPN but not the other way around. Is there some way I can specify LocalSend connections to ignore the VPN? I’m on NixOS and installed LocalSend in my user package declarations in my Nix config.
I had the same thing on Bazzite just with the local network, not a VPN.
I believe it has to do with the firewall. You have to open the port both incoming and outgoing for 53317.
But you literally have to be on the same network, so for example if both devices are on the same local network (hence local in the name) and your phone is on a VPN but your computer is not on a VPN, then it won’t work.
It should work if you VPN into your local network remotely so that both devices are on the same LAN, however, then that won’t work anyway because you have to have physical access to the device to accept the transfer (you could probably use a remote desktop to do that, but then it is getting complicated)
What surprised me the most, also in part due to me not really being knowledgeable about software solutions in their respective industries, was the Unreal Engine (the editor that is) and Houdini being available on Linux. Tbf, at least in the vfx department it is apparently more common as most of the high profile software in that industry does have a native Linux version available.
What I appreciated the most though was software like Reaper and Renoise providing a (very good even) Linux-native version when I looked for a new DAW to learn, seeing most software in the audio industry not being very Linux-friendly.
Ardour is also a very good fully free (as in freedom) alternative to Reaper, if you want to experiment 😊
Microsoft Edge was a recent surprise. It’s surprising both that Microsoft would create it and that any Linux users would run it. Since its Chromium based, there should be no need for developers to test Edge separately.
A very unwelcome surprise, too.
Oi, I am planning on using edge when I switch to linux xD
I opened Edge on a fresh install a couple days ago. The amount of things flashing and spinning and popping up trying to grab my attention actually gave me nausea.
And I don’t mean (just) ads, I mean even the starting page with all the news, weather, random popups telling me things i can do with Edge, the dark patterns as soon as I searched for Firefox in Bing, and so on.
The thought that there’s even a single human in the process of developing and maintaining that browser is incredible to me.
But well, I suppose some people do enjoy it. Just beware it won’t be as fast on Linux as it is in Windows since it isn’t as thoroughly integrated into the OS.
I use Edge on my Ubuntu setup. Tried all the browsers that integrate with KeepassXC and Edge won. It’s the only browser that has a nice UI with tabs on a sidebar, decent performance, nice devtools and is not doing shady shit like Vivaldi.
What shady shit is Vivaldi doing? I’m out of the loop.
They add referral codes to your sessions on Amazon and a like. This way all your purchases are feeding their ref accounts.
It’s not that bad practice if they’d do it as opt-in. I never consented to this and only figured out once when I looked at networking tab.
I honestly like it due to ehat it offerd and how it looks. And it’s kinda optimized. Once V3 rolls in thiugh, I am aiming at Floorp.
Just switching to new OS and new browser seems kinda meh.
I’m pretty neutral about the mere existence of software I’m not interested in using.
I think MS assumes no one will use it. But having Linux builds of some of their software enhances their “MS loves Linux” marketing.
Teams is another example.
.
Fair – what I meant was more about the Teams binary kind of not being needed at all (you can use the web version without it). So having a Linux binary explicitly just seems a little weird, marketing aside.
The main reason for building it dedicated instead of as a browser tab is to easily identify it on my task bar as it’s own thing.
MS no longer produces an official Teams binary for Linux. (Correct me if they’ve started doing so again)
I have to build it from the AUR.
But you’re missing out on all the hate! I feel sorry for you. ;)
You can also get Teams on Linux
Really? All I’ve seen is a Flatpak that’s really just a wrapped web view. Is there now a native version of Teams for Linux?
Hmm, seems that you might be right. I haven’t tried but remember that there were both rpm and dep packages, however it looks like after Teams 2.0 came, the native packages are no longer a thing.
The native windows version of teams is also only a glorified web view.
That’s not been my experience. It may be using a web view under the hood, but the functionality is quite different. Additional features, breaking the video call out of the primary pane, etc. To suggest that they’re essentially the same is not accurate.
I see literally no difference between the Windows, Mac, and Linux versions except 2 shortcomings on Linux:
- Camera support is abysmal and uses the lowest resolution
- No echo cancellation, so I need headphones.
Both the Windows and Linux ones are wrapped web views.
That’s a little less surprising to me. Organizations are likely to pick competing communication software if Teams is not available to everyone. Web browsers are generally interoperable after Microsoft lost the war to popularize one that wasn’t.
Zoom. No dark mode though.
I wish it wasn’t cause then I wouldn’t have to use it at work
It works in the browser
I use zoom several times a week, and have had to revert to windows several times because development lags behind win/mac, and for some reason my org has a fixation on trying new features, useful or not.
about 10 years ago, i noticed steam was available for linux. for the longest time i had pretty much written off gaming on linux (apart from like tuxcart, nethack, emulators…). i hadn’t considered actually being able to play “real” games.
that was before proton, so there really wasn’t a ton of stuff i could play, but i found some good stuff like hotline miami, papers please, super win the game.
obviously now we have proton and linux can be argued as a superior gaming platform in many cases.
Back then CS:GO used to run better on Linux! That was why I switched (apart from a borked windows system I put Linux on just for shits and giggles): to get more frames, lol. Now I couldn’t live without Linux, even though I don’t even play CS:GO anymore.
I agree simple-scan is awesome.
I just like when I do an update and my computer uses less data…and its a bit faster. Thats happened a couple of times. Feels good.
Mixx is a cool free dj software, didn’t expect davinci resolve to have an official version, stremio also I didn’t think would have an app for whatever reason. I like inkscape for vector art, didn’t realize it was a thing til I swapped to linux. I use software and apps more in general because it’s stuff I’ve installed and its not hidden by bloat, even if there is more windows stuff out there, its way easier to discover actual useful software using linux through linux appstores compared to windows.
Probably REAPER
Kdenlive. I used Adobe Premiere professionally and Kdenlive completely replaced it for me.
Probably ComicTagger https://github.com/comictagger/comictagger
I had been holding onto ComicRack for years and really loved it for scraping and generating tags before adding to Komga. I was a happy camper when i found ComicTagger.
