Software "Essentials" that everyone should have?

[rodia77]

I want a PDF reader that is specialized for books, something that is comfortable to use for hours.

This thread is a few months old now so you might have got there by yourself but just in case -- Calibre.

[Hoser Rob]

I want a PDF reader that is specialized for books, something that is comfortable to use for hours.

This thread is a few months old now so you might have got there by yourself but just in case -- Calibre.

Funny, I've had Calibre for years, I forget how many times I've installed it. But I never ever use the main program, which I find bloated and wanting to take too much control.

The e-book reader that comes with it, though, is really good. It shows up in the app menus as "E-Book Viewer", which was a bit confusing when I also would install fbreader, which shows up in the menus as "E-Book Reader". That problem is solved now, fbreader hasn't been maintained very well ansd stinks now.

The Calibre ebook reader and Foliate are the only good ones I can find nowadays.

[rodia77]

wanting to take too much control.

How do you mean?

[spamegg]

Funny, I've had Calibre for years, I forget how many times I've installed it. But I never ever use the main program, which I find bloated and wanting to take too much control.

The e-book reader that comes with it, though, is really good.

Same here I install it only for the e-book reader these days.

[spamegg]

For software essentials, I would add Micro. apt install micro
Chances are you'll have to do at least a little bit of text editing on the Terminal.
The default options like nano and vim are quite unintuitive and have unfamiliar keybindings.
I don't mean to get into the whole "editor holy wars", just looking at it from a beginner perspective.
Being able to use normal Ctrl+X,C,V,S, mouse text selection goes a long way for newcomers.
Micro works great in that regard. Just normal editing, no "read / insert modes" and no weird keybinds.
It also has an (optional, you're not forced to use it) "execute command" mode similar to Vim / Emacs although much less powerful and simpler by design.

[sylvain1_]

tor browser is essential

[Neophyte]

Krita is my go to.

[danielcombs]

Some really good stuff in this thread..... Thanks !

[Danbor]

Not a power user here. In fact, reading through the thread, I have no idea what most of these programs even do.
But, what I use other than what came with Mint... gnome mahjong, Foxclone, Brave Browser Nord VPN, Virtual Box with a Virtual Mint OS and a Virtual Win10 OS, though neither are used much. And Gimp ( currently taking a Udemy course on how to use it. And only interested in restoring old photos with it ).
I do use Timeshift, but only for manual backups of /. And those backups go on a separate data drive. I don't fully trust the program after it filled my boot drive leading to a complete reformat and reinstall early in my Linux adventure. /Home I just copy to a USB drive prior to trying something that might turn out to be a stupid move. ;D

[AndyMH]

/Home I just copy to a USB drive prior to trying something that might turn out to be a stupid move. ;D

Try backintime (install from software manager), works just like timeshift, takes snapshots, so save to an ext4 partition on your usb drive. Default is to only save the contents of home so complementary to timeshift. Very easy to restore individual files with backintime.

[mmm]

by Undertaker555 » Wed Sep 20, 2023 8:21 pm
Which tools and programs you would consider as "Essentials that everyone should have"?

@Undertaker555
This is a great thread. Interesting and useful.
May I suggest that you keep a cumulative list by editing your first post as people come up with their favourite programs.
You could put a separator line at the bottom of your post with a note of when last updated.
Each entry might contain:
Program name;
What it does;
Where it can be obtained.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is an example:
Program name...numlockx
What it does...keeps keyboard number pad always giving numbers and not commands
Where it can be obtained...Linux Mint Software manager.

[Danbor]

/Home I just copy to a USB drive prior to trying something that might turn out to be a stupid move. ;D

Try backintime (install from software manager), works just like timeshift, takes snapshots, so save to an ext4 partition on your usb drive. Default is to only save the contents of home so complementary to timeshift. Very easy to restore individual files with backintime.

Thanks Andy, I'll have a look at it.

[KMD2023]

/Home I just copy to a USB drive prior to trying something that might turn out to be a stupid move. ;D

Try backintime (install from software manager), works just like timeshift, takes snapshots, so save to an ext4 partition on your usb drive. Default is to only save the contents of home so complementary to timeshift. Very easy to restore individual files with backintime.

+1 to AndyMH!
I also use timeshift for the system which backs up to a separate SSD in my system case, and I use backintime as my personal files backups to an external HDD. I set timeshift to 1 daily (keep 4); 1 weekly (keep 3) and that is it. For me, if I screw up and don't notice for two or three weeks, I call it a hard lesson learned. Prior to any major updates, I run a manual timeshift, then I name it (so it doesn't expire) and then if all is good after a week of normal use, I delete that named one myself.

I've had good luck and it's rescued me from several misadventures already. I use a LM VM for any crazy experiments now though as well as testing updates before updating my daily driver.

[Hoser Rob]

I'd suggest Audacious for music, I use it pretty much exclusively for audio files. It's simple, small, and lightweight. And it's taken every playlist format I've thrown at it. Many much heavier and more impressive looking music players I've tried won't do that. Which is probably why I keep using it.

[MurphCID]

This website: https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.com/p/1.html

For me it is HTOP, Neofetch, and flatpaks of LibreOffice, Thunderbird, and Rhythmbox.