Favorite apps you install right after the operating system or can't live without on Linux.

[Insomniac]

Having recently reinstalled my system with Linux Mint 21.1 it became very obvious what was missing right after. Curious to see what apps are must have for other people. What do you install first or can't live without right after installing Linux? Here is my list so far:

apps
kate (text editor with tabs)
k3b (cd/dvd/bluray image creator and burner)
Steam (games store)

internet
chromium (browser)
deluge (bittorrent client)
irssi (irc client)
qbittorrent (bittorrent client)

system
cpu-x (cpu info)
hashdeep (checksumming and backup auditing)
gparted (partition editor)
htop (terminal process manager)
mc (terminal twin pane file manager)
nemo-gtkhash (gui for checksums)
pixz (multithreaded xz compression)
screen (terminal multiplexer)
tmux (terminal multiplexer)

gamepad and joystick
jstest-gtk (joystick calibration and testing)
qjoypad (remap gamepad/joystick events to keyboard events)

system tools
bluetuith (terminal bluetooth manager fixing bluetooth issues in mint 21.1) https://github.com/darkhz/bluetuith
cpulimit (limit cpu usage of a process)
iotop (terminal list of i/o using processes)
git (version control software)
gsmartcontrol (smart information for storage devices)
gtkstresstesting (stability testing)
iptraf-ng (terminal realtime network monitor)
mdadm (software raid)
nmap (network mapping)
smartmontools (smart information for storage devices)
vnstat (bandwidth usage monitoring)
wireshark (recording and viewing network traffic in detail)

System compatibility
bottles (wine frontend)
dosbox (dos compatibility)
dosbox-x (dos compatibility)
heroic games launcher (wine frontend)
virtualbox (virtual machines)
wine (windows compatibility)

Audio Video
deadbeef (swiss army knife of audio players) https://deadbeef.sourceforge.io/
OBS-Studio (streaming and recording)
MakeMKV (dvd/bluray transcoding)
VLC (video player)

Pictures
gimp (pixel based drawing)
krita (pixel based drawing)
inkscape (vector based drawing)

 

[Condobloke]

Linux Mint 21.1 (Cinnamon)


dead beef

gparted

Brave-browser (with the Homey extension, Bitwarden, Grammar Checker, Privacy Badger)
(I do not use sync on Bitwarden)

Thunderbird

Dialect

Video Downloader

catfish File Search

Timeshift (already Installed....Set it up & take first snapshot after installing all of these)

Qbittorrent

Eddie

chromium web browser (my backup browser)

Flameshot

Zim Desktop Wiki

Simple Image Reducer

Calibre

RescueZilla (onto a usb stick)



That's about it. I write a list before I wipe and reinstall/upgrade.

All this makes my PC a "one stop shop" for everything I need

 

[camtaf]

After installing Devuan Live, pysolfc, xshisen, xpat2, are what usually get installed, then only others if needed.

 

[wizardfromoz]

Timeshift (already Installed....Set it up & take first snapshot after installing all of these)

I take one both before and after.

@Insomniac I have a number of yours and a number of Brian's @Condobloke .

If Timeshift is not already installed I install it. (across all 90 distros)

inxi
numlockx
testdisk (particularly for photo recovery)
aisleriot (patience)
kazam (and vokoscreen and obs-studio)
simplescreenrecorder
shutter
a spare browser or 3. Usually Waterfox, Chromium and Brave, occasionally Vivaldi or Slimjet

Wizard

 

[Insomniac]

Guess I'm the only one not using Timeshift. It never seemed liked a good solution to me. Snapshotting with zfs or btrfs seems easier and less resource intensive, but as it stands I'm still sticking with ext4. Not taking any chances with storage reliability. Instead using rsync to backup to external ssds weekly or more often if needed.

 

[Brickwizard]

Caprine and Brasero, and if not already there Timeshift

 

[sphen]

This thread has been very helpful and informative. Thank you to the OP for starting it and to the others for sharing their knowledge. I know what I like to do with servers, but am still figuring out desktops, so I will sit and watch and learn. I hope to see more posts from others.

 

[f33dm3bits]

Gaming:

• Steam
• Proton-GE (community build)
• ProtonUp-Qt
• Protontricks
• DXVK
• Lutris
• Yuzu
• Ryujinx
• Curseforge
• Zygor
• Mumble

Chat:

• Discord
• teams-for-linux
• Jitsi Meet
• Signal Desktop
• Telegram Desktop
• Zoom

Media

• VLC
• Spotify
• Jellyfin Media Player
• Plex client

Command-line tools:

• git
• zsh and plugins
• vim
• htop
• btop
• alacritty
• dnf5
• powerline-go
• bind-utils
• zip/unzip
• unrar
• nfs-utils
• mlocate
• telnet
• nmap
• tcpdump

OS applications and tools:

• Flatseal
• Gnome Extension Manager
• GIMP
• Libreoffice
• alacarte
• Remmina
• GNUCash
• Timeshift (for automatic btrfs snapshots)
• Codium
• Citrix Workspace App
• Transmission and Fragments
• Thunderbird
• Firefox
• Chromium
• Qemu/KVM, libvirt and virt-manager

 

[MikeWalsh]

Hm.

I'm summat of a "hoarder" when it comes to software. I re-package/create packages of so much stuff for the Puppy community.....but if I was to set-up a minimal Puppy system, it would probably go something like this:-

SRWare's Iron browser (for NetFlix!) + Pale Moon for general browsing
T-Bird
FreeTube (optional)
The Jitsi video-chat client (and Skype for stubborn relatives!)
Tixati for "torrenting"

SoftMaker's FreeOffice
Foxit's Linux port of their PDF reader
DeaDBeeF - for music & streaming radio (lets me listen to my RadioTunes a/c in a player of MY choice!)
Openshot & mifi's LosslessCut for video editing
VLC & SMPlayer (both have their pros & cons)

GIMP
Digikam
gThumb & Viewnior for viewing images
GuvcView for webcam

WINE for running Mooi Tech's PhotoScape (this is where all my desktops get built). Also NextUp's "TextAloud"....

Puppy's native TakeAShot! for screenies
recordMyDesktop for screen-recording - been around for ever, and produces .ogg video output & Theora audio. Both have been around for decades, and date all the way back to Unix days. And nobody will refuse Ogg or Theora.....plus, it's dead simple to use.
A modified TakeAShot, now called TakeAGif! I'll let y'all guess what this gets used for....

CPU-X
gSmartCtl
UNetbootin
Florence virtual keyboard
HardInfo, &
MagDock by JakeSFR - an on-screen magnifier

That would be a minimum system for me.......with maximum functionality. (shrug)

(Whoops! Nearly forgot.....AnyDesk)

I produce 'portable' packages for all but a handful of the above.


Mike.

 

[ParrotHome]

In mainstream distros: KeepassX/KeepassXc as it is not always packed for reasons unknown (I don't really use these distros for any advanced geeky stuff. Mainly using them for a while to see what's what while logging into 2 forums and email and stuff)

In Puppies: Nothing. Every single Pup has everything I need for my every day computing purposes.

 

[KGIII]

I install a couple of browsers, maybe a GUI text editor, and probably get SSH up and running.

After that, I just install stuff when I need it. Or, when I'm curious about it.