Linux

48208 readers

712 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

Rules

Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
No misinformation
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, etc

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

214

What are your must-have programs? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

223 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Trying to discover new/unheard Linux desktop programs (Sorry for the confusion).

Edit: I apologise for confusing a lot of people. I meant Linux desktop “programs” coming from Windows/Mac. I'm used to calling them “apps”.

Edit: 🙌 I’m overwhelmed with the great “programs” people have recommended in the comment section. Thank you guys.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 19 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (10 children)

Emacs.

Emacs is an app platform in and of itself, and the vanilla installation comes with dozens of its own apps pre-installed. Like how web apps are all programmed in JavaScript, Emacs apps are all programmed in Lisp. All Emacs apps are scriptable and composable in Lisp. Unlike on the web, Emacs encourages you to script your apps to automate things yourself.

Emacs apps are all text based, so they all work equally well in both the GUI and the terminal.

Emacs comes with the following apps pre-installed:

a text editor for both prose and computer code
note taking and organizer called Org-mode (sort of like Obsidian, or Logseq)
a file browser and batch file renamer called Dired
a CLI console and terminal emulator
a terminal multiplexer (sort-of like "Tmux")
a process manager (sort-of like "Htop")
a simple HTML-only web browser
man-page and info page browser
a wrapper around the Grep and Find CLI tools
a wrapper around SSH called "Tramp"
e-mail client
IRC client
revion control system, including a Git porcelain called "Magit"
a "diff" tool
ASCII art drawing program
keystroke recorder and playback

Some apps that I install into Emacs include:

"Mastodon.el" Mastodon client
"Elfeed" RSS feed reader
"consult" app launcher (sort-of like "Dmenu")

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

How do you think one should get started with Emacs? Should they start start with regular GNU Emacs or should they install one of the "distros"?

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

Honestly, just download/install from your package manager and then start using it. One of the best built-in modes is called Org mode. Don't try anything crazy because it's easy to get overwhelmed. It took me some periods of stopping and starting before things felt natural and became my daily driver.

load more comments (1 replies)

load more comments (8 replies)