Bitwig. I'm moving to libre tools like Pd and Ardour, so I didn't renew my license. But it works just like it does on Mac.
Except that it supports touch screens on Wayland, and you can't do that on a Mac.
this post was submitted on 29 May 2025
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I've tried Ardour, but compared to Reaper, I unfortunately just can't use it. Pd is fantastic though!! It's what got me interested in music stuffs in college, man those are memories... making a drum kit in Pd was my first assignment, I remember suffering over the cymbal for hours and hours. Now I'm getting all nostalgic lol
Reaper is nifty, but it's not FOSS, which would be the only reason why I'd give up Bitwig. (I know that's not what the thread asked, but that's my reason for not using Reaper.)
The one that surprised me the most was Steam, honestly.
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! 😅
Probably REAPER
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.
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 😊
Zoom. No dark mode though.
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.
I wish it wasn't cause then I wouldn't have to use it at work
It works in the browser
Surprised no one has mentioned OBS. I don't use it for streaming, but afaik it's one of the more popular options for that. So it's really cool that not only is it available for linux, but it's open source and works great. I'm sure every linux user has had audio, general hardware, or GPU acceleration issues at some point, but OBS is seamless in my experience. Pretty cool to see a piece of software live at the crossroads of all that and get it right.
I believe it was the Linux counterpart of XSplit, the "other" streaming software that was very popular in the early days of streaming. Before that we had to use some very elaborate setups.
Neverball.
So gaming on Linux is obviously amazing now, but back in 2006 or so when I started using it, it was less than great. I probably tried every single game in the Ubuntu repos and Neverball entertained the hell out of me.
I spent hours rolling this shiny ball around. I loved Marble Madness on NES as a kid, so it was a natural fit.
A close second was Freeciv, as I had also grown up with a copy of Civilization.
Honorable mentions to Nesticle and Snes9x.
I cannot recall any specific programs besides a game called Feudal Tactics, but I swear I've seen software while looking through EasyFlatpak that surprised me.
Wine/Proton, made my switch to Linux way easier
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