Ask Lemmy

Apparently many don't know libre office is thing and free. Seeing people ask for goggle doc alternative amd all they need is a word processor.

OmniDiskSweeper. Forget apps that help manage disk space with some ugly graph that's difficult to understand. This just lists files and directories with the heaviest / most space used from top to bottom in a file tree. Essential. Here's what it looks like:

I'm surprised how many people don't know about a Linux utility called "fuck". When you make a mistake on the command line and get an error, you just type "fuck" and it looks at what happened and suggests a fix. If this looks correct - and it almost always is - you just hit Enter and it types that in for you. Best thing ever!

• Converter Now: An all-in-one convert everything to everything app.
• Light Meter: Calculate light levels and color temps for photography and videography.
• Stellarium: Honestly don't know how "well known" it might be. But it's fun to point at stars and planets.

sl is a classic command line program for something harmlessly pointless

calibre for digital library software (cataloging books/docs/articles)

Comic book reader, it's a cbz/CBR comic book archive reader that tries to do the panel/smart auto zoom that used to be a part of comixology until Amazon bought it to kill it as competition to their shitty books app

Pixelorama, a good, open-source pixel art program

Windirstat

A windows app that shows you the space things are taking up on your computer so you can easily delete them. Usually helps me clear out a ton of space.

Freedom - https://freedom.to/

A very powerful cross platform website/app blocker with a lifetime membership option. Works well for blocking multiple fediverse domains.

LocalSend is open-source and great for file transfer (or even just sending text) between my devices.

https://www.sportismygame.app/ Helped me get of my fat ass and move every once in a while

BeeCount - A app to keep track of patterns while crafting. I like that I can have an overall row count, but make separate counters nested underneath for the same pattern (ex: You're on row x, but row a for a cable repeat).

Olauncher : A simple launcher for android. Less busy.

For Windows users, I want to recommend PowerToys: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/

The "toys" that I use a lot are: PowerToys Awake: to keep my laptop awake even if I'm away from keyboard for a while.

Fancy Zones: to create my own layout of windows, especially on the ultra-wide monitor I have at work, it's easy to have 3 smaller windows next to each other according to my layout.

Mouse Utilities, I often can't find my mouse cursor, just pressing a hotkey will literally spotlight the cursor.

Quick Accent, especially for multi-lingual people this is really handy, though it takes a bit to get used to its working.

Everything, the only thing that makes Windows usable.

ClickBook - dunno if it's even available anymore, but like 20 years ago it was either a standalone or add-on that formatted Word docs for printing. I think it cost $35. You could lay out say a tri-fold brochure or a folded-in-half and stapled booklet and it would rotate, combine and print the pages in the correct order. My wife and I used it endlessly to produce publications for our kids' school. If your printer could only print on one side, there was a quick setup procedure that would would figure out how you should rotate or flip the stack of pages to do the second side. I haven't used Word in years so for all I know it might have these capabilities natively now, but in its time ClickBook was probably the most worth-it program I ever bought.

Greenshot is free, open-source, and the built-in image editor is perfect (for my use-case, ymmv). ShareX is also FOSS but more well-known.

Candle.

It's an android app that uses your display to make a "glow" to light a room rather than using the camera flash like a torch.

It's in F-Droid.

Obviously the camera flash is more powerful if you're outside or whatever, but using the display this way is way better inside. That tiny little dazzling pin-prick of light is just... unpleasant.

With candle you can also set whatever color you like. Red is nice to avoid waking people or ruining night vision.

I discovered this app when we had twins and waking up to nurse them overnight. Gonna sound weird if you've not been through this but basically they won't really wake up they make a gentle sooky noise, and you put a bottle or boob in their mouth and they suckle while they sleep. If you turn a light on they're gonna wake up which is sub-optimal.

If any of you still aren't using YT Revanced... why?! So yeah, that one, cause God knows my limit for insipid and repetitive ads is extremely small.

Bulk Rename Utility for Windows:

https://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/

URLCheck on Android. Displays a popup on opening links allowing editing the URL before opening (with such features as removing chosen parameters with one button), applying transformations like Shitter→Nitter, http→https, sharing the URL, copying and selecting the application to open the URL in. Oh, and if you decide to open in Firefox or Fennec, you have the option to open in the incognito mode. Can't imagine using Android without it now. Absolute gamechanger

https://logseq.com/ a personal knowledge base with markdown and has a whiteboard feature. I live in this program now. From daily little notes and reminders to full on script writing. It's a little clunky but it works with my brain. Other similar programs are notion, obsidian and anytype.

Just in case, a big thread this week for Linux users: https://feddit.org/post/14167855

Qalculate is a fancy calculator available for Linux, MacOS and Windows. I use it for calculations that involve unit conversions, but it can do much more.