Some Useful Linux Programs And Apps

For the curious beginners

This is by no means a comprehensive list of Linux programs (terminal command line) and apps (desktop applications) but some that I would like to share with others and remind myself from time to time.

Linux Mint Desktop

Install programs or commands (Debian/Ubuntu based systems): sudo apt install program-name e.g. tldr, transmission-cli, nmap, vim, etc.

10+ Useful Linux Programs

1. Download with wget url-filename. wget -c url-filename for resume. Pause with Ctrl-c.

2. transmission-cli torrent-url for downloading torrents

3. tldr program-name for popular commands usage

4. Vim (command line) is a superior editor with tons of plugins that can be found at Vimawesome. Nano (command line) can be a next free and simple alternative

5. nmap for scanning LAN (Local Area Network) active IP addresses. For example to scan for active hosts and their names on a local network: nmap -sn 192.168.1.*

6. ssh to securely access another Linux system like ssh user@192.168.1.x

7. scp -r folder-name user@192.168.1.100 to securely copy a folder over to another Linux system

8. ping a site to check if internet or site is up or test if your internet connection is up e.g. ping google.com

9. top, htop, btop, and screenfetch can display system resources and information

10. figlet can generate large Ascii banners with ordinary text

Tldr

Useful Linux Apps

Here are some useful apps I use or came across worth mentioning.

1. Google Chrome with profile bookmarks syncing

2. Ghostwriter is a KDE text editor for markdown

3. XnView for multimedia viewer and Xnconvert for batch conversion and watermarking, and so on. Reviewed here.

4. SIGIL (GUI program to easily ePub format books) or Pandoc (command line universal document converter) for ePub book creation including Kindle. Related SIGIL posts here.

5. Variety for good and fresh desktop wallpapers solution with option for large time display

6. Handbrake is an excellent GUI alternative to FFMpeg (command line); FFMpeg also has FFplay (command line) to play or display multimedia formats

7. ImageMagick (command line) is a free and powerful image manipulation program

8. VLC is a free multimedia player and streamer

9. Geany is a light and very popular programming lightweight IDE

10. Audacity is popular audio editor

11. Balena Etcher (app download from website launched from command line) is a reliable and easy pen drive ISO installation creator

12. Audacious is an advanced audio player

13. Filezilla is a popular secure FTP client for transferring files

14. Inkscape is a free vector-based drawing program

15. Blender is a fast and free 3D creation suite

16. Krita is a free painting program that supports most graphics tablets

17. Scribus is a powerful desktop publishing software that can output to PDF and PostScript

18. Soundconverter converts between audio formats

19. Ksnip is a screenshot tool with annotation features

How to install software in Linux?

Look for the software manager in your Linux e.g. Software Manager in Linux Mint. Different Linux software managers may yield different search results.

Some Linux software may not installed via software managers. Some installation files may be deb packages, which can be easily installed with the Gdebi GUI program app.

Another popular way to install programs from the command line: $sudo apt install program-name

Software Manager Linux Mint

Some Useful Linux Tips

• Create shortcuts to suspend and shutdown e.g. Keyboard->Shortcuts->System in Linux Mint

• Create shortcuts to launch frequently used apps e.g. Launch browser at Keyboard->Shortcuts->Launchers in Linux Mint

• Enlarge system fonts to e.g. 13 for easier reading

• Update your system frequently

• Get a good and stable Linux like CachyOS and Linux Mint, free from the hassles of much troubleshooting or instability

• Add apps to Startup Applications with Super->Startup Applications

• Desktop icons can be made larger with right-click on desktop and choose Customize

• Keep 1 or 2 Linux installation USB flash drives around in case you need to re-install

• Keep a monthly Timeshift snapshot backup. Include a daily one for intensive users

Current top Linux distribution recommendation?

Please read this CachyOS post.

CachyOS Desktop

MX Linux Desktop

Linux Mint Desktop

Some words

Linux mascot

Effective Linux use will also depend on what are your needs and apps. For example, I also use the browser to access a user-friendly online app for my graphics need instead of native Linux apps.

I recommend top Linux distributions such as CachyOS for stable long-term use.

Though I am by no means an advanced Linux command line user, but these are some of the useful commands and app I found useful and encountered in my regular Linux use.

( ﾉ ﾟｰﾟ)ﾉ

More

Why do i need to scan for IP addresses or active hosts (with nmap) on a network?

Say you have a few computers on a network with dynamic IP addresses and you need to connect to them for administration and files storage backup purposes, nmap can be the quick and effective tool for that.

Why Variety for wallpapers changing?

Comprehensiveness. It has multiple options to source wallpapers from and yet it still works well without any or much configurations at all. I also like option for large time display overlay on the wallpaper. By default, users get a refreshing new quality wallpaper change every 5 minutes.

Variety options

How to shutdown, suspend or reboot Linux from command line?

sudo shutdown -h now

sudo systemctl suspend

sudo shutdown -r now

How to compress images and videos on Linux?

ImageMagick for images and FFMpeg for videos (Handbrake GUI) are excellent choices.