Which simple-to-use, polished, GUI desktop apps, which aren't too large, would you like to see included in all default Desktop Linux installs (but are not)?

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1

I’ll go first:

  • Linux Mint’s Warpinator would be a great little utility that I think they should all include.
  • zstd compression/decompression support in whatever GUI-based archiving utility (such as Gnome’s “Archive Manager”) should also be included. Note: This isn’t a GUI app unto itself, but rather is the inclusion of a zstd-related package/library which Archive Manager makes use of behind the scenes to add the .zst support.
2

I would probably say KDE Connect. It’s just a great multi-functional tool to interact between phone and PC.

PS: I also think git should be on every install. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Is there a git GUI frontend to git that you’d recommend? I’m moreso wanting to know about polished GUI apps here.

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I don’t use GUI’s for git, so don’t have any to recommend. I use CLI interface for git. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Yes, me too. git is one of the few tools in my regular, recurring workflow (as opposed to one-off, random usage) that I use on the command line.

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mousepad. It’s the only basic text editor that doesn’t try to be more than it’s supposed to be while still packing advanced features if you want them like multi-tab support, multi-line tabbing, line numbers, ect.

If i’d sneak in a bigger one. Krita should replace GIMP in all distros that ship a default graphics editor. It is not a different tool for a different job. It is simply a better tool.

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7

If I interpret the question the way I believe it was meant to be interpreted, I’d probably pick mc, git, rhythmbox, lutris, okular and thunderbird

If I interpret this question exactly as written without thinking about it, I’d probably pick iTunes.

krita should probably replace gimp as the go to image program, agreed.

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I also forgot to suggest:

  • the “foliate” ebook reader app. Very sensible! 10x simpler than Calibre, BTW.
  • also, goldendict (a dictionary app), along with the gcide offline English dictionary (in the dict-gcide package)
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9

I have to dig into Foliate.

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I vote for “Burgerspace” as being a default-installed, very-small game (< 1 MB!), which would be about 100x more fun than, say, solitaire or minesweeper:

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11

I’ll nominate notepad++. Also 7-zip.

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Man I miss Notepad++! I’ve had it running in Wine before but the fonts never look quite right and there’s some rough edges. I’d be overjoyed with a Linux port, from my experience only mousepad has come close to the same ease of “replace all of X text in all open documents”. It’s a wierd quirk that it’s so difficult in Sublime/Atom/ect.

There’s a Linux spin-off named notepadqq that looks almost exactly the same but there’s a lot of missing features.

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I particularly appreciate the plugins for json pretty print in Notepad++ and to a lesser extent the xml plugins.

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@esbeeb I hadn’t heard of Foliate. Really nice looking app.

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15

None, as I prefer the minimalist approach.

The fewer apps installed, the fewer security issues/patches. I spend too much time looking for apps that I don’t use that can be removed. It would be much easier to choose the apps that I do want installed as opposed to searching for what can be removed. But, I realize that this method is not the best for everyone.

Ok, if I had to pick one it would be Terminator, lol.

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Fluent rss reader.