My favorite Free and Open Source Software

• Links go to...
  • Source code repositories (e.g. GitHub, GitLab, Codeberg)
  • Project websites (only when they contain more information than the repo OR the repo isn't public)
• I strongly recommend the following websites for finding and comparing the right software for anyone and their use case:
  • AlternativeTo: Find alternatives for specific products
  • Slant: Compare products of a broader category (like "Linux distributions")
• I keep my GitHub Stars up-to-date with this list, so you can also scroll through there (at least for software that primarily uses GitHub)
• If you are familiar with NixOS you can find my configuration.nix in my dotfiles, which contains all the software I currently use

Cross-Platform

All of this is available at least on Linux and Windows, probably even more!

• Firefox Browser Developer Edition: Internet browser
  • uBlock Origin: Content blocker (ads, trackers, pop-up, ...) add-on
  • Bonjourr: Add-on for a better startpage
• VSCodium: Open source builds of VSCode, a universal code and text editor
• Proton Mail + Proton Calendar: End-to-end encrypted email and calendar
• Signal: Private messenger (also on mobile!)
• Notesnook: Simple note taking (also on mobile!)
• LibreOffice: Office suite containing tools for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, ...
• VirtualBox: Virtualization software (for managing and running VM's)
  • VM's are really useful! Testing out operating systems, checking the safety of executables with no risk to your system, ...
• GIMP: Image editing and manipulation software
• Inkscape: Create and edit vector graphics (SVG, PDF, ...)
• Darktable: Photography workflow application and non-destructive raw developer
• Tenacity: Multi-track audio editor (a.k.a. Audacity, but better)
• Vesktop: Open source 3rd party Discord client with better Wayland support on Linux
• OpenRGB: RGB lighting control for various hardware
• Ventoy: For creating a reusable bootable USB drive that can hold multiple ISO's at once (no more reformatting for every ISO!)
• USBImager: Minimal GUI to create bootable USB sticks
• liquidctl: CLI-tool and drivers for liquid coolers (also see liquidtux when on Linux)
• Overleaf: Web-based real-time collaborative LaTeX editor
• GParted: Partition editor
  • Especially useful as bootable USB drive!
• OBS Studio: Live streaming and screen recording
• Gitnuro: Desktop GUI for git
  • If you run into issues with credentials see this issue
• Bruno: HTTP API client, useful for testing e.g. REST API's
• JetBrains Mono: Monospaced font for programming. I especially like the "No Ligatures" (NL) version :)
• rEFInd: (U)EFI boot manager
  • refind-dark: Theme for rEFInd
  • I strongly recommend this for dual boot systems, as you will need some kind of boot manager either way. This is probably the best-looking one + it supports using your mouse!
• Barrier: Switch between using your mouse and keyboard on different systems over the network (instead of physically replugging them all the time)
• Flameshot: Quickly take, edit, share and save screenshots
• VeraCrypt: Encrypt (password-protect) disks/drives and partitions
  • I use this to password-protect my external backup-SSD
• FreeFileSync: Folder comparison and synchronization software that creates and manages backups
  • I use this to make occasional differential backups of my data on an external SSD

Mobile (Android / iOS)

• ente Authenticator: 2FA with end-to-end encrypted cloud backups and web access
• Bura: Weather app (Android only)

Linux

The following software is available for Linux-based (and possibly other Unix-like) operating systems

• NixOS: Linux-based immutable and declaratively configured operating system
  • nh: Nix Helper for prettier/better nix commands
  • nix-output-monitor: Prettier output for nix commands
• keyd: Key remapping daemon
  • very useful for European folks who are used to Ctrl+Alt doing the same thing as AltGr, which is not the default on Linux, but can be configured to work like that with this program
• SDDM: Display manager / login screen
  • sddm-sugar-candy: Theme for SDDM
• OneDrive Client for Linux: CLI tool for accessing Microsoft OneDrive
  • OneDriveGUI: GUI for before-mentioned OneDrive CLI tool
• Proton GE Custom: Proton fork with various changes for a better gaming experience (primarily with Steam games for Windows)
  • ProtonUp-Qt: GUI for easy management of Proton and Wine installations
• Pitivi: Video editor
• Bottles: Wine wrapper to easily run Windows software (including games) on Linux
• liquidtux: Kernel drivers for liquid coolers (e.g. makes lm-sensors recognize coolant temperature sensor, also see liquidctl under Cross-Platform)
• Font Manager: Font management
• AppImageLauncher: Integrate AppImages into your system seamlessly
• Flatseal: Manage Flatpak permissions per app
• Psensor (GUI) + lm-sensors (CLI): Sensor monitoring (e.g. cpu temperature)
• Piper: Configure gaming mice
• Playerctl: CLI-tool for controlling media players (e.g. play/pause current media player)
• Plymouth: Beautiful loading animations during boot
• NoiseTorch: Real-time microphone background noise suppression
• System monitors
  • Resources: Great system monitor overall
  • Monitor: System monitor with a great process view
  • nvidia-system-monitor: System monitor for NVIDIA GPU's

Command line

Tools to improve your command line experience

• Alacritty: GPU-accelerated terminal emulator
• Fish Shell: Modern shell with command suggestions and completions
• Starship: Highly customizable shell prompt (for any shell)
• zoxide: Provides the z command as a better cd, e.g. remembering your most frequent directories so you don't have to type them out fully
• Numbat: Scientific calculator (and also a programming language!)
• LibreSpeed CLI: Internet speed test
• bat: Better cat with syntax highlighting and paging
• lsd: Better ls with icons, colors and tree-views
• fzf: Fast fuzzy finder (useful to e.g. search for a file in a directory with thousands of files)
• tldr: Like man, but way shorter, more comprehensive and colored
• wsl-vpnkit: Fix company VPN issues on WSL
• Just for fun
  • cbonsai: ASCII art bonsai
  • asciiquarium: ASCII art aquarium/sea
  • fastfetch: Fast overview of system information

Theming

Theming of this kind is possible on almost any graphical Linux-system, although the methods to apply these themes vary.

• GTK Themes (change the look and feel of apps built with GTK)
  • Orchis theme: Rounded corners
  • Fluent gtk theme: Sharp corners (often better with window managers)
• Cursors (sets of custom cursors)
  • Capitaine cursors: Unobtrusive and modern cursor with rainbow loading animation
  • Colloid cursors: Based on Capitaine cursors, but has a slightly more uncommon shape
• Icons (sets of custom icons for common applications, folders, ...)
  • Papirus icon theme: Flat, modern and minimalistic icons
  • Fluent icon theme: Uses transparency and blur wherever possible

Custom Desktop Environment

This is software I exclusively use when I am not using a desktop environment but a standalone Xorg window manager or Wayland compositor.

If you are interested in this section you might also want to take a look at my dotfiles ;)

• Rofi (fork with Wayland support): Application Launcher
• CopyQ: Clipboard manager with history
• lxpolkit (shipped with lxsession): Simple PolicyKit authentication agent
• Eww ("Elkowars Wacky Widgets"): Widget system to implement your own window manager agnostic widgets

wlroots-based Wayland compositor only

• Hyprland: Highly customizable tiling compositor
  • Hyprsome: Awesome-like workspace management for Hyprland
  • grimblast: Screenshot utility for Hyprland based on Sway's Grimshot
• Hyprpicker: Simple color picker
• SwayNotificationCenter: Customizable Notification daemon and control center
• SwayOSD: On-screen display for changing volume, brightness, toggling capslock, ...
• swaylock-effects: Modern-looking lockscreen
• swappy: Screenshot editing
• swww: Wallpaper setter with change animations and support for animated wallpapers
• nwg-look: Tool to set GTK themes, cursors, icons, ... (better on Wayland)

Xorg window manager only

• Awesome: Highly customizable tiling window manager
  • Awesome Copycats: Set of themes for the Awesome window manager
• picom (jonaburg fork): compositing manager with support for transparency, blur, rounded corners, shadows, animations, transitions, ...it just looks good.
• Pick Colour Picker: Screen-wide color picker with history of last picks
• unclutter-xfixes: Hide cursor on inactivity
• lxappearance: Tool to set GTK themes, cursors, icons, ... (better on Xorg)

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Proprietary Software

I thought hard about referencing any proprietary software at all, as I try my best to avoid it. But there is some proprietary software that still seems to respect privacy somewhat and that I couldn't replace with an open source alternative just yet, because I simply couldn't find one that fits my needs in the same way.

• Obsidian: Markdown-based extensible note-taking app (also supports freehand drawing, pens, creating diagrams of all sorts, ...)
  • Cross-Platform
  • Source code can be inspected and seems to respect privacy (see this)
• Qwant: Privacy-respecting and unbiased search engine (using Bings index)
  • Mainly used as a website, but is also available through browser extensions and Android/iOS apps
  • Privacy is not top-notch, but still better than most reasonable alternatives