Software I use

About this list

Hello world! Sharing some details of what software I use.

These are effectively recommendations of software that works well for my use cases. I use primarily Linux and Android on my personal devices, but I am also forced to use Windows and Mac for work purposes.

My criteria in software choices are:

• Reduce my dependence on software and services owned by Big Tech companies

• Afford a reasonable amount of privacy, security, and ownership in my technology usage.

  • Please note that my privacy and security practices are not going to be the most exhaustive because I'm a pretty uninteresting person to spy on, but what I do should generally be much better than what the average consumer of technology does. If you're looking for a more comprehensive Privacy Software guide, try PrivacyGuides.

• Linux and Android compatibility. On my 'default' laptop I use Void Linux, so my Linux compatibility needs can be slightly different from more popular Linux distributions.

• Fun things to use

Cloud Software Services:

• Bitwarden Password Manager

• StandardNotes E2E Encrypted Notes

• Currently I participate in a Mastodon server for microblogging and social media, but I hope to try out other Fediverse software soon!

• Mailbox.org Email Provider

• Still on the look for an image provider for sharing photo albums with friends and family. Stay tuned!

Local Computer Software

Operating Systems

• I spend the most time using Void Linux on my more light weight laptop.

  • I did my fair share of distro-hopping (Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Debian, a failed Arch attempt) before landing in the void on my most frequently used laptop. I've also been able to install Void Linux on my Raspberry Pi 4.

• I use Pop OS on my "gaming" laptop for easier Nvidia GPU switching support. (Hopefully next time I get a laptop with GPU it'll be AMD though. Nvidia sucks at Wayland)

• I'm planning to try out yunohost for self hosting some things on my Raspberry Pi 4. Stay tuned!

Software I use for my Void Linux Desktop Environment

• vpm XBPS package management helper for Void Linux

• fish shell. I use fish since it's user friendly without configuration, and writing fish shell scripts is more comprehensible to me than writing bash scripts.

• hikari, a stacking Wayland compositor

  • Wayland vs X

• fuzzel, an application launcher for wlroots based Wayland compositors

  • To manually add launcher entries for packages and software that is not installed with a .desktop file automatically, I create my own .desktop files and use xdg-desktop-menu to install them.
  • Bonus: You can also create .desktop files to launch specific websites in a browser by setting Exec=qutebrowser --target window <yoururl> in a .desktop file, or something similar for other browsers.

• foot terminal emulator for Wayland

• qutebrowser, a keyboard driven browser

• Nautilus file manager

• Geary email client

• zathura document viewer

  • I use the zathura-gruvbox color theme

Note Taking and Code Editor Software

• StandardNotes is my default for notes across devices, but I also use QOwnNotes as my notebook for work. QOwnNotes can be synchronized using NextCloud, but I am lazy.

• Kakoune modal, terminal based text editor

• micro terminal based text editor

Other Utilities

• xdeb utility to convert deb(ian) packages to xbps packages

• diskonaut terminal disk space navigator

• Spotifyd spotify client running as a unix daemon

• Spotify TUI spotify terminal client, I use this to control the spotifyd device

• cbonsai to grow bonsai trees in your terminal

• ani-cli cli tool to browse and play anime

• I will probably update this section with more items as I recall them.

Mobile Android Software

• Under construction