jastombaugh
Tutorials
| Title | Score |
|---|
Software reviews
| Software | Score |
|---|---|
| org.onlyoffice.desktopeditors "It works well for the compatibility to MSOffice files, but after using if for about a month, I think I'll stick with libreOffice. I like the look/feel of OnlyOffice, and figured out how to access the flatpak folder to change out the default templates to work for US-local (Sorry, we don't know where to even buy A4 printer paper here.) The only pain points here are when it comes to intuitive document editing. I am so used to double-clicking on a word and dragging to select word-by-word the paragraph or document section I would like to replace, (which works in LO and MSO, but for some reason not here) or dragging pictures to insert into documents/spreadsheets (Works in LO and MSO, but not here for some reason) and seemingly simple things like this. OnlyOffice has a lot going for it, and although LO is getting better and better with its MSO compatibility, OO seems to provide a more accurate representation on the documents I've used so far. OnlyOffice, as someone else pointed out here, has 'Just the right amount of features' in it. If I valued DOCX/PPTX/XLSX over ODT/ODP/ODS I'd probably use OnlyOffice much more than I do currently. I'm glad this is an option for us, and I'm thrilled to have it available on Linux!" |
3 |
| nvidia-settings "Helped unlock some features and settings that a newbie otherwise might not have known how to access. Worked well for configuring my GeForce GTS-250 for use in Mint 18.1 - Mint 20.3 systems. A very nice and handy tool." |
4 |
| com.github.IsmaelMartinez.teams_for_linux "Had trouble accessing Teams in Firefox. This wrapper works very well, and serves as a nice container for work-baised access to Teams. No issues so far. I am not set up for voice/video calls on the desktop so these features haven't been tested by me yet, but managing contacts, communications, and services so far works very well. Functions very much like a regular desktop client/app. Great job putting this together." |
4 |
| fotowall "Very complete and powerful little application. Does so much in one program. I have not seen anything better than this at what it does. Arrange as many photos as you like in whatever layout looks good. Resizing leaves photos clear and clean. Add text, annotations, or artwork. Change the photo boarders from instant-photograph-like to a variety of options. Works great for building computer walpapers or backgrounds for projects/gift items. (I used it for making artwork to have printed on mugs, for example). Head to https://www.enricoros.com/opensource/fotowall/download/binaries/ to download the binary (I think this is similar to an 'app image'). The 'Ubuntu' version is working great on Linux Mint 19.3, but I had to use the 'Static' version on Ubuntu Proper 20.04 and Pop_20.04. Works great, and while I still miss this program being in the Mint repo, its nice to have access to it from an app-image-type place." |
5 |
| cool-retro-term "This is just too much fun! To get the full experience, I highly recommend runing cmatrix on this. At the end of the day, if you MUST use a terminal, there is no harm in making it a fun experience." |
5 |
| cmatrix "It has quite a few features for what it does. Pretty awesome app for a variety of uses. For the truest-bluest experience, you MUST try this in conjunction with cool-retro-term. (" |
5 |
| libreoffice "Minor incompatabilities with M$Office, but getting much better with each new release. (Which is ok, because M$Office seems to harbor similar incompatabilites in previous incantations of its own software suite) While there is a perfectly functional 'ribbon' feature in LO6, I really enjoy the menu-driven workflow. I have had very little issues importing and exporting Word docs or creating PDF's in Writer. Each week I use Impress for creating presentations. I have had very minor tweaking to get Impress to correctly present PowerPoint files, and have very little issue getting PowerPoint to correctly display files created/saved in Impress (using the 2007 file format). Note: These are pretty sound and basic presentations, not animated masterpiece cartoons. If you need further comparison, and detailed reviews, you might find "https://lessonhub.net/presentation-software-reviews/" helpful. I have never had any issues with Calc, aside from importing macros from Excel, but I'm not a big macro guy. WPS by Kingsoft is a respectable competition to LibreOffice, but while it mimics M$Office well, it's file format support is pretty sparse in comparison to LO6. (LibreOffice can get usable data from appl$ KEYNOTE files! I've not seen that anywhere else!) I am a big fan of the LO suite, and, yes, they have a ways to go, there is no question that they are well on there way. :-)" |
5 |
| xiphos "Fast and efficient, this one has worked very well for me. It takes a wee bit of configuring. (I accidentally saved myself a bunch of time by trying to set up BibleTime first before installing Xiphos... which, apparently must use the same setup info, as Xiphos installed and started up pre-cofigured with what I was trying to accomplish with BibleTime) It can take a little bit of patience to configure, or to hunt down specific modules if what you need isn't in the repository. Works great as a concordance and some-what as a lexicon. If this package doesn't quite suite your needs, I HIGHLY recommend BibleAnalyzer by Timothy Morton, as it is also free, but amazingly powerful. (@prefersummer2 - AV & TSK, I whole-heartedly agree!) Note: Xiphos package has also been built for ARM processors, and works great on the pinebook!" |
5 |
| windowlab "Pretty cool, actually. I'd probably find myself using this a lot more if I get the hang of how to resize window borders better. (I'm just so engrained in the traditional 'drag the window border' method that it takes me a few minutes of trying before I remember) Quick, fast, and very fun. On my install, some of the top 'quick shortcuts' did not seem to be working, like the 'edit menu' command. (So you'll have to break out your favorite notepad and edit ~/.windowlab/windowlab.menurc) I very much enjoy keeping this one as an option when I want a distraction-free interface for writing or working on projects. It's quirky design ensures that my computer will be left alone by others. :-P" |
5 |
| xed "Some limitations, but overall I very much like the feel of the xed! Quick and fast, and integrates very nicely with the rest of Mint." |
5 |
| devede "Replaced by DevedeNG, this software package is amazingly simple and fast. Lots of options and great for putting together DVDs from a huge variety of file formats! Have had no trouble playing these DVD's on everything from the DVD player in our minivan to the home entertainment system. Well done! This application fills a much needed area in Linux!" |
5 |
| winff "Very useful tool! Converts videos and clips I find into smaller, more generic file formats to easily display in presentations. Works well and solid. Thank you so much for software like this! Absolutely amazing! Scores 5 with me all day long!" |
5 |
| evolution "Evolution reminded me a lot of MS Outlook. It handled the PST files well, and integrated smoothly in a corporate environment for an otherwise Microsoft-minded office. There were times, however, that my OS would seem to halt when running Evolution for about a minute or two at a time. Only noticed it when Evolution was running. (Maybe a background process that would demand 100% cpu usage). Other than that, it seemed fairly stable, (just a wee bit buggy maybe), pretty solid and reliable overall. Ended up switching to Thundirbird with MailDav to handle my Outlook account, but Evolution is a great choice and saw lots of use!" |
3 |
| inkscape "Coming from a CorelDraw/Illustrator background, this application INSTANTLY made me feel at home! Powerful and easy to use. I agree with the 'bit buggy' comments, in places, and there are times when it seems a bit slow when processing large amounts of nodes, but overall I love it and it remains my choice for vector on Linux. You might also check out Karbon or Xara for vector drawing/handling applications. I just prefer Inkscape because of my background." |
5 |
| thunderbird "It's Thunderbird!!! And I hope it always stays here! Has been a great email program. If you couple it with MailDev, it can even sucessfully replace MS Outlook. If you absolutely need something that looks a little bit more like traditional Outlook, you might try Evolution, but Thunderbird is my go-to email client! Thanks, Mozilla, for another incredible software package!!! If I had one gripe, it would only be an updated look to match Firefox 58! :-P (But it seems like waiting for HalfLife 3... :-P :-P)" |
5 |
| bibletime "Pretty useful tool. I had a bit of difficulty keeping the Old Testiment from deleting itself when using the search function. For some reason the New Testament stayed, but the Old would disappear. Thinking that it must have been something on my machine, as no one else has reported this issue. Well designed and layed out. Simple to use and it is very easy on the eyes. If this one doesn't work for you, please try Timothy Morton's Bible Analyzer 5 software. Also free, and a very powerful tool. (And please, let's keep the software reviews on the actual software. If you are a Bible skeptic, you probably don't need to be handling this kind of software. I'm sorry you can't at least appreciate the history captured in Scripture that would have gone otherwise undocumented or lost. (Thinking of the Moabites origins/existance, for example) if it wasn't for the Bible.) BibleTime is a great modular-based study tool. I'd recommend it." |
4 |
| bible-kjv "CLI access to the KJV Bible. Absolutely fantastic! It very much reminds me of 'Godspeed' by Kindom Age Software for MS-DOS back in 1987. Simple, quick reference and concordance access. I use this every single week, as it works great for locating and inserting quick verses into documents. For a more fully featured desktop application, I highly recommend Bible Analyzer by Timothy Morton. A very professional-grade application (ofcourse it's free!) with modules that can be downloaded and added. Thank you for the 'bible' CLI application. It works well and efficiently. Now we just need someone to write a LibreOffice extension that will use the bible app to automatically insert verses when you type in the reference in a doc! " |
5 |
| agave "Absolutely love this tool! I use it constantly for everything from ensuring that my Impress presentations are easy on the eyes to color coordinating my daughter's outfits for when I take her shopping! Highly recommended and highly useful tool. Thank you so much for thinking to put this together!" |
5 |
| libreoffice-impress "I've prepared 52 presentations per year since 2005. Keynote was great... but when I broke free of the iChains to jump elsewhere, I found that Apple's propriotary file formats didn't port well. (Apple only supports Apple... if you keep buying their new hardware) MS's PowerPoint was pretty handy. Impress lacks the animations/transitions Apple users depend on, and lacks the raw power of PowerPoint (IMHO), but it does do something that these other packages hadn't been able to deliver... By shifting the focus to the content, rather than the presentation, it forced me to actually have something worth saying. Slides went from hogging the lesson to illustrating the lesson. It also forced me to become creative in building my own artwork, instead of relying on a preset of 'California Designer Approved' art. Each update seems to open up new features. Simple and straight forward, remains a wonderful replacement for other major presentation software packages. If I HAD to find a gripe, it would be with the presenter notes feature that could use a little polish. Overall, I've found that my Impress docs are a smaller file size than my PowerPoint docs ever were. Scoring 5 all day long with this one! Thank you, LibreOffice crew! The short description above doesn't do this amazing package justice!" |
5 |
| gimp "Came from a very strong PS background. Spent many years using CS2 & CS5 on a professional grade level. It definitely took a little getting used to, but I haven't had to go back yet. The only difference I've really found limiting is the text-handling in GIMP. PS allows a wide variety of text manipulation while maintaining the ability to edit it, whereas GIMP rasterizes text to manipulate it. On the whole, it's been a wonderful challenge that helped grow me from 'photoshopper' to 'image manipulator'. Advanced Text Handling and Instant Layer Effects/Cloning layer effects (drop-shadow, etc) are all you're missing out on. I'll just retype what I want to manipulate and add my own drop shadows anyday. PS was a great way to start learning how to edit/manipulate photos, but since switching to GIMP a few years ago, it has forced me to grow as a person, and when you invest in yourself, that's always going to pay off, right? :-) Amazing tool that just keeps getting more and more incredible!" |
5 |