feralhound
Tutorials
| Title | Score |
|---|
Software reviews
| Software | Score |
|---|---|
| org.kde.digikam "To be honest, I'm currently running the appimage version of DigiKam, so your mileage may vary. I will probably try the Flatpak version since it's also up to date right now. Glad of the Flatseal reommendation below — I'll see if it's still needed. DigiKam is a program for managing images, and it works well at this. However, I don't think most people realize how very many pictures they have, and how "expensive" it is to manage them all. I had run DigiKam several times on my "collections" and it didn't seem to be doing anything, so I assumed it was just waiting for me to go to work. How wrong I was! After playing around with version 8.4.0 (the appimage, which doesn't integrate properly with AppImageLauncher because of a malformed appimage) I launched version 8.1.0 (the previous working version, which integrates with AppImageLauncher just fine). Imagine my surprise when there was now a second window that popped up, telling me that digiKam was scanning my collections! This is the main reason I'm holding off on trying version 8.4.0 from the Flatpak — it's still chugging! Yes, I have thousands of pictures in my collections, and it takes time to create thumbnails, fingerprints, etc. for them all. Part of the reason I'm dusting digiKam off right now is that I need a way to manage my ever-growing library of images for virtual tabletop gaming. Since digiKam allows assigning arbitrary tags to images, no matter where they are located, I'm hoping it resolves the thorny issue of keeping those images organized. Yes, it also does face recognition, and that's a handy feature for my photos. Anyway, don't give up because it's slow. Give it a chance to finish indexing and you may be pleased with the power you've unlocked." |
5 |
| digikam "The main reason for a 3 here is that the version is older. This is normal for deb packaged apps in a carefully curated distribution like Mint. If you want the newer version (like I do), I recommend you install either the Flatpak (also available in the Software Manager in Mint) or go to the DigiKam website and get the appimage. I will have a more complete review under the Flatpak, since that is the most recent version." |
3 |
| lazarus-ide "Complete rewrite of my comment. The distro version never installed correctly — it complained of misconfiguration, and I could never figure out where the missing files were. I tried the .deb files from Lazarus-IDE.org, but they complained about unavailable packages. I tried the FPCUPdeluxe installer, but it complained about other missing packages. Finally, I found a page talking about another issue that put me on the right track. Using aptitude instead of apt, apt-get, synaptic, or gdebi, I was able to track the software block to an installation of freetype and harfbuzz that were locking me at a newer version of the libraries. Aptitude was able to downgrade all of the offending libraries, and Lazarus now works properly. It will be interesting to see what I've broken. Also, as a note, I had to reject the first suggesting by aptitude, after which it found this one. I'm going to stick with three stars for the time being, but I'm hopeful that I'll be able to make use of this, now." |
3 |
| nemo-terminal "Unfortunately, this no longer installs with Mint 21. The requirement of python-nemo conflicts with the existing installation of nemo-python." |
3 |
| com.makemkv.MakeMKV "Wonderful tool for putting my movie collection in my media server. Developer has made it available for free for years, but I paid because it's that good. Handbrake works better in a few limited circumstances, but for the purpose of ripping your DVD/Bluray collection it's the tops. (Handbrake is obviously more versatile for other functions.) I haven't used the flatpak — latest version is 17.2" |
5 |
| com.github.naaando.lyrics "As reported by the others, this doesn't display lyrics no matter what program I'm using to listen. Mint 21 tested with Guayadeque, Audacious, etc." |
2 |
| com.github.muriloventuroso.givemelyrics "This is the best one I've tried so far. I don't see a way to download the lyrics, but it finds more lyrics than the alternatives." |
3 |
| osdlyrics "When it works, it actually syncs the lyrics to the song, some of the time. However, it is TERRIBLE at actually finding lyrics. It also doesn't seem to notice Quod Libet as a player." |
2 |
| com.github.wwmm.easyeffects "The premise is intriguing, but I can't actually evaluate it as software. I, also, am running Cinnamon 21, but although EasyEffects launches, it presents me with an Empty List rather than a list of apps to modify. I do need to reboot soon, to update the kernel, and we'll see if the reboot fixes this issue. FWIW, I did also manually install all of the dependencies listed at the wwmm/easyeffects github page." |
2 |
| devilspie2 "There's no graphical interface for configuration, and you have to do a certain amount of tweaking to get it to do what you want. Also, there are things it *can't* do, like move particular browser windows that are opening to a particular site. All of that said, especially with the help of the tutorial at https://www.linux-magazine.com/Issues/2017/205/Tutorial-Devilspie2 I was able to get it working well for what I need it to do." |
4 |
| org.gnome.FontManager "I would install the other version, since they're currently at parity, and the flathub version takes more space." |
3 |
| ttf-mscorefonts-installer "I mostly like this because I get a lot of email in Calibri, and it's nice to have it render correctly. Like many others (GZoltan) I had a problem with the font being pixelated at certain sizes. Fortunately, the solution is now easy (and much less complicated than the other solutions you'll find online). In the "Font Manager" program, go to the settings and select the "Rendering" tab. The bottom item in that tab (for the current version) is "Use Embedded Bitmaps". Turn that off, and the MS fonts should scale like "real" fonts do." |
4 |
| gnome-maps "For user Mike521, it's probably just called "Maps" in your menu. At least in Mint 21 that's where it is. (You could also pin it to your panel or something like that if you like.) It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of some other map programs, but it's really fast, and seems up-to-date. For quick mapping purposes, it's nice to have an app like this that's native on Linux." |
4 |
| linssid "Please note that this has to be run as root (or with sudo) in order to access the wifi card in the proper mode. Also, the card needs to be activated (turned on). The program won't do that by itself." |
4 |
| scrcpy "I use it constantly. Much easier for screen capture than doing it on the Android device and exporting, and also much easier to enter text. Supporting Android apps is a breeze when I can share the screen while also doing other work." |
5 |
| sublime-text "To those complaining that commercial software is available in the repository: you can always install Debian if you care that much about FOSS software. For the rest of us, we care more about access to good, useful software. Sublime Text is good, useful software. Because they don't enforce their license (as in, you can keep using it without one) I used it for a long time. However, I didn't think it fair to keep doing so, but $99 was too much to pay, so I have switched to (primarily) Atom and (sometimes) VS Codium." |
4 |
| stellarium "I concur with CoconutSecurity that it's a great program. However, it is easy to suggest a change to the program: submit an issue on github https://github.com/Stellarium/stellarium/issues" |
5 |
| gwaterfall "On peut faire de même avec Font Manager, qui comporte aussi beaucoup d'autres capacités." |
3 |
| deja-dup "To be fair, this is a really old version. The flatpak in the Mint store defaults to Google Drive, but doesn't ask for your Good ID unless you use it. That said, I found it didn't back up everything, even after multiple attempts. I was glad that certain mission-critical files were stored in my pCloud account as well, or they would have been lost. I'll be trying something else for my file backups." |
2 |