Re: [PLUG] apps

["Alan D. Salewski via plug" <plug@lists.phillylinux.org>]

On 2020-06-25 10:13:38, jeff via plug spake thus:
> 10 Best Linux Apps You Must Have For Everyday Use [2020 Edition]
> 
> https://fossbytes.com/best-linux-apps-free-open-source/
[...]

Heh. Thanks for sharing that link; I do like seeing which tools others find
useful. But I will say that none of those apps[0] strike me as anything that I
"must have for everyday use". I find that it's actually pretty rare for
completely new tools to break into my "must have" list, so my 10 "must have"
list for 2020 doesn't look radically different from my list from any other
year[1]. In (mostly) no particular order, it is:

    X.org          (X11)
    sawfish        (window manager, based on 'rep' lisp[2])
    XTerm          (terminal emulator)
    Bash           (shell (duh))
    mutt           (email MUA ("Mail User Agent"))
    GNU Emacs      (The One True Editor)
    org-mode       (note taking, scheduling, time tracking)[3]
    OpenSSH        (secure remote access)
    GNU Screen     (terminal multiplexer)
    GNU coreutils  (this might be cheating, but c'mon...)
    fetchmail      (I know it's the 11th item in this list, but 'org-mode'
                    is technically just an emacs mode, so this isn't cheating)

What do your "10 must have tools"[4] lists look like? How often do they really
change?

-Al


[0] For context, the apps listed in the article at the URL were:
        1. Liferea     (Feed Reader (RSS client, news aggregator))
        2. Fragments   (A BitTorrent Client)
        3. GNOME Boxes (Virtual Machine Solution)
        4. Krita       (A Digital Painting App)
        5. Podcasts    (GNOME Podcast Client)
        6. Calibre     (E-book Manager)
        7. VSCode      (Free Code Editor)
        8. Stacer      (Linux System Optimizer)
        9. KTouch      (Typing Tutor)
       10. D??j?? Dup    (A Backup Tool)
    

[1] And that's a major feature of *nix to me. One could not become truly
    proficient with any sophisticated tools having to relearn basic things all
    the time. I would rather invest my time in tools that will stand the test
    of time.


[2] Which is kinda a mishmash of inspiration from both Scheme and Emacs Lisp.


[3] Yeah, I know it's technically "just an emacs mode", but it's really a full
    application written on top of Emacs (in Emacs Lisp, of course). I keep at
    least one large multi-windowed X11 frame dedicated to it at all times so I
    can see both my agenda, notes, and calendar at a glance.


[4] I found that it was actually interesting to pick just 10 tools for this
    list[4a]. I imagine most of us could rattle off much longer lists of
    "highly necessary" tools, and even much longer lists that include "very
    useful" tools, but to pick just 10 "must have for everyday use" tools is
    an interesting constraint. For instance, an earlier draft of my list
    contained the entry:

        Firefox and/or Chromium  (I could live without one or the other, but
                                  would be sad without either)

    I was surprised that that got edged out, because not having a graphical
    web browser would be rather painful. But I would not trade the items in my
    basic list for a graphical browser, and I've gone for stretches in the
    real world without one so know what that entails. This was a tough one,
    for sure.

    I also played games such as contemplating what the list looks like without
    X11. That would give me back three slots (X.org, sawfish, and XTerm); I've
    lived that reality, but that's not how I want to live now for any long
    stretch of time.


[4a] Since this is PLUG, the Linux kernel is presumed as the given
     substrate. But I think my list holds up for me across unixen.

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a l a n   d.   s a l e w s k i                   salewski@att.net
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