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Ask HN: What linux desktop tools/apps boosted your productivity?

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41–50 of 96 posts

Re: Ask HN: What linux desktop tools/apps boosted your productivity?

#43

Switching back to Mac OS X is what really boosted my productivity as it allowed me to forget all about constant fiddling, broken drivers, breaking updates, inconsistent UX/UI, amateurish applications, etc. My Ubuntu box (an Ubuntu-approved Dell tower IIRC) required constant attention and ultimately died after two years while my mid-2011 Mac Mini went through 4 major Mac OSX/MacOS versions and countless security patch…

I've been using every major os (but mostly GNU/Linux and FreeBSD as my main desktop systems since 2007), and I have to say that I do not share your experience. I've had the same Arch install since they have launched on x86_64 (so quite a while ago) that I just rsync around from one system to another without no fuss or issue. It's only a matter of knowing what you're doing and what the best tool for the job actually i…

Have you ever run FreeBSD on a laptop? From what I hear it runs nice, but I'm specifically wondering about the battery life. Any experience?

Re: Ask HN: What linux desktop tools/apps boosted your productivity?

#44
In addition to the usual suspects of tmux, random window managers + friends, here are the applications I have to install to function

rofi - Fast, phenomenally good launcher

terminator - Terminal that allows splitting, tabbing, and more importantly bonding

redshift - Literally, shift my red light levels by time of day

retext - I write a lot of markdown. Seeing it real-time previewed makes life significantly better for me.

steam - A distraction now and then certainly helps

Re: Ask HN: What linux desktop tools/apps boosted your productivity?

#45
post #44

In addition to the usual suspects of tmux, random window managers + friends, here are the applications I have to install to function rofi - Fast, phenomenally good launcher terminator - Terminal that allows splitting, tabbing, and more importantly bonding redshift - Literally, shift my red light levels by time of day retext - I write a lot of markdown. Seeing it real-time previewed makes life significantly better for…

https://gnunn1.github.io/tilix-web/ is a good tiling terminal emulator/terminator alternative if you're looking for something designed for GNOME 3

Re: Ask HN: What linux desktop tools/apps boosted your productivity?

#46
post #11

- i3 window manager - I just couldn't go back now. Over the course of the last 5 years I have saved time and made window management much less painful. - Parcelite clipboard history - very useful for various reasons. It's such a basic tool for me now I don't know how people live without one. Not a tool, but for any shell work learning the readline key bindings is a good time saver: Ctrl+a/e/n/p/b/f. It's just so much…

FYI, one line change each to your bashrc and inputrc will get you vi keybindings instead of emacs

That's interesting, I never knew that. I actually use Fish shell, and with my Colemak keyboard vi keybindings need to be remapped extensively (also why I don't use vim).

Re: Ask HN: What linux desktop tools/apps boosted your productivity?

#47
post #23

Emacs org-mode[0] From the website's description: Org mode is for keeping notes, maintaining TODO lists, planning projects, and authoring documents with a fast and effective plain-text system. I just copied some of the set-up from here[1] [0] - https://orgmode.org/ [1] - http://doc.norang.ca/org-mode.html

Second emacs org-mode. I use almost nothing out of it. I have the default spacemacs configuration. I literaly just write bullet lists and cycle TODO and DONE states on them. Still the best todo-manager :)

I tried so hard to make this work, but a few months in realised that I was swapping to visual editors to fix problems far too often.

Re: Ask HN: What linux desktop tools/apps boosted your productivity?

#48
post #23

Emacs org-mode[0] From the website's description: Org mode is for keeping notes, maintaining TODO lists, planning projects, and authoring documents with a fast and effective plain-text system. I just copied some of the set-up from here[1] [0] - https://orgmode.org/ [1] - http://doc.norang.ca/org-mode.html

Second emacs org-mode. I use almost nothing out of it. I have the default spacemacs configuration. I literaly just write bullet lists and cycle TODO and DONE states on them. Still the best todo-manager :)

I've done a ton of writing and system description. I've got kit in Illustrator, I've bought tools on the mac like Scrivener[0] and Scrapple for writing fiction and technical documentation. I can really move with Omnigraffle. I've bridged that gap with writing my own tools in Python with JS web display layers. I am a competent developer in a few languages and I have known about emacs and org-mode for going on a decade.

I take big stabs at it becoming my goto. I feel like I've done a lifetime of development to just dance around figuring out this tool.

Do you have any suggestions for making it stick? I'm making 2019 my year to really get emacs and put some time into fun Lisp. Any tips relating specifically to org-mode and not just "how to not quit using emacs" would be greatly appreciated.

[0] https://www.literatureandlatte.com/store

Re: Ask HN: What linux desktop tools/apps boosted your productivity?

#49

Switching back to Mac OS X is what really boosted my productivity as it allowed me to forget all about constant fiddling, broken drivers, breaking updates, inconsistent UX/UI, amateurish applications, etc. My Ubuntu box (an Ubuntu-approved Dell tower IIRC) required constant attention and ultimately died after two years while my mid-2011 Mac Mini went through 4 major Mac OSX/MacOS versions and countless security patch…

I've been using every major os (but mostly GNU/Linux and FreeBSD as my main desktop systems since 2007), and I have to say that I do not share your experience. I've had the same Arch install since they have launched on x86_64 (so quite a while ago) that I just rsync around from one system to another without no fuss or issue. It's only a matter of knowing what you're doing and what the best tool for the job actually i…

Like another commenter mentioned, I would also love to learn more about your rsync / backup system if you are willing to share.

Re: Ask HN: What linux desktop tools/apps boosted your productivity?

#50
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Second emacs org-mode. I use almost nothing out of it. I have the default spacemacs configuration. I literaly just write bullet lists and cycle TODO and DONE states on them. Still the best todo-manager :)

I've done a ton of writing and system description. I've got kit in Illustrator, I've bought tools on the mac like Scrivener[0] and Scrapple for writing fiction and technical documentation. I can really move with Omnigraffle. I've bridged that gap with writing my own tools in Python with JS web display layers. I am a competent developer in a few languages and I have known about emacs and org-mode for going on a decade…

I'm a huge emacs fan but this seems silly. You're comment makes it sound like you're struggling with emacs - don't, just use whatever you're comfortable and productive with.
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