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

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

#71

Post by a-saleh »

stuntkite wrote: post #48
a-saleh wrote: 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 don't really have any 'tips to make it stick', because I don't really try to?

Most of my day-to-day development happens in VS Code, most of my in-console or over-the-ssh editing in vim. For interactive/exploratory programming I often grab jupyter notebook.

But having emacs with an org-file open at all times is nice. The bullet lists are pretty :-) And I am slowly branching out to other things that org-mode is capable off. I.e. I started writing a presentation outline in org-mode, then I realized that I could just write the whole thing there and export it to reveal-js html with few key-strokes.

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

#72

Post by russdpale »

gitgud wrote: post #68

Shutter is a great little gui tool I use everyday, it let's you easily take screenshots or partial screenshots and mark them up before copying/saving them.

Yeh shutter is a great application! Very easy to use and most importantly, light weight.

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

#73

Post by russdpale »

vfulco2 wrote: post #26
nwah1 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I detest Apple but understand your perspective. However, linux has improved over time for desktop use, and more things have moved to the web. So really I feel like I rarely leave the browser. And if I do, it is just to a text editor or IDE. Having a lightweight setup eliminates a lot of problems. I try to install almost nothing, honestly. The less you have installed, the less attack surface you have, the less updates…

With weird Atom issues now (on Ubuntu 18.04 I can't install or update my packages), would love if anyone had a good browser based IDE service which is cheap and private.

try VSCodium.. its vscode without all of the MS telemetry stuff in it. I use it on fedora 29 and it runs great. Im not a django developer though but the community is great and there is a ton of extensions for pretty much everything.

https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium

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

#75

Post by mickael-kerjean »

stuntkite wrote: post #48
a-saleh wrote: 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…

> "how to not quit using emacs" would be greatly appreciated.

Emacs kinda feel like a weird animal when getting started but that's just muscle memory. The best way to have it stick is to get a better understanding of its power. I wrote a 5 episode tutorial series that should get you on the right path: https://mickael.kerjean.me/2017/03/18/emacs-tutorial-series-...

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

#76

Post by nextos »

stuxnet79 wrote: post #49
qalmakka wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's quite easy to accomplish this by simply rsync'ing to a btrfs volume, and then taking a snapshot.

Furthermore, you can take advantage of rsync ignore files to exclude things you don't want to back up.

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

#77

Post by nextos »

e19293001 wrote: post #16

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

I'd add a manual tiling window manager, Emacs, Firefox (with Tridactyl) and a terminal.

My WM of choice is StumpWM (with XMonad-like shortcuts on Super) and my terminal of choice is simply xterm running Bash.

This setup is incredibly minimal and efficient in all respects.

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

#80

Post by mclehman »

lgunsch wrote: post #46
jessedhillon wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

I use another niche keyboard layout (Workman) and have never really felt the urge to rebind anything in vi(m). I can definitely see wanting to rebind the standard nav keys which causes cascading changes and can cause you to lose a lot of the mnemonic advantages of the commands.

My solution to that issue is "just" alternate bindings which obsolete both the standard and vi navigation keys. At the home row, I have the arrow keys on my right hand and a "nav cluster" of my own devising (page up/down, tab left/right, workspace left/right) on the left.

Definitely not for everyone, but a possible way to have your cake and eat it too.

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