These days I’m a Linux & FreeBSD user, most if not all of this software is available on both platforms. It is all free and open source software, with either GPL, MIT or BSD licensing.
Desktop Environments |
| MATE Desktop: a continuation of GNOME 2 |
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The MATE Desktop Environment provides an intuitive and attractive desktop environment using traditional metaphors for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. MATE is under active development to add support for new technologies while preserving a traditional desktop experience. Personally, I use MATE on pretty much every machine I actually use. It is my go to. Window-snapping / tiling has been added, and it is great to be able to use keyboard bindings to half or quarter tile your windows instantly. XFCE can do the same things, and is a fine choice too, I’ve just been using Gnome/MATE for a long time and find it a tad cleaner out of the box. If Gnome 3/40+ makes you dizzy and KDE 5/6 has too many options and feels bloated; Welcome to MATE!
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| Website: mate-desktop.org | Install Guide: Wiki page | FreeBSD Handbook: Installing MATE |
| LXDE: the light-weight X11 Desktop Environment |
| LXDE is a complete (but small) desktop environment with comparatively low resource requirements. It will feel speedy on your Core 2 Duo, yes even in 2024. Written in C, and uses the GTK 2 toolkit. Default window manager is Openbox, and LXDE is a great way to get into using openbox without writing your own configs for it. You get a desktop /w icons, familiar right-click menu, and panel with task-bar and system tray. Available on most Unix-like systems. |
| Website: lxde.org | FreeBSD Wiki: Installing and Configuring LXDE |
Software |
Krita – My free “Photoshop” go to. I must admit, I’ve only recently found this gem of a program and boy do I wish I’d found it sooner. I got pretty comfortable in PS back in the CS 3 – CS 4 days, and Gimp (in my opinion!) is simply not intuitive. Krita is incredible. I’ve only as of writing this used it a dozen or so times for small things and I’m already thoroughly impressed. It is a solid offering, and for me I find it vastly more usable than gimp. Better yet even it is available from FreeBSD ports / packags! Krita.org
PaleMoon – A browser completely built from its own, independently developed source which forked from FireFox of days past. I really love this browser, especially the interface. I use it whenever possible. uBlock origin works via the current “firefox legacy” plugin. Plus, FreeBSD, Linux and other pre-compiled builds are available right from their website!
Firefox – These days there are probably better options. I don’t agree with a lot of things Google does, so I haven’t touched chrome in years. Firefox has been pretty good to me over the past two decades. I even use it on my phone. Mozilla.org
guvcview – Web cam and video capture software. Build configurations for GTK, QT and console only. Works with V4L devices; cameras, capture cards, etc. Of what I’ve tried, this has worked well for capturing video and viewing video from various sources on screen. guvcview.sourceforge.net
SeaMonkey – This is the modern era Mozilla application suite. Browser, E-mail, irc and WYSIWYG style HTML composer all in one. HTML editors are few and far between these days, so SeaMonkey is probably what you’re looking for. It also offers a lighter browser compared to FireFox. As a browser, I have found that most things will work, with a couple exceptions.
This page will tell you everything you need to install Seamonkey on Debian / Ubuntu.
Here is v 2.53 someone compiled on FreeBSD 13. I’ve tested it myself, and it works fine on FreeBSD 14 aswell. **This is a couple years old now and may not be secure! Use at your own risk. **
InputLeap – Formerly named “Barrier”, this program allows you to share your a single mouse and keyboard across multiple desktops. This can be very handy if you have multiple systems on the same desk, or maybe to plop your notebook down beside your workstation for more screen space to multi-task. I’ve used it between FreeBSD on my laptop and Fedora on my desktop, and it works perfectly. GitHub
Solaar – Software to get otherwise unavailable functionality out of Logitech wireless peripherals working on Linux. It lets me use my function keys as… function keys. Instead of useless multimedia functions, I can use F1 – F12. For me, a must have; although I wouldn’t need it if they didn’t design their keyboards with that flawed design decision. GitHub
virt-manager – Virtual Machine Manager, a GUI front end for Linux KVM, Xen, LXC, FreeBSD Bhyve and more. virt-manager.org
xscreensaver – The standard screen saver collection included on most Linux and Unix systems running the X11 Window System. First released in 1992, it now has hundreds of absolutely great screensavers, many of which use OpenGL and impressive 3D graphics. It is also the only way to securely lock your screen on X11, unlike forks which have made changes to compromise security and stability. jwz.org/xscreensaver
Must haves for any system: (console / tty) |
Bash – Borne Again Shell, a full featured system shell.
GNU Bash Homepage
Htop – A better version of top, with nice visuals and lots of useful features.
htop.dev
Nano – Very easy to use editor. There’s nothing wrong with vi / vim, but I still use nano all the time.
nano-editor.org
Sudo – Lets the user run a command as superuser (root).
sudo.ws
OpenSSH – Secure shell tooling for remote access, developed by the OpenBSD project.
openssh.com