this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2023
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Software alternatives for Linux (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by pglpm to c/[email protected]
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NB: According to some of the suggestions below, this post has been made into a community:

https://lemmy.ca/c/software_alternatives_linux

Hope to see many of view posting software alternatives there!

Many members of this community are computer users who recently moved to Linux from other OSs, Windows in particular. Having established their work and hobbies on a particular software base, they often encounter difficulties trying to find similar software on Linux.

I'd like this to be a sort of board where members comment about some software alternative they're looking for, and other members sub-comment with possible solutions.

What's a solution? It's important to be broad-minded about this when switching to Linux:

  • Exactly the same software could be available for Linux.

  • Different software but with similar critical features could be available for Linux.

  • It could be possible to use emulators (such as Wine) of the old OS.

  • Finally, one can change one's perspective or workflow, in such a way that the old software is not needed any longer, but is replaced with other software of a different kind (this may actually lead to much improved workflows).

(Moderators: feel free to take over this post. Also please let me know if a similar board exists already here, so I delete this.)

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[–] iconic_admin 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If you use MATLAB software there is a FOSS alternative that can even run most M-files and uses mostly the same syntax.

GNU Octave

https://octave.org/

[–] pglpm 2 points 1 year ago

Octave is great! Just wanted to add for completeness that Matlab is also available for Linux (in some places you're simply forced to use Matlab, so it's good to know you don't need to leave Linux for that).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

And matlab runs natively in linux if needed

[–] pglpm 4 points 1 year ago

InfanView alternatives.

IrfanView is a great piece of software for Windows. One of those "jack of all trades, master of none". It works as a simple image & video viewer and browser, can do simple and not-so-simple image manipulation, and even batch jobs, like conversion, on selections of images in folders.

For Linux (and other platforms) there's XnView MP that offers extremely similar functionalities.

[–] jennraeross 2 points 1 year ago

For any who were fond of longform writing apps:

  • Scrivener 3 > Scrivener 1.9 is available permanently free as an appimage. It's functional but very ugly.
  • Ulysses > ThiefMD is pretty directly intended to be a clone of Ulysses, though the export isn't up to par yet. Pandoc may help with that, but it's a bit... fiddly...
  • If you really need precise layout, the best option is probably still LaTeX, but it has a pretty steep learning curve.
[–] newbeni 2 points 1 year ago

I am looking for a Pre-sonus replacement, that is the only reason I'm dual booting.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

https://github.com/luong-komorebi/Awesome-Linux-Software

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Assuming this idea pans out and people start writing alternatives for everything, anyone looking for something in particular would have a hard time going through the comments.

Each alternative having its own post is more visible in searches and allow for more in-depth discussions in the comments. I like the idea of putting it all in the same place, I just don't think a Lemmy post is the way to do it - if you want to keep it in Lemmy, maybe a community would be better?

[–] pglpm 1 points 1 year ago

True, I get your point. I can try to create a community for this - or maybe you do? I would join.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For somebody wanting to get started with making digital music is it best to stick to flstudio or Ableton or are there beginner friendly yet fully featured DAWs for linux?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't think there's a clear best here. If you find using wine easier than learning new music software, then sticking with what you know is best. If you're flexible about your process, there are a lot of amazing free tools and you'll probably have a more seamless time developing a workflow around them.

Personally I think learning different software is a great way to build a more flexible understanding of the fundamentals of music production, but everyone has different needs so I don't think there's a one size fits all approach.

Ardour recently go a lot of Ableton style features in version 7. Zrhythm looks pretty solid. Reaper isn't foss, but is run by a small & trustworthy team and is my main DAW, though I'm exploring less daw heavy workflows recently. VCV Rack is an incredible piece of software that has thousands of modules and is like having an entire warehouse full of modular synth gear but digitally. Cardinal is a fully self contained version of VCV Rack that works as a plugin and has ~1000 open source modules built in. Bitwig isn't foss, but borrows heavily from the Ableton paradigm, has their own twist, and has always natively supported linux. Tracktion Waveform isn't foss but looks pretty cool, depending on what suits your workflow.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

thanks your thorough response! I'll have a look!