Free software worth checking out. Vol. II
It’s been two years since the first “Free software worth checking out,” can you believe it? Well, I’ve had two years to discover new cool stuff, so here’s what I can sell. There’s a lot of cool free (as in freedom) software out there!
FeatherNotes
- Hierarchical, rich text formatted notes.
- Images, tables, and more!
- Very lightweight and fast! (C++/Qt**
- Supports tray icon for quick access.
- Stores notes in a simple XML file.
- Supports password encrypted notes.
- Actually makes sense.
https://github.com/tsujan/FeatherNotes
This is the first notes app that I don’t forget to use after two days!
GNOME Evolution
- Mail, calendar, contacts, tasks and memos.
- Easy and configurable UI written in GTK.
- Supports OAuth2, OpenPGP and CalDAV.
- Not too many bells and whistles, it just works.
- Actually makes sense.
https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Evolution/
I used Claws Mail before, but it was a lot of trouble to get it working the way I like it, and most importantly, it doesn’t support OAuth2 and CalDAV.
GNU Jami
- P2P chat and video/audio calls.
- Everything is end-to-end-encrypted.
- Has what you’d expect from Zoom.
- Import/export your data.
- Actually makes sense.
I have no one to use it with.
GNU Taler
Disclaimer: I work at Taler Systems SA, the company behind GNU Taler.
- Privacy-friendly digital payments.
- It is not blockchain! Uses blind signatures.
- Customers are anonymous, but merchants are taxable.
- Exchanges are auditable.
- Works with any payment infrastructure (e.g. banks, Bitcoin, etc.)
- Actually makes sense.
It hasn’t been deployed anywhere yet, but hopefully soon it will.
InnerTune
- Stream and discover music from YouTube Music.
- Beautiful and modern design based on Material 3.
- Create playlists and like songs.
- Download songs for offline playback.
- No account or subscription required!
- Actually makes sense.
https://github.com/z-huang/InnerTune
This is my hope to discover new music again!
jtx Board
- Manage iCal notes, tasks and journals.
- Integrates with DAVx5 to allow syncing via CalDAV.
- Beautiful and modern design based on Material 3.
- Notifications, home screen widgets and more!
- Actually makes sense.
I use Nextcloud as the CalDAV server. Everything gets synced to Evolution.
KDE Connect
- What AirDrop wishes it was.
- Easily connect devices in your local network.
- Share files and clipboard.
- Remotely control media, mouse and keyboard.
- Sync notifications and contacts.
- Actually makes sense.
Miniflux
- Lightweight and brutalist Web RSS reader.
- Easy to self-host.
- No distractions, just read.
- Manage feeds and categories.
- Hide stuff from the main feed.
- Star your favorite posts!
- Actually makes sense.
I really thought this was on Vol I.
Nextcloud
- Extensible, all-in-one “cloud” platform.
- Easy to self-host, configure and update.
- Lightweight enough to run on a Pi.
- Has a lot of integrations.
- Cool clients for all platforms.
- Actually makes sense.
This should’ve been on Vol. I too.
Subsonic API
- Not software, but a music streaming HTTP API.
- Upload your music and create playlists.
- Stream from anywhere, and download for offline playback.
- Some servers support automatic transcoding (e.g. FLAC to OPUS).
- Some cool clients for all platforms.
- Actually makes sense.
The server implementation I use is Supysonic, because it is the only one available on Debian. The client I use on Android is my own fork of D-Sub, and in GNU/Linux, I use Sublime Music, although sometimes I prefer Subplayer for Web. I’m also working on my own client for GNU/Linux.