"less known" free software you like thread?

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SuperTramp83

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Ok, I know it's relative, but try to come out with a package that is cool&useful and not so well known mybe ^^
Here, I start with some I found recently.

Links 2.13. Browser. Takes 5 mb RAM, looks awesome, and strts in 1 second on old hardware

SuperTramp83

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oh, my, I was not finished ... meh.
http://links.twibright.com/

mps-youtube . Search, browse, play music and video from YT directly in your terminal :P

https://github.com/mps-youtube/mps-youtube

plowshare - download files from mediafire dfiles uploaded.net etc from terminal

https://github.com/mcrapet/plowshare

ok...

JadedCtrl
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I second mpsyt-- I use it every day. Very rad.
I hate Mediafire. Their website is a resource hog and enrages me every time :s
Plowshare'll help me a lot, thanks, mate! :)

Aprendiz_de_linux
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"I second mpsyt-- I use it every day."
I have some troubles when seeing with mpsyt. For instance: type "/calligra" and find it on terminal. After you see---> 1 Calligra Suite 2.9.2 on Ubuntu 16.04 (...). Now type "1" can't get this file. Some other files gave me errors too. Other videos just open fine.
I went to yt to try that video i write above. It goes just fine on Firefox but not on terminal....

SuperTramp83

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Aprendiz: That doesn't happen here. What does happen and it's the only complaint I have about this neat applications is: poor search results.

Are you using mplayer or mpv for the playback. If mplayer, change it to use mpv.

Aprendiz_de_linux
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This is what appears to me:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/mps_youtube/player.py", line 148, in _playsong
streams.get(song, force=failcount, callback=screen.writestatus)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/mps_youtube/streams.py", line 56, in get
[x.url for x in ps]
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/mps_youtube/streams.py", line 56, in
[x.url for x in ps]
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/pafy/backend_internal.py", line 236, in url
self._url = _make_url(self._rawurl, self._sig)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/pafy/backend_internal.py", line 448, in _make_url
raise IOError("Error retrieving url")
OSError: Error retrieving url

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/mps_youtube/player.py", line 148, in _playsong
streams.get(song, force=failcount, callback=screen.writestatus)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/mps_youtube/streams.py", line 56, in get
[x.url for x in ps]
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/mps_youtube/streams.py", line 56, in
[x.url for x in ps]
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/pafy/backend_internal.py", line 236, in url
self._url = _make_url(self._rawurl, self._sig)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/pafy/backend_internal.py", line 448, in _make_url
raise IOError("Error retrieving url")
OSError: Error retrieving url

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/mps_youtube/player.py", line 148, in _playsong
streams.get(song, force=failcount, callback=screen.writestatus)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/mps_youtube/streams.py", line 56, in get
[x.url for x in ps]
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/mps_youtube/streams.py", line 56, in
[x.url for x in ps]
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/pafy/backend_internal.py", line 236, in url
self._url = _make_url(self._rawurl, self._sig)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/pafy/backend_internal.py", line 448, in _make_url
raise IOError("Error retrieving url")
OSError: Error retrieving url

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/local/bin/mpsyt", line 11, in
sys.exit(main.main())
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/mps_youtube/main.py", line 141, in main
if matchfunction(i.function, i.regex, userinput):
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/mps_youtube/main.py", line 64, in matchfunction
func(*matches)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/mps_youtube/commands/play.py", line 85, in play
play_range(songlist, shuffle, repeat, override)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/mps_youtube/player.py", line 41, in play_range
returncode = _playsong(song, override=override)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/mps_youtube/player.py", line 160, in _playsong
return _playsong(song, failcount=failcount, override=override)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/mps_youtube/player.py", line 160, in _playsong
return _playsong(song, failcount=failcount, override=override)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/mps_youtube/player.py", line 160, in _playsong
return _playsong(song, failcount=failcount, override=override)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/mps_youtube/player.py", line 175, in _playsong
cached = g.streams[song.ytid]
KeyError: 'stvwUPbeboE'

pretty complicated lol... this is the erros it gives me. I am on debian Jessie KDE, and tried to remove via Apper Software Management. And i did i, but i dont understand while i still type mpsyt it appears on terminal. Like it was not removed from the system.
And yes i am using mpv.

SuperTramp83

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haha, that's some output! :)
I have no idea what is apper, I imagine some KDE gui for apt. If when you type mpsyt in terminal you have the application opened, you did **not** remove it.

So, probably you installed it via python-pip as the version in the repo (I use Jessie too) is very outdated.
Try this to remove it completely:

sudo pip uninstall mps-youtube

Aprendiz_de_linux
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Thanks SuperTramp83. Seems it is still not solved. But anyway i will try to upgrade the system to Debian 9. As most of software are already a bit old on Debian Jessie. I wonder how well could be running on Parabola... :P but atm moment i feel a bit lazy to do it. I wonder if i change all repos from Jessie to stretch go better. At least i will learn something new ahah

Aprendiz_de_linux
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Good News Mister SuperTramp83!!!

First, after the super great fiasco i did with upgrading Debian Jessie 8 to 9... (on my other bpost screen resolution 1280x1024 to 1600x1050) i saw several packages were changed.. and couldn't make any change with Jxself.org's site i went back again to Debian Jessie 8. As stubborn as i am i didn't resigned i tried it again with mps-youtube.
What i did: installed phyton3-pip; did sudo apt-get install --upgrade mps-youtube. After this installation and going inside mpsyt i changed set player dragon (the one that come by default on Debian Jessie KDE) and you know what? it worked!!! Not mpv, do not select this neither mplayer (that sucks) You have your music player or video player by default, select it. Try it. In my case, now i am super happy! Happy!...now it is much more fun to see and hearing videos, on a mode text! I am happy... wait.. i already said i am happy? ahaha :P

oh.. and while i was trying my attempts i found this too but anyway ... there you have https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2015/06/msg01279.html

I hope mps-youtube now work with you too. Have fun :)

SuperTramp83

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Nice, good you solved mpsyt. I prefer Stable, I like my distro not getting in my way, I like to learn how to use software much more than how to fix it.. :)
For me mpsyt works great with mpv, no issues at all.
cheers

Legimet
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Workrave - Reminds you to take periodic breaks
http://www.workrave.org/

Redshift - Adjusts color temperature depending on time of the day to reduce eye strain
http://jonls.dk/redshift/

KBibTeX - Bibliography manager for BibTeX, allows you to search and import from external sources
http://home.gna.org/kbibtex/

Marble - Virtual globe similar to Google Earth with support for OpenStreetMap, KML files, and directions
https://marble.kde.org/

TiLP - Linking program for TI calculators, allows sending/receiving files, taking screenshots, dumping ROM, etc.
http://lpg.ticalc.org/prj_tilp/index.html

Bleachbit - Removes files on your system, vacuums Firefox databases, wipes unallocated disk space. Used by Hillary Clinton to delete emails.
https://www.bleachbit.org/

Solaar - Manage Logitech wireless mice/keyboards
https://pwr.github.io/Solaar/

Filelight - Visualize disk usage
https://utils.kde.org/projects/filelight/

Enigma - Puzzle game with over a thousand levels, where you move around a marble can be very difficult
http://enigma.nongnu.org/

RTV - Browse Reddit from terminal
https://github.com/michael-lazar/rtv

PDFtk (the free version, of course) - Command line tool for manipulating PDF files
https://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-the-pdf-toolkit/

Expect - Automate interaction with terminal programs
http://expect.sourceforge.net/

That's enough for now.

Mangy Dog

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Tx!
testing Workrave

Stellarium It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.
http://www.stellarium.org/

...just discovered
EtherApe a graphical network monitor for Unix
http://etherape.sourceforge.net/images/v0.9.3.png

SuperTramp83

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Great list Legimet, but blecahbit and marble are superwellknown, but as I said, it is relative. Installed redshift, enigma and rtv right away. _Also, KDE user detected ^^
Going to try etherape, seems very cool&useful indeed.
Heh, so many good free software, gna!

Legimet
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There may be some users that don't know about Bleachbit or Marble, so I decided to put them in my list. And besides, Links is also pretty well-known I think. And you're right, I'm a KDE user :)

SuperTramp83

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I used rtv for an hour and it's really great, I suddenly like reddit more. One question, Legimet, it is really a detail and no issue but still: I set rtv to use feh for the pics and mpv for webms and vids in general. It all works great but the animated gifs. Now, I know feh can't play those, so my question is, is there any way to set another application to be used **only** for animated gifs?

Legimet
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You could try using a script like this as your image viewer:
#!/bin/sh
if [ $(identify -format "%n" "$1") -gt 1 ]; then
xdg-open "$1"
else
feh "1"
fi

The identify command uses ImageMagick to get the number of frames in the picture. If it is greater than one, then it assumes that it is animated, which is for the most part true. (You can consider this code to be trivial and not subject to any copyright)

SuperTramp83

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Hmm, either I am doing something wrong or the script isn't fine. Does this script work for you?

This is part of my mailcap configuration (the relevant part)-->

image/x-imgur-album; feh -F %s; test=test -n "$DISPLAY"
image/*; feh -F '%s'; test=test -n "$DISPLAY"

# Youtube streamed with smplayer
video/x-youtube; smplayer '%s'; test=test -n "$DISPLAY"

# Mpv is a simple and effective video streamer
video/webm; mpv '%s' --autofit 640x480 --fs --loop=inf; test=test -n "$DISPLAY"
video/*; mpv '%s' --autofit 640x480 --fs --loop=inf; test=test -n "$DISPLAY"

---------------
As you can see, I set smplayer to be used for yt vids, as many videos don't work in vlc or mpv and that works great, so does mpv with webms.
Now, being rather naive, I assumed I could do the same with the pictures, so for instance I tried using "ristretto" or the imagemagick "animate" command (and several other executables) but it doesn't work. Same with the script :(
I am pretty sure I am missing something and my sixth sense tells me that something is "proper competence", muahahaha :D

EDIT: so, yeah, as I said, lacking proper competence I did not manage to solve the animated gif issue but rtv is great software folks. Good thing is, while tinkering with it I found out about Mirage. If you have a slooow computer or if you just enjoy moarr speed, then mirage is an excellent picture viewer you should probably have a look at. The difference in speed, even when compared to the pretty fast "ristretto" is palpable. Also, a very nice program overall, not just the smoothness of it.

http://mirageiv.sourceforge.net/

Legimet
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Supertramp83, I put this entry in my .mailcap and it works for me:
image/gif; ([ $(identify -format '%n' '%s') != 1 ] && mpv '%s' --autofit 640x480 --loop=inf) || feh -g 640x480 '%s'; test=test -n "$DISPLAY"
Put it before the image/* entry, not after.
Also, rtv has been packaged in Debian. It is in the sid repository and should reach stretch in a few days.

SuperTramp83

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Legimet: it only works for gifs on imgur in that it opens a frozen mpv (I see it downloads the gif but no gif is displayed, only one frame), and most gifs still open in feh (single image). Meh, I give up, no biggie anyway.

I install and update rtv via pip.

Legimet
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Imgur gifv's are handled differently, by downloading the webm file. mpv works fine for me with actual animated gifs but if you're having problems you can replace mpv with another viewer in the .mailcap entry that I posted above.

SuperTramp83

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I tried with several, I still get just only one frame and I can see in conky that it is indeed downloading the gif but not displaying it :(

Legimet
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There was actually an issue in that mailcap line where it opened with both mpv and feh. But I found that I can use Bash if/else/fi by escaping the semicolons. Now it works better:
image/gif; if [ $(identify -format '%n' '%s') != 1 ]\; then mpv '%s' --autofit 640x480 --loop=inf\; else feh -g 640x480 '%s'\; fi; test=test -n "$DISPLAY"
I still don't know why mpv isn't playing the gifs for you. The main problem that I have is that mpv seems to download the gif every time it loops.

SuperTramp83

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Well I checked mpv from terminal with several gifs and as a matter of fact it doesn't play gifs !!? :(

So, after putting my 2 neurons together I found out your liner works beautifully for me, only thing I had to place "-loop 0" **before** and not after '%s'

image/gif; if [ $(identify -format '%n' '%s') != 1 ]\; then mplayer -loop 0 -fs -zoom '%s' \; else feh -F '%s'\; fi; test=test -n "$DISPLAY"

True, the constant download while looping the gif is brutal..
But, oh well, one can not have everything, now can he? :)
Thanks for the tips, Legimet!

Mangy Dog

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Xfe
http://roland65.free.fr/xfe/
&
ROX-Filer è un file manager grafico per X Window
http://rox.sourceforge.net/desktop/ROX-Filer

both very lightweight file managers in the repos

which lead to the discovery of
http://0install.net/
Zero Install is a decentralised cross-distribution software installation system. Other features include full support for shared libraries (with a SAT solver for dependency resolution), sharing between users, and integration with native platform package managers.

If you have a web-site, you can distribute your software; Create one package that works everywhere;
With dependency handling and automatic updates;There is no central point of control

SuperTramp83

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Heather, newsbeuter is just perfect. +47,5 :D

Turtleman
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tomlukeywood
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Just discovered Mana world and rely like it what is your user name?

Turtleman
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I am Butaza, I haven't had time to play lately with classwork. Maybe I will try logging in sometime soon though.

tomlukeywood
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Mangy Dog

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software that sucks less
http://suckless.org/philosophy

i3 is a tiling window manager, completely written from scratch
http://i3wm.org/

SuperTramp83

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Ingenious ideas are simple. Ingenious software is simple. Simplicity is the heart of the Unix philosophy. The more code lines you have removed, the more progress you have made. As the number of lines of code in your software shrinks, the more skilled you have become and the less your software sucks.

:)

tdlnx

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I love DWM and surf on my X200. Suckless.org is great.

jxself
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Less known? Free software? And cool? The Incompatible Timesharing System - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incompatible_Timesharing_System - that RMS used back in the day at MIT. Nowadays it runs only emulated hardware, unless you just happen to have a PDP-10 lying around somewhere. These days the PDP-10 serial number 4627 (famously known as AI@MIT) is here in Seattle undergoing repair to the hard disk drives. MIT's deactivated property sticker is prominently displayed on the front panel. Hopefully it'll be bootable at some future point.

SuperTramp83

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I remember I read about it in the FAIF book, one of the first chapters. Unfortunately I don't have a PDP-10 but I do have this picture lying in my pic folder :P

Richard_Stallman_at_MIT_dancing_1970s.jpg
Mangy Dog

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http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/

Armed with these certainties, therefore, I embarked upon a spiritualist quest to write the perfect window manager. It has a lot of faults - more faults than features, probably - but goddammit the faults are perfect too

...

Addendum: This page, and wm2 itself, were written in 1996. Other window managers are better now than they were then, and I'm older and less zealous

JadedCtrl
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Vimb -- Lightweight GTK webkit browser with Vim-like bindings
https://fanglingsu.github.io/vimb/

Otter -- Lightweight Opera clone without Vim-like bindings
http://otter-browser.org/

ii -- An IRC client that Sucks less. It has IRC networks as filesystems and follows the Unix philosophy.
http://tools.suckless.org/ii/

KnightOS -- Fully free software operating system for calculators (including the TI-84).
Ironically enough, it seems to do everything *but* calculations :p
http://www.knightos.org/

SuperTramp83

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good Jaded, moarr free softwre ^^
Another one I like very much for streaming dem torrents from terminal is peerflix, very nice application.
Who needs the heavy GUI of popcorntime, right? :)

https://github.com/mafintosh/peerflix

JadedCtrl
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Ooooh, Peerflix looks great.
:)

SuperTramp83

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And so I thought it would be nice while using peerflix to have a way to search for the magnets from terminal too, and it turns out pirate-get works great for the purpose
https://github.com/vikstrous/pirate-get

And this being able to do the whole thing (search and stream) without ever needing to open anything other than your terminal, feels damn good - gahnooo is powaa :)

JadedCtrl
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Pirate-get also seems great-- going to TPB's site's also always a pain.
My potato-PC thanks you for your software sleuth skills =w=

SuperTramp83

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hehe :)

hack and hack
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SuperTramp, how do you install this?
It seems I can install nodejs and nodejs-legacy from the repo, and then npm install -g peerflix

But how safe is this? Does it install the package from a repo? I know I could try and read the source code, but most of it I can't understand fully. It is clean and readable though.

It seems I can download from github, then check the code again, then do the rpm install from there (according to this https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/install). For added safety, I could add --ignore-scripts which prevents automatic execution of scripts on installation. These can be shown by npm show $module scripts if they exist.
https://blog.liftsecurity.io/2015/01/27/a-malicious-module-on-npm

SuperTramp83

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>how do you install this?
It seems I can install nodejs and nodejs-legacy from the repo, and then npm install -g peerflix

yep..

>But how safe is this?

Well, we are talking about free software..

>I know I could try and read the source code, but most of it I can't understand fully.

Then I guess you'll need to decide whether it is of a greatest benefit using the application and trusting the code "because freely open to audit" or not using it, not installing the code, heh.

hack and hack
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It's just that I'm a bit apprehensive about software outside of the repo.
But since the code is rather short, and that I can get it from github before installing, it's fine.

I mean I assume that everything inside the repo has been thoroughly checked.
I might be naive.

Plus I guess I can Firejail the whole terminal.

SuperTramp83

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>It's just that I'm a bit apprehensive about software outside of the repo.

That is an excellent apprehension to have and one we share.

>Plus I guess I can Firejail the whole terminal.

You can firejail the process and the video-player. Heck, it is so easy that why not.. :D

all it takes is prefixing the command with "firejail" ->

firejail peerflix "magnetlink" -m

hack and hack
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I see Firejail even has an X11 protection/virtualization option.

SuperTramp83

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yeah, it is slow as sh.t though and overkill. I didn't try xephyr though, only xpra, which I then purged, because, yeah, slow and overkill.

hack and hack
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Ah, if it's that slow, I guess I'll pass for now.

But I'll try, out of curiosity.
I wonder why it is slower.

SuperTramp83

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You need to consider that I am on a celeron 1.50 Ghz laptop X_X
Also, I hear, xephyr is faster than xpra. Use that one if you want to give it a try.

hack and hack
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Thanks, although the machine Firejail is installed on is probably worse (Intel Atom), Xephyr seems like it's worth trying.

Mangy Dog

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:)