this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2024
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After I install Linux Mint (which is the distro I have settled on), I replace:

  1. Thunderbird with Betterbird
  2. Firefox with Librewolf (I also install Brave for web services that need a chromium browser).
  3. Celluloid / Rythmbox with VLC player
  4. Default Libreoffice with latest Libreoffice from source.
  5. ClipIt/Parcellite with xfce4-clipman

I find this to be my optimal setup and these software give me the extra quality of life that make my workflows easier.

What software do you replace and install on your distro of choice?

Edit: I forgot to say I replace sudo with doas. That's something my friend told me to do although I personally don't find any immediate working advantage with it.

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[–] Strit@lemmy.linuxuserspace.show 109 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I don't replace anything. I just install what I need from the beginning.

And yes, I run Arch btw. :D

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[–] hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com 45 points 1 year ago (2 children)
  • Firefox -> Edge
  • Libreoffice -> Gsuite PWAs
  • kernel -> Azure Linux kernel (added trust of Microsoft)
  • nano -> vim
  • vi -> Emacs
  • GNOME -> Deepin
  • Bash -> Powershell >=7.0
[–] RmDebArc_5@sh.itjust.works 40 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think you forgot to add /s

[–] hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com 29 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Probably should have added yeah. Based on the amount of downvotes, some people took it too seriously

[–] Engywuck@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago

I still can't get why people should downvote your comment, but fine.

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[–] bitcrafter@programming.dev 11 points 1 year ago

nano -> vim

This one is extremely consistent with the others because once you have made the switch, it becomes harder to escape.

[–] lig@lemmings.world 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Any specific features made you go fish over others like zsh?

[–] lig@lemmings.world 8 points 1 year ago

It just feels better and lighter. Also, autocomplete looks nicer. Devs are also amazing. They have a clear vision of the product. And Fish 4.0 had been rewritten in Rust. Now I just cannot go away:)

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[–] elucubra@sopuli.xyz 26 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I replace ARCH with Windows 11 bloat edition. I use windows 11 BTW

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[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

As a former Windows SUPERUSER, I always change the desktop wallpaper, just to show off. 😋

But jokes aside and apart from things already mentioned, I always install the Speedcrunch calculator, and xbindkeys so I can copy all my keyboard shortcuts.

[–] eruchitanda@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago

Arch, so pretty much nothing.

Except maybe ZSH (but it's 'added', I guess; not 'replaced').

[–] Libb@jlai.lu 18 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Apps I replace with newer versions (on Mint too):

  1. LibreOffice, with the latest .deb from their website
  2. Celluloid, with mpv. I cannot tell how much I appreciate mpv even though it sucks with DVD, for which I use VLC ;)
  3. yt-dlp, with the latest version available from git
  4. Screenshot, with Ksnip.
  5. Whatever the default image viewer is, with Pix.
[–] maxprime@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 year ago
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[–] nichtburningturtle@feddit.org 16 points 1 year ago

bash -> fish

[–] Matombo@feddit.org 15 points 1 year ago

Arch master race: you don't have to replace defaults if nom defaults are isntalled in the first place and you choose everything our own anyways.

[–] Knuschberkeks@leminal.space 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (10 children)

cat > bat

ls > exa

(h)top > btop

whatever terminal > alacritty

whatever browser > librewolf + brave

cli editor > micro

app launcher > albert

vlc > mpv

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[–] PancakeBrock@lemmy.zip 14 points 1 year ago

I choose what I want when I install. I use Arch btw

[–] zarkanian@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (8 children)
  • Clementine - music player
  • yakuake - terminal
  • fish - command line
  • Geany - text editor
  • eza - replacement for ls
  • zoxide - replacement for cd
  • bat - replacement for cat
  • Librewolf - replacement for Firefox
  • Brave - replacement for Chromium
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[–] hersh@literature.cafe 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

There are a handful on non-default apps I've used across my last 3-4 distros at least:

  • mpv - the best video player, period. Minimalist UI, maximalist configuration options. I've been using it for many years across many OSes and at this point everything else feels wrong.

  • Geany - My favorite GUI text editor on Linux.

  • Foliate - the simplest eBook reader I've found.

  • Strawberry - It's "fine". Honestly, I've never found a music player on Linux that I really liked. I keep falling back to Strawberry because it's familiar and generally works as expected.

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[–] thadah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I usually replace these:

  1. Bash with Fish
  2. Neofetch (if there is) with Fastfetch+Hyfetch
  3. Firefox with Floorp
  4. Mkinitcpio with Dracut
  5. GRUB with systemd-boot
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[–] 0x0@programming.dev 11 points 1 year ago

I install the minimal version and go from there.

[–] boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Celluloid is honestly better than VLC. Native Wayland, Pipewire, no filesystem permissions (Flatpak)


I am on Fedora Kinoite, I replaced Kwrite with Kate, all the other default KDE apps are great. Okular, Gwenview as Flatpak, and apart from that a mix of different KDE, GNOME or 3rd party apps as Flatpaks.

I made a list here, but it is a bit outdated

https://github.com/boredsquirrel/recommended-flatpak-apps

[–] edinbruh@feddit.it 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Celluloid does much less than vlc, why not just using mpv (which celluloid uses as backend) so you have a full player

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[–] icogniito@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Defaults hehe

I use arch btw

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[–] GnuLinuxDude@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

I replace the <default, slow, annoying to use> image viewer with qimgv, which is ergonomic and very fast.

[–] geoma@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

I still haven't found a web service that really needs a chrome browser or that you cant' just trick with changing the user agent

[–] Jumuta@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago

pdf reader with okular

[–] Kanda@reddthat.com 7 points 1 year ago

VLC player with mpv

[–] lnxtx@feddit.nl 7 points 1 year ago (5 children)
  • bash -> fish
  • default text editor (like Kate) -> geany
  • firefox -> firefox-esr
  • chromium -> ungoogled-chromium
  • nano -> micro
  • top -> htop, btop
  • default PDF reader -> Okular
[–] CsXGF8uzUAOh6fqV@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Do you really replace bash though? I also use fish but even as a relatively deranged minimalist I haven't removed bash as it has so many dependents.

[–] lnxtx@feddit.nl 10 points 1 year ago

Replacing doesn't mean removing in this case.
It still needed for the system scripts, etc.

More like fish is my daily driver, bash if needed (I can write a script in bash faster then in fish).

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[–] OmegaLemmy@discuss.online 7 points 1 year ago

Firefox with (used to) Vivaldi, but now Zen Oh. That's it. Everything else for me is default

[–] dallen@programming.dev 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Gnome Files with Thunar.

It’s the perfect file manager for a user like me.

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[–] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago

Default terminal -> Kitty

[–] Berny23@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 1 year ago

I use MPV as movie and general media player with my custom config as well as auto-crop and URI copy/paste scripts. It works better than any other media player I tried in the last 10 years. I only use VLC for DVD menus, but it sucks even at that task, because the cursor gets stuck and the menus lag even when playing from SSD folder.

I use Tauon Music Box as music player because of its design, easy playlist/library customizability and Jellyfin integration. I also pay for spotify and use spicetify with custom skins if the songs are available there.

Kröhnkite as real auto-tiling solution with KDE Plasma.

But I'm on Arch btw., so there is not much default software apart from what the KDE meta packages contain.

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