If you use Linux as your primary operating system or are new to Linux, this article is for you. And it’s also for those who believe in the myth that Linux does not have all the facilities that Windows has. Applications in Linux are equally good and in some cases even better than those in Windows.
Here are the top 10 applications that you can use on your Linux desktop. So, let’s start!
1. VLC media player
Videos are an important source of information as well as entertainment in today’s world. Video players are tools for watching videos. There is a range of videos that we watch on a daily basis, like educational videos, movies etc. Therefore, having a good video player is useful and important, and having a free one is even better. VLC media player is one such application. It is an open source, free and easy to use video player. It supports a lot of video formats and is really amazing. You can install it by using the following commands:
sudo apt install snapd sudo snap install vlc
2. Openshot video editor
Video editors are really useful not just for fun, but also to make videos for professional presentations, college assignments, etc. Most online video editing tools have to be paid for and only give trial versions for free. So, having free video editing software on your desktop comes very handy. Openshot is one such free and open source video editor that is also pretty easy to use. You can install it on your machine using the following simple commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openshot.developers/ppa sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install openshot-qt
3. SimpleScreenRecorder
Screen recorders are important tools and there are very few free and good ones. SimpleScreenRecorder is a free and open source screen recorder that has many features. For example, it can record computer audio as well as audio from the microphone, based on the option that one chooses. You can use the command given below to install it:
sudo apt-get install simplescreenrecorder
4. Surfshark VPN
In today’s world, when there is so much happening in the cyber world, a sense of privacy is very important. A VPN or virtual private network is something that gives us privacy and helps us hide our identity in the online world. It masks the user’s IP and makes the system virtually untraceable. Surfshark VPN is open source, free of cost, and can be installed by using the following command:
sudo apt-get install surfshark-vpn
5. Virtual Box
Virtualisation software and tools, used by both developers and students, provide good backup. Even if a virtual machine crashes, there is no problem as it is stored just as a file and it’s easy to retrieve the data or even create a new machine. Virtual Box by Oracle is a popular, free and open source virtualisation software. A feature-rich product, it can be installed by using a simple command:
sudo apt-get install virtualbox
6. Visual Studio Code
Good code editors are very useful and important for developers. They make writing code really easy by providing suggestions, plugins, etc. One of the best among them is Visual Studio Code developed by Microsoft, and is really easy and fun to use. It can be installed by using the following command:
sudo apt install code
7. Mailspring
In today’s world, when email has become very important and checking our mails at regular intervals is almost imperative, having a desktop application for the same can be very handy and of great help. Mailspring is one such application. It is free and open source, apart from being extremely easy to use. It can be installed by using the following command:
sudo snap install mailspring
8. Evince
A PDF reader is another important desktop application. It is an application almost all of us require on our machines. Evince is one such PDF reader that is free and open source. It has many useful features and is really easy to use. It can be installed by using the following command:
sudo apt-get install -y evince
9. Clam AntiVirus
Antivirus software is software that is used to detect, remove or prevent malware. Clam AntiVirus is one such antivirus software. Though Linux systems are less prone to viruses, this software can block viruses and files that have malware. It can be installed by using the following command:
sudo apt-get install clamav clamav-daemon
10. Shutter
Screenshots are things that we require often, and one free and open source software for taking screenshots is Shutter. It is very easy to use and can be installed by using the following command:
sudo apt-get install shutter
There are so many other applications that are open source and really good, but these are the top ten tools that everyone requires on a regular basis and have really good features as well. Hope you try these out, like them and get more involved with open source and Linux!
