My GNU/Linux desktop

Hans — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 04:58:53 +0000

In my first days of being a Linux user (more specifically, Ubuntu) I used the cookie-cutter setup of GNOME together with Compiz-Fusion. However I eventually grew bored, and not only switched to another distribution (Archlinux) but also threw away the idea of a predefined desktop enviroment in favour of puzzling together one of my own, from assorted interesting lightweight and minimalistic software. Admittedly, it ain’t as fancylooking, but I find it to work they way I want it to, rather than the other way around. It’s customized to my needs and preferences rather than having me change habits or face limitations for what I can or cannot do.

Openbox
ObConf
ObMenu
Nitrogen
PyPanel
Conky
SLiM

URxvt
Thunar
Xarchiver
gmrun

ViM
GViM
Leafpad

Firefox 3 (beta)
irssi
rTorrent
Pidgin

Mirage
MPD + Sonata
VLC
EasyTag

GIMP
Inkscape

ePDFview

To be continued…

My favourite OS X applications

Hans — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:43:12 +0000

Having owned and used a Macintosh for about eight months now, I’ve discovered quite a few jewels in the rather impressively large supply of both proprietary and open source software that exists for the platform. These applications truly enhance my daily OS X experience in various ways, ranging from tiny widgets or dock apps to extensive text editors and the like.

Adium
Instant messenger, multiprotocol (MSN/XMPP etc).

ArtRage
Drawing program.

Blender
3D modelling, rendering and animation.

Burn
Burn CDs, DVDs and more. Slick and minimalistic.

Colloquy
IRC client.

CoverSutra
Gives you global hotkeys to access iTunes controls from inside almost any application, and displays currently played song, artist and album cover on your desktop.

CSSEdit
A fancy (and in someway quite cool) CSS editor.

Dockdrop
Tiny application that sits in your dock, drag and drop onto the icon to upload to your server/Flickr album or a variety (albeit a bit limited) of other options. Slick and minimalistic!

Firefox
Using Safari at the writing moment, but the latest beta release of Firefox seems to be almost as fast or even faster than Safari at displaying HTML and executing JavaScripts.

HexEdit
Edit hex-files.

iSync plugin for W800i by David Forster
A small hack to synchronize iCal and Addressbook with my Sony Ericsson W800i. Not perfect, but works well enough.

MainMenu
Small and lightweight, slick and minimalistic. A maintenance program that offers most of the options you’ll ever need as a normal user.

MyNotes
A quite nifty notebook. I got a license in exchange for translating the program into swedish.

Psst
A daemon that sets your audio volume to zero at shutdown to save your ears from the noisy greeting at boot.

Quicksilver
The notorious must-have application, an application launcher and so much more, while so amazingly slick and minimalistic. I’ve had a peek at the options available for the GNU/Linux GNOME and KDE desktop enviroments, and some of the ones for Microsoft Windows, but honestly - nothing ever comes close to Quicksilver. It’s amazing. Period.

Rita
Another drawing program, this one free of charge. Works in a different way than ArtRage, and is fun in a different way too!

TextMate
My text editor of choice. Never got into BBEdit, so I either use this or nano on my Mac. On the other hand I prefer ViM on my Archlinux computer, it’s a bit odd how these tings work out.

Transmission
My favourite BitTorrent client ever. Azureus was sucking the life out of my PC and my Mac like a black hole, so this light(er) application was a welcome change.

Transmit
One of many FTP-clients out there. Haven’t gotten into them all, I dig some parts about Transmit, and some things I dislike. It’s the best so far though.

VLC
Can’t recall there being a video file this beauty couldn’t play.

To be continued…

man to ray

My GNU/Linux desktop

My favourite OS X applications