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  • PC:

    1. Libreoffice -- the best, most customisable and powerful office software available
    2. Onlyoffice -- alternative for less-advanced users who are used to the UI of contemporary MSO
    3. Zotero -- great bibliography manager useful when writing scientific papers: lets you collect books, journal articles and all other types of sources, automatically finds full text PDFs online, fills in metadata and then inserts dynamic citations in thousands of different, customisable styles. Also generates bibliographies. Works with LO, MSO and GDocs
    4. Caprine -- clean Facebook Messenger client (web wrapper based)
    5. TeXStudio -- my LATeX editor of choice; integral (ha!) when formatting maths-heavy documents

    Android:

    1. Cloudstream --- free streaming app, works with SFlix, Sodastream, PH and other legally dubious streaming providers. Takes some trickery to set up though.
    2. Osmand --- OpenStreetMap client with offline (optional online) navigation and plenty of plugins; loads of customisation
    3. Material Files --- nicest file manager, especially for rooted devices
    4. Showly --- freemium open-source TV and film tracker. Syncs with Trakt.tv
    5. Simple Gallery --- out of all Simple Apps by this developer, this is the only one which is in fact superior to its alternatives. Highly customisable, powerful, lightweight gallery app

    • Thanks for spreading the good word on OpenData mapping solutions! In case you find Osmand's interface confusing, check out Organic Maps as well. FOSS and offline features are naturally part of the offering.

    • Good list I make use of a lot of these too. Keep both LibreOffice and OnlyOffice around depending on how I feel that day but been leaning towards LO quite a bit recently.

      I will say I had Caprine for a while but my god it uses so much memory, it has an absolutely massive footprint on my laptop. I find a nice compromise is using messenger.com as that way I can still send and read messages without delving into the horrors of FB, plus can keep it in a container.

    • Question about zotero, I just started using it and I can't seem to find a way to direct it to PDFs I have already downloaded? Is there a way to do that or does it only have the PDF finding feature? The citation thing is pretty cool though, it's gonna make my writing class easier and I won't have to use mybib anymore. Also, is there a way to make it always use the classic interface when adding a citation? I keep having to click "show classic interface" or whatever the button is, and it's a tad annoying.

      • Question about zotero, I just started using it and I can’t seem to find a way to direct it to PDFs I have already downloaded? Is there a way to do that or does it only have the PDF finding feature?

        You can just drag and drop PDFs. Either to the list to create a new item or to an existing item if you already have it there.

        Also, is there a way to make it always use the classic interface when adding a citation? I keep having to click “show classic interface” or whatever the button is, and it’s a tad annoying.

        Zotero: Edit: Preferences: Cite: Word processors: Use classic Add Citation dialog [X]

        • Thank you much!

          • BTW, why use classic dialog? The quick one is great, when you learn to use it: it allows you to easily find a bibliography item by any keyword or tag; lists previously cited items on top; can automatically add locator (page number) and also lets you modify the citation appearance by double-clicking the cited item. I can't imagine how the classic interface could be more usable in any application

            • I guess I just didn't like having to type and find what I wanted to cite when I knew I wanted to cite the first or second article in my paper. But I guess that could become a problem once I have more citations, so I'll definitely try to get used to the other way too.

    • Over question about Simple Gallery: My Pixel makes those small clips before the image. Is there a possibility to see this?

    • You can also enable tabs, like in MS office, in LibreOffice. I find that easier to use than how it is by default.

356 comments