After a break over the holidays, I'm back with yet another set of Linux apps that I think are worth installing. This weekend, consider a way to merge desktops, a duplicate file cleaner, and a replacement ls.
I recently made a list apps that have become part of my daily workflow. Not every app I try to write about is one I actually use very often, but the first one I'm going to talk about actually became an instant fixture.
Workflow
Share your mouse and keyboard with another computer
Do you work with more than one desktop computer during the day? Yes, and sometimes I want to switch between them without switching to another keyboard and mouse. Imagine my joy when I discovered Workflowvirtual KVM switch operating over a local network.
Setting up remote desktop apps can be tricky, but luckily Deskflow is very easy to set up. Just launch it on the computer with the peripherals you want to work with and select “Use this computer's keyboard and mouse.” On another device, launch Deskflow the same way, but select “Use another computer's mouse and keyboard.” Enter the hostname or IP address of the host computer and wait for the fingerprint to confirm the connection. Deskflow will then ask you to arrange the computers in a grid to match their physical locations.
Next thing you know, you'll be able to move your mouse from one computer to another as if they were shared monitors. Wherever you move your mouse, your keyboard will type there, and the text on the clipboard will move as well.
To be honest, when I heard about Deskflow, I was skeptical. I expected annoying delays, but most of the time transitions and interactions felt smooth.
Here's a tip from my personal experience: double check that you don't have a firewall blocking incoming connections on the host computer. I had to spend a lot of time troubleshooting Deskflow on the first computer I tried hosting on, and it turns out I had a firewall running that I forgot about that was blocking remote connections from receiving connections. To connect, I had to open the port that Deskflow uses (default 24800).
Deskflow is available in most Linux repositories:
sudo apt install deskflow #Debian and Ubuntu
sudo dnf install deskflow #Fedora
sudo pacman -S deskflow #Arch
sudo zypper install deskflow #openSUSEHowever, if you want to avoid outdated packages on standard distributions like Ubuntu, I recommend getting Deskflow Flatpack.
dupeGuru
Find and delete unnecessary files in a few clicks
Are you having problems with storage space on your Linux PC? There are several methods that can be used to clear the space, such as search for largest files. Another approach is to remove duplicate files: those that you may have copied to another location and forgotten. You'd be surprised how often these types of errors can happen, resulting in unnecessary storage bloat.
That's where dupeGuru It is capable of comparing files on your computer and identifying identical (or mostly identical via fuzzy search) files that you can safely delete. Simply name the folder(s) you want to scan, specify what specific file type (if any) you want, and then start the scan. You will get a list of all the files that dupeGuru considers to be duplicates.
The best thing about dupeGuru is that it offers you not only removal but also other actions. It can bulk transfer files to the Recycle Bin, move them to a specific location (such as an external flash drive), open them for viewing, or even run a special command on them. If you know these are files you don't want to do anything with, you can simply remove them from the results so they are less cluttered, or simply add them to your ignore list so dupeGuru will never return them to you again.
Here's a tip from my experience with dupeGuru: don't force it to scan your entire home folder. This scan took too long, and the process was much faster and more efficient when I specified only the directories that I typically move and copy files between, such as Downloads and Photos.
To install dupeGuru you can get the binaries from the site GitHub release page or install from multiple Linux repositories:
sudo apt install dupeguru #Debian and Ubuntu
paru -S dupeguru #Arch AUR his
Best way to list the contents of a directory in terminal
ls team You're probably used to typing a lot if you use the Linux terminal often. However, you can get a better experience if you just install and start using his instead of.
eza A command line program written in Rust provides you with quality of life features that ls makes you live without him. These include detailed mount information, Git repository status information, and icons next to files and folders that give you an additional way to identify file types.
For example, let's say you have files in your Downloads folder and you want to know how long each one has been there. Just run:
eza -lU --time-style relative
By default, eza shows results in color. -l option as in lstells eza you need a “long view” with file resolution and other details, and -U calls the file creation date. --time-style relative The option gives us human-readable relative dates so we don't have to do any mental calculations to determine the relative length of time since its creation.
Pretty good, but let's say we also want to sort the results by this relative time period. Let's add -s and specify that we need the creation date:
eza -lUs created --time-style relative
Fine, ls you can do it too, but you have to admit that eza makes it easier.
Finally, let's add icons to make it easier for us to see the file types. All you have to do is add --icons=auto option. auto the term can be replaced by always or neverBut auto stops eza from creating icons to redirects and pipelineswhich you probably don't want.
eza -lUs created --time-style relative --icons=auto
You can find eza utility in many Linux repositories:
sudo apt install eza #Debian and Ubuntu
sudo pacman -S eza #Arch
sudo zypper install eza #openSUSEDidn't find any Linux application that interests you? Make sure you don't miss out my previous list of Linux apps worth tryingwhich included a planetarium viewer, Internet radio player, and replacement man pages.
