where do you learn of new applications

AlexS · 2011-05-17 19:26:13

One of the reasons I read the arch forum is to learn about new applications, or novelties in the linux world, etc. One of the hardest things to find on the internet is what you are not even aware you were looking for. There are no keywords for serendipity.

My latest find of this kind is Anki, the smart memory card program that helps you memorize by rote a given body of knowledge.

Nevertheless, the yield in Arch forums is low, I think I learn of a new application about once a month in these forums. How do you do it, learning about new applications you were not necessarily aware would be useful to you, or even existed?

NB: I'm only interested in open source applications, or at least stuff that runs on arch.

Cyrusm · 2011-05-17 19:52:28

interesting question. I usually only go searching for new programs whenever I need to get my computer to do FOO to some kind of BAR the way that I want it too, then I search google/forums/wiki's until I find a program that I like. For example I was looking for a keyboard driven browser one day and found out about vimperator, vimprobable, uzbl, luakit, etc. then researched each of these applications until I found the one that suited my needs. I have discovered quite a few handy programs just by paging through random pages in the wiki, for example I found Dropbox that way. and then any other random programs I've discovered, I've just heard a bunch of buzz on the forums and IRC about them, and then just tried them for myself. like LaTeX or xmonad. as far as just randomly trying out programs, maybe you could just try browsing around github, or even the aur/extra repositories, until you find something with a neat name or whatever, and then install it and give it a go. even better, you could search in other distro's repositories, and then if you find something good, write a PKGBUILD for the aur, and share it with the rest of the community. then everybody profits

Last edited by Cyrusm (2011-05-17 19:53:56)

karoshi · 2011-05-17 19:53:48

Being a KDE-User, i added KDE-Apps to my feedreader, there's also Opendesktop.

karol · 2011-05-17 20:28:40

Make a list of "nice to have" apps and google for them / make a forum post asking if anyone knows an app that does xyz e.g. is there a way to read wikipedia offline? Does it support x, y and z?

Go through all the stuff in the repos and in the AUR, subscribe to AUR rss feeds that show the newly-added apps.

Last edited by karol (2011-05-17 20:30:13)

ibrunton · 2011-05-17 21:55:58

Every once in a while, I stumble across something either in bbs.archlinux.org, or on other Linux/Unix support sites. Sometimes it's an explicit recommendation (yesterday I discovered sxiv because it was listed in the Homer thread as an image viewer), and sometimes it's just a program name somone mentioned in passing so I open up a search engine to find out what it is. Sometimes it's something really cool and I start using it (this is how I discovered tmux, for example).

Only rarely do I discover a need and go searching for things, but it's usually along the lines of "linux command line x" where x is what I want software to do.

WorMzy · 2011-05-17 23:03:28

Mostly through

yaourt -Ssa

Google as a last resort.

Stephanie · 2011-05-18 11:32:46

Hi

There are databases for Linux programs on icewalkers.com, lin-app.com (commercial apps) or penguspy.com (games). Maybe you will be able to find new things there?
Many apps from those sites will not be in the repos though, but can often be found in the AUR.

Diaz · 2011-05-19 00:26:49

i sometimes open the AUR and start looking at the most recent added list

Stebalien · 2011-05-19 03:42:09

See: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=86245

sand_man · 2011-05-19 04:37:06

http://freshmeat.net/ your one stop shop

MurdersLastCrow · 2011-05-20 01:12:24

Honestly, blog posts, and some alternative sites like alternativeto.net and osalt.com. Since I already knew of the applications I needed for my multimedia work, it was a cinch to get the essentials when I started using Linux fulltime, but there are many creative programs that you just have to dig for that are gems, and an abundance of educational software that's great to use in your spare time that isn't very easy to find, even if you search explicitly for it. It's just like smartphones, really- whatever you want, there's an app for that. You just have to know what you want, specifically.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-05-17 19:26:13

where do you learn of new applications

#2 2011-05-17 19:52:28

Re: where do you learn of new applications

#3 2011-05-17 19:53:48

Re: where do you learn of new applications

#4 2011-05-17 20:28:40

Re: where do you learn of new applications

#5 2011-05-17 21:55:58

Re: where do you learn of new applications

#6 2011-05-17 23:03:28

Re: where do you learn of new applications

#7 2011-05-18 11:32:46

Re: where do you learn of new applications

#8 2011-05-19 00:26:49

Re: where do you learn of new applications

#9 2011-05-19 03:42:09

Re: where do you learn of new applications

#10 2011-05-19 04:37:06

Re: where do you learn of new applications

#11 2011-05-20 01:12:24

Re: where do you learn of new applications

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