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Software I Use
December 2024 ยท 3 minute read
This is the beginning of a series of posts I'm writing about the
software that I use.
I've been a user of Linux [1] and similar Unix-derived systems since
the late 1990's. I probably started that journey through the use of
D.J. Delorie's [2] DJGPP [3] port of the GNU toolchain [4] to DOS [5]
circa 1995, as I was trying to develop my own games as a Fourth Class
Cadet (aka freshman) at the Air Force Academy [6] (we weren't allowed
to have any games on our computers as freshmen--so I tried to work
around that by writing my own). That also brought me to the Allegro
library [7] for game programming. These were in the heady days of
Windows 3.1 [8], though we upgraded to Windows 95 [9] within a year or
two. Somewhere in that timeframe I also came across Cygwin [10], the
Windows port of the GNU toolchain.
Although I can't remember the specifics, I'm quite positive I used
flavors of Slackware [11] early on, though it seems I found Debian
[12] relatively early (at one point I even purchased a set of CD's for
the commercial Debian derivative, Progeny [13]). Nowadata, I do bobble
around occasionally to other Linux variants, but I've mostly settled
into the Ubuntu [14] orbit, with Ubuntu Mate [15] being my typical
flavor--mostly because I tend to use inexpensive, older laptops as my
personal computing platforms.
All that said, it really comes down to the software, not the operating
system. I'm sure I will pontificate on that at some point--but bottom
line, an operating system just needs to "be" (and preferably, be
well!)--the software applications are the real tools. This series of
posts will be about software that I've learned to love (and/or love-
hate) over the years. I'll try to provide some insight into why I've
chosen particular tools, and into how I use them.
Desktop Software
For many people, desktop software is not a thing--I'm quite certain
there are vast swaths of people who really never sit down at a
computer to type up a paper, write software, etc. This isn't a
judgment, just a fact. People can play games on computers... but they
can obviously play them just as well on consoles or--at least as
likely today--tablets and smartphones. Students can do homework on
computers... but my high-schoolers seem to do plenty of it on their
phones (which, frankly, I don't get; but I'm old). Sure, you can read
e-mail or surf the web or look things up on computers, but obviously
most of that is happening on mobile devices (other than perhaps in a
professional environment).
But you know what? I still do plenty on a computer. So I'll share some
of the key applications that either I use on a near-daily basis, or
that I may not use regularly--but to which I immediately turn when
specific tasks arise.
Mobile Software
It's easy for mobile software to become an amalgamation of whatever
random app seems to fill the need of the moment. The Google [16] Play
Store [17] (yeah, I'm an Android [18]) guy) makes it super easy to
download some app to solve an immediate problem. However, many times
in retrospect I think differently about the problem, or about the
wisdowm of adding yet another app to my phone, and I develop
alternative solutions. In some cases, those alternative solutions
involve going back to applications that have a lineage going back to
some of the desktop software I've used in the past.
References:
[1] Linux
[2] D.J. Delorie's
[3] DJGPP
[4] GNU toolchain
[5] DOS
[6] Air Force Academy
[7] Allegro library
[8] Windows 3.1
[9] Windows 95
[10] Cygwin
[11] Slackware
[12] Debian
[13] Progeny
[14] Ubuntu
[15] Ubuntu Mate
[16] Google
[17] Play Store
[18] Android
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