Software
Categorized list of tools that I have used extensively and can personally vouch for. The vast majority are free (FOSS) software. Although some of the "Mac Apps" have a price tag, I've been very picky with my selections and think that the ones listed are well worth what they may cost upfront.
For instead a comprehensive list of software that I think you should avoid at any and all costs, go here. Read carefully.
Terminal Utilities
It's surprising how much joy a couple 2-3 letter binary files can give you
over the course of a couple years in your $HOME.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| 0x0 | Bypass upload limits ez. |
| streamrip | Download audios. |
| yt-dlp | Download videos. |
| sls | Sudo is bloat (??). |
| jumpapp | Overclock (x7) your productivity. |
| ripgrep | “New wave UNIX” utilities at their finest. |
| stain | [Sh]ell scripts to manipulate colors. |
| ncmpcpp | The finest terminal mpd client. |
| qrcp | File sharing made stupidly simple. |
| fff | Manage files fucking fast. |
| nnn | FFF's arch nemesis. |
| epy | Read book in terminal (??). |
| mpd | How real men play (and manage) music. |
| tldr | tldrtfm. |
| imgp | Batch image processing made easy. |
| pandoc | Document conversion at it's finest. |
| fd | Self explanatory really. |
| mksh | The best shell (according to exo). |
| jo | json made way 2 ez. |
| maim | Don't scrot, maim. |
| dash | Fast and powerful POSIX shell. |
| giph | Easy to use GIF recorder. |
Mac Apps
The final frontier against the domination of electron, truly native works of art that I can't help but respect. God Bless mac developers and may they continue doing good work.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Quit All | Great but $5 lmao. |
| Radio Silence | Those who know, know. |
| Dash | Docs + snippets, what else do you need? |
| Little Snitch | For the most paranoid. |
| Karabiner-Elements | GUI kmonad but for macOS. |
| Things 3 | Get things done. |
| Acorn | Does what I used GIMP for lol. |
| Transmit 5 | The gold standard of file transfer apps. |
| Orion Browser | The good ending for WebKit browsers. |
| ABFR | Will save you hours of #!/bin/sh |
| SteerMouse | Master the art of mousing. |
| iTerm2 | The amazing terminal. |
| Sip | A must have for anyone in design. |
| Reeder 5 | RSS in luxury. |
| Lunar | The infamous $23 screen dimmer. |
| Alfred | It's legendary for a reason. |
| One Switch | Save a few menu bar slots, will ya? |
| Viscosity | Pair with Mullvad for peak privacy. |
| Bartender 4 | While you're at it save a few more. |
| Rectangle | Install and never worry about it again. |
| CleanShot X | Acceptable “shotware”. |
| Pure Paste | Pages.app users rejoice! |
| AppCleaner | A macintosh classic. |
| BetterZip | *Zipping Noises* |
| CotEditor | TextEdit deprecated. |
| BBEdit | 30 years of not sucking. |
| Sketch | A truly native design studio. |
| Pixelmator Pro | “Designed to Inspire.” |
| Final Cut Pro | The best in the business. |
| Onyx | What CleanMyMac wishes it was. |
Linux Legends
Where my love (and obsession) for truly great software started!
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| berry | A no-nonsense yet stylish wm. |
| herbe | Apparently this is spyware. |
| Openbox | The WM that does what you want it to. |
| Qalculate! | The ultimate desktop (and cli) calculator. |
| mpv | VLC is for millenials. |
| DeaDBeeF | Literally foobar2000 but unix. |
| Audacious | Bruh it support winamp skin come on. |
| ST | Better than alacritty. |
| KISS Linux | Bring back dylan pls. |
| bspwm | The BEST (best) window manager. |
| kmonad | Do literally anything with your keyboard. |
| gimp | Need I explain? |
| wmutils | This ISN'T A MEME. |
Vim Etc.
Plugins to make the best editor even better. I recommend using vim-plug to install them, it really doesn't get any easier than that.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| neovim | Of course. |
| vimtex | LuaVimTeX is possible. |
| ale | Who needs intellisense? |
| Emmett-vim | A bit finger-sleazy but it works. |
| UltiSnips | The absolute BEST snippets plugin. |
| fzf | FZF for vim, what else is there to say? |
| clever-f.vim | f is sort of wanky normally ngl. |
| tagalong.vim | Install and forget. |
| vim-move | More intuitive line movement. |
| auto-pairs | Empirically tested best autopair plugin. |
| tabular | Just look at the demos. Thank me later. |
| vim-endwise | Also install and forget (btw tpope is daddy). |
| goyo.vim | Aesthetic vim!!!. |
| vim-surround | With great power... |
| vim-commentary | Commenting made too easy. |
| vim-polyglot | Valid language pack (regex heaven). |
| vim-css-color | How do you survive without this???? |
Other
Various other cool things that didn't quite fit the above categories but are by no means less significant and/or enjoyable.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| dotgrid | Ez make cool logos. |
| svelte | Cybernetically enhanced web apps. |
| SXIV | Look at your images. |
| ung-chromium | Best browser. |
| LibreWolf | Also best browser. |
| Aseprite | Necessity for pixel art. |
| Signal | Send messages to frens, only frens. |
| Sass | Syntactically Awesome Style Sheets. |
| Kalzium | Pass Genchem ez. |
| monkey-type | Best typing test. |
| lite | For when I'm forced to use Windows. |
Bad Software
Works of technological disgrace that I'm almost positive have given me at least couple STDs and a mild case of Ulcerative Colitis. I share their names in order to spare you the same suffering.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| MARS Simulator | “Unused RAM is wasted RAM!” |
| Microsoft Teams | These threads should say enough. |
| Eclipse IDE | PLEASE deprecate this shit already. |
| HP Printer Drivers | I thank god for Brother™ every day. |
| Epic Games Launcher | Oh god the voices I still hear them. |
| Spotify | How do people put up with this??? |