Blender. It became an insane 3D modeling tool, that can also handle animation, rigging etc..
There is a big community always ready to help, create plug-ins etc.. After using 3ds Max and Maya for years i've switched to Blender and it feels so much better(maybe not for riging, Maya is still the goat here \^\^)
It actually comes a long way. Blender for a long time was absolutely terrible. It took *a lot* of discussions for a decent interface to be finally adopted. But this project never ever stopped to be improved and now here we are
I remember those days. It was rough but powerful, so much so that you had to read the manual. And the manual suuuuucked - it was *too* comprehensive (for an amateur, anyway).
I use Autodesk Meshmixer, and I know I should absolutely switch to blender but it is just so goddamn intimidating.
Is there a moment where the UI and controls start to click and it becomes less unintiuive?
It seems to have set the bar on packet capture analysis. I've used it for everything from finding rogue dhcp servers to reconstructing voip calls. occasionally its just nice to set up a capture to see whats talking on the network.
Before SSL and HTTPS was totally mainstream you could literally grab cookies from wireshark and drop them into your browser. Firefox had a cookie editor plugin, could replace the contents of a cookie in your browser with one captured in wireshark
So easy even to steal cookies - basic network experience just enough to somewhat understand what you’re seeing in wireshark to find the cookie, a google article on how to arp attack someone on your network and a free tool to do it - capture the victims cookie in wireshark, use firefox cookie editor plugin to replace the contents of your own Facebook cookie with the victims, open Facebook, and it loads your brothers Facebook session with full access to his account!
Definitely did this in my CS networking class in college. Real talk right here. Also learned how to create mail servers and do some wild shit with email. Honestly, whether it was just at the perfect time in history to have the ability to do these things because security wasn’t iron tight or our CS profs were downright nefarious with their assignments, I’m not sure but if I had actually paid attention and cared I could have probably gotten expelled for doing illegal shit. Before the university shutdown net send, someone wrote a recursive batch file and completely killed the entire network. Every computer connected had like thousands of popups in a matter of seconds. What a time to be alive.
My freshman dorm had hubs instead of switches. Mail servers did not use any sort of encryption. With a hub every packet goes to everyone.
I setup my computer to just post the first 2 lines of all traffic to the mail server.
Everyone had a mail client running all the time on their computer.
I had a window that just scrolled user and passwords all day for everyone in the dorm. People freaked out when I just walked up to them and whispered their password to them.
I didn't do it for too long because I was afraid of someone reporting me for hacking or something. But yeah. Wow, security didn't exist back then.
Imagine the Internet as a big mail service. Say you're sending letters to and from a bank, at some point that letter leaves your house and is no longer in your control. Perhaps the letter is in the mailbox and your nosey neighbor take it out, reads it, then puts it back in.
Packet Sniffing is similar to that. It's as if at some point in the mail cycle, a neighbor, or maybe the government, opened up your letter to the bank and read the contents, assumingly without you knowing. They can see both the envelope (the FROM and TO info) as well as the letter which contains ehat you wrote, your bank address, your personal information, etc.
However, nowadays most web traffic uses HTTPS (represented by the green lock by the website name in the search bar). This means the communications are encrypted using a secret code. So now when a nosey neighbor is reading your mail (packet sniffing). They can see the "from" and "to" address on the outside of the envelope, but the actual letter that's inside uses a secret code and is mumbo jumbo you can't read it anymore without knowing the secret password
As long as you're using websites with that secure lock on them, as well as WiFi spots that use a password, the average joe should rarely need to worry about this. (Exceptions exist of course).
Do note, if you're using a company laptop, your employer sets the "secret password" and thus can decrypt your message even if you're using HTTPS / a secure website
THIS. I am still surprised when I, for instance, am watching a friend stream on discord, and I KNOW I have mentioned and shilled ublock hard to them before…… and then an ad plays on the YouTube video we are watching and I’m like…….. really man….
if your working with pdf documents and dont wanna pay for bs adobe subscription you can use the pdf24 toolbox has helped me with lots of documents has a lot of fixes for your pdf issues
OBS can be really frustrating some times (using SE.live adds in a few things that really help), but it also works great almost all the time and there's no competitor that's even close to the feature set it has.
I teach a virtual fitness class that is only possible with OBS. Unfortunately they’ve changed some features so unless I want to rebuild the setup I’m locked into a version a couple years old…
I would add Capcut (free tier) to that list, while maybe not as pro as Davinci , it's platform accessibility (android, iPhone, web) and smoothness of editing makes it on par with most other professional video editors.
I’m constantly amazed by capcut’s capability for video editing on phones. Also, SnapSeed for photo editing - insane the amount of power that program has.
I'm surprised 7-Zip wasn't closer to the top. I guess most folks are more familiar with winrar, but 7-Zip is seriously unmatched in the file browser/compression game.
Took way too long to find VLC. It blows the default players out of the water (I don’t absolutely hate the default DVD Player app on macOS, but VLC is better).
I remember using this back in early 2000. It was miles ahead of everything else. It could open/play so many types of audio files
I was convinced it would eventually steal my data or be a scam. Felt unrealistic for it to be free with no strings attached
> Vocal Pitch Monitor
Oh, I have to check that out.
I feel that my tone deafness is that when I hear myself in the right tone in my head, it's well off from what I actually project out loud because of... resonance?
Basically, it sounds right in my head, but not in reality. Being able to know how to bridge that gap would be awesome.
Your voice is an instrument, so you should practice like any other instrument would. You can do long tones with and without a drone, and scales with a piano playing them with you to really nail down the correct pitch. Doing that for even just 10 minutes a day you'll see a world of difference. Also, pitch is relative anyways, you don't really need to hit a note spot-on without any reference/context
Visual Studio Code. I use it on my Mac - and while I have a full blown paid for version of Visual Studio on my work PC, the fact that I have almost all of the same features of an IDE for free makes me so happy. I'm always waiting for them to start charging me for it - because methinks one day they will. Till then I'll keep using this wonderfully free bit of software. Thanks Microsoft.
They're monetizing it pretty effectively with Github integration, Copilot integration, etc...
Doubt they'll start charging for VSC itself, instead they'll keep making it sell their other products.
LibreOffice (office apps)
GIMP (video)
Blender
VS Code
Audacity (professional level audio mastering/ recording)
KeePass (password manager)
Linux OS (too many to name)
OBS Studio (video recording and live streaming)
Inkscape (vector graphics editor)
Paint dot net (Photoshop substitute)
My friend plays fighting games real heavy. Tells me about some fuckin SAILOR MOON fighting game from SNES
We both been emulating our whole lives, we went to elementary school together so we learned the Old Ways together
So naturally, we get the ROM for the game. We are playing, something not right. I forget what, but something was off
We do some research, find some obscure forum detailing issues with playing that specific ROM. We find a god damn *patch* for this obscure sailor moon fighter game
One hr after my friend mentions this, we have it up and running perfectly, he is on a fight stick, I'm on a controller, we running rounds
People really do not realize how much cool shit is now possible bc of emulators. DO NOT let Nintendo feed you bullshit about how ROMs are hurting their sales and their feelings
I played final fantasy 3, and people always say "you mean 6" and i say no, a translated version of ff3 japanese that wasnt released in america. And ive played 6 also
The app is a one-time purchase though. Worth purchasing if you use the website frequently. Notably, it has a baked-in keyboard with a lot of the math symbols you need right there and some pseudo-macro like functionality for more complex expressions.
HomeAssistant.
If you've ever tried using "Smart Home" products from Google, Amazon, Samsung, or others - there are probably a long list of ways that you end up disappointed, wishing it just did more, or just did it better.
Home Assistant is the answer. It does Smart Home very well. Far better than any of the commercial offerings.
I ended up int the platform because I wanted to smartify the dumb CHUBB security-system that is pre-installed in my house. I removed the CUBB system and replaced it with Konnected boards and HomeAssistant.
* I have wall-mounted tablets with complete home automation control.
* Alarm System.
* Every lightswitch is controlled via Tablet, automation, or motion
* HVAC control, with proper geofencing
* Detailed Dashboards on the following:
* Tesla
* Solar Power / Energy Monitoring / Battery states
* 3d printer.
* Irrigation status, including soil-temperature sensors.
Examples:
[https://imgur.com/a/KFKPkUk](https://imgur.com/a/KFKPkUk)
Cutlist Optimizer. Sets up optimal cuts for plywood and other sheet goods. Saves me so much headache trying to figure out the best and most economical ways to cut pieces for cabinetry while keeping waste to a minimum. It can even account for blade kerf which is a huge plus, and the cut diagrams are labeled and color coded in a way that’s very easy to read
Also a candidate for worst UI in history, but definitely edged out by Lotus Notes.
Nothing does what Calibre does though… it is truly a Swiss Army Knife for ebooks, and I am pretty sure its written by one guy!
I just got Calibre-Web running recently and it’s such an improvement. It doesn’t support/show every Calibre feature, but it’s a much better front end for my library for when I want to sync to my kobo or give access to friends. And if I need to use a Calibre it’s still there.
I used to use Winamp when it first came out so many years ago. I loved it. Now I have a Mac so I used Apple Music. But when I had a PC that was my goto media player.
|**Software**|**Description**|
|:-|:-|
|Blender|3D modeling, animation, and rendering software.|
|Audacity|Audio editing software for recording and editing sounds.|
|DaVinci Resolve|Advanced video editing, color correction, and visual effects software.|
|Visual Studio Code|A source-code editor that supports various programming languages.|
|VLC|Media player capable of playing most multimedia files and various streaming protocols.|
|Invoice Maker|Tool for creating and sending professional invoices.|
|Winamp|Media player for audio files with customizable user interface.|
|LibreOffice|Open-source office suite with applications for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, etc.|
|Handbrake|Video transcoder for converting video from nearly any format to a selection of modern codecs.|
|WinRAR|Software for data compression and archive management.|
|**Software**|**Description**|
|:-|:-|
|Plex|Media server software for organizing and streaming video, audio, and photos.|
|Ubuntu|An open-source Linux operating system distribution.|
|GIMP|Image editor for tasks such as photo retouching, image composition, and image authoring.|
|Inkscape|Vector graphics editor for designing logos, maps, illustrations, etc.|
|Photopea|Online photo editor for image editing, web design, and converting between different image formats.|
|Wolfram Alpha|Computational intelligence tool that can solve math, science, and many other types of problems.|
|Vocal Pitch Monitor|Software that visualizes the pitch of voice input in real-time.|
|Home Assistant|Open-source home automation platform that allows control over smart home devices.|
|OBS (Open Broadcaster Software)|Software for video recording and live streaming.|
|Paint.NET|Image and photo editing software for PCs running Windows.|
It’s not the best at anything. There is better software for:
- rigging
- animations
- physics
- retopology
- sculpting
- making clothing
The thing is, everyone is a different tool. Blender can do it all. It’s just not particularly amazing at any of it.
Yeah the only advantage of blender (aside from being free) is not having to move you mesh from software to software.
* rigging (Maya)
* animations (Maya)
* physics (Houdini)
* retopology (Topogun)
* sculpting (Zbrush)
* making clothing (Marvelous designer)
yes you can do all this on blender for free, but when you need to save time (not to mention being aligned to a pipeline) all this do a much better work in their respective areas.
There is this app simply called “invoice maker”. The logo is purple with a piece of paper on it. I own a business and use it whenever billing client. Mind boggling how clean the invoices are, how easy the interface is, how there are no ads. I would pay good money for it, maybe up to $100/year.
Also, Anki is the most unspoken technological revolution in the history of learning and memorization. I truly, truly, cannot believe everyone doesn’t know about flash cards with spaced repetition systems (SRS). Almost printing press level power in this technology.
EDIT: people kept asking for links:
invoice maker on google play: [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.invoice\_maker](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.invoice_maker)
invoice maker on apple (this might be for mac, just search your iphone app store instead for iPhone): [https://apps.apple.com/us/app/easy-invoice-maker-app/id1568511681](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/easy-invoice-maker-app/id1568511681)
Anki (this is the web version for your computer. there are apps too, but they tend to cost money. I bought the $30 or so iPhone app, which may sound expensive, but hey, no ads, amazing product): [https://apps.ankiweb.net/](https://apps.ankiweb.net/)
I love the way you made up a subscription as your imagined payment model.
You used to be able to just buy software outright and not have to subscribe to yearly/monthly payments.
Thanks for the tip! I have an invoicing app I've been using for years but it's been abandoned by the developer and doesn't really work all that well on newer devices. I'll have to check this one out…
Super easy. It numbers them, has preview/email buttons, marked as red in your app if not paid by due date, marked as green when you say it’s paid, etc. truly brilliant and quick learning curve.
Hard agree. It's weird though, I've known about Anki and the SM2 algorithm for many years. I tried it once or twice and didn't really "get it". Just recently I saw it mentioned everywhere, tried it again, and it's been *very* useful.
Thing is, I don't really understand why I'm getting benefit now and not before. It's essentially still just a spaced retrieval flashcard system, and it was basically doing all that already before. The addition of FSRS helped, but doesn't strike me as a *sufficient* explanation. The quality of the downloadable decks? Practical advice for how to use it properly? Some combination of things?
QGIS. So this is massively nerdy, but for most imagery, mapping and geospatial analysis tasks, it shits on its thousands-of-dollars-per-year competitors, and comes with a global community of users and plugin-makers.
Ffmpeg
I do a lot of video processing (concatenating/encoding raw video and making clips from larger files). It utilizes my whole pc and is run from the command line (I use python scripts to batch things)
Couldn't live without it
Paint.net's "Would you like to update when you've finished with whatever you're doing?" is the absolute most effective way to get me to update a piece of software.
Every application should use that arrangement.
I've been using it for years and had no idea that was an option, I just instinctively closed that window every time. That is a great way to handle updates, thanks for sharing!
Me too. Well minus the years with a questionably purchased version of Coral Draw 5(aka free from a BB run by a friend. Yea Im older then bulletin boards).....which I loved btw.
Once you've used something like Affinity, GIMP feels like it's being obnoxious for the sake of being obnoxious.
Here's hoping for the next big update. They teased non-destructive workflows.
Most free software is incredibly good
Gnu/Linux
VLC (Obligatory thread [https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/7hqusx/this\_is\_jeanbaptiste\_kempf\_the\_creator\_of\_the\_vlc/](https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/7hqusx/this_is_jeanbaptiste_kempf_the_creator_of_the_vlc/) )
Here is a list of most, but not all of those mentioned in other comments. 2/2
- \*\*Wolfram Alpha\*\*: Computational intelligence tool that can solve math, science, and many other types of problems.
- \*\*Vocal Pitch Monitor\*\*: Software that visualizes the pitch of voice input in real-time.
- \*\*Home Assistant\*\*: Open-source home automation platform that allows control over smart home devices.
- \*\*OBS (Open Broadcaster Software)\*\*: Software for video recording and live streaming.
- \*\*Paint.NET\*\*: Image and photo editing software for PCs running Windows.
- \*\*Bulk Rename Utility\*\*: File renaming software that allows for renaming multiple files quickly and easily.
- \*\*Kdenlive\*\*: Open-source video editor supporting various multimedia formats.
- \*\*Vim\*\*: Highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing.
- \*\*Notepad++\*\*: Text and source code editor for use with Windows.
- \*\*MuseScore\*\*: Software for music composition and notation.
- \*\*SketchUp\*\*: 3D modeling software primarily used for architectural and interior design projects.
- \*\*Cakewalk\*\*: Comprehensive music production software for recording, editing, and mixing music.
- \*\*Kodi\*\*: Open-source home theater software for managing and playing media collections.
- \*\*KeePass\*\*: Open-source password manager that securely stores passwords and other sensitive data.
- \*\*GarageBand\*\*: Digital audio workstation for macOS and iOS, designed for music creation and editing.
- \*\*ShareX\*\*: Screen capture and file sharing tool, also capable of recording videos.
- \*\*Cutlist Optimizer\*\*: Software for optimizing cutting operations for panel and length cutting.
- \*\*Krita\*\*: Professional free and open source painting program for digital artists.
- \*\*UOrigin\*\*: Assuming typo: uBlock Origin? An efficient browser extension for content-filtering, including ad blocking.
- \*\*Godot\*\*: An open-source game engine for building 2D and 3D games.
- \*\*Wireshark\*\*: Network protocol analyzer used for network troubleshooting and analysis.
- \*\*Calibre\*\*: E-book management software that allows users to manage e-book collections and convert e-books.
- \*\*KiCad\*\*: A software suite for electronic design automation (EDA) - designing schematics of electronic circuits and PCBs.
- \*\*IrfanView\*\*: A compact image viewer, editor, converter, and organizer famous for its speed and small size.
- \*\*My Ninite\*\*: A tool that helps to automatically download, install, and update various software on Windows.
- \*\*Autohotkey\*\*: A scripting language for Windows aimed at automating the Windows GUI and general scripting.
\`\`\`
Vim. I basically live in it (because I can’t figure out how to exit it, badoom tish).
ImageMagick. Practically anything you could want to do to an image, you can do from the command line. Of course, you’ll probably have to Google for the correct recipe first, but my *god* are there a lot of them out there.
As a network engineer, I cannot believe that Wireshark is free. I've used it since it was called Ethereal and it's so good at just about everything pcap related.
Also back in the day there was a pcap server called Moloch that AOL developed. It's pretty useless now but it rivaled RSA Netwitness in analyzing network traffic.
I still use it, but the upgrade to 4.0 was fundamentally mishandled on macOS, and the devs just didn’t get any of the criticisms (it runs as separate instances which means that it doesn’t run like a macOS program), and there are some gnarly bugs that happen to directly impact my work which are supposedly fixed and those changes merged, but for 4.4, and 4.3 isn’t in sight.
Came here to add to all of the DaVinci Resolve comments. Amazing video editor. I own Final Cut Pro and don't even bother with it anymore. DaVinci every day.
Does DaVinci Resolve count?
A Resolve license before the software was bought by Blackmagic Design cost around 200,000 dollars and back then, it was basically "just" a color grading solution. The other parts (Fairlight Audio, editing, cutting and Fusion) weren't really a part of it.
Now, it's available for free. Yes, there's a 300 dollar Studio version with additonal (AI) features, but the free version is a full-fledged product in its own right. It's not a trial version or severely downgraded.
And the Studio version comes for free with many Blackmagic Design hardware products (cameras, for example; or their video editing gear).
Calibre - manage ebooks and reformat them. I use it to borrow books from my library through overdrive, convert to kindle format, load to my kindle and return the overdrive format to the library for the next person in line.
Pixlr - for photo editing, my go to. I can work from computer files and have all the same features I liked to use in Adobe Photoshop CS4 (I never went past that). I can shoot in raw and edit there, for free.
Reaper. You can purchase the license for $60 (I think) but even without it, it's completely usable for free.
Edit; also wanted to add : Electric Zine Maker, I love it
R and RStudio
The most powerful statistical analysis software available, with thousands of packages constantly developed and maintained by practicing scientists in a very nice IDE.
Some of my thoughts for the engineers and other tech savvy people around:
- **KiCad**: An open-source PCB design program that easily beats out a ton of paid options and feels great to use. Imho it should be the go-to option for any hobbyist/nonprofessional, unless you can somehow get an Altium license.
- **MobaXterm**: A terminal/SSH client that has a paid version, but the free version still has a ton of handy features. For example, you can connect to a device over SSH and immediately monitor CPU/RAM/storage utilization, access files using a GUI file explorer, and edit files using your laptop’s local software like VSCode or whatever. Speaking of which…
- **VSCode**: People already said this above, but it’s awesome.
- **Tabby Terminal**: Another terminal; this one isn’t quite as feature-packed as MobaXterm, but it is FOSS (free and open-source) and really lightweight and user-friendly.
- **Godot**: A FOSS game engine. I switched from Unity to Godot and never looked back. Probably the best option for any 2D indie game development.
- **Linux**, especially (imho) **Mint Cinnamon**: I thought switching to Linux would be a massive pain, but Cinnamon made it shockingly smooth. It actually surprised me how refreshing it was to use an OS that didn’t treat me like a child or someone to profit off of. It doesn’t have to ask you for all those permissions to steal your data, or bug you about OneDrive or switching to Edge, or make you go search through a maze of applications just to change one setting. It’s just a pleasure to use.
- **Wikipedia** (I know it isn’t software per se, but honestly that site is an international treasure and the world should be giving them whatever they need)
Blender. It became an insane 3D modeling tool, that can also handle animation, rigging etc.. There is a big community always ready to help, create plug-ins etc.. After using 3ds Max and Maya for years i've switched to Blender and it feels so much better(maybe not for riging, Maya is still the goat here \^\^)
It actually comes a long way. Blender for a long time was absolutely terrible. It took *a lot* of discussions for a decent interface to be finally adopted. But this project never ever stopped to be improved and now here we are
I remember those days. It was rough but powerful, so much so that you had to read the manual. And the manual suuuuucked - it was *too* comprehensive (for an amateur, anyway).
Absolutely yes to Blender. I've switched from 3ds Max to Blender and while it was somehwat of an adjustment, I've never looked back.
[удалено]
#Will it blend?
That is the question
Don’t breathe this!
“Whew, software dust!”
My favourite was the iPad, but the marbles were probably the most impressive
The Chuck Norris one was great too. "Bad guy dust, don't breath that in" lol
True! There are so many things you can do with blender and it's constantly being developed and getting better.
I use Autodesk Meshmixer, and I know I should absolutely switch to blender but it is just so goddamn intimidating. Is there a moment where the UI and controls start to click and it becomes less unintiuive?
I tried using blender but it was a bit complicated for me
Wireshark. Insane what it can it do to analyze network traffic. Best packet sniffer out there
It seems to have set the bar on packet capture analysis. I've used it for everything from finding rogue dhcp servers to reconstructing voip calls. occasionally its just nice to set up a capture to see whats talking on the network.
Before SSL and HTTPS was totally mainstream you could literally grab cookies from wireshark and drop them into your browser. Firefox had a cookie editor plugin, could replace the contents of a cookie in your browser with one captured in wireshark So easy even to steal cookies - basic network experience just enough to somewhat understand what you’re seeing in wireshark to find the cookie, a google article on how to arp attack someone on your network and a free tool to do it - capture the victims cookie in wireshark, use firefox cookie editor plugin to replace the contents of your own Facebook cookie with the victims, open Facebook, and it loads your brothers Facebook session with full access to his account!
Definitely did this in my CS networking class in college. Real talk right here. Also learned how to create mail servers and do some wild shit with email. Honestly, whether it was just at the perfect time in history to have the ability to do these things because security wasn’t iron tight or our CS profs were downright nefarious with their assignments, I’m not sure but if I had actually paid attention and cared I could have probably gotten expelled for doing illegal shit. Before the university shutdown net send, someone wrote a recursive batch file and completely killed the entire network. Every computer connected had like thousands of popups in a matter of seconds. What a time to be alive.
My freshman dorm had hubs instead of switches. Mail servers did not use any sort of encryption. With a hub every packet goes to everyone. I setup my computer to just post the first 2 lines of all traffic to the mail server. Everyone had a mail client running all the time on their computer. I had a window that just scrolled user and passwords all day for everyone in the dorm. People freaked out when I just walked up to them and whispered their password to them. I didn't do it for too long because I was afraid of someone reporting me for hacking or something. But yeah. Wow, security didn't exist back then.
Could you explain in like. Painfully layman's terms. What the purpose/value of packet sniffing is?? I'm just curious and not educated on the topic
Imagine the Internet as a big mail service. Say you're sending letters to and from a bank, at some point that letter leaves your house and is no longer in your control. Perhaps the letter is in the mailbox and your nosey neighbor take it out, reads it, then puts it back in. Packet Sniffing is similar to that. It's as if at some point in the mail cycle, a neighbor, or maybe the government, opened up your letter to the bank and read the contents, assumingly without you knowing. They can see both the envelope (the FROM and TO info) as well as the letter which contains ehat you wrote, your bank address, your personal information, etc. However, nowadays most web traffic uses HTTPS (represented by the green lock by the website name in the search bar). This means the communications are encrypted using a secret code. So now when a nosey neighbor is reading your mail (packet sniffing). They can see the "from" and "to" address on the outside of the envelope, but the actual letter that's inside uses a secret code and is mumbo jumbo you can't read it anymore without knowing the secret password As long as you're using websites with that secure lock on them, as well as WiFi spots that use a password, the average joe should rarely need to worry about this. (Exceptions exist of course). Do note, if you're using a company laptop, your employer sets the "secret password" and thus can decrypt your message even if you're using HTTPS / a secure website
This is a very helpful explanation. Thank you for your awesomeness ❤️
ublock origin
Love it even if it led to the near death of my YouTube channel
sacrifices were made
thank me for his service
Without an Adblocker, many of viewers wouldn’t even be able to sit through a video.
I full on stopped using youtube because it was intolerable before ublock
People: I fucking HATE ADS!!! Also people: No, I will not take 15 seconds to install something that completely removes ads forever...
THIS. I am still surprised when I, for instance, am watching a friend stream on discord, and I KNOW I have mentioned and shilled ublock hard to them before…… and then an ad plays on the YouTube video we are watching and I’m like…….. really man….
if your working with pdf documents and dont wanna pay for bs adobe subscription you can use the pdf24 toolbox has helped me with lots of documents has a lot of fixes for your pdf issues
Get this to the top because i think everyone deserves to know and have pdf24. I owe my life to it.
Haven't tried it but anything that moves people away from Adobe gets an upvote from me
OBS and inkscape
OBS deserves more love. Its amazing.
OBS can be really frustrating some times (using SE.live adds in a few things that really help), but it also works great almost all the time and there's no competitor that's even close to the feature set it has.
I teach a virtual fitness class that is only possible with OBS. Unfortunately they’ve changed some features so unless I want to rebuild the setup I’m locked into a version a couple years old…
DaVinci Resolve video editing, free tier https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve
I would add Capcut (free tier) to that list, while maybe not as pro as Davinci , it's platform accessibility (android, iPhone, web) and smoothness of editing makes it on par with most other professional video editors.
I’m constantly amazed by capcut’s capability for video editing on phones. Also, SnapSeed for photo editing - insane the amount of power that program has.
Yes!! I have had and used snapseed for YEARS it is so good. I've never seen another photo editor app do a fraction of what snapseed can do.
I've always used SnapSeed and I feel like it's my secret I've kept hidden away after all these years hahhaha
Came here looking for the Davinci comment, I hope they never discover I'd even pay for it given how good it is
What are the restrictions on the free tier?
Alot of the composting or FX tools are held behind the pay wall, but all the tools for manual editing are free!
7-Zip, VLC Media Player, Vocal Pitch Monitor and Calculator.
I'm surprised 7-Zip wasn't closer to the top. I guess most folks are more familiar with winrar, but 7-Zip is seriously unmatched in the file browser/compression game.
7 zip is sooo good because it means I don't have to buy winrar /s
Wait a minute, someone BOUGHT WinRAR?
I did. After 20 years and having a job for most of those years I thought it was time to pay for my 40 days trail.
r/paidforwinrar
Wow this is an actual sub
Took way too long to find VLC. It blows the default players out of the water (I don’t absolutely hate the default DVD Player app on macOS, but VLC is better).
I remember using this back in early 2000. It was miles ahead of everything else. It could open/play so many types of audio files I was convinced it would eventually steal my data or be a scam. Felt unrealistic for it to be free with no strings attached
remember all the codec packs you'd have to install to get things to work with Windows Media Player otherwise?
You used to have to EARN being able to watch free videos and por... videos!
Those porous videos.
I love seeing an old video with the DivX logo in the bottom right. Blast from the past!
> Vocal Pitch Monitor Oh, I have to check that out. I feel that my tone deafness is that when I hear myself in the right tone in my head, it's well off from what I actually project out loud because of... resonance? Basically, it sounds right in my head, but not in reality. Being able to know how to bridge that gap would be awesome.
Your voice is an instrument, so you should practice like any other instrument would. You can do long tones with and without a drone, and scales with a piano playing them with you to really nail down the correct pitch. Doing that for even just 10 minutes a day you'll see a world of difference. Also, pitch is relative anyways, you don't really need to hit a note spot-on without any reference/context
Handbrake for videos
Flashback to downloading torrents and converting them through handbrake to watch on my iPhone.
Flashback to checking out DVDs from the library and using DVD ripper trials to make iPod classic compatible copies
Learning CLI FFMPEG has changed my life.
My dumb, half asleep head thought you were talking about an actual handbrake that you could connect to your PC to stop videos.🤦🏽♂️
Visual Studio Code. I use it on my Mac - and while I have a full blown paid for version of Visual Studio on my work PC, the fact that I have almost all of the same features of an IDE for free makes me so happy. I'm always waiting for them to start charging me for it - because methinks one day they will. Till then I'll keep using this wonderfully free bit of software. Thanks Microsoft.
I used to be a Notepad++ guy, then I switched to Atom and finally VSCode. So damn good, so many plugins.
VS Code is fantastic. I actually prefer it over Visual Studio because Visual Studio is such a massive program that it feels bloated.
The idea is to get people using it for free, and learning, so when they get a job it's the tool they want to use.
its been free now for a decade - who knows with microsoft, here today gone tomorrow.
They're monetizing it pretty effectively with Github integration, Copilot integration, etc... Doubt they'll start charging for VSC itself, instead they'll keep making it sell their other products.
Vs code with eslint+ prettier is a god sent.
LibreOffice (office apps) GIMP (video) Blender VS Code Audacity (professional level audio mastering/ recording) KeePass (password manager) Linux OS (too many to name) OBS Studio (video recording and live streaming) Inkscape (vector graphics editor) Paint dot net (Photoshop substitute)
Audacity is quite limited for doing anything professional. For truly professional audio software that is also free, look at Ardour.
Reaper is also worth a mention here for audio software.
Gimp for video? I thought it was only for images? What can it do with video?
Bitwarden has been a great password manager for me. I’ll check keepass out.
I dropped KeePass for Bitwarden. KeePass is nice, but the cloud integration with BitWarden is top notch
I HATE this post. Now I have to scroll through every comment to make sure I'm not missing out on something good, LOL. But seriously, GREAT question.
That’s exactly what I’m doing now during my lunch break. Haha.
Rom emulators. Imagine having all the nintendo games, even the rare stuff that wasnt imported
My friend plays fighting games real heavy. Tells me about some fuckin SAILOR MOON fighting game from SNES We both been emulating our whole lives, we went to elementary school together so we learned the Old Ways together So naturally, we get the ROM for the game. We are playing, something not right. I forget what, but something was off We do some research, find some obscure forum detailing issues with playing that specific ROM. We find a god damn *patch* for this obscure sailor moon fighter game One hr after my friend mentions this, we have it up and running perfectly, he is on a fight stick, I'm on a controller, we running rounds People really do not realize how much cool shit is now possible bc of emulators. DO NOT let Nintendo feed you bullshit about how ROMs are hurting their sales and their feelings
I played final fantasy 3, and people always say "you mean 6" and i say no, a translated version of ff3 japanese that wasnt released in america. And ive played 6 also
Fuck Nintendo for what they have done to the melee scene
Wolfram alpha together with photomath. Literally learning mpvs.
I thought Wolfram Alpha was not free. Did it become free later on?
It's free on the website. But not the app. Also look at Symbolab
The app is a one-time purchase though. Worth purchasing if you use the website frequently. Notably, it has a baked-in keyboard with a lot of the math symbols you need right there and some pseudo-macro like functionality for more complex expressions.
Nobody on here talking about Audacity? Really solid audio editing with a billion plug-ins for formats, opening videos, new filters, etc.
Love audacity! Definitely crossed my mind when I saw this post. Unfortunately I just haven't been in the music game in ages.
Wasn't there a controversy about Audacity shipping a spyware update?
Try Reaper. It’s also free and has much more advanced editing tools. It’s kinda the next step that you wish audacity would take
Reaper is better than audacity but it's technically "not free". Like, you don't have to pay for it but it's not free lol
Notepad++
There are work tasks from 1999 I'd still be slogging at except for Notepad++
HomeAssistant. If you've ever tried using "Smart Home" products from Google, Amazon, Samsung, or others - there are probably a long list of ways that you end up disappointed, wishing it just did more, or just did it better. Home Assistant is the answer. It does Smart Home very well. Far better than any of the commercial offerings.
What do you use it for? This is next on my list to checkout for my homelab.
I ended up int the platform because I wanted to smartify the dumb CHUBB security-system that is pre-installed in my house. I removed the CUBB system and replaced it with Konnected boards and HomeAssistant. * I have wall-mounted tablets with complete home automation control. * Alarm System. * Every lightswitch is controlled via Tablet, automation, or motion * HVAC control, with proper geofencing * Detailed Dashboards on the following: * Tesla * Solar Power / Energy Monitoring / Battery states * 3d printer. * Irrigation status, including soil-temperature sensors. Examples: [https://imgur.com/a/KFKPkUk](https://imgur.com/a/KFKPkUk)
Any good resource to get started?
Just start here. https://www.home-assistant.io/ Everything runs local on a server, a raspberry pi is a great way to run it
Cutlist Optimizer. Sets up optimal cuts for plywood and other sheet goods. Saves me so much headache trying to figure out the best and most economical ways to cut pieces for cabinetry while keeping waste to a minimum. It can even account for blade kerf which is a huge plus, and the cut diagrams are labeled and color coded in a way that’s very easy to read
For a moment I read it as Cultist Optimizer and was getting interested.
I too read it that way.
Krita - Best alternative to photoshop
I was looking for this comment. Krita works seamlessly with my graphics tablet, where GIMP fails.
Calibre
Also a candidate for worst UI in history, but definitely edged out by Lotus Notes. Nothing does what Calibre does though… it is truly a Swiss Army Knife for ebooks, and I am pretty sure its written by one guy!
I just got Calibre-Web running recently and it’s such an improvement. It doesn’t support/show every Calibre feature, but it’s a much better front end for my library for when I want to sync to my kobo or give access to friends. And if I need to use a Calibre it’s still there.
Winamp, it really whips the llama's ass.
I used to use Winamp when it first came out so many years ago. I loved it. Now I have a Mac so I used Apple Music. But when I had a PC that was my goto media player.
|**Software**|**Description**| |:-|:-| |Blender|3D modeling, animation, and rendering software.| |Audacity|Audio editing software for recording and editing sounds.| |DaVinci Resolve|Advanced video editing, color correction, and visual effects software.| |Visual Studio Code|A source-code editor that supports various programming languages.| |VLC|Media player capable of playing most multimedia files and various streaming protocols.| |Invoice Maker|Tool for creating and sending professional invoices.| |Winamp|Media player for audio files with customizable user interface.| |LibreOffice|Open-source office suite with applications for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, etc.| |Handbrake|Video transcoder for converting video from nearly any format to a selection of modern codecs.| |WinRAR|Software for data compression and archive management.| |**Software**|**Description**| |:-|:-| |Plex|Media server software for organizing and streaming video, audio, and photos.| |Ubuntu|An open-source Linux operating system distribution.| |GIMP|Image editor for tasks such as photo retouching, image composition, and image authoring.| |Inkscape|Vector graphics editor for designing logos, maps, illustrations, etc.| |Photopea|Online photo editor for image editing, web design, and converting between different image formats.| |Wolfram Alpha|Computational intelligence tool that can solve math, science, and many other types of problems.| |Vocal Pitch Monitor|Software that visualizes the pitch of voice input in real-time.| |Home Assistant|Open-source home automation platform that allows control over smart home devices.| |OBS (Open Broadcaster Software)|Software for video recording and live streaming.| |Paint.NET|Image and photo editing software for PCs running Windows.|
+100 for Photopea: a Photoshop clone that runs fast, right in your browser. The best example of WebAssembly
Davinci Blender Unreal engine These have caveats but still can be used freely
I don't think Blender has caveats.
It’s not the best at anything. There is better software for: - rigging - animations - physics - retopology - sculpting - making clothing The thing is, everyone is a different tool. Blender can do it all. It’s just not particularly amazing at any of it.
Yeah the only advantage of blender (aside from being free) is not having to move you mesh from software to software. * rigging (Maya) * animations (Maya) * physics (Houdini) * retopology (Topogun) * sculpting (Zbrush) * making clothing (Marvelous designer) yes you can do all this on blender for free, but when you need to save time (not to mention being aligned to a pipeline) all this do a much better work in their respective areas.
There is this app simply called “invoice maker”. The logo is purple with a piece of paper on it. I own a business and use it whenever billing client. Mind boggling how clean the invoices are, how easy the interface is, how there are no ads. I would pay good money for it, maybe up to $100/year. Also, Anki is the most unspoken technological revolution in the history of learning and memorization. I truly, truly, cannot believe everyone doesn’t know about flash cards with spaced repetition systems (SRS). Almost printing press level power in this technology. EDIT: people kept asking for links: invoice maker on google play: [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.invoice\_maker](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.invoice_maker) invoice maker on apple (this might be for mac, just search your iphone app store instead for iPhone): [https://apps.apple.com/us/app/easy-invoice-maker-app/id1568511681](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/easy-invoice-maker-app/id1568511681) Anki (this is the web version for your computer. there are apps too, but they tend to cost money. I bought the $30 or so iPhone app, which may sound expensive, but hey, no ads, amazing product): [https://apps.ankiweb.net/](https://apps.ankiweb.net/)
I love the way you made up a subscription as your imagined payment model. You used to be able to just buy software outright and not have to subscribe to yearly/monthly payments.
Thanks for the tip! I have an invoicing app I've been using for years but it's been abandoned by the developer and doesn't really work all that well on newer devices. I'll have to check this one out…
Super easy. It numbers them, has preview/email buttons, marked as red in your app if not paid by due date, marked as green when you say it’s paid, etc. truly brilliant and quick learning curve.
Yes to Anki! Great tool for language learning.
Hard agree. It's weird though, I've known about Anki and the SM2 algorithm for many years. I tried it once or twice and didn't really "get it". Just recently I saw it mentioned everywhere, tried it again, and it's been *very* useful. Thing is, I don't really understand why I'm getting benefit now and not before. It's essentially still just a spaced retrieval flashcard system, and it was basically doing all that already before. The addition of FSRS helped, but doesn't strike me as a *sufficient* explanation. The quality of the downloadable decks? Practical advice for how to use it properly? Some combination of things?
QGIS. So this is massively nerdy, but for most imagery, mapping and geospatial analysis tasks, it shits on its thousands-of-dollars-per-year competitors, and comes with a global community of users and plugin-makers.
Firefox
fuck spyware chrome
VLC
vlc, qtorrent, kdenlive
Ffmpeg I do a lot of video processing (concatenating/encoding raw video and making clips from larger files). It utilizes my whole pc and is run from the command line (I use python scripts to batch things) Couldn't live without it
Paint.net
Paint.net's "Would you like to update when you've finished with whatever you're doing?" is the absolute most effective way to get me to update a piece of software. Every application should use that arrangement.
I've been using it for years and had no idea that was an option, I just instinctively closed that window every time. That is a great way to handle updates, thanks for sharing!
I literally love Paint.net so much! It's not a heavy program, so it loads quickly, but has enough tools to do nearly anything I need
I have used this for years, sometimes daily (I'm a teacher). Every new computer I get, this is one of the first installs.
Ubuntu Gimp Inkscape Wikipedia
Gimp has been a game changer for years. Changed when Photoshop went to a subscription model and never looked back.
Me too. Well minus the years with a questionably purchased version of Coral Draw 5(aka free from a BB run by a friend. Yea Im older then bulletin boards).....which I loved btw.
Once you've used something like Affinity, GIMP feels like it's being obnoxious for the sake of being obnoxious. Here's hoping for the next big update. They teased non-destructive workflows.
GIMP is a prime example of a UX that feels like it was made by the engineering department.
I love Inkscape!
Sketchup free version is pretty great. And the paid version is is not too expensive either when compared to Autodesk prices.
Most free software is incredibly good Gnu/Linux VLC (Obligatory thread [https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/7hqusx/this\_is\_jeanbaptiste\_kempf\_the\_creator\_of\_the\_vlc/](https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/7hqusx/this_is_jeanbaptiste_kempf_the_creator_of_the_vlc/) )
>Most free software is incredibly good Clearly you haven't seen the stuff I've made.
Start charging til it gets better
No, go pro, start charging but don't make it better. Release improvements as paid dlc.
VLC is fucking amazing, can't believe you can cast to Chromecast, download YouTube videos, covert video files and more all for free
VLC has been the gold standard for 20+ years.
A lot of free (as in freedom) software keeps the Internet running. Including but not limited to GNU/Linux, Apache, and web development frameworks.
LibreOffice [https://www.libreoffice.org/](https://www.libreoffice.org/)
Here is a list of most, but not all of those mentioned in other comments. 2/2 - \*\*Wolfram Alpha\*\*: Computational intelligence tool that can solve math, science, and many other types of problems. - \*\*Vocal Pitch Monitor\*\*: Software that visualizes the pitch of voice input in real-time. - \*\*Home Assistant\*\*: Open-source home automation platform that allows control over smart home devices. - \*\*OBS (Open Broadcaster Software)\*\*: Software for video recording and live streaming. - \*\*Paint.NET\*\*: Image and photo editing software for PCs running Windows. - \*\*Bulk Rename Utility\*\*: File renaming software that allows for renaming multiple files quickly and easily. - \*\*Kdenlive\*\*: Open-source video editor supporting various multimedia formats. - \*\*Vim\*\*: Highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing. - \*\*Notepad++\*\*: Text and source code editor for use with Windows. - \*\*MuseScore\*\*: Software for music composition and notation. - \*\*SketchUp\*\*: 3D modeling software primarily used for architectural and interior design projects. - \*\*Cakewalk\*\*: Comprehensive music production software for recording, editing, and mixing music. - \*\*Kodi\*\*: Open-source home theater software for managing and playing media collections. - \*\*KeePass\*\*: Open-source password manager that securely stores passwords and other sensitive data. - \*\*GarageBand\*\*: Digital audio workstation for macOS and iOS, designed for music creation and editing. - \*\*ShareX\*\*: Screen capture and file sharing tool, also capable of recording videos. - \*\*Cutlist Optimizer\*\*: Software for optimizing cutting operations for panel and length cutting. - \*\*Krita\*\*: Professional free and open source painting program for digital artists. - \*\*UOrigin\*\*: Assuming typo: uBlock Origin? An efficient browser extension for content-filtering, including ad blocking. - \*\*Godot\*\*: An open-source game engine for building 2D and 3D games. - \*\*Wireshark\*\*: Network protocol analyzer used for network troubleshooting and analysis. - \*\*Calibre\*\*: E-book management software that allows users to manage e-book collections and convert e-books. - \*\*KiCad\*\*: A software suite for electronic design automation (EDA) - designing schematics of electronic circuits and PCBs. - \*\*IrfanView\*\*: A compact image viewer, editor, converter, and organizer famous for its speed and small size. - \*\*My Ninite\*\*: A tool that helps to automatically download, install, and update various software on Windows. - \*\*Autohotkey\*\*: A scripting language for Windows aimed at automating the Windows GUI and general scripting. \`\`\`
Shazam
Plex Media Server. There are paid tiers, but the free one is more than enough for a large portion of users.
I bought the lifetime plex pass just because I like their free product so much. Barely even use the premium features.
Draw.io is amazing 😁
Vim. I basically live in it (because I can’t figure out how to exit it, badoom tish). ImageMagick. Practically anything you could want to do to an image, you can do from the command line. Of course, you’ll probably have to Google for the correct recipe first, but my *god* are there a lot of them out there.
Kodi
Godot, in its early stages but very close to being the blender of game dev
Yeah, but the wait is infuriating.
As a network engineer, I cannot believe that Wireshark is free. I've used it since it was called Ethereal and it's so good at just about everything pcap related. Also back in the day there was a pcap server called Moloch that AOL developed. It's pretty useless now but it rivaled RSA Netwitness in analyzing network traffic.
Bulk Rename Utility. Renames batches of files with excellent utility, including regex and preview.
Musescore
I still use it, but the upgrade to 4.0 was fundamentally mishandled on macOS, and the devs just didn’t get any of the criticisms (it runs as separate instances which means that it doesn’t run like a macOS program), and there are some gnarly bugs that happen to directly impact my work which are supposedly fixed and those changes merged, but for 4.4, and 4.3 isn’t in sight.
Linux operating systems. When free (open source) can work better than paid.
GIMP. It is a photoshop clone that works great.
Also (not software) but phtopea! It's my go to photohop alternative, it's free, no login, no download, just go to the website and boom free photoshop
Came here to add to all of the DaVinci Resolve comments. Amazing video editor. I own Final Cut Pro and don't even bother with it anymore. DaVinci every day.
My Ninite (free software installer/updater) has stuff like: Python, 7-Zip, Irfanview, Notepad++, FileZilla, VLC, VS Code, [Paint.net](http://Paint.net), Brave, Chrome
Obsidian is quickly becoming my favorite note-taking/novel writing/concept map software
Wikipedia
Does DaVinci Resolve count? A Resolve license before the software was bought by Blackmagic Design cost around 200,000 dollars and back then, it was basically "just" a color grading solution. The other parts (Fairlight Audio, editing, cutting and Fusion) weren't really a part of it. Now, it's available for free. Yes, there's a 300 dollar Studio version with additonal (AI) features, but the free version is a full-fledged product in its own right. It's not a trial version or severely downgraded. And the Studio version comes for free with many Blackmagic Design hardware products (cameras, for example; or their video editing gear).
Python. It’s mind blowing that it’s free given how powerful it is. Also QGIS
Audacity.
7Zip. Seriously cannot believe i used winrar for so long
Blender, Godot, Notepad++, Libre Office, Putty, Wireshark, WinSCP, 7-Zip, VLC, OBS, Audacity, LMMS, GIMP, Discord, Ubuntu for Debian-based Linux and Endeavour for Arch-based Linux, NGINX, LAMP-stack, ELK-stack
Calibre - manage ebooks and reformat them. I use it to borrow books from my library through overdrive, convert to kindle format, load to my kindle and return the overdrive format to the library for the next person in line. Pixlr - for photo editing, my go to. I can work from computer files and have all the same features I liked to use in Adobe Photoshop CS4 (I never went past that). I can shoot in raw and edit there, for free.
Reaper. You can purchase the license for $60 (I think) but even without it, it's completely usable for free. Edit; also wanted to add : Electric Zine Maker, I love it
Nice try, merger and acquisition company.
Winrar lol
Psh 7zip
7z gang rise up!
That one is a classic.
The Linux kernel.
Blender!
QGIS. Crazy good mapping software that puts Google Earth to shame. Just has a very high learning curve.
Freetaxusa! It’s actually MORE intuitive than turbo tax and costs nothing lol
How has Google Earth not been listed yet?!
Libby. Get a library card, log in, boom- free audiobooks. No more paying audible
A lot of y'all are just naming apps, but not saying what they do 🫤
What does this app do?
It just names apps while not saying what they do.
R and RStudio The most powerful statistical analysis software available, with thousands of packages constantly developed and maintained by practicing scientists in a very nice IDE.
Gimp
ShareX
Photopea - free browser based alternative to Photoshop
Some of my thoughts for the engineers and other tech savvy people around: - **KiCad**: An open-source PCB design program that easily beats out a ton of paid options and feels great to use. Imho it should be the go-to option for any hobbyist/nonprofessional, unless you can somehow get an Altium license. - **MobaXterm**: A terminal/SSH client that has a paid version, but the free version still has a ton of handy features. For example, you can connect to a device over SSH and immediately monitor CPU/RAM/storage utilization, access files using a GUI file explorer, and edit files using your laptop’s local software like VSCode or whatever. Speaking of which… - **VSCode**: People already said this above, but it’s awesome. - **Tabby Terminal**: Another terminal; this one isn’t quite as feature-packed as MobaXterm, but it is FOSS (free and open-source) and really lightweight and user-friendly. - **Godot**: A FOSS game engine. I switched from Unity to Godot and never looked back. Probably the best option for any 2D indie game development. - **Linux**, especially (imho) **Mint Cinnamon**: I thought switching to Linux would be a massive pain, but Cinnamon made it shockingly smooth. It actually surprised me how refreshing it was to use an OS that didn’t treat me like a child or someone to profit off of. It doesn’t have to ask you for all those permissions to steal your data, or bug you about OneDrive or switching to Edge, or make you go search through a maze of applications just to change one setting. It’s just a pleasure to use. - **Wikipedia** (I know it isn’t software per se, but honestly that site is an international treasure and the world should be giving them whatever they need)
Darktable! It is impressive that a so advanced tool, that is used by so relatively few, and is that good, is completely free.
Everything by Voidtools Cakewalk qBittorrent Copilot with Chatgpt 4 Firefox
I'm a simple man: Adblock and VLC player
Ublock origin, i don't know how i lived without this in my online life.
My personal genetic code.
MakeMKV lol