utopiah

Filemaker 19 pro ... replacement for Directory Opus but for Linux?

So... this is a long shot but I'd recommend to reconsider how you work. Switching to Linux is already amazing while also being demanding. Still, there are genuine alternatives to pretty everything on any OS, not just Windows.

What is more challenging IMHO but also more interesting... is reconsidering how you work, not just the tools you enjoyed so far. So yes, as others pointed in the thread there are custom file managers (beyond the default or popular ones) but, and please hear me out, there is also the command line. I know... I know it is VERY different but that's a good thing! If you already looked and used an alternative file manager it means you are a power user. The command line (or CLI for short) is precisely a way to have MORE freedom to manager files. There are countless tools that one can combine to modify files. It will take a while to learn but it's definitely worth it. A good starting point could be https://wizardzines.com/zines/bite-size-bash/

For the other software... well if it's from work, even though I'd also suggest to look at alternatives, e.g. learning Python/Tkinter or even low code FLOSS alternatives or Web based one... you might not have that freedom. Consequently I'm going to make an even more outlandish suggestion : if your work does not trust you to pick your own tool... maybe reconsider your workplace? I know, bit crazy but long term, might still be worth it.

Apologies for the life changing suggestions!

Debian, but with latest kernels to improve gaming experience.

Genuine question as I'm a basic gamer but not a super performance oriented one (namely, I click "Play" and I enjoy with basically default settings) what PikaOS kernel version is available now (6.15.0 AFAICT from their wiki) versus current Debian stable (6.1.140-1 (2025-05-22) AFAICT from uname) feature is differentiating for gaming?

I understand, beyond security implication, that having a newer kernel should be "better" in general terms but if I take e.g 6.15 vs 6.1 what actual difference does it makes? Is it like a 1% FPS increase? It is a feature e.g. FreeSync/FSAA/etc that the driver itself require?

PS: I admit it's an in depth question because I have frequent "arguments" about people criticizing the "slow" Debian stable so this is kind of an excuse to understand what I am actually missing.

For my next pc I’ll use linux

Check my post history but that's pretty much my #1 transition recommendation : do check that your future hardware is actually compatible. Most is... but you don't want to risk it when it's relatively easy to check!

PS: if you can, try to buy from manufacturers that do NOT sell a PC with a Windows installation. Ideally do buy something pre-built, try to give money to companies that even do ship with Linux installed. It's economically and morally nicer but also insure that your setup will 100% work.

100%, I deleted Windows partition (despite paying for it, thanks OEM deals...) only after Proton was insuring I could play the games I wanted on Linux too, no reboot required.

May I interest you in a mechanical BT kbd? I use the same on my phone (when traveling) and my desktop, great experience.

(model if curious : Corne-ish Zen with my keymap)

I uninstalled Windows few years ago even though I play the latest AAAs and indies games, including in VR, that's how good Linux for gamers.

You can check my post history but basically once you have your hardware well supported (basically the right drivers) and rely on a good system to evaluate compatibility (e.g. ProtonDB) then you won't get any surprise.

I suggest though that you try it yourself, e.g setup a Linux distribution of your chosing, a game you already own and... see if it feels good. If it does not, feel free to ask around and people will be happy to help if you provide a clear problem with your documented attempts to fix it, at least you can count on me.

So... finally why did I change? Well beside the "it actually works" it is also a lot more coherent with my own WorldView and my skillset. I'm a professional developer, WebXR prototypist to be more specific, so having an OS that does not put arbitrary (well, mostly about control for profit) limits on what I can or can not do is simply better. I can play for fun AND I can tinker with the same OS. I don't have to reboot if I just happen to have an idea that I want to try, I can just do it right here and there.

TL;DR: it works and it's better, giving me all the freedom I need to be creative and not feel constrained.

PS: also not giving more money to multibillionaires from Microsoft does feel nice.

I would look for something interactive e.g LFS but in containers (or VM or WASM VM) with checkpoints with instructions, something risk free yet hands on.

Not for books.

It's not really an "App" but tools like ffmpeg or sox or lame can do that no problem. It might take a while to convert your entire collection though ... but depending on the size might just take a night or, few nights.

If you have a ridiculously large collection and do want it "on demand" you could also use e.g. inotify to monitor directories, e.g. ~/Music/ForPhone/ so that any file added to that directory gets converted.

FWIW I'd use a phone with a microSD card as those days one can get a 1To for less than 100€ so probably no conversion needed even for a large collection.

Edit: based on a recent conversation I'd try transcoding capabilities of LMS https://github.com/epoupon/lms cf https://lms-demo.poupon.dev/settings from their demo instance

Honestly try whatever you want, from Godot to bash on the command line (I'm not even joking) then while doing so, write down what you learn and, as importantly, what is missing. If something is missing and it's a very VERY big deal for you to re-implement (say 3D engine, or VR support, or cross platform support) then and ONLY THEN do look at other engines. See which ones out there do have both what you needed so far AND what is missing. Do NOT think ahead of all the "cool" things you "might need one day" because you would then look for the "perfect" engine for a project that does not even exist in your mind.

TL;DR: it does not matter, pick any, build, share, iterate and pick another one whenever you want to.

It does it if you do it right after the OS installation then whenever you plan to move on and diff the two.

I'd argue ~ on a dedicated partition pretty much does that already.

instead of searching and installing all your apps one-by-one

And... that takes what, a good all 5 minutes?

Honestly unless you either re-install an OS frequently (which is a weird thing to do on a day-to-day system) or plan to go offline for a long period of time I bet you'd spend more time finding a "solution" then not doing so manually.

I'm not you but when I install a fresh OS (maybe once every couple of years, at most!) on my desktop (not counting other devices, handheld, servers, etc) I install

• Firefox (if it's not already by default, if it's ESR then I might get a different update mechanism)

...well honestly that's it!

Then yes as I start to work I add KDEnlive, OBS, Blender, Cura, OpenSCAD, etc.

My point being that I can't imagine a moment when, as you start the OS you actually need all the other software at the same time. You usually need one, then another, e.g. Inkscape to edit a PDF document you just received, then you pass the extract image to e.g. LibreOffice Writer.

So... not having everything from the start is IMHO a good moment to consider what you actually need, keep things lean.

TL;DR: there are technical solutions but on a desktop connected to the Internet it's not worth it.

PS: I do personally keep my bash history or my ~/bin/ and ~/Apps/~ directories across installations (because I do keep ~` on a dedicated partition) with some AppImages in but honestly I don't rely on these.