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Benjamin
Benjamin
4 years ago

Krita (painting) krita.org
Gimp (graphics photoshop) gimp.org
Blender (graphics) blender.org
InkScape (graphics vector) inkscape.org
Audacity (audio) audacityteam.org
LibreOffice (office) libreoffice.org
ThunderBird (email offline) thunderbird.net
Jitsi (video conference) jitsi.org ?

What keeps me on Windows is Fusion360 as it is closed source.
https://alternativeto.net/software/fusion-360/?license=opensource

Jason van Gumster
4 years ago
Reply to  Benjamin

Hey thanks for adding these links. Jitsi.org is indeed where you can find Jitsi. To freely use the service they host you can go to https://meet.jit.si and start right there. No account necessary. If you want to self-host, it’s a little tougher to find. I’d suggest the Jitsi Meet handbook (https://jitsi.github.io/handbook/docs/devops-guide/devops-guide-start).

As for alternatives to Fusion360, FreeCAD is probably the leading option out there. Blender’s a great 3D tool, but it’s not really built for CAD purposes. For light CAD work you may want to have a look at Solvespace (https://solvespace.org).

Benjamin
Benjamin
4 years ago

Thanks for being one the podcast and sharing your views.

Jitsi was a software package that I was unaware. I’ll look into it further.

Looks like solvespace.com ran from when sketchup was sold off and fusion360 created the hobbyist program. Inactive since 2016 / FreeCAD has a more modern interface and feels a bit more usable. 2018 / BRL-cad appears to have active development.

I’ve abused inkscape as a cad program. (When you have only a hammer…)
SketchUp burned me twice (Googles sale and decommissioning, and Trimbles shifting to an online only model. / Fusion360 has risk they might change their free features, forced updates (and crashes), monthly call home.

These are the open source projects that I utilize on a weekly-daily basis.
Firefox (browser) mozilla.org
7zip (compression) 7zip.com
Keepass (password) keepass.info
Notepad++ (editor) notepad-plus-plus.org
WinMerge (utility) winmerge.org
Sumatra (pdf) sumatrapdfreader.org
VLC (media) videolan.org
FileZilla (ftp) filezilla-project.org
Calibre (ebook) calibre-ebook.com
Gramps (genealogy) gramps-project.org
cncjs (controller) cnc.js.org
k40whisperer (controller) scorchworks.com
(yes, a bit eclectic, there might be a few more I don’t realize their license)

Jason van Gumster
4 years ago
Reply to  Benjamin

Another messaging tool that I’ve used briefly is Jami (https://jami.net). Upside on that one is that in addition to being open source, it’s peer-to-peer, so it’s completely decentralized. Also, it’s fully encrypted. It provides a very Skype-like experience. Only downside is that it does require setting up an account (so people have a means of calling each other).

Also, that’s a great list of other applications. There are a few where I prefer other choices (KeePassXC vs. KeePass, Vim or Atom vs. Notepad++), but that’s also one of the beauties of open source. Choice abounds!

Benjamin
Benjamin
4 years ago
Reply to  Benjamin

Well, Fusion360 just (effective Oct 1st) crippled their hobbyist accounts. (They consider anyone making money off of the free portion to be abuse; and are blaming it on the users for their reason to take the features away. (It was less than $100k for home/startup, then it was $10k for hobbyist, then it was $1k for personal.) Since 2016 they have crushed the market share https://www.cnccookbook.com/cnccookbook-2020-cad-market-share-survey/ Great move for them to get users entrenched and secure the future.)
10 file limit stored in the cloud, local storage not really an option. Cannot use dxf or step exports. No rapids. Had an inkling that this would happen, just never found a better workflow. Updating my backups.

Anything as a Service, scares me; likewise any software online, scares me. Time to move to an air-gaped model.

I can see the advantages to KeePassXC.
Looking into atom though; I’ve used notepad++ for 15+ years.

hmm, only so many layers before the reply option isn’t available.

Tom from FL
Tom from FL
4 years ago

Blender is a bad ass video editing tool — if you need a video editor you are doing yourself a disservice if you don’t try out blender. There is a guy on youtube called MikeyCal Meyers that has an excellent Blender tutorial for video editing.

Logan
Logan
4 years ago

If someone makes BitCorn, please make 1 whole BitCorn to be called a “cob” and any decimal of a BitCorn to be called a “kernel”.
1.33 Bitcorn = 1 cob and 33 kernels.
I’m sorry, I had to.