3 more apps worth installing on your Linux PC
You'll want to "tune in" for these app recommendations.
If you're looking for software to use on your Linux computer, look no further; I try and recommend Linux apps every week. Today, we're looking at a host-testing TUI, a MS Paint clone, and an internet radio listener.
gping: A ping alternative with a graph
You probably already know about the ping command, which lets you check a website or IP address (aka "hosts") for connectivity by sending it packets and waiting for a response. The response you get is normally just some address information and a time An alternative called gping gives you a little more, or rather, it uses the response data to generate a live-updated graph charting the round-trip time (RTT).
You can name multiple hosts to compare RTT live as it happens, such as gping google.com yahoo.com. You can also use it to measure, instead of ping time, the execution time of commands, like gping --cmd cp Documents /mnt/backup.
Why I like it
gping's graph is neat and potentially useful for troubleshooting network issues. Plus, it's simple to use and looks cool as hell on any monitor.
How to get it
You can easily install gping on just about any Linux distribution, since it's widely packaged.
sudo apt install gping #Debian and Ubuntu
sudo dnf copr enable atim/gping -y && sudo dnf install gping #Fedora
sudo pacman -S gping #Arch
sudo zypper install gping #openSUSE
KolourPaint: An open source MS Paint replacement
If you liked using Microsoft's legendary MS Paint application to draw and even make small image edits, there's a drop-in replacement made by the KDE community: KolourPaint. It has the same layout as MS Paint and most of the same features, plus a few extras extending the quality of life.
As you'd expect, when you open KolourPaint you get a blank canvas, a color palette, and several basic drawing tools. There are no layers or advanced vector tools, though there are some effects dialogs for doing things like embossing and converting to grayscale.
Why I like it
It brings me back to the early 2000s when I was making short animations by drawing images in MS Paint and then copying them into Microsoft GIF Animator.
How to get it
KolourPaint is an official KDE app, so it's easy to install on just about any Linux distribution. Simply search your software manager for it, click the download on Flathub, or use one of these commands:
sudo apt install kolourpaint #Debian and Ubuntu
sudo dnf install kolourpaint #Fedora
sudo pacman -S kolourpaint #Arch
sudo zypper install kolourpaint #openSUSE
Tuner: A entryway to internet radio
You may not know it, but there are tons of radio stations out there broadcasting on the internet. Finding them can be challenging if you don't know where to look, but Tuner catalogs and connects you to tens of thousands of stations. It's designed for discovery, too, with shortcuts to generate a random selection, browse currently trending stations, or list popular stations. Its Jukebox feature shuffles to a random station every 10 minutes.
The app records what stations and songs you're listening to so you can easily go back and see what that song was or return to the station you liked best. You can also save both stations and station searches, and there's a shortcut to export your "starred" stations as a station playlist.
Why I like it
Aside from how fun it is to discover radio stations, I appreciate how Tuner keeps my listening history. That way I don't have to listen for what the radio station says the song is, and the "like" feature makes it even easier to track songs I want to look up later.
How to get it
Tuner is available on Flathub, so as long as your software manager is Flathub-connected, you can find it by searching its name.
That's all I have for this week. If you're hankering for more Linux app recommendations, see the NIL software rec archive.
