3 more neat and useful Linux apps to try
This week, I'm trying a terminal-only screen recorder, a headset manager compatible with AirPods, and a universal scrobbling tool.
If you're looking for something to do with your Linux computer, look no further. I preview a few Linux apps every week, and this week I'm showing off a terminal recorder, an earbud client, and a scrobbling tool.
asciinema: Terminal screen recording
Recording the output of a genact command with asciinema.
Recording your Linux terminal can be useful in many situations, including when getting help from others and when writing articles like this one. You could use dedicated screen recorders, but a unique option that makes your recording replayable inside other terminals is asciinema.
Rather than taking a traditional screen recording, asciinema records each character typed and printed in the terminal. It saves it as a CAST file you can then send to other people who can use asciinema to play in their own terminals. You can even upload recordings to the asciinema website for easy public access.
Why I like it
It's neat that with a CAST file from asciinema, the recording adjusts for terminal sizes and profiles. That way, if someone is learning or testing something I'm doing in my terminal, they experience the action exactly how they prefer to experience a terminal.
How to get it
The asciinema package is widely available across Linux repositories, so you can install it in your terminal using one of these commands:
sudo apt install asciinema #Debian and Ubuntu
sudo dnf install asciinema #Fedora
sudo pacman -S asciinema #Arch
sudo zypper install asciinema #openSUSE
BudsLink: Control AirPods without an iPhone
Apple AirPods have a reputation for high quality and giving you a cutting edge listening experience. Frustratingly, though, they're locked in Apple's ecosystem, and even while pairing them for listening to a Linux computer is usually straightforward, configuration requires an Apple device.
BudsLink lets you access the settings of your AirPods (and several other earbuds brands like Beats, Sony, and Bose) when they're connected to your Linux computer via Bluetooth. It also has a packet logging feature for troubleshooting and development.
Why I like it
Simply put, I was able to easily change some of my earbuds' controls, including how Ear Detection works. I only own one pair of AirPods 2, so I couldn't test it with many models, including those with more advanced features.
BudsLink isn't the only app for controlling AirPods. LibrePods, in fact, let me do more, including renaming the device. However, BudsLink is the best one I've tried in terms of integration with the desktop. It even has a GNOME shell extension and a KDE Plasma widget "Companion" that causes the device to appear on your desktop when it's connected.
How to get it
The BudsLink app is available from Flathub, and most software managers on Linux provide Flathub access. So you can likely install it just by searching your software manager, or try the link below.
Turntable: Scrobble anything on your Linux desktop
If you use a scrobbling tool to track your music listening habits, a neat app-agnostic option is Turntable. The free and open source app that connects to Last.fm, Libre.fm, ListenBrainz, or Maloja and reports to them any music stream it detects running on your Linux desktop. You can switch between source apps as needed (for example, if you use both YouTube in your browser and the Spotify desktop app), and you can also use the app as a mini player.
You can see me doing that in the above video. I'm playing my Jellyfin media collection with the Feishin app, then switching to my local music using kew in my terminal, and I'm moving Turntable to each as needed. For those who prefer doing things in the terminal, Turntable comes with a command line interface, too.
Jordan Gloor
Why I like it
Ever since I quit paying for Spotify Premium years ago and switched to listening to my own digital collection of music, I've been searching for ways to track my listening history and get recommendations. I now use Last.fm to do that, and Turntable has enabled to me to send listening info to my Last.fm account when I'm listening to apps that don't even have Last.fm integration.
How to get it
Since Turntable is on Flathub, you can probably find it by searching your Linux software manager for it.
Those are all the apps I have for today. See the archive of Linux app recommendations to discover more.
