this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2026
224 points (97.9% liked)

Ask Lemmy

36373 readers
2064 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

For me, that would be Secure CRT. I have yet to find a terminal emulator that matches its feature set. If you regularly manage hundreds of machines using various connection protocols (serial and ssh mostly in my case) It's worth the $$$, and so far there hasn't been any subscription nonsense. I liked using it at work so much I forked over the dough to have it at home.

None of the free alternatives do everything I need.

I'll also mention a few iOS apps. One is Sun Surveyor. It's an AR app that shows you the position of the sun, moon, and galactic center at any given time. The other would have to be Radarscope. It's a weather radar app, but it's a really good weather radar app.

EDIT:

This one's debatable, but I use it all the time. Plasticity is 3D modelling software that attempts to bridge the gap between practical CAD programs and software meant for 3D artists like Blender. It's not cheap considering Blender is free, but it's buy once use forever, and at (I think) $150 it's within reach of an individual hobbyist who knows what they want and is willing to pay for it.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Landless2029@lemmy.world 1 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

Scrivener is pretty damn good if you're into writing.

For novels, screenwriting or things like DnD it's got a corkboard with scene cards you can drag and drop around to make the story flow better.

It also has character management with little cheat sheets for notes. You can track character persona/relationships nicely.


$60, lifetime purchase with free upgrades and you can install on all your computers in your household

[–] ace_garp@lemmy.world 6 points 21 hours ago

Wip3out 2097

[–] W3dd1e@lemmy.zip 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Kagi search. It made cutting Google out of my life easy. I’d rather not pay for search but none of the free alternatives really worked like I needed. I tried out Kagi on a whim and haven’t looked back.

[–] Scrollone@feddit.it 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I just wish I could disable the Google search box on my Google Pixel home page and replace it with a Kagi search bar (that opens in my default browser though; not like Qwant does, that forces you to use their own browser).

[–] jonflipzooza@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

now i just went to try it out, and I will, but the AI and pricing tiers screams "business and profit first" to me

[–] laranis@lemmy.zip 1 points 18 hours ago

And Google doesn't?

They both value their customers. But in the case of Google, that's not you.

[–] BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Gimp.

Tap for spoilerP.S. This is a joke and I am very proud of it.

[–] chefdano3@lemmy.zip 2 points 18 hours ago

Your joke made me laugh, and I'm proud of you for making it.

[–] utopiah@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Linux, KDE, Firefox, etc... we are ALL supposed to "pay" somehow for it, whatever our means and however we can.

When we consider free and open source software NOT paid software, we are sabotaging the very things we love.

[–] adminofoz@lemmy.cafe 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Hard disagree. Please tell me where Linus said he expects normal users to "pay" (or whatver you meant with the quotes.) The thing that makes these revolutionary is that they are free in a world where everyone is always trying to get something from you.

There is literally no expectation of money or commits or anything. Don't shame people for using FOSS the way FOSS was intended. If you are well off and want to support them do it! Authors will appreciate it, but dont try to turn FOSS into yet another guilt trip.

[–] Katzimir@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

just adding: foss is what is supposed to happen in a world where the increased productivity through automation benefits everyone vs the 'bottom line'. foss has always been my tiny island of space communism :)

[–] utopiah@lemmy.world 1 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

tiny island of space communism

can you please expand a bit? What does that mean? Never heard this before.

[–] Katzimir@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 13 hours ago

i am referring to societal model of star fleet in the fictional lore of star trek tng

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] AstralPath@lemmy.ca 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] logjam_tizzy@sopuli.xyz 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yes. This. 100%.

Even if it wasn’t the most reasonable to license, it’d still be the most flexible and “hackable”.

[–] sturmblast@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago (1 children)
[–] AstralPath@lemmy.ca 1 points 20 hours ago

Yup. A price that respects their user base. On that basis alone I have had (and will continue to have) no issue paying for another license if needed.

When I switched to Linux I just bought a new copy instead of figuring out how to transfer the license I had for my Windows PC because the Reaper team just straight up deserves the money.

[–] nicerdicer@feddit.org 3 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

Radio Silence

This is an outbound application firewall for MacOS that allows you to block applications from phoning home. It blocks outgoing traffic rather than incoming traffic, which can be toggled within the firewall settings. It has a time-limited trial period, but I did the one-time-purchase for 9 $ and it served me well since I bought it in - I think it was in 2021 - originally to keep a not-so-legally-obtained Photoshop Suite from connecting to their servers. The app is not intrusive, no annoying pop ups or the like. The app launches automatically at system start up. Occaional updates (bug fixes or to match with the latest OS version) are included with the licence.

Today I use it to block a pirated version of SketchUp (the only remaining software I have installed that has been pirated) from calling home, als well as Affinity 2 (and, probably in the future) the now free Affinity 3 (since it was aquired by Canva).

I consider this app worth its money.

[–] MacManDeluxe@infosec.pub 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Have you ever used Little Snitch? It’s another great MacOS app that has an outbound firewall. It’s been updated to include a DNS ad-blocker too.

I’ve been very happy with it for many years, but I’m always open to trying out alternatives. Thanks for sharing!

[–] nicerdicer@feddit.org 2 points 15 hours ago

I did once. It was back in the days when all of my software was pirated - even Little Snitch (where you had to add Little Snitch itself to its blocking rules, to prevent it from phoning home). As far as I can remember, it was too expensive to buy - at least for a permanently broke student at that time. Later I discovered Radio Silence. I wrote that I had RS from 2021 onward, but I think I already had it in 2018. Not 100% sure.

[–] tophneal@sh.itjust.works 1 points 17 hours ago

Fight club 5e. If you play enough D&D it becomes quickly worth it. It’s also proven useful in helping our new players get their characters setup more quickly.

[–] BanaramaClamcrotch@lemmy.zip 21 points 1 day ago

Balatro on me iPhone

[–] madcaesar@lemmy.world 40 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Immich https://immich.app/

Absolutely amazing and it's technically free, but please donate if you can, they fucking deserve it.

Being able to host your own photos and have ai to help identify faces WITHOUT internet or giving your private photos to the tech giants is worth every penny.

[–] Scrollone@feddit.it 3 points 1 day ago

I love Immich, but I'm afraid to donate because they're part of FUTO which looks sketchy and I know there was some drama about them.

[–] ieGod@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Photoshop used to be worth the money. The move to subscription based comes at a time when alternatives are starting to catch up though, so that time (of being worth it) may be coming to an end.

[–] Scrollone@feddit.it 5 points 1 day ago

There's no reason to pay for Photoshop now if you're just starting. Affinity is free (as in beer) and full-featured.

[–] TootSweet@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

There are games I pay for, but only on Nintendo consoles. Aside from that, it's strictly write it myself or go without.

I definitely should donate to more FOSS projects, though.

[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (3 children)

BuzzKill for Android.

PocketCasts used to be, before they went subscription.

[–] NENathaniel@lemmy.ca 1 points 16 hours ago

Love Buzzkill 👍

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

PocketCasts is subscription? I don't think I've seen anything indicating that to me and I know I'm not paying a subscription for it.

[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago

If you bought it before it went freemium, you're grandfathered in.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›