My Awesome List

Awesome Lists are lists of awesome tools, books, guides and media that everyone can contribute to.

For example: List of Free Programming Books and Awesome Raspberry Pi.

So I thought, how about I made my own Awesome Lists. I have a lot of software tools I used every day, privacy focused or just good tools overall, mostly are open source.

These are not formal Awesome Lists Just so you know.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for, please use the search bar on top.

Operating Systems
Networking
Suring on the Web
Communications
Productivity
Creative Tools
- Image/Digital Drawing
- CAD 3D Modeling Tools

Operating Systems

Desktop Linux Distros

Here are desktop distros that I recommend for new users

Linux Mint

The “just works” distro.
If you start your Linux journey, this might be the best distro to try out.

Pop!_OS

It’s developed by System76.
I have used it for at least 2 years, super solid distro.
Games run perfectly without much tweaking.
Most of the problem on Ubuntu have fixed here.

Fedora Linux

My favorite and my daily right now.
If you want a nearly vanilla distro, Fedora is your choice.

OpenSUSE Tumbleweed

OpenSUSE Tumbleweed is a stable rolling release distro with the newish packages. YaST can be really easy for new users.

Server Linux Distros

Debian

You can’t go wrong with Debian.
It’s known as the most stable community distro by running old packages.

AlmaLinux

AlmaLinux is a community owned and governed enterprise Linux distribution.
It is ABI compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Rocky Linux

Rocky Linux is an enterprise operating system designed to be 100% bug-for-bug compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

OpenSUSE

OpenSUSE Leap uses source from SUSE Linux Enterprise, which gives an enterprise level of stability to your home lab.

Windows

Sophia Script for Windows

This script allows you to delete bloatware, disable telemetry and more.

Here is why I prefer Linux.
But, life isn’t perfect. Sometimes we have to use Windows.
We cannot get rid of every possible problems with Windows, but we can make it better.

Networking

Router Firmaware

Put Linux on your old router and make it free and open!
OpenWrt works better than the stock firmware from their vendor. It offers better stability and more features, such as VPN, DDNS and DNS over HTTPS.

OPNsense

OPNsense is an open source, FreeBSD-based firewall and routing software forked from pfSense.
It has newer packages and faster updates than pfSense.

pfSense

pfSense is an open source firewall/router computer software based on FreeBSD.
It has been used by huge corporations and it has provided its stability.

DNS

Quad9

Non-profit DNS resolver, promise for user privacy and protect user from malware and phishing.

Pi-hole

The self-host option for DNS, provide great ad blocking feature.

VPN & Proxy

Mullvad

Mullvad is a commercial VPN service based in Sweden.

Wireguard

Simple and fast modern self-hosted VPN.

Trojan

An unidentifiable mechanism that helps you bypass GFW.

NekoRay

Qt based cross-platform GUI proxy configuration manager.

NekoBox

sing-box / universal proxy tool chain for Android.

Surfing on the Web

Web Browsers

Firefox

The only non-Chromium based, open source web browser.

Brave

Zero configuration browser with Ad blocker build in.
Apart from all the Web3 feature, it’s a solid browser for someone that don’t really want to mess with their browser.

ungoogled-chromium

Vanilla Chromium but without all Google dependency.

Search Engines

Brave Search

Independent search engine by Brave Software, Inc.

SearXNG

Open source, self-hostable, privacy-respecting metasearch engine.
It uses other search engine’s result and combine them together.
List of SearXNG instances

Browser Extensions

uBlock Origin

Free and open-source ad content blocker.
It doesn’t only block ads, also can block YouTube short.

Vimium

Use your browser like you use Vim.

Language tools

Spelling and grammar checker.

Skip sponsored segments on YouTube and other video platform.

Communications

Real-time Communication

Signal

Signal is an end-to-end encrypted messaging service.
They were aiming for beating WhatsApp and fight for user privacy.
Super user-friendly and only require phone number to sign up.
Note: Signal’s server is not open source, but the client is.

Session

Session is an end-to-end encrypted, decentralized instant messaging application.
It was originally started as a fork of Signal, but due to concerns about the centralized structure and phone number requirement, they decide to deviate from it.
Compare to Signal, both all client and server software are open source. It uses a Session code to login, which might be confusion for some users.

Matrix & Element

Matrix is an open standard real-time communication protocol.
Besides all the decentralized goodness, it also supports bridges to connect between other chat services, so you can use one app for all your communication needs.

Element on the other hand is a client application for Matrix, I think it’s the best all around app for it.

Email

Email Provider

Tutanota Tutanota is an end-to-end encrypted email app and a freemium secure email service based in Germany.

Proton Mail Proton Mail is also an end-to-end encrypted email service founded in 2013 headquartered in Switzerland.

Disroot Disroot project is based in Amsterdam and providing open, decentralized, federated services that respectful freedom and privacy.
You need to use an email client to use their service.

Email Client

Thunderbird Thunderbird is an open source email client from Mozilla.
After the 115 update, I think everyone should start switching.

K-9 Mail As current maintainer joined to Mozilla Foundation, K-9 Mail plans to be rebranded as Thunderbird for Android.

Email Aliasing Provider

Simplelogin Email Aliasing will generate a random, disposable email address for you and forward it to your real email.
This is useable for one time sign up, trying new services, or just don’t want to give out your real email.
Simplelogin is the only service I tried, it might have better providers out there.

RSS

I really don’t know where to put RSS…

Thunderbird

Pss… Thunderbird can be used as an RSS reader. Truly one App rule them all.

Feeder

Open source, good-looking Android RSS reader.

Do you want to change all the newsletter to RSS?
There’s always some newsletter that don’t have RSS support. Kill the newsletter is your bet.

Productivity

Office Tools

LibreOffice

LibreOffice is a free and open-source office suite from The Document Foundation.
It was originally forked from OpenOffice.

OnlyOffice

OnlyOffice is an open source office suite.
If you’d like to switch away from Microsoft Office, OnlyOffice might be the go-to choice.

Notetaking

Joplin

Joplin is a free and open source note-taking application.
It supports mutiable synchronisation target such as: Nextcloud, S3, OneDrive, Dropbox or WebDAV.

Simplenote

Simplenote is a note-taking application with Markdown support.
It’s for people just want a Markdown supported note-taking App.

SiYuan/思源笔记

SiYuan is a privacy-first personal knowledge management system.
SiYuan supports Markdown, notes Graph View and it’s self-hostable.

Google Drive Alternatives

Nextcloud

Nextcloud is an open source suites of software similar to Dropbox, Office 365 and Google Drive.
Nextcloud is a fork of OwnCloud but has more features.

OwnCloud

OwnCloud is an open source cloud and file syncing software alternative to Google Drive.
It provides a clean and fast experience, and you will have control over your files.