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Items tagged with: freesoftwareadvent
Free Software that I rely on. One per day, I guess.
Okay.... Day 1....
Inkscape
A vector graphics editor (edits SVG documents).
I use this in a lot of different ways whenever I need a drawing:
* Presentation slides
* Graphic illustrations/diagrams
* "Decal" graphics for 3D textures
* Layout of images or other graphics
* Video poster/cover graphics
* Book design
Also included in most desktop Linux distributions, I believe.
Inkscape - Draw Freely. | Inkscape
Inkscape is professional vector graphics software which runs on Linux, macOS and Windows desktop computers.inkscape.org
#FreeSoftwareAdvent Day 6: Gimp
Not really in the same league as Photoshop, but still an amazing tool for image manipulation -- one I used all the time until I discovered Darktable, and still the go-to for anything complicated involving combining multiple images.
#FreeSoftwareAdvent Day 5: Darktable
A photography library portfolio manager and editor, so capable that I now seldom use anything else for photo editing. The workflow is excellent and the set of tools mind-boggling complete: I suspect I only use about 10% of what it can actually do, and I really should learn to use some of its more advanced modules.
Today's #FreeSoftwareAdvent is `tmux`, the terminal multiplexer.
I know that `tmux` will be second nature to many of you, but I've been gradually learning it over the last year (neilzone.co.uk/2025/06/more-ti…), and I find it invaluable.
Although I had used `screen` for years, I wish that I had known about `tmux` sooner.
I use `tmux` both on local machines, for a convenient terminal environment (from which I can do an awful lot of what I want to do, computing-wise), and also on remote machines for persistent / re-attachable terminal sessions.
More tinkering with tmux
After a long time using screen, I started using tmux last November.neilzone.co.uk
#FreeSoftwareAdvent Day 4: Quicklisp
The definitive and pretty much universally used package repository for Common Lisp, and as such is essential for making the language properly usable.
The list of available libraries is bewildering, and totally refutes the commonly-heard opinion that Lisp is too old to be relevant for new software: actually it's amazing how much new software continues to be written, and how diverse the range of interests of developers still is.
#FreeSoftwareAdvent Day3 3: Steel Bank Common Lisp
There are other Common Lisp implementations, a couple of which I use as well, but SBCL is definitely the one to measure against on conventional modern machines. The best tings about it are that it's compiling-only (even for REPL use), and has a great set of profiling extensions for finding performance bottlenecks.
#FreeSoftwareAdvent Day 2: Firefox
No, it's not a perfect browser, and the Mozilla foundation are flirting annoyingly with integrating an AI chatbot that no-one wants or will really benefit from. But it's definitely one of the better ways to use web-based applications as web pages rather than apps.
Download the fastest Firefox ever
Faster page loading, less memory usage and packed with features, the new Firefox is here.Firefox
#FreeSoftwareAdvent Day 1: Emacs
Emacs is a Lisp machine masquerading as an editor. It forms the centre of my digital universe, including but not limited to note-taking, paper-writing, email reading, software developing, mastodon following -- in fact I typically question the value of doing things that can't be done in Emacs.
