I do almost all my computer on Linux devices these days, and I don’t manage that without a lot of useful Linux software. One of my favorite formats for Linux software is AppImages, and these are the ones I always keep on-hand.
AppImages are single executable files that contain everything an app needs to run. That means you don’t need to worry about dependencies or software bases in order to run them. So long as your desktop is running libraries used on just about any Linux system, you can probably run an AppImage.
Feishin
Remote listening to my music collection
I listen to music all day while I work, maintaining playlists that help me stay focused and not completely bored for the monotonous parts of work. In the past, I relied on Spotify Premium or YouTube for this, but I’ve since developed my private collection. I keep a Jellyfin server running with my entire digital library.
What makes my Jellyfin music listening even better though is listening to it through Feishin, which is available as an AppImage. It’s designed similar to the Spotify desktop app, but it gives me a ton of control over that interface. Everything from artist pages to the now-playing visualizer can be customized in dozens of ways. It supports timed lyrics (both from your server and remote fetching), makes random recommendations, and can automatically DJ for you.
To get the AppImage, you can go to the Feishin GitHub release page and look through the assets for it in the latest release.
Flameshot
A better screenshot tool
Screenshots can be useful for a lot of things, from capturing memes from social media sites that don’t let you download photos, to creating instruction sets. The trouble is, not every Linux desktop is equipped with a good screenshot app.
For those Linux distros that are lacking in the screen capturing department, I deploy my Flameshot AppImage. It gets you a powerful screenshot tool that can do things many can’t, like show you a pixel count as you select areas and give you annotation tools after you’ve captured a screenshot.
You can get Flameshot by going to the Flameshot downloads page and selecting Linux from the download options.
KeePassXC
Offline password management
I don’t trust online password managers, so I use an offline one on my Linux computers called KeePassXC. It stores my passwords in an encrypted vault file that I keep stored on my local computer. You might, rightly, be wondering how this is safe, since losing your local storage would mean losing your passwords.
I keep my password vault synced across several devices, so even if I lose one device, or one’s storage gets wiped, I still have backups on my other devices.
That’s also what makes having a portable version of KeePassXC on-hand so useful. Not only can I run it on any I can keep a pared-down version of my passwords vault that lets me quickly log into important apps and services on a new setup.
You can download it by going to the KeePassXC Linux downloads page and scrolling until you see the AppImage download button.
Kiwix
Take Wikipedia (and more) wherever you go
Do you ever wish you could download the internet? Kiwix lets you do that, or at least parts of the internet. It was originally developed as a way to download and browse offline versions of Wikipedia, but it’s since expanded to cover tons of other websites, from public domain ebook libraries to government databases.
6 Useful Websites to Download for Offline Access
Data hoarding has never been easier.
The Kiwix app is sort of an all-in-one solution because it lets you search for online websites and download them, and it’s also the best way to browse and search the websites you downloaded. Keep your downloaded sites stored along with Kiwix in an external drive, and you’ll never lose the internet’s most useful websites.
If it sounds interesting to you, head to the Kiwix Applications page and click the Linux “x86-64 binaries” button.
Popsicle
Flash USB sticks in a flash
I don’t know about you, but I frequently need to write ISOs and other image files to USB drives. I’m constantly testing Linux distributions, and sometimes even reinstalling ones that I’m already using.
There are many image-writing tools out there, but the Popsicle app actually stands out from the rest for a couple of reasons. For one, you can get it as a portable AppImage. For another, it supports writing to multiple USB drives at once. If you’re wanting to hand out bootable Linux distributions to your friends, you could do that with little effort thanks to Popsicle.
Popsicle was developed by System76, the same company behind Pop!_OS and the COSMIC desktop environment. You can download the AppImage by going to the Popsicle GitHub release page.
WinBoat
Running Windows apps has never been easier
It’s the perennial quest for many Linux users: how do you run Windows software on your Linux PC? There are several methods, but one of the simplest these days is through WinBoat.
When you run WinBoat, it will tell you if there’s any software missing from your Linux computer that it needs to run, like Docker and FreeRDP. If you don’t have it, Winboat gives you guides to installing it so you can get configured quickly.
Once you do have WinBoat operational, installing and running common Windows apps is a cinch. You can choose from its list of one-click-launch options like Notepad and Adobe Photoshop, or give it an EXE file for a more obscure Windows app you want to run.
Web Apps Make Switching to Linux Much Easier
Not enough apps? No problem.
It uses a Windows virtual machine on the backend, but you generally don’t need to understand or pay attention to that. It’s designed to make the experience of running Windows apps on Linux seamless.
To get WinBoat, just head to the WinBoat website and click the “Download AppImage” option.
Take it to them with you on a portable drive
Many of these I don’t just install on every device. Instead, I put them on a portable USB drive that I then transfer from one Linux device to another. That way, I save storage space and don’t have to re-download every AppImage on every device.
