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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- With a little bit of effort, you may elevate Linux’s desktop effectivity.
- The following pointers will not price you a penny and the outcomes may be game-changing.
- You will not need to be a Linux specialist to make use of the following tips.
I’ve labored with almost each working system presently available on the market (and a few not with us). Of all these working techniques, one stands means above the others within the class of effectivity.
Do not get me fallacious, each OS excels in one thing, however with Linux, you may make it excel at nearly every part. Once I take into consideration every OS I’ve used, I can truthfully say that the one one I’d ever select when effectivity was a prime precedence is Linux.
Arms down.
Some Linux distributions (and/or desktop environments) are fairly environment friendly out of the field, however there may be all the time room for enchancment.
However what are you able to do to make the Linux desktop much more environment friendly? A lot. Let’s check out my 10 favourite adjustments/additions you may make.
1. Keyboard shortcuts
To say that is strictly a Linux factor could be fallacious. Even so, you hear of extra Linux customers working with keyboard shortcuts than with most different OSes. The truth is, most Linux desktop environments help you simply create customized keyboard shortcuts out of the field. And with Linux, you may create some environment friendly keyboard shortcuts, equivalent to these for managing home windows, transferring home windows, window focus, launching apps, display screen locking, logging out, taking a screenshot, opening the terminal, operating a command, opening particular apps, and a lot extra. You may as well create customized shortcuts for much more effectivity.
2. Tiling window supervisor or window snapping
One challenge that always will get in the best way of being as environment friendly as potential is managing your open apps. Most desktop working techniques supply window snapping (for instance, dragging an app window to the left fringe of the desktop to snap it to the left facet of the show).
Linux takes this one step additional and provides tiling window managers that routinely place home windows for you. By using a tiling window supervisor, you not have to fret about the place to put a window within the optimum location, as a result of the tiling window supervisor does that for you. And since most tiling window managers additionally embody keyboard shortcuts, you would create a desktop the place you not often have to the touch the mouse or trackpad.
3. Use Workspaces
Workspaces have been obtainable to Linux since I began utilizing it within the late ’90s. Workspaces make it straightforward to arrange your desktop (and an organized desktop is an environment friendly one). For instance, you would have one Workspace devoted to writing, one for basic internet searching, one for productiveness, and one for multimedia. With the assistance of a helpful keyboard shortcut, you may swap between these desktops with ease. Which distribution you employ will decide how you employ workspaces.
4. Automate bash scripts
Sooner or later, you may get curious in regards to the command line, which could lead you to jot down your first bash script. As soon as you have created your first bash script, you may then need to automate it. For instance, you would possibly write a bash script that handles backups of sure directories to an exterior drive. Why not use cron to automate that script, so you do not have to recollect to run the script every day, weekly, or month-to-month? Cron is a really easy-to-use device for automation on Linux.
5. Customise your desktop
Almost each Linux desktop surroundings is customizable. A few of these customizations are aesthetic, whereas others give attention to effectivity. For instance, in Xfce, you would create a panel on the highest, backside, left, and proper. Dedicate one panel to app launchers, one to info, one to folder shortcuts, and one to interacting with the principle menu. You are able to do this with a number of desktop environments, however provided that Xfce is the reigning champ of customization, it was the plain alternative. You may as well customise the right-click context menu of your file supervisor to make it simpler to do issues like share folders, compress recordsdata, and extra.
6. Be taught the command line
People who find themselves new to Linux will probably maintain off on studying the command line. Ultimately, nevertheless, you would possibly discover that utilizing the CLI is rather more environment friendly than utilizing the GUI. For instance, I may create a keyboard shortcut to launch my terminal app, after which challenge the command mkdir ~/ZDNET to create a folder named ZDNET, after which run the command exit to shut the terminal. That’s rather more environment friendly than opening your file supervisor, navigating to the situation that may home the brand new folder, right-clicking any area, naming the brand new folder, after which closing the file supervisor. Work smarter, not tougher.
7. Set up the best software program
This one must be fairly straightforward, but it surely’s necessary to put in the best software program for the job. On prime of that, be sure to put in software program that makes the job simpler. This is a easy instance: You put in the AbiWord phrase processor, hoping that it contains AI help, solely to appreciate it doesn’t. You then set up LibreOffice and discover that including AI is a bit too difficult. You lastly uncover that ONLYOFFICE Doc Editors has built-in AI, so that you go along with that. As a substitute of spending all that point, do a little bit of up-front analysis, so you recognize what apps will fit your wants.
8. Higher handle recordsdata and folders
I see this one on a regular basis. Open somebody’s file supervisor, and you will find their directories are nothing however chaos. There is not any rhyme or cause why recordsdata are the place they’re. As a substitute, be sure to arrange your folders fastidiously. For instance, throughout the ~/Paperwork folder, you would possibly create sub-folders for College, Work, Dwelling, and Creativity. Inside these folders, you would possibly create a folder for the yr (2025). Contained in the 2025 folder, create folders for every month and save the recordsdata accordingly. This kind of file system format has saved me extra time than I may have imagined.
9. Make use of LAN-based file sync
As a substitute of going with Google Drive or OneDrive, you would possibly take into consideration deploying a file-sync service in your LAN. You would possibly deploy Nextcloud and use it as your inside Google Workspace substitute. This may be extra environment friendly as a result of you may add the options you need and do away with these you do not. And, do you have to lose contact with the exterior community, you’ll nonetheless have entry to your inside cloud storage.
10. Use a strong keyboard launcher
Lastly, use a strong keyboard launcher, equivalent to Albert. With these launchers, you hit a key in your keyboard to open the device, kind what you are searching for (equivalent to a file or an app), use your up or down arrow keys to pick out what you need to open, and hit Enter in your keyboard. You might not imagine this, however transferring your hand from the keyboard to the mouse and again to the keyboard can eat away at your effectivity. On prime of that, keyboard launchers make it a lot simpler to search out the recordsdata you are searching for.
