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Category: Desktop

Selection of utilities

dusk – dynamic window manager for X

July 4, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop

dusk is a dynamic window manager for X that has its roots in dwm. It uses workspaces instead of tags.

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Selection of utilities

dk – list based tiling window manager for X11

July 3, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop

dk is a list based tiling window manager for X11 inspired by dwm, bspwm, and xmonad, offering a scriptable, keyboard-driven environment.

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Selection of utilities

plwm – X11 dynamic tiling window manager

July 2, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop

plwm is a highly customizable X11 dynamic tiling window manager written in Prolog.

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Selection of utilities

sxwm – dynamic tiling window manager for X11

July 1, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop

sxwm is a simple, feature-rich dynamic tiling window manager for X11.

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Stacking Window Managers

26 Best Free and Open Source Stacking Window Managers

June 25, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop, Roundup, Utilities

Stacking window managers (also known as floating window managers) draw all windows in a specific order, allowing them to overlap.

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Stacking Window Managers

CTWM – X11 window manager derived from twm

June 24, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop

CTWM is an X11 window manager derived from twm.

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Stacking Window Managers

EMWM – fork of the Motif Window Manager

June 23, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop

EMWM is a fork of the Motif Window Manager that keeps the classic Motif look and behaviour while improving compatibility

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Sticky Notes

14 Best Free and Open Source Sticky Note Applications

June 21, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop, Productivity, Roundup, Utilities

A sticky note (often known as a Post-it Note) is a small piece of paper with a strip of glue on its back. Here’s our verdict.

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Compositing Window Managers

9 Best Free and Open Source Compositing Window Managers

June 15, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop, Roundup, Utilities

A compositing window manager, or compositor, is a window manager that provides applications with an off-screen buffer for each window.

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Desktop-TUI – desktop environment without graphics

June 7, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop, TUI

Desktop-TUI works in a tmux-like way, letting users launch and display terminal applications or commands in movable and resizable windows.

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Weather image

12 Best Free and Open Source GUI Weather Tools

March 27, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop, Roundup, Scientific

Here’s our verdict on the best GUI weather tools. Only free and open source software is eligible for inclusion.

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Video

19 Best Free and Open Source Media Players

March 24, 2026 Steve Emms CLI, Desktop, Multimedia, Roundup

A media player is software that lets you watch video and listen to music on your computer. We cover the best free and open source options.

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Tiling Window Managers

8 Best Free and Open Source X11 Tiling Window Managers

March 20, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop, Roundup, Utilities

There are a few different types of window managers. This article recommends the best X11 tiling window managers.

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Compositing Window Managers

13 Best Free and Open Source Stacking Wayland Compositors

March 16, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop, Roundup, Utilities

This article focuses on stacking Wayland compositors. Only free and open source software is included in this article.

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Compositing Window Managers

Otto – stacking window manager

March 16, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop

Otto is a visually focused desktop system and Wayland compositor designed around smooth animations, gestures, and spatial interaction.

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PDF

20 Useful Free and Open Source PDF Manipulation Tools

March 14, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop, Office, Roundup, Utilities

We recommend the best free and open source PDF manipulation tools offering some genuinely useful software.

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monitui – TUI for wrangling your hyprland monitors

March 14, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop, TUI

monitui is a terminal UI that makes Hyprland monitor configuration actually pleasant.

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Color My Desktop – personalize your Linux desktop with custom generated themes

March 10, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop, GUI

Color My Desktop is an easy to use tool for creating, managing, and applying custom color palettes to custom generated themes.

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Application Launchers

MRunner – fast, keyboard-first application runner for Linux

March 8, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop, GUI

MRunner is a lightweight command runner that provides a simple way to execute and manage frequently used commands.

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Application Launchers

Vanta – application launcher for Wayland

February 24, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop, GUI

Vanta is a scriptable application launcher and command palette for Wayland.

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