July 2025 updates to the largest compilation of recommended free and open source software available for Linux.
Read more
Firefly AIBOX-3588S Embedded Fanless PC: Power Consumption
For this article in the series, I’m looking at the power consumption of the Firefly AIBOX-358SS fanless PC.
Read more
TEAMGROUP X1 MAX 512GB USB 3.2 Gen 2 Flash Drive Review
The TEAMGROUP X1 MAX flash drive is available in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB capacities with 1000 MB/s reads and 900 MB/s write speeds.
Read more
BrosTrend AX3000 WiFi Range Extender & Wi-Fi to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Review
The BrosTrend AX3000 is a 2 in 1 device. First, it’s a dual band Wi-Fi range extender. It also provides a Wi-Fi to Gigabit ethernet adapter.
Read more
Benchmarking the Firefly AIBOX-3588S Embedded Fanless PC
I benchmark the Firefly AIBOX-3588S and compare it to single board computers (both ARM and RISC-V) as well as an Intel N100 Mini PC.
Read more
Orange Pi R2S Single Board Computer Running Linux: Power Consumption
I’ll see how the Orange Pi R2S compares to a few other single board computers and mini PCs which cost considerably more.
Read more
Raspberry Pi 5 Desktop Mini PC: Good value compared to an Intel N100 Mini PC?
A question I get asked a fair bit is whether the Raspberry Pi 5 represents good value to purchase as a desktop PC.
Read more
Firefly AIBOX-3588S Embedded Fanless PC Running Linux – Introduction
This is the first in a series of articles looking at the Firefly AIBOX 3588S embedded fanless ARM-based mini PC.
Read more
Best Free and Open Source Alternatives to Autodesk FBX Review
FBX Review is a lightweight, standalone software tool for viewing 3D assets and baked animations quickly and efficiently.
Read more
Orange Pi RV2 Single Board Computer Running Linux: Installing to the eMMC
In this article I document transferring my Ubuntu distribution from the microSD card to the eMMC. It makes the distro much snappier on the RV2.
Read more
Best Free and Open Source Alternatives to Autodesk Fusion
Autodesk Fusion is a CAD, CAM, and PCB design software. We recommend the best free and open source alternatives.
Read more
Raspberry Pi 5 Desktop Mini PC: Improve Wi-Fi
Let’s try to improve the Raspberry Pi 5’s Wi-Fi performance (transfer speed and latency) with a USB 3.0 adapter from BrosTrend.
Read more
Orange Pi RV2 Single Board Computer Running Linux: Building a Program
Options for installing software are a bit more limited with the RV2 compared with ARM-based single board computers. Let’s build a piece of open source software.
Read more
Best Free and Open Source Alternatives to Autodesk Motion FX
Autodesk Motion FX is software to create real-time video effects using your computer’s camera. It’s also a video editor.
Read more
Kioxia Exceria Plus G2 Portable SSD 2TB Review
For this review, I’ve evaluating the Kioxia Exceria Plus G2 Portable SSD. It’s available in 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacities. I’m reviewing the 2TB version.
Read more
Orange Pi 5 Max Single Board Computer: Power Consumption
In this article in the series, I look at the power consumption of the Orange Pi 5 Max and compare it to some other computers.
Read more
BrosTrend AX1800 USB WiFi 6 Adapter AX4L Linux Compatible
This is a review of the BrosTrend USB WiFi 6 Adapter. It supports Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Debian, Ubuntu Mate, and other distributions.
Read more
Benchmarking the Orange Pi R2S Single Board Computer
The Orange Pi R2S features a RISC-V processor, four wired network ports (two 2.5G ethernet ports and two 1G ethernet ports).
Read more
Orange Pi RV2 Single Board Computer Running Linux: orangepi-config
My RV2 board is running Ubuntu 24.04. Included is a configuration tool called orangepi-config. Let’s see what it offers.
Read more
Luckfox 15.6″ Portable Monitor Review
This is a review of the Luckfox 15.6″ Portable Monitor. It’s an IPS screen with 1920×1080 resolution, 100% sRGB, and supports HDR.
Read more
TEAMGROUP PD20 Mini External SSD Review
I’m testing the 2TB PD20 Mini External SSD which provides plenty of capacity for backing up a computer or holding a good chunk of data.
Read more
Orange Pi R2S Single Board Computer Running Linux: Introduction
This is a series of articles looking at the Orange Pi R2S, the latest addition to the range of single board computers from Orange Pi.
Read more
Raspberry Pi 5 Desktop Mini PC: 2.5Gbps Networking
In this article I explore a simple upgrade to improve the Raspberry Pi 5’s network speed.
Read more
Intehill 16″ 3K Touchscreen U16ZT Portable Monitor Review
I’ve been evaluating the Intehill 16″ 3K Touchscreen Portable Monitor U16ZT with a variety of Linux devices. Here are my findings.
Read more
Orange Pi RV2 Single Board Computer Running Linux: Power Consumption
In this article in the series, I look at the power consumption of the Orange Pi RV2 and compare it to some other computers.
Read more
Benchmarking the Banana Pi BPI-F3 Single Board Computer
In this article I benchmark the Banana Pi BPI-F3 and compare it to other single board computers as well as an N100 Mini PC.
Read more
Benchmarking the Orange Pi 5 Ultra, Orange Pi 5 Max and Orange Pi RV2
I benchmark the Orange Pi 5 Ultra, Orange Pi 5 Max, Orange Pi RV2 against a Raspberry Pi 5 and a DreamQuest N100 Mini PC.
Read more
mpd-mpris – MPRIS protocol for MPD
mpd-mpris is an implementation of the MPRIS protocol for MPD. The Media Player Remote Interfacing Specification (MPRIS) is a standard D-Bus interface which aims to provide a common programmatic API for controlling media players. It provides a mechanism for discovery,
Read more
Constrict – compress videos to target sizes
Constrict compresses your videos to your chosen file size — useful for uploading to services with specific file size limits.
Read more
Prospector – analyse Python code
Prospector is a tool to analyse Python code and output information about errors, potential problems, convention violations and complexity.
Read more
RecipeSage – recipe keeper, meal planner and shopping list organizer
Share and collaborate on recipes, manage household shopping lists and meal planning, and import recipes from anywhere on the web instantly.
Read more
Pylama – code audit tool for Python
Pylama is an open source code audit tool for Python. Pylama wraps a variety of open source tools, mostly linters.
Read more
Wangle – networking library
Wangle is a library that makes it easy to build protocols, application clients, and application servers.
Read more
TkmViewer – analyse TaskMonitor output
TkmViewer is a graphical user interface to visualize output SQLite3 data format from the TaskMonitor daemon.
Read more
Bandit – find security issues in Python code
Bandit is a tool designed to find common security issues in Python code.
Read more