3 good Linux apps I tried this week - 26.03.08

I'm always looking for new Linux software that's worth installing. After taking a week off and moving to a new location, I'm back with a few more free and open source recommendations for my fellow Linux fans.

I'd been publishing my app picks at How-To Geek since August 2025. I'm no longer writing there, but my Linux software recommendations were my favorite to write, so I'm going to continue journaling about my discoveries here on Listed. I'd like to explore other blog hosting options, but I'll post a link here if and when I end up moving.

In the meantime, let's look at some legitimately useful Linux apps I tried this week.

Decoder: A simple QR code generator and scanner

QR code generators are from that genre of software that seems to have thousands of unnecessary iterations. Because its function is so simple and need so commonplace, app stores are awash in them. Many are stuffed with ads and have suspect origins.

Still, I need to generate QR codes sometimes. Decoder is one that I recently started using. IT's an official part of the GNOME Circle, and it works on mobile as well, for those who use GNOME on phones or tablets.

I like Decoder in particular compared to other because the interface is both modern and straightforward. It opens to a text field you can fill with whatever link or chunk of text you want in QR code form. If you need a QR code for sharing the Wi-Fi network, you can switch to Wi-Fi mode and enter the network name and password.

You can export your QR code as a PNG image, or save it to your history of your generated codes so you can easily fetch it later. I've found the history feature more helpful than I first imagined.

There's also a scanning mode that works with my laptop webcam so I can hold up flyers or QR codes on my phone leading to websites that I want to open on my laptop instead of my phone. Best of all, there are no ads anywhere.

Here are your install options:

• Search for decoder in your software browser. Since it's on Flathub and in Debian repositories, it's likely available in whatever software browser you have.
• Install Decoder from the Flathub website or by using the command flatpak install flathub com.belmoussaoui.Decoder
• Install on Debian or Ubuntu using the command sudo apt install gnome-decoder
• Install on Arch Linux using the command sudo pacman -S decoder

Kate: A good text editor

I don't do a ton of coding, but lately I've done my writing completely in Markdown and dabbled in some Rust coding. My text editor of choice for this has ended up being Kate.

I chose it because I wanted to be able to write and code in the same interface, and the coding needed to have integrations for syntax highlighting, linting, and other helpful assistance. In the past, I'd have used Notepad++, but there's no native Linux implementation. I refuse to use VS Code on FOSS grounds, so Kate has become my first choice.

I like Kate for its traditional UI that integrates with the rest of the KDE Plasma desktop environment I'm using. I also like using its LSP servers, in the form of a Rust analyzer and the Marksman code assist tool. I like that it's able to manage sessions for when I'm coding and for when I'm writing. There are probably other text editors and IDEs out there that are better in this way or that, but right now Kate is really hitting the mark for me.

These are your installation options for Kate:

• Find it in your software browser by searching for kate
• Get Kate from Flathub by running the command flatpak install flathub org.kde.kate
• Install it on Debian or Ubuntu with the command sudo apt install kate
• Install it from Arch repositories using sudo pacman -S kate
• Install on openSUSE with the command sudo zypper install kate
• Install it on Fedora with sudo dnf install kate

Raijin: Easy weather stats and forecasts in your terminal

For some reason, I rarely find desktop weather widgets useful or intuitive. In my mind, accessing weather info in the terminal makes more sense. I've written about Outside in the past, and while I still think that was a good option with its powerful command line options and easy switching between locations, Raijin app makes the msot sense to me when I just want a quick but detailed look at the weather in my area, and without having to remember any command line options.

Raijin is a TUI that shows you current weather statistics and a detailed forecast with a single command: Raijin. It pulls info from the National Weather Service and Open-Meteo to show you several panels with current statistics in both hard stats and prose, moon phases, a daily temps chart, and a four-day forecast.

Raijin is written in Rust, which is neat, but it's only available through the Cargo package manager. So assuming you've run rustup to get Cargo, you can then run the command cargo install Raijin to install it.

Raijin is configured by default to show weather info for Knoxville, TN (I presume where the developer is located). Configuring Raijin for my own location was a little involved but, in my opinion, worth it. Follow the instructions on GitHub for configuration when you're ready. The good news is that it's all based on freely available info; there aren't any API keys to grab or subscriptions to pay for.

My only complaint is that Raijin requires quite a bit of screen real estate to display everything properly. If it doesn't have enough, the info doesn't get compressed well. Hopefully the developer will continue work on it, as I'd like to integrate it more into my growing carousel of reguarly-used TUIs.

That's all I have for this week. While I look into other blogging platforms and consider my next move, I'm also putting together a searchable list of every Linux app I've tried and still recommend. Until then, enjoy your weekend!