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Productivity Tools And Tips For Linux
Since productivity in itself is a subjective term, I am not going into the details of what “productivity” I am talking about here. I am going to show you some tools and tips that could help you to focus better, be efficient and save time while working in Linux.
Productivity tools and tips for Linux
Again, I am using Ubuntu at the time of writing this article. But the productivity tools and tips I am going to show you here should be applicable to most of the Linux distributions out there.
Ambient Music
Music impacts productivity. It is an open secret. From psychologists to management gurus, all have been advising to use ambient noise to feel relaxed and concentrate on your work. I am not going to argue with it because it works for me. I put my headphones on and listening to the birds chirping and wind blows indeed helps me in relaxing.
In Linux, I use ANoise player for ambient noise player. Thanks to the official PPA provided, you can easily install Ambient Noise player in Ubuntu and other Ubuntu based Linux distributions. Installing it let’s you play the ambient music offline as well.
Alternatively, you can always listen to ambient noise online. My favorite website for online ambient music is Noisli. Do give it a try.
Task management app
A good productive habit is to keep a to-do list. And if you combine it with Pomodoro Technique, it could work wonder. What I mean hear is that create a to-do list and if possible, assign those tasks a certain time. This will keep you on track with your planned tasks for the day.
For this, I recommend Go For It! app. You can install it in all major Linux distributions and since it is based on ToDo.txt, you can easily sync it with your smartphone as well. I have written a detailed guide on how to use Go For It!.
Alternatively, you can use Sticky Notes or Google Keep. If you need something more like Evernote fan, you can use these open source alternatives for Evernote.
Clipboard manager
Ctrl+ C and Ctrl+V are the integral part of our daily computer life. Only problem is that these important actions don’t have memory (by default). Suppose you copied something important and then you accidentally copied something else, you’ll lose what you had before.
A clipboard manager comes handy in such situation. It displays the history of things you have copied (to clipboard) recently. You can copy text back to clipboard from it.
I prefer Diodon clipboard manager for this purpose. It is actively developed and is available in Ubuntu repositories.
Recent notifications
When you are busy with something else and a desktop notification blings and fades away, what do you do? You wish that you could see what was the notification about, isn’t it? Recent notification indicator does this job. It keeps a history of all recent notifications. This way, you would never miss the desktop notifications.
You can read about Recent Notification Indicator here.
Terminal Tips
No, I am not going to show you all those Linux command tricks and shortcuts. That could make up an entire blog. I am going to show you couple of terminal hacks you could use to enhance your productivity.
- Change sudo password timeout: By default sudo commands require you to enter password after 15 minutes. This could be tiresome. You could actually change the default sudo password timeout. This tutorial shows you how to do that.
- Get desktop notification for command completion: It’s a common joke among IT guys that developers spend a lot of time waiting for programs to be compiled and it is not entirely true. But it does affect the productivity because while you wait for the programs to be compiled, you may end up doing something else and forget about the commands you had run in the terminal.A nicer way would be to get desktop notification when a command is completed. This way, you won’t be distracted for long and can go back to what you were supposed to be doing earlier. Read about how to get desktop notification for command completion.
I know that this is not a comprehensive article about increasing productivity. But these little apps and tips may actually help you to get more out of your valuable time.
Now it’s your turn. What programs or tips you use to be more productive in Linux? Something you want to share with the community?