Finding Alternatives
- European Alternatives – European Alternatives (also known as EA or Euroalter) is a non-profit civil society organisation promoting democracy, equality and culture beyond the nation-state.
- AlternativeTo – AlternativeTo is a crowd-sourced and free site that helps you find better apps and services.
- PrivacyTools.io – PrivacyTools.io provides services, tools and privacy guides to counter global mass surveillance. Established in 2015 after Edward Snowden's revelations, and is now the most popular privacy website.
Linux & Other Operating Systems
- DistroWatch – DistroWatch is a website that provides news, distribution pages hit rankings, and other general information about various Linux distributions as well as other free software/open source Unix-like operating systems.
- YouTube: Choosing the Linux distribution that's good for you – Confused or overwhelmed by the choice of Linux distributions? Michael Tunnell explains the different Linux distributions to help you choose the one that is the easiest for you.
- Youtube: Can a complete beginner survive Linux? – Michael Tunnell reacts to a video from Switch and Click where they try Linux as a complete beginner after their expensive laptop stopped working. They share their experience switching to Linux, and Michael breaks down their journey, expectations, and what really happens when you give Linux a shot for the first time.
- Linux Subreddit – Community for news, help, and discussions about Linux.
Software
- The GIMP – (GNU Image Manipulation Program) Free and open source image/photo editor available for GNU/Linux, macOS, Windows and more operating systems.
- Inkscape – Free and open source vector graphics editor for GNU/Linux, Windows and macOS.
- Joplin – Free and open source note-taking app. Capture your thoughts and securely access them from any device.
- KiCAD – Free and open source software suite for electronic design automation (EDA). It facilitates the design and simulation of electronic hardware for PCB manufacturing.
- LibreOffice – Free and open source office suite, compatible with Microsoft Office/365 files and is backed by a non-profit organisation.
- OnlyOffice – Free and open source collaborative office suite with strong online and desktop support.
- Thunderbird – Free and open source personal information manager primarily used as an e-mail client with a calendar and contactbook, as well as an RSS feed reader, chat client (IRC/XMPP/Matrix), and news client.
Proprietary software - beware lock-in!
- Affinity by Canva – Free, but proprietary, all-in-one alternative for the Adobe Suite. Available for Windows, MacOS. Also available as a community-made Linux appimage, here: affinity-everywhere. (Linux: intermediate difficulty) reason for inclusion: lower risk of lock-in than the Adobe suite.
- OnShape 3D CAD - Onshape is a proprietary web-based 3D computer-aided design (CAD) software, for parametric modelling. OnShape has a free tier, that requires you to share your work. reason for inclusion: platform independence.
Troubleshooting
Also see: Troubleshooting and finding support
General technical Q&A
The Stack Exchange network hosts peer-reviewed Q&A communities
across dozens of technical topics. Answers are voted on by the community, which helps surface
reliable responses. Relevant sites include:
Linux hardware compatibility
Linux and open source
- LinuxQuestions.org — one of the largest and most
welcoming general Linux forums, active since 2000
- Your distribution's official forum — always the first place to
check for distribution-specific issues; most distributions maintain their own
- Arch Wiki — despite being Arch-specific in places, widely
regarded as the most comprehensive Linux documentation resource available; often useful
regardless of distribution
- r/linuxquestions — beginner-friendly Linux subreddit
Open source software
- Each major open source project typically maintains its own forum, mailing list, or issue
tracker. Start at the project's official website — look for a "Community" or "Support" link.
- GitHub — most open source projects host their issue tracker here;
searching existing issues before opening a new one often surfaces quick answers
Networking
Security
- Information Security Stack Exchange — broad coverage of
security topics, from home user concerns to professional practice
- OWASP — practical security guidance, primarily for software but broadly
useful for understanding threats