FOSSPicks
broot
Despite how complex our filesystems have become, often holding hundreds of thousands of files with dozens of directories across multiple sources and filesystems, our tools have changed very little. We jump around locations with cd
. We still use ls
to list the contents of a directory, sometimes carefully sorted with extra arguments or piped into a pager, or grep
for searching. Failing that, find
becomes the equivalent of a Google search for things you can't locate, or more commonly, can't remember whether you still have. What we need is a better way of doing these things, built for the age of the terabyte, and that's exactly what broot attempts to be. It's a command-line filesystem navigation tool that's written to be as intuitive as the tools we know while upgrading the experience to deal with the huge sizes and quantities of information we now need to parse when finding files and directories.
After a painless installation process, broot is actually started by typing the much shorter br
on the command line. This transforms your terminal into a file and directory browser. Unlike an app like Midnight Commander, though, its output feels more like an interactive tree
and ls
session than a desktop application. You can move the cursor up and down the list, press Enter to select a folder and Alt+Enter to cd
into that location. Launch with br -dp
and you get permissions and dates alongside the file entries. From within broot itself, you can enter a command mode by pressing :
. This allows you to enter commands like s
to show the sizes of folders, or e
to edit a file. It's very quick and works well and is a great alternative to losing track of exactly where you are on your filesystem.
Project Website
https://github.com/Canop/broot#installation
Audio book player
Cozy
Audio books have become hugely popular, and there's no doubt they're a great alternative to reading when you're traveling or otherwise can't read. Unless you're using a proprietary service, you can generally use any audio player to listen to them, and this means audio books have no special requirements – they can be managed and played just like albums and other pieces of music. But they can also benefit from some special considerations, especially when it comes to organizing a library, and extended playback control, such as chapter support. That's what the beautifully minimal Cozy offers – a minimal, distraction free Elementary-inspired GTK+3 environment from which you can select what to listen to and play it back.
Cozy operates a lot like an older version of iTunes, long before it became cluttered and full of distractions. This is a good thing, because the original iTunes design was excellent. A folder can be automatically monitored for audio books, and you can also drag and drop audio files into the main window to add them to your library. From the library, you can then sort by author, reader, and title – not all of which may be available from a free online source. After playback has commenced, you can change the playback speed to between 0.5 and 2.0 times the original, and the quality of the audio processing here is excellent. If you need to rapidly skip through a book, rather than slowly enjoy it, 1.6 speed should be perfectly digestible for most people. On the other end of the scale, if you want to fall asleep listening to a book, there's a timer, and the option to stop playback after the current chapter. It works perfectly and is well worth installing if you prefer your books read to you.
Project Website
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Linux Servers Targeted by Akira Ransomware
A group of bad actors who have already extorted $42 million have their sights set on the Linux platform.
-
TUXEDO Computers Unveils Linux Laptop Featuring AMD Ryzen CPU
This latest release is the first laptop to include the new CPU from Ryzen and Linux preinstalled.
-
XZ Gets the All-Clear
The back door xz vulnerability has been officially reverted for Fedora 40 and versions 38 and 39 were never affected.
-
Canonical Collaborates with Qualcomm on New Venture
This new joint effort is geared toward bringing Ubuntu and Ubuntu Core to Qualcomm-powered devices.
-
Kodi 21.0 Open-Source Entertainment Hub Released
After a year of development, the award-winning Kodi cross-platform, media center software is now available with many new additions and improvements.
-
Linux Usage Increases in Two Key Areas
If market share is your thing, you'll be happy to know that Linux is on the rise in two areas that, if they keep climbing, could have serious meaning for Linux's future.
-
Vulnerability Discovered in xz Libraries
An urgent alert for Fedora 40 has been posted and users should pay attention.
-
Canonical Bumps LTS Support to 12 years
If you're worried that your Ubuntu LTS release won't be supported long enough to last, Canonical has a surprise for you in the form of 12 years of security coverage.
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.
-
New Pentesting Distribution to Compete with Kali Linux
SnoopGod is now available for your testing needs