2025-03-04

Linux apps for notes, blogging, coding and remote file management

I've written a couple times in the past couple weeks about switching to Linux. As I've mentioned I'll still be stuck using Apple devices for a few years due to my reliance on the Affinity suite of apps but I'm shifting everything else to a Linux Mint Mac Mini and it's been great thus far. This post is specifically about using the LinuxMac for updating local static websites that consist of folders of html, pdf and image files. It's a fairly basic, straightforward set-up of making local edits that I upload via ftp. And I generally use the same apps for writing/publishing blog posts. Bascially, I spend a lot of time in markdown and html followed by ftp transfers.

For context, my iPad based workflow relied on iCloud storage for each folder of website files which were edited in Textastic and uploaded using Textastic's built-in ftp client. A very stable, fairly simple and straightforward workflow.

My intention was to use an external drive attached to the M1 Mac Mini as the new "local" file store so that I could also access from the iPad if preferred. But after using that set-up for nearly 10 days it became apparent that the apps I'm using are having some issues with that set-up. The new arrangement is working off of files stored on the LinuxMac that are automatically synced every couple of minutes to the M1 Mac. I wrote more about this about this local cloud here.

FTP on Linux

• FileZilla
• Nemo (the default Linux Mint file manager)

My first stop for FTP on Linux was FileZilla which has been around forever and seems to be the most widely recommended FTP client. After a week of use I'll say this, it's functional. It's a far more complicated UX than Textastic which is, to my eye, a perfectly simple and functional two pane layout. But, being a dedicated file transfer app alse means that FileZilla has more features. I'm just not sure I'd ever need them. One downside to the experience: browsing my local network drive where I'm keeping all of my files is terribly slow. When I click to open a folder on the network it takes nearly a minute, a FULL MINUTE to open. And it doesn't seem to cache so if I click back to that folder it's no faster. YIKES. It's fine accessing local files but no, not workable for network stored files.

That said, there IS a solution for better file transfer using network drives for "local" file storage: Nemo, the default Files app included with Linux Mint has FTP built in. It does NOT allow for key-based login which I need for one site so I'll still need FileZilla for that site. But for all of my other sites it's fast and solid and thanks to the built in window tiling, it's easy to arrange two quarter windows on the right side of the screen alongside of a half screen text editor. Now that I've switched to local files I coud just settle on Filezilla for everything, I'll experiment a bit.

Text/Code/Markdown Editors

I touched on text editors in a recent post but wanted to add a few more details now that I've spent more time with them. The five I'm currently trying:

• Kate
• Sublime Text
• VSCodium
• Text Editor (default, included with Linux Mint)
• Text Editor (Gnome version)
• Ghostwriter
• Obsidian - Markdown specific Apple Notes Replacement

Kate is my current favorite. I'd given this a go in the first days after set-up but deleted it due to instability. In just the past couple days, after using all the others I decided to give it another go and I'm glad I did. Perhaps due to the faster ethernet connection it has been perfectly stable. It's been a real pleasure to use the past few days. Bonus, really nice visual design which I appreciate as I'll be looking at it more than any other app.

Sublime Text is the runner up. I was leaning towards buying a license when I decided to give Kate another try. Actually, the $100 cost is why I tried Kate a second time. After several days of use I'd only begun to scratch the surface of what this app can do. It's a solid app that has no problem with all the fundamentals and even did fairly well browsing my network drive with only a few hiccups. It does not have built in FTP or web preview but neither do the other apps. That said, it is extendable via custom snippets, macros and packages. I set-up a couple snippets which took a bit of time as I was a bit confused. But this is an app that does far more than I need.

VSCodium is similar to Kate and Sublime Text in terms of the expansive feature set and extendabliity via custom extensions and extensions. I'd mentioned in a previous post that the app was not seeing my network as a potential file storage location. As it turns out, that's a limitation of installing from the Flatpack in the Linux Mint Software Manager. Samcommented via Micro.blog that the problem would be solved by installing using the instructions and files at the VSCodium website. He was correct and VSCodium is now able to access the files being shared via the M1 Mac Mini. But, unlike Sublime Text, it seems to struggle with the files on that local network drive. It's not nearly as slow as FileZilla but it does seem to take some time saving files. While I used it last night it started throwing errors indicating that it had not been able to save. Even worse, one file, this One Big Text File that I'm typing in and the file where all of my daily notes and drafts get written, reopened with no text. Just a blank file. Yikes. I had a recent back-up but this has spooked me off the app for the moment. Like Sublime Text I'm sure I've just begun to scratch the surface. I'll give it another go before making a decision. But if I continue to see delays in saving files or any other indicator that the app is having issues with accessing files on the network drive I don't see myself using it.

Editing to note: I gave it another go and had the exact same problem. An error on saving followed by an blank file. So, VSCodium is a BIG NOPE.

Text Editor is the default text app included with Linux Mint. It provides a lightweight, much simpler experience compared to the first three but it's very reliable thus far. I expect at will come in handy for more general text editing. I'll also continue to try it out as a primary html editor as I debate whether to purchase a license to Sublime Text. My needs are fairly simple and this app may be all I need.

Text Editor - Gnome version is another very light weight text editor, the default included with Gnome. It's even more minimal in appearance than the default Text Editor with no files sidebar. Instead it uses a more minimal top bar menu.

Ghostwriter is more focused on Markdown and seems to do this very well. A nice, non-nonsense interface and I figured out that by doing the package installer instead of the flatpack Ghost has the ability to save to the network drive. Bonus, Ghost has the very handy feature of being able to copy Markdown as html. So, when I've got a post ready to go I can copy it as html and paste it into my post template. On the iPad I had been doing that using a Shortcut.

Obsidian is what I've settled on as an Apple Notes replacement. I've used it off and on for the past couple years. It now feels more useful than ever as I've got quite a few notes that I want to keep around but don't want to import into this OBTF. Years of random stuff, some of it with embedded images and pdfs. It's my junk drawer. I'll store the files in a folder that's being synced between the M1 Mac Mini and the Linux Mac. I'll use Obsidian on iPad and Linux Mac to update it.

That's it! I've had this post in draft for 10 days or so as I've experimented. I use this category of apps so much I expect it will change but this feels pretty great for the moment.

---

I don't have comments but I love email or you can find me on Mastodon.



❤️