Alt Forums

If you're looking for a semi beginner Debian based Linux distro, look no further! Ubuntu is a pretty beginner friendly OS, there might be some instances where you'll need to use the terminal to install things but it's not too complex. It's one of the oldest Linux distros that's still actively being worked on too. Are you rocking Ubuntu? I currently have it installed on a external SSD and I dual boot with Windows 11 and Ubuntu. If I could I would make the full switch to Ubuntu, but there are programs that I use that will not work under Ubuntu. Anyways if you're looking to switch to Linux give Ubuntu a try! Note: Ubuntu is also used for hosting. The link below is for a desktop environment, not a hosting one!
https://ubuntu.com/desktop

Did you ever get a chance to use Red Hat Linux back in the day? It was a commercial open source version of Linux with the first stable release was on my fifth birthday ironically enough in 1995 but was discontinued in 2004. The OS was merged with Fedora Linux in 2003.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hat_Linux

I know we've got a thread for FreeBSD but I figured I would create one for OpenBSD as well. This operating system is better suited for lower end tech such as your router where security is a higher priority than user friendly GUIs. If I had to pick to use FreeBSD or OpenBSD, I would definitely choose FreeBSD but honestly I still prefer Linux. Have you ever messed with OpenBSD before? I love how simple their logo looks and the pufferfish looks smug af too haha.

https://www.openbsd.org/

This is a modern forum software that can be installed on shared hosting! Most modern forum platforms like NodeBB and Discourse need to be installed on a VPS since they require Docker to function, but this one is written in php. Though the author did use AI, so this was vibe coded. That may be a deal breaker for some people. I haven't tried this software yet, but I've thought about giving it a try. I'll drop a link for the community so you can see what it looks like from a guest point of view.

https://community.convoro.co/

I figured I would start creating threads based around general discussions of alternative platforms, OS, etc. instead of just making threads listing other platforms that exist. So what made you decide that you wanted to start using alternative platforms? Were you tired of the moderation on the more popular platforms, tired of the interface or just wanted to try something new? I go down these rabbit holes where I want to try new things out and that's how I joined Lemmy. I use Root more than Discord because I don't like the direction that Discord is taking when it comes to ID checks. Overall I just prefer forums to anything though, and forums are considered alternative platforms at this point too!

What do you like? What do you drive (if not too personal)? What are reasons for your answers?

I just found out this on certain forum but it seems it's already too late to talk about it since their development appears to have been abandoned since May 2026 and their website no longer works. I don't know why or what happened but hey, at least the source code is still there on their GitHub.

Yeah, it's just another opensource "Discord clone" with a design similar to Revolt and Nerimity which seems like it was also designed to be selfhostable. I don't know if this is based on the code of such projects or made from scratch by looking at how the project's GitHub README is organized.

https://github.com/StrafeChat

Another one I found on certain forum. I can't believe it doesn't have much impact for what it offers.

Just another "Discord clone" similar to Sharkord and Fluxer. It's self-hostable, it has screen sharing, plugins/custom themes and even forums. I haven't tried it yet but it sounds interesting.
And yeah, just like Sharkord, this doesn't have a native client/app yet.

• https://chatto.run/

• https://chat.chatto.run/ (demo instance)

• https://www.hmans.dev/blog/chatto-is-open-source

PDFGear on Windows

and PDFGear Scan are much better than Adobe and completely free.

I am trying to get my employers to make the switch

Some people may have heard of this Microsoft Office competitor, especially if you've got any LInux experience under your belt. I believe this was formerly called Open Office, or it branched or something, but needless to say, the software is completely free, and is kept up to date. I use it instead of Microsoft Word and Excel, because it's fully compatible with MS stuff... and because I'm a cheap bas..... person-- I mentioned it's free! It's got a ton of functionality built in and so far I haven't had any need to install anything custom for it. Although, it does take a bit of getting used to, it's powerful enough for everything I do. There's also an Android app, I think, but I haven't really had a reason to use it, as I prefer to use Obsidian on my phone for my writing projects.

How long have you been into it? When did you discover it? What are reasons backing up whatever question given in this thread?

Hey I found Found this forum over on https://forumpromotion.net/directory/alt-forums.1322/

I joined because I want to encourage others to keep away from the ills of the social media on the masses. I much prefer communicating on forums. no tracking no algos. just me and the keyboard (and the dog)

I post on a few other forums and I was looking to add a few more to my bag.

I used to use MSN back when I was a teenager in the mid to late 00's. My best friend and I would hop on chat rooms and get people's screennames and talk to random people on MSN Messenger. Do you have fond memories using this chat client? I thought it was better than AIM and Yahoo Messenger.

Personally I prefer that my music preferences change depending on what I'm doing like I listen to upbeat songs when I'm working (offline or online) and calm instrumentals or some pop music when I want some relaxation. Do you have a favorite genre or does it vary for you too?

Oh. My. Goddess!

I just stumbled on to a major nostalgia moment on Threads. Did you know you can still purchase Word Perfect? Like, a one time purchase, no subscriptions, or any of that junk? And, yes, I believe Word Perfect is superior to Word. Simply having Reveal Codes was a Godsend! I'm seriously thinking about dropping the money for the full pro version, relearning it again just so I may be able to get a decent office job again! Apparently, lawyers and academia still uses Word Perfect (and related suite products).

(I wonder if macros are still a thing in the current version of Word Perfect?)

I've been seeing lots of vibe coded chat clients being shared over on Reddit, and 9 times out of 10 these threads are often downvoted to oblivion. That got me thinking, would you ever use a chat client that was vibe coded? (Vibe coded means it was made with AI by someone telling it to generate code.)

I just discovered this old IRC client from Microsoft today. This software is now open source, so if you wanted to mess around with it you can now! I've never really been big into IRC, and seeing how this came out in the mid 90's when I started elementary school it's no wonder I didn't know it existed. :V It also brought the best font to the world, Comic Sans. (Yes I said what I said, CS is the best font!)

https://microsoft.github.io/comic-chat/

Welp, Sony decided to stop producing physical games starting in 2028. The playstation 5 is the last playstation console I will own because of this news. Physical media is better than digital.

https://blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/physical-disc-production-ending-in-january-2028-for-new-games-releasing-on-playstation-consoles/

If you have a VPS or your own server at home and miss AIM or ICQ, you can now host your own OSCAR server using Open OSCAR Server (previously Retro AIM Server) and relive those old AIM and ICQ clients without depending from those closed and centralized services like NINA.

https://github.com/mk6i/open-oscar-server

I just came across this in a YouTube comment and I found it so interesting that I wanted to share it here.

It's a self-hostable Discord alternative almost similar to Matrix (obviously without federation). It has voice chat, screen sharing and some other basic functions of Discord except a "fancy" profile customization.

The server is just a simple and lightweight binary (also available on Docker) which after launching, it starts a web client at port 4991 (yeah, it doesn't have a native client yet you can only use it from your browser). You can configure it later by creating or editing config.ini file under the ~/.config/sharkorddirectory and following this guide (things like server description, logo, storage and signups can be changed inside the web client after using the owner token the server generates for you).

There's also a public official demo here if you want to test it without running a server.

• https://sharkord.com/

• https://github.com/Sharkord/sharkord

This has been a pretty popular Linux Distro as of late. Many people are ditching Mac and Windows for Zorin OS, I watched a video where this guy installed Zorin OS on his girlfriend's old MacBook that was super sluggish. She did struggle to use Zorin a bit at first but was able to eventually get used to the OS and she was super happy she was able to use her MacBook again without slowdowns. I haven't used it yet, but I'm pretty content with Ubuntu that I'll just stick to using that distro for now.

https://zorin.com/os/

This chat client has been around since 2004, so it makes me wonder if anyone here ever used it before. I feel like it was mainly used in a professional setting, I just discovered it since I've been doing research on Discord alternatives for the forum. The latest stable releases were released at the end of last year it looks like. TechRadar mentioned it as a Skype alternative after the platform shut down.

https://jami.net/

This is another free Discord alternative that you can actually host yourself. It's also federated and has E2E encryption. Have you tried this one out yet? I'm thinking about giving it a go and see how I like it. For now Root is still my go to Discord alternative, but maybe Loqa will replace Root who knows? Also you can migrate your Discord server over to Loqa too.

https://loqa.chat/

Looks like the Twitter clone is looking for ways to get their member base back since it's dropped. They're looking at Reddit for ideas apparently. I read this thread about it the other day, but I finally got around to reading the article as well. Have you ever used Blusky before? I used it for a little bit but now the only Twitter like social media I use in a blue moon is Threads. I find it amusing that all these social media platforms keep going back to looking at forums for inspiration. It's almost like forums are still the best at being forums right? 🤣

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/04/bluesky-twitter-rival-reddit-social-media.html

Anyone here have experience with linux phones? I know there are a few different OSs for phones like Sailfish and Ubuntu touch.

One linux phone I've been interested in is the Pinephone Pro. It's not highly powered or anything but it has a removable battery and hardware killswitches behind the cover.

https://pine64.org/devices/pinephone_pro/

I've also liked the look of the Librem 5 by Purism. It's vastly underpowered by many modern phones but it has physical kill switches right on the side and uses their own PureOS. I've heard it can take FOREVER to get your phone though.

https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/

Also the Jolla Phone.

https://commerce.jolla.com/products/jolla-phone-sep-ii-2026