Linux

Maestral: An alternative app for syncing files with Dropbox

Maestral logo: white outline of a wing against a dark green background.

Remember when Dropbox was a small, snap app only used to sync and store files in the cloud? Good times… Today, it’s a heavy monster packed with corporate features. Perhaps it was necessary, for business reasons, to transform it into this… thing, but that doesn’t comfort those who just want to sync files and keep them in the cloud.

Maestral is an alternative client for Dropbox, open-source, written in Python, and that promises to be lightweight. According to the official website, “it provides powerful command line tools, supports gitignore patterns to exclude local files from syncing and allows syncing multiple Dropbox accounts.” Sounds promising!

For those in the know, in addition to the command line, Maestral offers apps with native GUI (Cocoa on macOS, Qt on Linux). This allowed its developers to create an app that is about 90% smaller than the official one and demands, on average, 80% less device memory. (However, this last figure can vary significantly depending on the size of your Dropbox folder.)

Two important warnings for anyone considering giving Maestral a try:

  • Advanced Dropbox features — namely: Paper, team management, and shared folder/directory settings — are not supported.
  • Maestral uses the public Dropbox API, which does not support partial file transfers (“binary diff”). This results in a more intensive data usage.

And, of course, keep in mind that it’s an unofficial app.

macOS users can download an app bundle that includes the Maestral graphical user interface (GUI). For Linux, there are two less user-friendly options: via PyPI (GUI optional) and Docker image (command line only). All the information can be found on this page.

End of 10: Replace Windows 10 with a Linux distro

Support for Windows 10 will end on October 14th, 2025, just a few months away. A group involved with Linux distros has launched the website End of 10 to assist those who want to switch from Windows to Linux, instead of following Microsoft’s guidance to discard a functional computer and buy a new one with Windows 11. End of 10 gathers instructions and information about locations and events where volunteers install a Linux distro on computers for those who are not familiar with the process.

End of 10
Switch from Windows 10 to Linux

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Firefox logo. Silhouette of a red panda wrapped in a blue circle.

Firefox 138, released this Tuesday (29th), introduces the long-awaited profile manager. The official documentation explains that “creating multiple profiles allows you to keep separate browsing data, themes or settings for different purposes, such as work and personal use.”

There are also new contrast options focused on accessibility, and in Windows 11, context menus now have that translucent (“acrylic”) look that is standard in the OS. Release notes and download.

MusicBrainz Picard identifies songs from *.mp3 files and automatically fixes metadata

Picard icon/logo.

In my first attempt to switch from streaming to move back to listening to *.mp3 files, one of the issues I encountered was organization: how to standardize the metadata of the songs?

The solution I was familiar with at the time — manually editing each song — was impractical. Who has time for that?

In my second (and this time, successful) attempt in 2024, I came across a free app that is almost too good to be true, MusicBrainz Picard (Linux, macOS, Windows).

(more…)

Fedora Linux 42

The stable version of Fedora Linux 42 is now available, featuring Gnome 48 in the Workstation edition and a new edition based on KDE Plasma (6.3.4), which has been promoted to the same status as Workstation in this cycle. Despite sharing the same status, the naming logic is different; the team is aware of the confusion and states that “we’ll get that figured out eventually.”

Anaconda, the Fedora installer, has received a significant update that makes the automatic disk partitioner smarter, adds the option to reinstall the system, and improves handling of dual boot. For now, it’s on by default only in Fedora Workstation (the edition with Gnome).

Oh, and a last-minute bug slipped through:

[…] just booting the Live media adds an unexpected entry to the UEFI boot loader even when Fedora Linux 42 is not installed to the local system.

The issue is purely cosmetic, but it’s good to be aware of it in advance. Here are the instructions on how to remove the entry.