# 15 A few (free) softwares

I tried a few software on GNU/Linux or Android during the last month.

## NovelWriter

It's a writing software to ....write a novel. It gives you a structure and uses markdown. You open a project and the software writes the tree for your files. All you have to do is add chapters etc... You can use it to store notes on your characters and places. It has writing statistics and spell checking like LibreOffice or MSWord. But it's made to produce a novel, not a single text, like Scrivener, for example. If I compare to Zettlr, it's more novel-oriented and less notes-oriented for me. It's more powerful if you want to do an epub or other common exports to create an ebook. I haven't kept it because I don't need to. The novel I'm writing (and maybe end in several months) is in standby and I don't want to write again all the notes I have in a document or a notebook. I think that every author has his way to write and that's one way. It seems a good product for that with .deb or appimage versions and GPL license if you are in this is your way of doing.

## Fito Track

In the vast world of sport trackers, private data does not have many friends. Fito Track is perhaps the best to guarantee privacy during your walking / running / cycling activities. It's an open source and free software (GPL 3.0) with the possibility of using GPX files. You can edit your workouts, the types of workouts, and the app is able to do an automatic stop for a long time of inactivity. I didn't test BLE sensors for heartrate because I don't have any. The GUI is user friendly and it uses maps from OpenStreetMap, like MagicEarth does. That's just what I need when I want to track a walk I did and sometimes to export it to use it in GPX. The app has improved a lot during the last 3 years....It's only 4 years old on Codeberg. So you can now forget Strava and Runkeeper, if you prefer to keep your data with you and not on a cloud you don't know.

## Flowbird

It's a french app for parking management in french cities and maybe more (Switzerland, Belgium and wester Germany)...I had to use it because I went to cities which chose to use only one app. I also have PayByPhone which operates in North America and Europe. That's not very different and I siometimes have troubles with PbP. So I'll see with Flowbird which seems OK to keep records and data. Because once in Paris, I had to prove that I had paid a car park fee in a street. During the time I was paying, a car with automatic parking control has passed by and sent a parking penalty a few days after. It was not easy to prove it with that damned french administration but it was canceled as I had a proof with the app. Imagine if it was just a paper...That's digital life in France and I guess in othe countries. Why do I use an app and not only a parking meter with my debit card ? Use once one of this french parking meters and you'll have time to take a tea or coffee during the procedure, as it is so slowly and boring. 
If you are visiting France and using a car, think about those apps. But it's not a free software of course, for your data. 

## Xabber

It's an Android client for XMPP/Jabber protocol. I know this protocol for instant messaging is no longer fashionable but it works fine and with many servers. I tried also Conversations but I found it slow compared to Xabber, and with lack of functions I have in Pidgin, for example for my desktop app. I'm not a great user of IM in real life. Sometimes at work with that damned MSTeams but I like XMPP. I used it a few years ago but lost my contacts. Xabber seems quick and not to heavy in memory and bandwidth for me.  

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