There's no doubt there are a great variety of Linux packages in use.
Recently I did a CD install of Debian 12 (Bookworm) desktop with Gnome, which loads a bunch of stuff over the Net. Here are extra packages that I installed manually. The first set is used by and with an automated configuration script that I wrote, so they have to come in to begin with.
| Title | Description | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| info | Gnu info processor | "Config" |
| curl | Command line tool for transferring data with URL syntax | "Config" |
| dbus-x11 | Simple interprocess messaging system (X11 deps) | "Config" |
| emacs | Editor | "Config" |
| gconf2 | GNOME configuration database system (support tools) | "Config" |
| mc | Midnight Commander - a powerful file manager | "Config" |
| python3-iniparse | Access and modify configuration data in INI files | "Config" |
| python-lxml-doc | Python XML documentation | "Config" |
| python3-lxml | Pythonic binding for the libxml2 and libxslt libraries | "Config" |
| sakura | Simple but powerful libvte-based terminal emulator | "Config" |
| Title | Description | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| "apcupsd" | "APC UPS Power Management" | "Monitor" |
| "artha" | "Handy off-line thesaurus based on WordNet" | "Utils" |
| "backintime" | "Simple backup/snapshot system" | "Utils" |
| "brasero" | "CD/DVD burning application for GNOME" | "Utils" |
| "bwm-ng" | "Small and simple console-based bandwidth monitor" | "Monitor" |
| "ccze" | "Robust, modular log coloriser" | "Utils" |
| "certbot" | "Automatically configure HTTPS using Let's Encrypt " | "Utils" |
| "claws-mail-dillo-viewer" | "HTML viewer plugin for Claws Mail using Dillo" | "Mail" |
| "claws-mail-feeds-reader" | "Feeds (RSS/atom) reader plugin for claws mail" | "Mail" |
| "claws-mail-plugins" | "Claws mail" | "Mail" |
| "claws-mail-spam-report" | "Spam reporting plugin for claws mail" | "Mail" |
| "cmake" | "Cross-platform, open-source make system" | "Retroshare" |
| "conky-all" | "Highly configurable system monitor" | "Monitor" |
| "copyq" | "Advanced clipboard manager with editing and scripting features" | "Utils" |
| "cups" | "Common UNIX Printing System(tm) - PPD/driver support, web interface " | "Utils" |
| "dcraw" | "Decode raw digital camera images" | "Photo" |
| "devilspie" | "Automatically resize windows" | "Utils" |
| "dict" | "Dictionary client/server and a selection of dictionaries, too" | "Utils" |
| "dictd" | "Dictionary server" | "Utils" |
| "diction" | "Utilities to help with style and diction" | "Utils" |
| "exiv2" | "EXIF/IPTC photo metadata manipulation tool" | "Photo" |
| "festival" | "General multi-lingual speech synthesis system" | "Utils" |
| "ftp" | "Classical file transfer client" | "Utils" |
| "gedit" | "Popular text editor for the GNOME desktop environment" | "Editor" |
| "gimp" | "GNU Image Manipulation Program" | "Photo" |
| "git" | "Fast, scalable, distributed revision control system" | "Utils" |
| "gnome-audio" | "Audio files for GNOME" | "Utils" |
| "gnome-extra-icons" | "Optional gnome icons" | "Utils" |
| "gnucash" | "Personal bookkeeping and finance" | "App" |
| "golang" | "Go programming language compiler" | "yamn" |
| "hplip" | "HP Linux Printing and Imaging System (HPLIP)" | "Utils" |
| "hplip-gui" | "HP Linux Printing and Imaging - GUI utilities (Qt-based)" | "Utils" |
| "hugin" | "Panorama photo stitching program" | "Photo" |
| "imagemagick" | "Image manipulation programs" | "Photo" |
| "libbz2-dev" | "High-quality block-sorting file compressor library" | "Retroshare" |
| "libcurl4-openssl-dev" | "Development files and documentation for libcurl (OpenSSL flavour)" | "Retroshare" |
| "libglib2.0-dev" | "Development files for the GLib library" | "Retroshare" |
| "libjpeg-turbo-progs" | "Programs for manipulating JPEG files including loss-less rotation" | "Photo" |
| "libmicrohttpd-dev" | "Library embedding HTTP server functionality" | "Retroshare" |
| "libopencv-dev" | "computer vision core library" | "Retroshare" |
| "libqt5opengl5-dev" | "Qt 5 OpenGL library development files" | "Retroshare" |
| "libqt5multimedia5" | "Qt 5 Multimedia module" | "Retroshare" |
| "libqt5network5" | "Qt 5 network module" | "Retroshare" |
| "libqt5x11extras5-dev" | "Qt 5 X11 extras" | "Retroshare" |
| "libreoffice-base" | "Database component for LibreOffice" | "Utils" |
| "librsvg2-bin" | "Command-line and graphical viewers for SVG files" | "Photo" |
| "libsqlcipher-dev" | "Sqlcipher shared library" | "Retroshare" |
| "libssl-dev" | "Secure Sockets Layer toolkit - development files" | "Retroshare" |
| "libspeex-dev" | "The Speex codec library" | "Retroshare" |
| "libspeexdsp-dev" | "The Speex extended library" | "Retroshare" |
| "libupnp-dev" | "Portable SDK for UPnP devices" | "Retroshare" |
| "libxslt1-dev" | "XSLT 1.0 processing library" | "Retroshare" |
| "libxss-dev" | "X11 Screen Saver extension library (development headers)" | "Retroshare" |
| "lm-sensors" | "Utilities to read temperature/voltage/fan sensors" | "Monitor" |
| "mosquitto" | "MQTT version 5.0/3.1.1/3.1 compatible message broker" | "Home Automation" |
| "mosquitto-clients" | "Mosquitto command line MQTT clients" | "Home Automation" |
| "net-tools" | "NET-3 networking toolkit" | "Utils" |
| "numlockx" | "Enable numlock in X11 sessions" | "Unknown" |
| "openhab-addons" | "OpenHAB Home Automation" | "Home Automation" |
| "otpclient" | "Simple GTK+ software to generate OTPs (TOTP and HOTP)" | "Utils" |
| "pandoc" | "General markup converter" | "Utils" |
| "pcmanfm" | "Extremely fast and lightweight file manager" | "Utils" |
| "python-is-python3" | "Symlinks /usr/bin/python to python3" | "Devel" |
| "python3-babel" | "Tools for internationalizing Python applications - Python 3.x" | "Devel" |
| "python3-calmjs" | "Node.js Python framework for building toolchains and utilities" | "Devel" |
| "python3-cheetah" | "Text-based template engine and Python code generator (Python 3)" | "WeeWX" |
| "python3-configobj" | "Simple but powerful config file reader and writer for Python 3" | "WeeWX" |
| "python3-dateparser" | "Python parser for human readable dates" | "Devel" |
| "python3-doc" | "Python documentation" | "Devel" |
| "python3-ephem" | "Compute positions of the planets and stars with Python 3" | "WeeWX" |
| "python3-nltk" | "Natural language processing" | "Utils" |
| "python3-pycryptodome" | "Cryptographic Python library" | "eoas" |
| "python3-pyqt5" | "Python 3 bindings for Qt5" | "Devel" |
| "python3-pyqt5.qtmultimedia" | "Python 3 bindings for Qt5's Multimedia module" | "Devel" |
| "python3-serial" | "pyserial - module encapsulating access for the serial port " | "WeeWX" |
| "python3-setuptools" | "Python distutils enhancements (setuptools compatibility)" | "Devel" |
| "python3-tz" | "The Olson timezone database" | "Utils" |
| "python3-usb" | "USB interface for Python (Python3)" | "WeeWX" |
| "python3-venv" | "Venv module for python3" | "WeeWX" |
| "python3-vobject" | "Parse iCalendar and VCards in python" | "Android" |
| "python3-xdg" | "Freedesktop.org standards" | "Tonto2" |
| "qgit" | "Qt application for viewing GIT trees" | "Utils" |
| "qrencode" | "QR code encoder into PNG image" | "Photo" |
| "qtcreator" | "Integrated development environment (IDE) for Qt" | "Retroshare" |
| "qtmultimedia5-dev" | "APIs for multimedia functionality" | "RetroShare" |
| "qtox" | "Tox client" | "Retroshare" |
| "qttools5-dev" | "Qt 5 tools development files" | "Retroshare" |
| "rapidjson-dev" | "Fast JSON parser/generator for C++ with SAX/DOM style API" | "Retroshare" |
| "rblcheck" | "Query real-time black list (RBL) servers" | "Mail" |
| "retroshare-gui" | "Secure communication with friends" | "Retroshare" |
| "rsync" | "Fast, versatile, remote (and local) file-copying tool" | "Utils" |
| "sane" | "Scanner graphical frontends" | "Photo" |
| "sqlite3" | "Command line interface for SQLite 3" | "Firefox Devel" |
| "sqlitebrowser" | "GUI editor for sqlite databases" | "Unknown" |
| "ssh" | "Secure shell client and server (metapackage)" | "Utils" |
| "tcl8.6-dev" | "Tcl (the Tool Command Language) v8.6" | "Retroshare" |
| "tesseract-ocr" | "Command line OCR tool" | "Unknown" |
| "timeshift" | "System restore utility" | "Utils" |
| "torsocks" | "Use socks-friendly applications with Tor" | "QTox" |
| "trash-cli" | "Freedesktop.org trash implementation" | "Utils" |
| "tree" | "Displays an indented directory tree, in color" | "Utils" |
| "ttf-bitstream-vera" | "Bitstream Vera family of free Truetype fonts" | "Utils" |
| "whois" | "Intelligent WHOIS client" | "is_tout.py" |
| "xsane" | "Graphical frontend for Scanner Access Now Easy (SANE)" | "Photo" |
| "zbar-tools" | "Bar Code Scanner and Decoder" | "Photo" |
| "zip" | "Archiver for .zip files" | "Utils" |
Here are third-party packages I admire. These are not available in Debian repositories although some provide Debian-compatible repositories of their own.
Tor Browser Bundle: Anonymizing Network Browser
This is available from https://dist.torproject.org/torbrowser/ as a tarball. This should be unpacked and the whole tor-browser_en-US directory moved to the ~user folder. This is so that the browser can auto-update at user authority as the need arises.
RetroShare: Secure Communications with Friends
This has its own Debian-compatible repository.
metar: A Package to Parse METAR Coded Weather Reports
~/lab_pip/bin/activate
pip install metar --upgrade
weeWX: Open source software for backyard weather stations.
From http://weewx.com/docs/debian.htm. Although a Debian package exists, doing any development practically requires that all the code be in user-space, so don't install the package. Download it instead.
OpenHAB: Home Automation
This has its own Debian-compatible repository.
Ant: GTK3/4 Themes by eliverlara
From https://www.gnome-look.org/browse?cat=135&ord=latest.
This is for claws-mail. It provides better contrast.