I am a big fan of Notepad++ in windows and I have been using Notepadqq, a linux clone. Lately though, I have been experiencing more and more crashes and bugs with it. Looking for advice and wisdom. Is there something better? Should I stick it out and try and troubleshoot my problems with Notepadqq?
Edit: Just wanted to thank everyone for all the great advice! I know people can sometimes be territorial and/or religious about their choices here, but people in this thread were helpful and informative, so thank you!
I am trying out Notepad Next but I also installed Notepad++ with Wine. Both seem promising, thanks.
If you want a GUI, Kate is my favorite. Otherwise Neovim
I have been using kate a bit and it has been a decent experience so far.
I get random crashes from kate in the last few versions (appimage). But other than that, it’s the best foss gui code editor.
If you want a gui editor maybe Kate?
Notepadqq not the best reimplementation of notepad++ I am using NotepadNext https://github.com/dail8859/NotepadNext
I have gotten a lot of great feedback to this post, but if I had to give points for the most spot-on answer, you would get it. Thanks!
VSCodium, or some similar VSCode build/derivative.
I know, I know, but the critical mass is just so useful. As a random example, there are specific extensions to support game modding in Paradox scripting language, or Rimworld XML. Nothing else has so many random niches filled.
It’s fast with big files (faster than anything I’ve tried other than ‘specialized’ log readers and such), it’s a fast search, it’s got good git support, it’s got support for sudo file editing…
Nothing else has so many random niches filled.
I don’t know the VSCode ecosystem at all – but you you know the emacs one?
Pretty much everyone at work is using VSCode, maybe this is a good opportunity to dive in, thanks.
Scite is the notepad++ replacement on Linux.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SciTE
As it shares the same source code as notepad++ (for the editing libraries)
Although the traditional recommendation is either Vim or Emacs as they are much more powerful
I prefer editing in the terminal, but when it comes to gui editors i’ve heard a lot of good things about kate and geany.
Try Zed.
If push comes to shove, you can still use Notepad++ under Wine. It works.
I use Kate for my editing needs, fast and good regexp work, which is important for me.
Neovim is the way and here’s imo why:
- Vim keybinds: yes, we take more time editing then actually writing text/code so it’s faster to use a modal text editor, you just have to learn it a bit at the start. Vim language is easy, you just tell it what you want it to do (ie. diw: delete inner word, ciw: change inner word etc.)
- highly customisable, even if you don’t want to cherry pick your plugins and choose a config, there are many out of the box configured (lazyvvim comes to mind but there are many)
- if you’re a developer you can find plugins for everything you need, debugger, lsp, autocompletion etc.
Why don’t you just use the one you like? Wine isn’t the clunky near-useless thing it once was, you can probably just run the Notepad++ installer and use it like any other app.
I see it is Platinum on WineHQ, will give that a try thanks.
https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=2983
The Solaris version of vi, hardened against escape to shell and with no quality of life improvements. Builds character.
I also recommend giving up electricity and motor vehicles, real men calculate subnet masks by hand.
Notepadqq has given me crashes and issues for years, and I once lost data. I use gedit for notes and fancy code editors for everything else
Sublime isn’t freeware but it also doesn’t seem to have any nags if you use it beyond 30 days. Up to your own software morals if you decide to pay the $99 for it or not but it is a rock solid editor and may be worth the money.
Vim!
If you really don’t want to then try kwrite for something more simple or kate for a full IDE. There both developed by kde and been around for a while.
Helix, Kakoune, build Codium from source would be my suggestions.
I use Helix now mainly - I use Codium if I need a graphical editor for something, or one of it’s plugins.
At work the systems use VSCode but I use the Dance plugin with Helix bindings to get some of that functionality back.
