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The Top 5 Choices for Screenshots on Linux (RIP, Neofetch)
The Top 5 Choices for Screenshots on Linux (RIP, Neofetch)
With the demise of Neofetch, what alternatives are there for elegant terminal screenshots?
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| The Top 5 Choices for Screenshots on Linux (RIP, Neofetch) |
After several years of idleness, the well-liked Linux screenshot application NeoFetch has finally been archived. If you want to showcase system information in your Linux desktop photo, what should you do? Are the alternatives any better? Let us investigate.
What Is Neofetch?
Neofetch is ostensibly a tool to gather system information on an operating system. It displays details like the Linux distribution, CPU, and the desktop environment or terminal emulator you’re using.
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| The Top 5 Choices for Screenshots on Linux (RIP, Neofetch) |
But the most popular feature is the display of the OS logo in ASCII art. This is what makes Neofetch so popular for making screenshots; ASCII art just looks cool.
What is Going on With the Project?
The creator of Neofetch declared on April 26, 2024, that they were archiving the project, making the code read-only, and stopping development. This comes after what seemed to be several years of dormancy on the project.
The developer also archived the Kiss Linux distro, which they maintained under the GitHub handle @dylanaraps. Dylanaraps appears to have completely abandoned software development, stating on their GitHub page that they had "taken up farming."
Anyone can take the current code and fork it to continue development because it is open source. Already, at least one coder has made the announcement on Hacker News.
Numerous open-source projects, such as Neofetch, are sometimes developed by one or two-person teams at no cost to the user. Burnout in developers may result from this. It is even caused security issues to appear out of nowhere.
If Neofetch is already installed on your Linux machine, there is no need to look for another one right now. If you use one of these distributions, you are probably running an older version of the program anyhow, since regular-release distros typically lag behind the upstream software's current development status.
Although there are alternatives, your distribution repository probably will not contain any forks or more recent replacements for a while. You might even need to compile them from the source if you really want to install them manually.
Neofetch might stop recognizing more recent distributions with time, posing a security concern. This should not be a problem if you choose a widely used distribution like Ubuntu. The maintainers of your distribution will probably decide what to do with the Neofetch package.
Where Am I Going to Find Neofetch's Replacement?
Neofetch can be substituted with several different programs.
1. Fastfetch
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| The Top 5 Choices for Screenshots on Linux (RIP, Neofetch) |
This appears to be the most promising substitute for Neofetch if you use it for taking screenshots.
2. hwinfo
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| The Top 5 Choices for Screenshots on Linux (RIP, Neofetch) |
If you use Neofetch to get hardware information, this is a helpful tool. The material may be more than what most casual users will require because it is so sophisticated and thorough. However, you can use it to debug your Linux system.
3. cpufetch
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| The Top 5 Choices for Screenshots on Linux (RIP, Neofetch) |
While cpufetch shows the logo of your CPU maker rather than the distribution logo, it functions similarly to Neofetch.
4. ramfetch
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| The Top 5 Choices for Screenshots on Linux (RIP, Neofetch) |
Similar in concept to cpufetch, but using information from your RAM rather than the processor, is ramfetch. Even a RAM stick with ASCII art arrives in your terminal. What about that is not it wonderful?
5. Onefetch
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| The Top 5 Choices for Screenshots on Linux (RIP, Neofetch) |
Another variation on Neofetch is called Onefetch, and it uses information from Git repositories rather than operating systems. Developers will find this more useful than average users.
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