Changing Views

The way bauh works can be explained in just a few words. In the top right-hand corner, the program displays buttons that change to reflect the current view. These are labeled Installed, Proposals, Renew, and Upgrade. The latter only appears if the view contains installed applications or runtime environments.

Depending on the view, the filters on the left also change. For example, if you look at the applications installed on the system, you will find the fields Updates and Apps and the selection lists Type and Category. There is also the possibility to filter apps by name.

Filters

You can check the Apps box to decide whether only applications appear or if runtime environments with the libraries also appear. If you check Updates, you will also want to check out the view without the Apps box selected. This will keep you informed about updates to libraries.

The view with the installed packages offers you options for uninstalling applications and launching programs. You can also request information (Figure 3) and update the corresponding packages or restore an old version. Use the search bar at the top to find applications in the supported formats. The default view (Figure 4) provides you with photos of the application (if available) via the camera icon prior to installation.

Figure 3: Pressing the blue info button tells bauh to display information about installed or suggested apps.

Figure 4: Click on the violet colored camera icon to see screenshots of the selected app.

Web Apps

On top of all this, bauh also supports the installation of native web apps when you type the matching URL or service name in the search bar (Figure 5). For example, if you prefer the web-based Evernote cloud notebook instead of native Linux alternatives, you'll find it here.

Figure 5: If the requirements for web apps are met, bauh also integrates Internet services into the system, such as Facebook, Instagram, Slack, or Gmail.

Enter Evernote's name or URL [7] in the search field or click on the appropriate Install button in the suggestions. Then specify a number of options and say yes to the required dependencies to get started (Figure 6). The search results often include alternative suggestions for less well-known apps with similar functionality (Figure 7).

Figure 6: Instead of calling Evernote via a URL in the browser, you can now launch the notepad directly from bauh or via the desktop.

Figure 7: The search function not only returns hits for the current search, but also suitable alternatives to the searched term.