How to bring all your chats into one with Ferdi
Are you tired of installing Slack, Discord, and many other productivity tools on your Linux system? Do you wish they could all be combined into one easy-to-use program? If so, you must check out Ferdi.
Ferdi is a helpful tool for Linux, Mac OS, and Windows. It consolidates programs like Slack, Discord, Twitter, Google Calendar, and many other apps. Here’s how to get Ferdi working on Linux.
Installing Ferdi on Linux
The Ferdi application must be installed on your computer before attempting to set it up. Thankfully, Ferdi supports a wide variety of Linux operating systems via downloadable packages, as well as Flatpak.
To start the installation, you must open up a terminal window. You can open up a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Or launch it by searching for “Terminal” in the app menu.
With the terminal window open and ready to use, the installation of Ferdi can begin. Using the instructions below, set up the app on your Linux system.
Ubuntu
On Ubuntu, you can get the Ferdi app working on your computer by downloading and installing the latest DEB package. To download the latest Ferdi DEB package for Ubuntu, run the wget command below.
wget https://github.com/getferdi/ferdi/releases/download/v5.7.0/ferdi_5.7.0_amd64.deb
After downloading the latest release of Ferdi to your Ubuntu computer, install it using the apt install command below.
sudo apt install ./ferdi_5.7.0_amd64.deb
Debian
If you use Debian, you’ll be able to install Ferdi as the Ubuntu DEB package is compatible. To get your hands on the Ferdi DEB package, run the following wget download command.
wget https://github.com/getferdi/ferdi/releases/download/v5.7.0/ferdi_5.7.0_amd64.deb
Once the DEB package is done downloading, install the Ferdi application on your Debian Linux PC using the dpkg command. Keep in mind during the installation; you may encounter errors. These can be fixed later.
sudo dpkg -i ferdi_5.7.0_amd64.deb
If you’ve run into errors installing the package, you can fix it with the apt-get install -f command.
sudo apt-get install -f
Arch Linux
If you use Arch Linux, you’ll need to install the Ferdi application through the Arch Linux User repository. Install both the “git” and “base-devel” packages on your system to start the installation process.
sudo pacman -S base-devel git
With the two packages set up, run the following commands to set up the Trizen AUR helper tool. This program will automate the installation of Ferdi, so you do not need to deal with manual installation.
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/trizen.git
cd trizen/
makepkg -sri
Install the Ferdi application on your computer with the Trizen AUR helper tool set up on your Arch Linux system.
trizen -S ferdi-bin
Fedora
To get Ferdi working on your Fedora Linux system, you can run the dnf install command below. There’s no need to download the Ferdi RPM package, as Fedora can install RPM packages directly from the internet.
sudo dnf install https://github.com/getferdi/ferdi/releases/download/v5.7.0/ferdi-5.7.0.x86_64.rpm
OpenSUSE
If you use OpenSUSE Linux, your best bet of getting Ferdi working on your computer is by following the Flatpak instructions.
Flatpak
To get Ferdi working via Flatpak, start by enabling the Flatpak runtime on your computer. Then, enter the two commands below to get Ferdi working.
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak install flathub com.getferdi.Ferdi
How to use Ferdi on Linux
To use Ferdi on Linux, open up the app. Then, follow the step-by-step instructions below.
Step 1: Find the “Create a free account” button inside of the Ferdi app and click on it. Then, create your account to use with the app. Alternatively, select the “Use Ferdi without an Account” button if you do not wish to create a new account.
Step 2: Once you’ve gotten past the account creation screen, you’ll see the Ferdi logo, as well as a “Get started” button. Select “Get started” inside of the app.
Step 3: Upon selecting the “Get started” button, Ferdi will display an “Available services” window. Look through the available services and choose the one you wish to add to Ferdi.
Step 4: After adding the first service to Ferdi, feel free to browse for other services. When you’ve added all the services you wish to add to the Ferdi application, click on the “X” button to close the services window.
Step 5: With services added to Ferdi, look to the sidebar on the left. Then, click on the icon for the service you wish to access in the app. After selecting the service, you will need to log in to it.
Once you’ve logged into the service, you will be able to access it any time Ferdi is loaded up. To remove the service, simply right-click on the icon in the sidebar, and select the “Delete service” option in the right-click menu.
