What you need to know
- Popular terminal tool, Neofetch, used to quickly display system information (and look pretty snazzy doing it) is no more.
- The tool, which could be used on Linux as well as Windows and WSL, has seen its project archived on GitHub by its developer.
- There are already some great alternatives out there, though, including Fastfetch for Linux and WSL, or Winfetch for Windows.
If you've ever browsed the more Linux-y side of Reddit and indulged in a little gazing at folks showing off their beautiful desktop and terminal setups, you've likely seen Neofetch. It's been in plenty of screenshots of my own coverage of the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) here on the site, too.
Alas, poor Neofetch is no more. It'll still work if you have it, but as reported by It's FOSS, the project is no longer in active development and the GitHub repository has been archived. As have other repositories by the same developer, including that for my own personal favorite, pFetch, which was a lighter alternative to Neofetch.
Apparently its developer has taken up farming!
Many have argued for some time that there are better alternatives to Neofetch that are lighter and faster, while still doing the same job. Whichever side of that fence you're on, there's no denying the popularity of Neofetch, and it's always sad to see open source tools discontinued. This one got extra points for working on Windows as well as Linux.
But, where a door closes, another one always opens. Despite being archived, Neofetch could be forked by someone else who wants to have their own crack at it. But while popular, it wasn't the only tool of its kind, and those alternatives already exist.
For Linux and WSL users, there's Fastfetch, essentially a reproduction of Neofetch written in a different programming language and that's generally considered more performant than that upon which it's based.
For those on Windows, I recommend checking out the excellent Winfetch. This is written in PowerShell, and again, is faster than Neofetch. It does the same job, though, with some nice touches like being able to add your own artwork or use your system wallpaper.
Pour one out though for our fallen friend, and I wish the developer much success and happiness in their future endeavors.
