Wake-on-LAN (abbreviated WoL or WOL) is one of those cool technologies that brings a lot of convenience, hence, it's not surprising that it's something that it's what could be called an industry-standard.

It's the perfect technology for users who need to start or wake up computers remotely, and it also goes perfectly hand in hand with apps that rely on remote access and remote control (such as VNC,  TeamViewer, Remmina, GNOME Connections, RustDesk, X2Go, and so forth).

WoL relies on something called a "magic packet" (which includes the network card MAC of various devices). This means that it's a relatively simple technology, and so is Awake on LAN, a Linux-only app that uses it.

Awake on LAN is a free and open-source app that does exactly what it's name says - it allows users to wake up computers remotely using the aforementioned magic packets.

Awake on LAN is a very straightforward app, which makes it perfect for beginners or day-to-day users. The app features a Libadwaita/GTK GUI to incorporate the WoL technology, which means it's mostly designed for GNOME-based systems.

The GUI is not what one might call impressive, but it does allow anyone interested to keep track of computers. Users are provided with various "editing" options when it comes to the entries, including adding, removing, and editing the MAC addresses (including the ports).

By now, it should be quite clear that Awake on LAN is one of those no-frills apps that just works, and I have no problems with that since the whole WoL concept is a fairly simple one. Sure, I would have loved a bit more integration with GNOME, and possibly a bit more modern GUI, but at the end of the day, it's a simple free and open-source app that works exactly as intended. Once the settings are done properly, anyone can wake up computers remotely with a single click.