Linux Have-To-Have Programs

[Pooky]

What programs are essential for use with Linux to have the best experience?

 

[Rocket-Boy]

Umm, depends on what you are wanting to do with it.
there are hundereds of admin tools etc.
If you are going to run it as a desktop OS then the usual firefox, star office, thunderbird mail client.
Umm gaim is good for msn,irc,yahoo messenger.
If you want to run some windows stuff then wine helps and you can get most things to run under it.

 

[PostmanPot]

Have a look at www.ubuntuforums.org .

 

[Pooky]

What about a music player. I find windows too slow, so I basically want linux because it looks nice. I will use windows for games... but I want linux for everything else.

 

[PostmanPot]

Amarok

 

[koffiejunkie]

Amarok, for sure.

Pooky, what sort of stuff do you want to do?

At work my desktop runs Linux (Debian) and I have a wonderful experience working with it. But then, my work only involves running a terminal and a browser for the ticketing/crm system.

OK, that's not entirely true, but those are the two applications I cannot live without and do 95% of my work in. Here's what I use:

Firefox with some plugins that help me with various things
****act for mail/calendar - don't really like it but it works with Exchange
Konsole - my favourite terminal
Pidgin for IM. Used to be called Gaim
OpenOffice for the odd spreadsheet I have to read
Skype - more IM
Kwrite for notepad purposes
Amarok for tunes in the background on a quiet day
K3B for writing the odd disc
MPlayer for watching those video clips people keep forwarding.

Oh and as you might have guessed, I run a KDE desktop. I really don't understand how it is possible to spend a whole day working in Gnome without tearing your hair out. It's almost as frustrating as Windows (as in the desktop environment, not the OS).

 

[Pooky]

Thanks koffiejunkie. Still trying to figure out linux it's really hard. I'm using Kubuntu.

 

[PostmanPot]

Thanks koffiejunkie. Still trying to figure out linux it's really hard. I'm using Kubuntu.

Yeah it does take some getting used to! Lots of help topics though - use it

 

[w1z4rd]

Umm, depends on what you are wanting to do with it.
there are hundereds of admin tools etc.
If you are going to run it as a desktop OS then the usual firefox, star office, thunderbird mail client.
Umm gaim is good for msn,irc,yahoo messenger.
If you want to run some windows stuff then wine helps and you can get most things to run under it.

Do you recon gaim (pidgin) is better than Kopete? I kinda like Kopete more....

Pooky, install compiz-fusion for the ultimate desktop experience. Check through this forum or the ubuntuforums for how to install it.

 

[Pooky]

Thanks guys Linux is WAY too difficult for me..... I run into so many problems all the time.

 

[koffiejunkie]

Pooky, what are you struggling with?

Linux is "difficult" because it's not what you expect it to be - it's a learning curve but well worth it.

 

[milomak]

I'll go by those that I can see on my dock:

TV Player - xdtv
Browser - Firefox / testing Opera 9.5beta now that it can play emdedded videos)
E-Mail - Thunderbird
Music - Amarok
Video - Xine
Convert files to DVD - DeVeDe
P2P - Frostwire
DVD/CD Burner - k3b

I also have:
Video Editor - Lives
DVD Ripper - k9copy

My Fedora 8 desktop running xfce with avant-window-navigator and a Mac theme

 

[spacebar]

NZB app for Ubuntu

What apps are available for nzb downloading? I've installed nzb v0.1.7 (See http://nzb.sf.net/) via the gui apt-get interface.

However, this app still needs a lot of work:
1. It ('disappears' (crash) quietly
2. It gives you no feedback regarding connecting to the newsserver, so sometimes it will just sit there 'connecting'

Oh, and I use Gnome

 

[PostmanPot]

Thanks guys Linux is WAY too difficult for me..... I run into so many problems all the time.

Have patience. Use the Help topics and read around on ubuntuforums.org in the "Absolute Beginner Talk" sup-forum. So much beginner info there!

 

[PostmanPot]

My Fedora 8 desktop running xfce with avant-window-navigator and a Mac theme

Looks good

 

[stepper]

Pooky, install compiz-fusion for the ultimate desktop experience. Check through this forum or the ubuntuforums for how to install it.

Shouldn't he be getting all the apps he wants installed first and then move to eyecandy?

Pooky what do u use your PC for? Or what are you looking to do with your linux PC?

Maybe try to list the applications you need or use in Windows and we can try showing you the linux equivalents.

 

[Pooky]

I want to use my PC for gaming, so I have to use windows, but I don't like windows cause it's slow. I want a Desktop that looks very nice, that is very noob friendly. I need to play music check email, browse internet, watch dvds, watch various other multimedia formats eg flash, I need a program like this: http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html as well I use photoshop or paint shop pro, but only for things like resizing etc. I use iTunes and I really like that. I use uTorrent and Limewire. I need something like Nero as well

 

[stepper]

For gaming look at this site: Ubuntu Games and Ubuntu Gaming Information
For most games you'll have to get Cedega or Wine installed and there is no guarantee every game will work.

Pretty desktop, w1z4rd will guide to that as he uses KDE (Kubuntu) like you, I'm a GNOME user.

Firefox, Konqueror for internet browsing, Thundebird to check emails.
Amarok is a nice music player with many features, Audacious is Winamp like player. Kaffeine and Mplayer for watching DVDs.

Get started

Also have a look at this site for linux equivalents

 

[Pooky]

Cool thanks alot for your help

 

[koffiejunkie]

I want a Desktop that looks very nice, that is very noob friendly.

As far as I'm concerned KDE is pretty straight forward to use.

I need to play music

There are heaps to choose from. Amarok is my favourite.

check email,

There are plenty of mail clients for linux. Thunderbird is probably best known, but there are more. Evolution is closer to the way Outlook works, then there's Kmail, Sylpheed, Balsa and more.

browse internet,

Firefox comes with Kubuntu, Opera is available and if you have to run IE, google for ies4linux. In fact, this page is probably just what you're looking for.

watch dvds

xine

multimedia formats eg flash,

In Debian (I assume in Kubuntu too) the package is called 'flashplugin-nonfree'

I need a program like this: http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

I learned to use MPlayer's mencoder - commandline utility - long ago and just stuck with it, but I'm sure there are similar things. You can probably run Super in wine too. I used to run DVDShrink like that - worked well.

as well I use photoshop or paint shop pro, but only for things like resizing etc.

Have a look at Gimp. The nice thing is you can get to know it on Windows, since it's available for Windows.

I use iTunes and I really like that.

There are a few things that are similar to iTunes. Amarok is the one I know best, but there are more. Rhythmbox is one.

I use uTorrent and Limewire.

There's not uTorrent but there is Azureus. Limewire is available for linux too from their website.

I need something like Nero as well

K3B - comes with KDE