Linux PC Software In Use

Linux PC Software In Use

This lists the Linux PC software I use by application title.

Product	Version	Last Visit	Cost	OS
Audacity (used with any MIDI player)		11/Nov/03	Free	Windows & Linux
Audacity is cross-platform and free and can be downloaded from SourceForge. Uses LAME for recording MP3. Also use Audacity for general waveform editing, it will even take some VST plugins. sndrec32.exe (comes with all versions of Windows) can also be used but it only seems to record a maximum of 60 seconds. In either case, use the "Volume" applet and change to recording settings and select "Stereo Out" as the sound source. Sound recorder will then record anything being played by the speakers.
EasyPHP	1.7		Free	Windows (Individual apps also Linux)
Combination of Apache web server, mySQL database and PHP for Microsoft Windows. Used as the development platform for my web site. Apache 1.3.27, PHP 4.3.3, PHPmyAdmin 2.5.3, mySQL 4.0.15 NOTE: Most distributions of Linux come with these three applications ready for installation, EasyPHP is simply an easy way of managing the installation and operation under Windows.
FreeMind	0.7.1	30/Mar/04	Free	Windows & Linux (Java Based)
A nice little mindmapping tool which does all of the basics though it is still a little unpolished. It would be nice to have a Palm version too but better mindmapping tools are very expensive (USD60+). The data is stored in XML so it is possible to write tools to transfer and manipulate it (e.g. with ShadowPlan which I have done). There is a support forum on Sourceforge
ImageMagick	6.0.3	16/Jul/04	Free	Windows & Linux (Plus others from source code)
For raw power and "batchability" this is hard to beat. Also supports a great many image types. See here for some additional examples of use. Here for a load in additional information. And here for a useful tutorial.
Inkscape	0.3.7	20/Feb/04	Free	Linux & Windows
Inkscape is a fork of the (also free) application, Sodipodi. Simple but nice SVG vector graphics editor which is shaping up to be a powerful tool. Gives an outline, text based view of the picture as well as a graphical view making it very good for learning about SVG.
There is a tiny SVG editor called EVE which may be worth a look.
LAME		11/Nov/03	Free	Windows & Linux
LAME is available for several platforms including Windows. The basic application is command line only but various tools use the libraries and "Wav2MP3 Wizard" (on SourceForge) is a Windows GUI frontend for LAME. LAME is easy to use once you understand the basics of MP3 formats (there are good help files) and produces excellent quality.
Mozilla Firefox	0.9.2	16/Jul/04	Free	Windows & Linux
Fast, highly configurable open-source browser - now my default browser. Free at last from many of the security problems caused by Internet Explorer! I only use IE when I really have to now. Note the name change (again) from Firebird to Firefox.
Firefox and Mozilla Browser share pretty much the same code now - however, I prefer the interface on Firefox.
Mozilla Thunderbird	0.7.2	16/Jul/04	Free	Windows & Linux & Mac & Others
Excellent, free mail and news client. Supports multiple personalities, multiple accounts, POP3, IMAP4, NNTP. Still has one or two bugs being only at version 0.6 but is perfectly useable. Good replacement for Microsoft Outlook Express and one of the few packages worth considering as a replacement for Turnpike's multiple personality support. Support can be found in the forums.
Thunderbird and Mozilla Mail are now pretty much the same application though I prefer the interface on Thunderbird.
OpenOffice.org	1.1.2	16/Jul/04	Free	Windows & Linux
THE office application for those not wanting to give loads of money to Microsoft. It is generally said to be comparable to Office 97; however it does have some more features and indeed some features that Microsoft Office still doesn't have. I use it when MS Office lets me down (largely because I have to use MS Office for work) but it is more than adequate for most people for all general use, no need to spend a fortune. Supports MS Office formats pretty well too. Check out the macro for creating extended PDF files. Also see this comparison of OOo and MS Word ways of working.
Plucker	1.6.1	01/Dec/03	Free	Palm, Windows, Linux(?)
Used to view websites offline. This has now replaced iSilo since the JPluckX desktop tool has been released. This is far easier to use than the old Plucker desktop (which required Python to be installed - or was it Perl?). It can also convert RSS news feeds. It also includes a Palm tool which captures links saved from within Plucker and converts them on the next hotsync.
RedHat Linux	9.0	01/Sep/03	UKP9	Linux
RedHat 9 is the first version of Linux that I've tried that comes anywhere close to a replacement for Windows on the desktop (it is an obvious and cost effective replacement for many server requirements). However, it is still not that easy to use and you will need lots of patience and some skill to get everything to work unless you are really lucky. Default desktop is Gnome rather than the seemingly more developed KDE.
SUSE 9.0: Has more facilities "out of the box" like media and NTFS but seems slightly less stable (there never used to be a usable free version though I believe this is no longer the case).
ShadowPlan	3.0		$22.99 (Palm/desktop)	Windows & Linux & Palm
Used to maintain all sorts of lists from Books and videos through shopping lists to To-Do lists for managing projects. Main application for this is on the Palm, the two applications automatically synchronise. Can link tasks with the Palm To-Do app. On the desktop, the data is stored in XML format so it should be possible to write tools to swap and manipulate it (e.g. integration with FreeMind). Has a very responsive developer and support discussion group.
Bonsai, ThoughtManager, LifeBalance, BrainForest. Bonsai is probably the closest, it is more expensive (to maintain as well as to buy), has a better desktop (as of June/2004) but is nowhere near as feature rich on the handheld.
SUSE Linux	9.0		Limited free versions available	Linux
Arguably easier to set up than RedHat 9.0, it certainly requires less work to integrate with Windows (especially NTFS). Multimedia works out of the box. However, it is not as stable as RedHat.
SWORD	1.5.6 (Windows version)	16/Jul/04	Free (Some bible modules have a cost)	Windows, Linux, Mac
Superb free bible study software. The main version is for Windows but there are companion projects for Linux and Mac. There are many "modules" containing lots of different Bible versions, comentaries and dictionaries.
There is commercial software as good but I'm not sure that there is anything better.
The GIMP	2.0.2	15/Jul/04	Free	Windows & Linux
Great graphics/image processing application. Though not quite as powerful or easy to use as Adobe, it doesn't cost UKP500! More than powerful for most use and not too tricky to use. Also get the LZW compression library (available separately due to license issues) so that GIMP can save GIF files.
Vuescan	8.01	21/May/04		Windows & Linux & Mac
Gives full control over the scanning process and allows much higher quality scans than vendor supplied software. Mainly used for film scanners but now also supports many flatbed scanners too. Purchasing a license gives you perpetual access to updates and the license code works with VuePrint as well. Support can be found at the comp.periphs.scanners newsgroup
XV				Linux
Has some very powerful picture manipulation facilities though they are not the friendliest to use.

I also have a list of software that I do not use (because I personally find it not worth the money or effort).