What Apps do you use?

[ixoye777]

I am new to Kubuntu and Linux. I love the Adept Package manager, makes it so easy to instal apps. My problem though is there are soooo many of them in there that are available to instal. Just curious what are some of the most common apps people use?

[DeathKitten]

Re: What Apps do you use?

Some of the first things I install on a fresh installation are:

• GAIM (will change to Pidgin whenever the repositories get with the times, meh)
• Firefox
• amarok
• mplayer (may be going with VLC from now on after some codec troubles on mplayer)
• various silly time wasting games:
  • KMahjongg
  • patience
  • x nethack
• GIMP
• emacs
• kcalc
• kcharselect

There are probably more, and I'm don't remember if Firefox is in the default installs at this point or not, but I do remember having to install it when I first switched to kubuntu.

[penguin.ch]

Re: What Apps do you use?

# sux, ntp (old habits die hard)
# Synaptic (to replace Adept)
# Nano, Bluefish (for scripting)
# Firefox, Thunderbird; Tellico
# Ktorrent, gFTP; BOINC / SETI ;-)
# VMware (in my case: Workstation)

[padlan]

Re: What Apps do you use?

Jpilot (substitute for Palm Pilot Desktop) - Opera (Web Browser & Mail Client combined) - Klamav (anti-virus app) - WINE (I use it to install ISilo to read Isilo docs on my computer) - Streamtuner & Streamripper for streaming radio.

[DeathKitten]

Re: What Apps do you use?

# sux, ntp (old habits die hard)
# Synaptic (to replace Adept)
# Nano, Bluefish (for scripting)
# Firefox, Thunderbird; Tellico
# Ktorrent, gFTP; BOINC / SETI ;-)
# VMware (in my case: Workstation)

I was at your website last night, and I clicked the bluefish button you had, so I installed it because I'm curious. I haven't had the chance to play with it yet though. Why do you like it?

[fleamailman]

Re: What Apps do you use?

Ok, I am hooked on Battle for westnod, great game in my view

[ixoye777]

Re: What Apps do you use?

Right on guys thanks for the feedback thusfar. I have been a Windows user for years now and Linux is still new to me but so far I am very impressed.

Kubuntu was a snap to install and everything worked perfectly for me out of the box. My pc runs roughly 20% faster now then when I ws using XP.

A couple software related questions for you:

1. Do I need an antivirus app? Using XP I wouldn't dare not having one running. I really only use my pc for email (I get no spam and only recieve email from a few people), browsing a dozen trusted websites, listen to music and watch the occasional DVD.

2. In XP I used Sygate Personal Firewall. I liked it because it was simple to use. I used it mainly to stop programs from accessing the net, i.e. Winamp. No need for it to phone home so a dialouge box would pop up asking me if I wanted to allow it or deny it. Is there a simple gui firewall that I can use that does the same thing?

[DeathKitten]

Re: What Apps do you use?

I've generally found no need for an anti-virus program, and I've been happily running Linux of some sort as my only OS for three years now. As long as you don't put in your password for Sudo commands unless you explicitly trust the source (either the person you were told to do this by is trusted, you know and trust the program, or you actually understand the command being executed) there is actually very little damage can be done to your system.

As for the firewalls, I don't have experience with them, but I've also found that programs don't typically become popular, available on the repositories and loved in the community if they don't respect your wishes on when they can or can not talk to the net, so you're not likely to need the firewall for that reason. However, I know there are a lot of other useful reasons to have a firewall, and I'll let someone more experienced in that area give you advice.

[jankushka]

Re: What Apps do you use?

* synaptic (to replace adept)
* konqueror/firefox
* kmail (to me, the most powerful and flexible email client out there)
* akregator (for rss feeds)
* amarok (for music and for managing the ipod, which has rock box on it, btw)
* k3b (for both ripping and burning cd)
* dolphin (as a file manager, though i do most of the file management on the command line)
* gimp (for digital pictures manipulation)
* gimp-ufraw (gimp plugin for direct support of high end cameras proprietary raw formats)

hth

[musta ruhtinas]

Re: What Apps do you use?

in no particular order:
* Synaptic (package management)
* KlamAV (antivirus), Firestarter (firewall)
* Kino, avidemux, transcode, mplayer, vlc (video editors and players)
* amaroK (audio player)
* Opera (browser), freepops (for Yahoo mail), Kontact (mail, rss, pim, etc), KTorrent
* K3b (cd/dvd burning)
* Skype (the working beta)
* WINE, but I'm healing fast  
* yakuake (nice konsole replacement)
* Adobe Reader and PDF Editor
* xsane (scanning)
* gimp, digikam (image manipulation, photo manipulation)
* rar unrar (archiving)
* aptoncd (for package backup / building my very own repo)
* kommander (for my scripting needs)
* ntfs-3g (to read/write to windows partitions)

[ixoye777]

Re: What Apps do you use?

I just gave Synaptic a whirl on your advice and I like how it groups the available packages into catagories instead of just listing then all start to finish. Thanks for the advice guys. Kudos to all (well one per hour anyway = ].

[penguin.ch]

Re: What Apps do you use?

I was at your website last night

Tz, tz, tz ...

Why do you like [bluefish]

Actually, I use both Nano and Bluefish regularly.

The latter I'd characterize as "Kate reduced to my needs" (which are those of an old-fashioned minimalist too stupid to use Emacs and the like but annoyed by "feature-ridden IDEs" like KDevelop ...).

[dibl]

Re: What Apps do you use?

there are soooo many of them in there that are available

22,000 packages is a little overwhelming, eh?

OK, I use Open Office (mostly for my day job), Audacity and Gnome Wave Cleaner (for audio work), Amarok (to play the results), K3b to put the results on CDs, gimp to edit photos, VMWare Player for the one app that requires Windows, and Firefox for the Internet. Beryl to flip the desktops around while the music's recording.

8)

[penguin.ch]

Re: What Apps do you use?

Do I need an antivirus app?

For your own needs: quite simply "no";
for the sake of others to whom you might otherwise forward infected mail: "possibly".

Is there a simple gui firewall

Guarddog - provided you need a firewall at all ...
I'm using none (- my machines are protected by a router featuring i.a. NAT but not uPnP).

[linuxwizard]

Re: What Apps do you use?

Firefox (web browser)
Thunderbird (email)
Synaptic (package manager)
Knemo (network interface monitor)
Kbiff (mail notification)
Checkgmail (gmail notification)
Gkrellm (desktop system monitor)
Super Karamba (desktop widgets)
KVirc, Xchat, Ksirc, Konversation (IRC Chat Clients)
Glabels, Kover, Koverartist (CD/DVD, Stickers, labels)
MPlayer & VLC (media players)
Qalculate (most awesome calculator)
Kopete (IM Client)