Applications for Linux

Från Wikipedia, den fria encyklopedin.

When installing applications, often they can be installed very easily by the package manager that comes with the distribution. In rare occasions though, stuff found through the package manager is not working as well as if installed manually (for instance when installing Java JDK).

The Kubuntu package manager is called Adept Manager, and the Ubuntu counterpart is Synaptic Package Manager.

Many applications that are meant for KDE will still work on GNOME, and vice versa.

To avoid unecessary work, make sure you start out by checking under K-Menu -> Add/Remove Programs. If the program you want installed is listed there, you'll have it up and running in no time!

Innehåll

Application list

Desktop

KCometen3
Screensaver

kcometen3.png

Development

Eclipse
Software development environment (SDE)
Should be installed manually, see instructions here.

header_logo.gif

Java (JRE/JDK)
Should be installed manually, see instructions here. Can now be installed from package manager. At least for Java 5+.

java.gif

Kate

KDE text editor

kate.png

NetBeans
Software development environment (SDE)

Should be installed manually, download from here.

netbeans.gif

Subversion

Revision control system. Follow this guide to get it working: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Subversion

subversion.png

File handling

AcetoneISO
CD/DVD Image handling (much like Daemon Tools for Windows)

Acetino2.png

KDiff3
Visual difference tool for files and folders

kdiff3.png

KDirStat
KDirStat is a graphical disk usage utility that also comes with some cleanup facilities to reclaim disk space.

kdirstat.jpg

K3b
CD/DVD burning tool

k3b.png

Konqueror
File manager and more! See tips and hints section below.

konqueror.png

Krename
Powerful batch renamer for KDE. Handles both files and folders.

krename.gif

Games

UAE (Unix Amiga Emulator)
Play the good, old Amiga games on your PC! Check out this tutorial to get it running.

Amiga_kickstart.png

Graphics

DigiKam
Photo Management

digikam.png

GIMP
Advanced image manipulation

gimp.png

GQView
Image browser

gqview.gif

Kolourpaint
KolourPaint is a free, easy-to-use paint program for KDE.

kolourpaint_screenshot.png

KSnapshot (KDE)
Take screenshots of entire desktop, a window, a region or section of window.

ksnapshot.png

xvidcap
Record what happens on your desktop. Download it from the website.

Internet

Album Cover Art Downloader
Downloads album covers for your mp3 collection.

albumart.png

Azureus
BitTorrent Client written in Java, more tips can be found here.

azureus_splash.png

Ampache
Ampache allows you to view, edit, and play your audio files via the web.
Very easy to install! Check this howto if you need some guidance. Also, make sure that your favorite music player is associated with m3u files in your browser.

ampache.gif

[Evolution]
Mail client that supports Microsoft Exchange. Built for Gnome, but works fine in KDE.

evolution.png

glFTPd
FTP Server, follow the tutorial here when installing.
I have written down some more tips here.

glftpd.gif

Kopete (KDE)
Instant Messenger supporting all popular chat protocols (ICQ, MSN, GoogleTalk, Jabber, Yahoo, AIM, IRC etc.)

kopete.png

Krdc (KDE)
Connect to a Windows remote desktop

KTrafficAnalyzer
KTrafficAnalyzer is meant to provide visual feedback of your current network traffic, similar to tools like DU-Meter. In addition it provides several statistics functions and lets you monitor your traffic-sums.

ktrafficanalyzer.png

Mozilla Firefox
Web browser, more hints can be found here. See also Swiftfox below.

header.png

Mozilla Thunderbird
Email client, more hints can be found here. For Microsoft Exchange mail, see Evolution above.

thunderbird-wordmark-horizontal_small.png

MPD
MPD is designed for integrating a computer into a stereo system that provides control for music playback over a local network. An installation guide can be found at ubuntuguide.org.

After MPD is installed, you might have to create the MPD music database by running sudo /usr/bin/mpd --create-db. More info found at MPD Wiki. Don't set a password for MPD, at least that did not work for me.

I recommend using Pitchfork to control MPD. It's a very nice AJAX web gui with a lot of features! It requires a web server (apache2) and php with PEAR extension. To control mpd from a webserver on another computer edit the file /etc/mpd.conf to allow other hosts.

Also, MPD lets you turn your computer into a streaming music server, by installing Icecast on top of it. It's easy, just follow these instructions!

mpd.png

Pidgin IM
Another multi-protocol instant messenger. The reason I started using Pidgin is that I could not connect to MSN in Kopete on my work computer. Pidgin works pretty good, but I still think I would prefer Kopete, because it offers a lot more configuration options.
I recommend to install the hotkey plugin (package pidgin-hotkeys) to enabe global hotkeys.

pidgin.jpg

Squirrel SQL Client
Universal SQL Client

squirrel_sql.jpg

Swiftfox
Mozilla Firefox optimized for your processor. Either install it using Automatix or from the Swiftfox homepage. More instructions here.

swiftfox.jpg

Tomcat (Apache)
A web container that functions as a web server supporting servlets and JSPs.

Install tutorial: http://douglasjarquin.com/articles/java-and-tomcat-on-ubuntu-hardy/

tomcat.png

wxDownload Fast
wxDownload Fast (also known as wxDFast) is an open source download manager. It is multi-platform and builds on Windows(2k,XP), Linux and Mac OS X. Besides that, it is a multi-threaded download manager. This means that it can split a file into several pieces and download the pieces simultaneously.

Integrates with Firefox using FlashGot extension.

wxdfast.jpg

Multimedia

Amarok
Music player, read more here.

amarok.png

Kaffeine
Video player

kaffeine.png

Maxemum TV-Guide
Yup, it's a TV guide!

mtvg.jpg

Sopcast
Watch live tv (sport) streams.

Download it from here (link found here). Follow this guide to run it!

Streams can be found here: http://www.myp2p.eu/.

sopcast-log.gif

XBMC
XBMC is an award winning media center application for Linux, Mac OS X, Windows and XBox. The ultimate hub for all your media, XBMC is easy to use, looks slick, and has a large helpful community. Try it now!

For more information visit my dedicated XBMC page.

xbmc.jpg

Office tools

Acrobat Reader
Pdf viewer. Install using this guide: http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Gutsy#Adobe_Reader_Gutsy_amd64.2Fi386

acrobat_reader.jpg

KCalc (KDE)
Calculator

kcalc.png

Kontact (KDE)
KDE's personal information and email suite. Includes KOrganizer (calendar) and KMail among others. See below for some tips.

kontact.png

KMyMoney (KDE)
The free, easy to use, personal finance manager for KDE

kmymoney.png

OpenOffice
OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and distribute.
Installation instructions found here.

openoffice.gif

System

Synergy
Mouse and keyboard sharing. Synergy lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems, each with its own display, without special hardware. It's intended for users with multiple computers on their desk since each system uses its own monitor(s). See 'Instructions' section for more info.

synergy.gif

YaKuake
a very nice KDE terminal emulator. Find the latest version here: http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php/show.php?content=29153

yakuake.png

Instructions, tips and tricks

Amarok

OSD

The on-screen-display can be customized by going to Settings -> Configure Amarok... -> OSD. Here is what I recommend:

Playing '%title'{ by %artist}
{Track %track }{on '%album'}
position: %elapsed{ (of %length)}

An example on how it will turn out:

amarok_osd.png

Scripts

Scheduling

  • Scheduling assumes that Amarok is running on display 0.
  • Edit the schedule by running crontab -e.
CopyCover
00 04 * * * DISPLAY=:0 python /home/jfr/.kde/share/apps/amarok/scripts/copycover/copycover-offline.py -c cover.png > /home/jfr/logs/copycover.log
Scan for collection changes
00 02 * * * DISPLAY=:0 dcop amarok collection scanCollectionChanges

Azureus

An excellent BitTorrent client that let's you configure pretty much everything. One of the great things about this client are all the plugins that are available for it.

Recommendation: If installing on Linux, install the program for a single user, to make sure that the program will have no problem upgrading itself (otherwise you must change the write permissions of the install directory).

Plugins

AzSMRC

If you want to control your BitTorrent downloads from another computer this is what you are looking for. As the writers of the plugin say themselves, it is a remote plugin and control system add-on for Azureus. Information on downloads and installation instructions can be found at the AzSMRC web page.

Some tips and recommendations:

  • Make sure you have default download directory set, otherwise you might not get any download to start remotely. See more here.
  • Enable single user mode to be able to see all downloads: Tools -> Preferences -> Plugin settings
  • Enable SSL. This is very easy, simply run the SSL Wizard under Tools -> Preferences -> Plugin settings

Console mode

cd /usr/share/java
java -jar Azureus2.jar --ui=console

Eclipse

Install Eclipse from official site (since the eclipse package is not using Sun Java SDK).

  1. Goto Eclipse.org and download the latest release.
  2. Extract all files from the archive.
  3. Eclipse can now be started by simply running eclipse from the extracted directory.

Tips

  • Activate Mark Occurences to easily see where a specific method, variable etc is used in file: Menu Window -> Preferences... -> Java -> Editor -> Mark Occurences

Firefox

Some Linux specific stuff below, go to the general Firefox page for a list of nice addons and more.

KDE Firefox theme

http://ramonantonio.net/kde-firefox/

Default browser

The default web browser in KDE is Konqueror, some people prefer it over Firefox, but I don't. To change the default browser go to System Settings -> Default Applications -> Web browser and type firefox under Default Component -> in the following browser.

Linux specific shortcuts

Some keyboard shortcuts differ between the Windows and Linux version of Firefox:

DescriptionWindowsLinux
Clear cacheCtrl+F5Ctrl+Shift+R
DownloadsCtrl+JCtrl+Y
Select tabCtrl+[1 to 9]Alt+[1 to 9]
Watching Quicktime movies and more in Firefox

If you try to watch an embedded quicktime movie in firefox, it says that you need to install a plugin to be able to watch it (as it says in Windows as well). In linux, however, there is no official plugin for Quicktime. But there is a solution, of course. Simply fire up Adept Manager and install the packages:

  • mplayer
  • mozilla-mplayer

Restart Firefox, and enjoy!

Running java applets

http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/faqs/firefox-linux.html#install-java

glFTPd

Be able to run site users command

"You need the +H flag. Try "site flags" for help." - http://archive.glftpd.com/docs/glftpd_faq.html

Overwriting

To make it possible to overwrite when uploading, add:

 overwrite * *
 dupe_check 0

to glftpd.conf

Adding an FTP user (glFTPd)
  • login to the ftp site locally with user glftpd:
    ftp localhost
  • Add the user:
    site adduser <username> <password>
  • Make sure she can download as much as she wants:
    site change <username> ratio 0
  • Make sure she can login from any computer:
    site addip <username> *@*
  • Make sure she can login a bunch of times simultaneously:
    site change <username> num_logins 10

The three last bullets can be avoided by changing default user settings prior to adding a new user. Do this by updating/adding the folowing lines in the file /jail/glftpd/ftp-data/users/default.user

LOGINS 10 0 -1 -1
RATIO 0
IP *@*

Konqueror

Service menus

Service menu additions will give you more options when right clicking a file and/or folder.

Plugins
  • KIO Sysinfo - Displays system information in Konqueror. Write 'sysinfo:/' in address bar to show. Download instructions here. HINT: Open sysinfo in Konqueror, then save the profile under 'Settings' -> 'Save view profile...' to always show sysinfo when starting Konqueror!

Kontact (KMail and KOrganizer)

KMail

  • If connecting to an Exchange server, use "IMAP" as account type when adding the account.
  • After configuring an account, make sure that mail is checked periodically by checking "Enable interval mail checking" under "General" tab.
  • To be able to send mail, make sure that you have an e-mail configured for your identity.
  • Make desired configurations under "Appearance", tab "System tray" to be able see in the system tray when new mail has arrived.
  • If there are public folders etc for an exchange account that keeps showing unread numbers, remove those folders from subscription by right clicking in the tree and choosing "Subscription...". You might need to check and uncheck and commit for changes to take effect.

KOrganizer

  • When setting up an Exchange calendar, make sure to include the domain in your username, e.g. "<domain>\<username>". Also click the "Find" button to determine your mailbox.

OpenOffice

OpenOffice packages are supplied by Ubuntu and can be installed by the package manager. However, these packages does not get updated instantly when a new version is released. To get the latest version install OpenOffice manually instead:

  1. Uninstall OpenOffice using Adept Manager to make sure that all packages have been removed.
  2. Download the debian version of OpenOffice, e.g. http://ftp.sunet.se/pub/Office/OpenOffice.org/stable/2.3.0/OOo_2.3.0_LinuxIntel_install_en-US_deb.tar.gz.
  3. Extract the downloaded file
  4. Go to the DEBS sub-directory of the extracted files
  5. Remove the Gnome file (assuming that you are using KDE)
  6. Run sudo dpkg -i *.deb
  7. Enter sub-directory desktop-integration
  8. Run sudo dpkg -i *.deb

All done! Now you can find shortcuts for the suite under K-Menu -> Office

Swiftfox

Enabling Firefox plugins

Alternative 1:

cd /opt/swiftfox
sudo mv plugins plugins.old
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/firefox/plugins /opt/swiftfox/plugins

Alternative 2:

http://ditoinfo.wordpress.com/2007/05/21/moving-and-using-firefox-plugins-on-swiftfox/

Synergy

Fire up the server on the computer with the mouse and the keyboard. Prior to that you should configure what edge that will move focus to the other box.

Windows

The config gui is pretty straightforward. Get it here: http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/

Linux

Use the GUI by installing package quicksynergy

From terminal

The client on Linux is installed using aptitude. Then simple start it by writing:

DISPLAY=:0 synergyc -f <host_name>

Leave out the display part if you are typing it from the graphical frontend, i.e. not logged in using SSH for instance.

Security

It might be a good idea to use SSH port forwarding/tunneling to encrypt your mouse and keyboard actions. This requires that you are running an SSH server on the box that is running the Synergy server.

Create shortcuts

Synergy is practical to use from a laptop to control another computer. In that case it is a good idea to create two desktop shortcuts to quickly start Synergy on both server and client.

Server

Simply install quicksynergy and drag the shortcut from the startmenu to the desktop.

Client

Create a shortcut by right clicking on desktop and selecting 'Create launcher...'

  • Type: Application in Terminal
  • Name: Whatever
  • Command: ssh <client_hostname> 'synergyc -f <server_hostname>'

Thunderbird

Some Linux specific stuff below, go to the general Thunderbird page for a list of nice addons and more.

Minimize to tray
kdocker -d mozilla-thunderbird &

For more info see: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=142757&page=2

Installing most recent version

Ubuntu packages usually does not have the absolute latest release. To install the newest one follow this guide!

Adding Thunderbird to K-Menu

Add a new item under Internet section, with the following command:

/usr/local/kde/bin/kgtk-wrapper kdocker mozilla-thunderbird

Actually, only mozilla-thunderbird is needed, but the other two does the following:

  • kgtk-wrapper - Enables KDE dialogs
  • kdocker - Docks the application system tray
Autostarting

From K-Menu drag the item to ~/.kde/Autostart. After dragging I had to open the item in a text editor and manually change the Exec line to the command under #Adding Thunderbird to K-Menu.

Autostart

Some common locations for applications that start automatically:

  • ~/.kde/Autostart
  • /usr/share/autostart
  • /etc/init.d
  • /etc/xinetd.d

If you want an application to start automatically when you start the computer, simply create a link under

~/.kde/Autostart

Preferably this is done by dragging the desired item from the K-Menu (Alt+F1) to the Autostart folder while holding Ctrl+Shift.

Kicker applets (KDE)

Kicker applets are small widgets that you can put on the kicker bar, i.e. the bar which corresponds to the taskbar in Windows.

  • KCpuLoad - System tray cpu monitor
  • Kicker-Applets - Applets in the KDE addons package. Included are a system monitor, a colour picker, a media player controller, a mathematical evaluator and a binary clock.
  • KNetload - Network meter
  • KWeather - Weather display

sunny.png

Windows applications

It is actually possible in many cases to run Microsoft Windows applications on Linux. This is done by using Wine as a compatibility layer. Wine should be found with your favorite package installer (Adept manager/Synaptic).

wine.gif

To run a Windows application simply type:

wine <pathToWindowsApp>

Applications installed with Wine can be found under ~/.wine/. Usually they are also added to the start menu.

To be evaluated

Software
Personliga verktyg