Welcome!

The title of this we(blog) is a response to the snarky and mildly offensive attitude of some Los Angeles county beach community residents, namely, that There Is No Life East Of Sepulveda.

To view all posts for a specific topic, click the appropriate Label at the page bottom.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Recommended free 'desktop' software

===> Updated 11 Feb 2012<===

The term 'free' software not only means 'no cost' but equally important 'free to modify' for specific uses; this allows individuals and businesses to expand usage as needed and to avoid expensive supplier 'lock-in'.

Unlike Microsoft Windows, operating systems based on Linux (and *BSD) are free to try, install and use. Even if you don't install it permanently, you can try it out by booting up your computer with a 'live CD'.

Linux software is bundled into a 'distribution' tailored to specific needs. Additional software packages are stored in a distribution specific 'repository' for convenient download and update.

Much free software is available 'cross platform', in other words on Windows AND Linux AND Mac OS and other operating systems.

Here are my current preferences:

























Category
Name
Comments
Desktop operating system distro - modern hardware
Linux Mint


A civilized version of Linux that 'just works'. Several versions built on Ubuntu or Debian. Honorable mention - Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE and many others.
Server operating system distroDebianStable. No fuss package management. Honorable mention - CentOS, all of the BSD distros, Ubuntu. Maybe one day, OpenIndiana.
Operating system distro - limited hardwarePuppy LinuxEasily installs in less than one gigabyte of hard drive space. Practical to use on hardware with less powerful processors and less memory. Plenty of 'lightweight' packages that run fast. Honorable mention - Tiny Core
System repair distro
Parted Magic
These specialized distributions contain numerous programs for testing, maintaining and repairing your computer. They include a graphical partition editor (gparted) and a virus scanner (clamav). Honorable mention - System Rescue CD, GParted Live CD
Desktop environmentxfceUnlike Windoze, free operating systems usually have alternate desktop environments available to install. xfce is now recommended due to the deprecation of Gnome 2. Honorable mention - lxde, kde, openbox.
Word processingabiword, libreofficeCompatible with most MS Office document formats. Abiword is WP only, LO contains a whole 'suite' including spreadsheet and presentation manager.
Spread sheetgnumericMS Excel replacement.
Media playervlcCross platform player that includes codecs to play both common and obscure audio and video digital media formats.
Data backuprsyncCommand line program to copy files efficiently to another file server. More user-friendly packages with graphical interface for simple scenarios are under evaluation.
Windows emulationwineA package that allows some Windows software to install and run under Linux. No guarantee of success, but is surprisingly advanced.
Digital photo managementdigikamDownload and manage images from most digital cameras. Frees you from clunky, vendor specific, Windows only software. Do you hear me Canon?
DVD backupk9copySimilar functionality to DVD Decryptor and DVD Shrink, both unsupported but still available :-). Importantly, lets you copy while skipping bad sectors.
CD/DVD burningk3bSeems to do just about everything, even burn FLAC files back to CD audio.
Collection managementgcstarKeep track of your physical media - CDs, vinyl, etc. Looks up tracks from multiple online databases. Available on both Windows and Linux. Honorable mention: Tellico, Alexandria.
MPEG video trimgopchopCreate MPEG video clips accurately.
Video editor / transcoder avidemuxDespite its name, avidemux is now a full featured editor and transcoder. Concatenates and resequences MPEG clips also.
DVD authoring dvdstylerCross platform DVD authoring.
Server admin GUIwebminIn addition to the usual command line tools, Webmin gives you a comprehensive view of your server configuration. For some packages (mdadm - RAID) it is indispensible.
Other favoritesSee listfirefox, opera, chromium (Chrome) - web browsing), virtualbox - OS virtualization
...


This post is updated as time permits.