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beastrace91
November 2nd, 2010, 02:03 AM
Howdy All,

So if you have ever tried to install something on an offline Ubuntu system you know it is a royal pain. What I am putting together are automated-self extracting installers that will contain a .deb and all the deps for a given piece of software, then it will easily install all the packages using apt on an offline system with a few clicks.

What I am looking for is software that people use everyday on their Linux desktop so I can covered a good range of applications. The following is what I have so far:



Extra
- Adobe Flash
- Java Plugin (Java Plugin for Browser - Includes Java for system - Recommended)
- Multi Media Codecs (Playing Media)
- 7zip (extra zipping)
- File Sharing (samba and such)

Email
- Thunderbird (Recommended)
- Evolution (Alternative)

Photo Manager
- Shotwell (Recommended)
- Fspot (Alternative)

Image Viewer
- gpicview (Recommended)

PDF Viewer
- EDFView (Recommended)
- Evince (Alternative)
- Adobe PDF View (Bloat)

Games
- Frozen Bubble
- Gweled
- Solitaire
- Mines
- Super Tux

Printing/Scanner Utility
- Simple Scan (Recommended)
- XSane (Scan Alternative)
- Printing Config (Recommended)

Terminal
- LXTerminal (Included)
- Terminator (Advanced)
- Gnome Terminal (Alternative)

Audio Editor
- Audacity (Recommended)
- Ardour (Advanced)

IRC Client
- XChat (Recommended)
- Konversation (Alternative)

Screen Shot
- Shutter (Recommended)

DVD Creator
- DeVeDe (Recommended)

Burning Software
- K3b (Recommended)
- Gnome Baker (Alternative)

Torrent Client
- Transmission (Recommended)
- Deluge (Advanced)

FTP Client
- Filezilla (Recommended)
- gFTP (Alternative)

Instant Messaging
- Pidgin (Recommended)
- Empathy (Alternative)
- Skype (Alternative)

Text Editor
- gedit (included)
- kate (Alternative)

Webcam
- Cheese (Recommended)
- wxCam (Alternative)

Calculator
- Qalculate (Recommended)
- Gnome Calculator (Simple/Light)

Computer Algebra System
- XCAS (Recommended)
- wxMaxima (Alternative)

Image Editing
- GIMP (Recommended)
- Ink Skape (Vector Graphics)
- Scribus (Graphics Layout)

Music Player
- Rhytmbox (Recommended)
- Banshee (Alternative)

Video Player
- VLC (Recommended)
- Gnome MPlayer (Alternative)
- smplayer (Advanced)

Video Editing
- Openshot (Recommended)
- Lives (Advanced)
- PiTiVi (Alternative)

Video Ripping
- Handbrake (Recommended)
- K9Copy (Alternative)
- Acidrip (Alternative)

Webrowser
- Chromium (Recommended)
- Firefox (Alternative)
- Opera (Alternative)

Office Suite
- OpenOffice.org (Recommended)
- Gnome Office (Light Weight)
- LibreOffice (Alternative)

Wine Software
- Cross Over (Recommended)
- Play on Linux (Free Alternative)
- Wine 1.2 Stable (Free Alternative, no GUI)
- Wine 1.3 dev (Free Alternative, no GUI)

What else do you use in your daily desktop usage? If there are a few votes for a particular application I'll add it to my list :)

Cheers,
~Jeff

NertSkull
November 2nd, 2010, 02:09 AM
I like the list. Not sure I would add anything else other than k9copy which I use.

But, here's the thing I think could be real useful, but I don't know if possible.

Extensions/plugins for programs. For example, getting adblock on chromium/firefox. OTR for pidgin. Enigmail for thunderbird. Things like that. I know not everyone uses them, but some should be encouraged more. Like adblock.

Just my $0.02

beastrace91
November 2nd, 2010, 02:27 AM
I like the list. Not sure I would add anything else other than k9copy which I use.

Already on the list :)

~Jeff

NertSkull
November 2nd, 2010, 02:35 AM
Ah, so it is. You win. Well then I change my two votes both to plugins/extensions
:)

3Miro
November 2nd, 2010, 02:36 AM
I would recommend Evince over EPDFView, while the second one is faster, it has much fewer features that can be annoying.

I would also consider AviDemux for video editing.

Add Geany to the editors, it surpasses the others in many features especially when it comes to code.

Some of us have to use LaTeX almost every day, however, I guess this would be too large to add to a DVD and I guess it is not many people (Texmaker and good LaTeX support is something I am always weary about when picking a distro).

Sven6210
November 2nd, 2010, 03:46 AM
Did I oversee it or is a SIP client for Voice over IP (VoIP) missing? I mean a client that supports the SIP protocol. Such as Twickle or Ekiga. Or does anybody know an even better SIP protocol supporting VoIP software?

Sean Moran
November 2nd, 2010, 06:01 AM
You have covered most of all the packages I like and use every session or at least every couple of days. I am also very keen to see how this project progresses, because now I'm using this GSM aircard to get online, the download speeds have dropped to around 20kB/s and the cost per minute is a major concern, so anything that can be done offline in the way of custom distros represents a considerable saving in time and money. I will bookmark this thread and hope to learn something the easy way; by reading what you've succeeded in doing and working from there.

The only two extra packages that I thought worth mentioning are:
1, SeaMonkey Browser (because I'm old fashioned) and
2: Unetbootin, because it saves a lot of useless CD/DVDs when I can burn my latest .iso files onto a USB stick and go a testing.

Also, remember gParted and MountManager, SquashFS-toolos and perhaps Startup Manager unless they're already included somewhere. Gnome Commander for WebDAV access as an alternative to FTP?

Skype is one that I can't remember whether it was listed somewhere or not, and good old Galaga for those times when I'm feeling utterly nostalgic. Also, remember that if you want a good working Wanda on your panel, fortunes-min is essential.

Server side, apache2, MySQL, PHP5, phpmyadmin, and phpBB seem like a good mix.

Apart from the Rhythmbox Equaliser, that's about all I can think of without getting pedantic about it.

Good luck!

kenweill
November 2nd, 2010, 10:43 AM
Kernel + Gnome + Firefox

Spice Weasel
November 2nd, 2010, 10:47 AM
Geany, gVim, Emacs for the programmers here. GParted would be really helpful as well. Don't forget build-essential and GCC.

Try Exaile and Quod Libet for us music fans. Audacious is popular too.

Most people tend to install htop as an advanced alternative to GNOME System Monitor or LXTask.

How about a couple lightweight DEs as well? Midori and LXDE spring to mind.

t0p
November 2nd, 2010, 11:06 AM
Most people tend to install htop as an advanced alternative to GNOME System Monitor or LXTask.


"Most"? Are you sure about that?

Johnsie
November 2nd, 2010, 11:08 AM
Apache2/PHP/MySQL, but I am currently migrating to Windows/ASP/SQLServer.

Spice Weasel
November 2nd, 2010, 11:23 AM
"Most"? Are you sure about that?

I've noticed lots of people on these forums that install it.

3Miro
November 2nd, 2010, 11:34 AM
There might be legal issues with including skype.

Why would we need Php and Apache on a computer with limited network connection? Just for development?

Ekiga is a good choice to include.

dondiego2
November 2nd, 2010, 11:56 AM
I've noticed lots of people on these forums that install it.


I've been running linux since January almost exclusively and I never heard of htop. But then again I'm not a power user.

My top uses are

getting on-line
downloading podcasts and synching my iPod
gnumeric spreadsheet
Open Office suite
watching lectures for school with Movie Player (I'm an old student)

After that it kind of drops off. That being said, I just downloaded htop and it is cool! I wish I had it when I had 10.04 because I was having occasional problems with programs freezing and it would have been a lot easier to kill them from htop.

Spice Weasel
November 2nd, 2010, 12:03 PM
After that it kind of drops off. That being said, I just downloaded htop and it is cool! I wish I had it when I had 10.04 because I was having occasional problems with programs freezing and it would have been a lot easier to kill them from htop.

Best way of killing non responsive programs -

killall -KILL programname

But watch out for data and configuration loss. :P

madhi19
November 2nd, 2010, 12:07 PM
ffmpeg -i inputfile.flv -sameq outputfile.mp4
That one of the most useful command you ever need! I also use Mediatomb every day to link to my ps3!

t.rei
November 2nd, 2010, 12:19 PM
* I use brasero quite often - basically ever since it matured and took the place of k3b on my gnome desktop.
* I use nautilus-elementary
* I use appearence-preferences way too often hence fighting with all it's glitches (button positions)
* I use two screen setups, so the panel-glitch with the notification area moving around gets on my nerves EVERY day. And the inability of nvidia-settings to change screen setups is ... *grrrnnnn*
* Gajim is used by me for its proper working gpg encryption in buisiness communications
* Stickynotes is still my favourite 'quick note' app. Not as cluttered as tomboy.
* seahorse as keymanagement is an everyday app, that you won't even realize how much it is used.

If I had a personal wishlist my top 3 would be:
1. Working nvidia-settings for proper work with multiple screens and beamers. And the resulting consequences for Xorg
2. A groupware server structure that is well maintained and works with: evolution, kontact, thunderbird, Mail.app AND outlook and doesn't s...w you on updates/upgrades.
3. Gpg and OTR encryption in empathy

limestone
November 2nd, 2010, 12:29 PM
This is a list of my daily applications:

Gnome Terminal
gpicview
Evince
Transmission
gedit
GIMP
Rhytmbox
Totem
Iceweasel
nano
gcc

audio tag tool (tagtool)
MKV files creator (mkvtoolnix-gui)

Sean Moran
November 2nd, 2010, 12:43 PM
There might be legal issues with including skype.

Why would we need Php and Apache on a computer with limited network connection? Just for development?

Ekiga is a good choice to include.
Two reasons:
1, to use online when you get your connection sorted out with a decent ISP.
2, to build a decent distro that you can share with others who have better ISPs than yourself.

Learning how to build a nice little website of our own is not much more difficult than the lemming/facebook response, and if someone has the fortitude to go with Linux, they might have the guts to make it further than twitter et al. That's why apache2 and friends can be of help to some folks who take the plunge.


---o0o---
On Skype, it's not likely to cause legal issues, even though like Adobe and Flash, it's not part of the scheme. I left out Limewire because they're apparently now screwed up but they won't take Skype to court.

Verbeck
November 2nd, 2010, 12:44 PM
how about unrar

Sean Moran
November 2nd, 2010, 12:54 PM
Now I am getting rather pedantic, and this is not the beer talking because I usually only ever try to use it when I am sober, because that is when I can remember what I am trying to do better than the computer can, so in those rare times of sobriety, GPRename is a good little utility to include into a mix, because you can rename a lot of images from your camera at once, and it is sweet and doesn't take much thinking and not much diskspace, and only a few deps to go with it.

Over and out. Good luck.

3Miro
November 2nd, 2010, 12:57 PM
Two reasons:
1, to use online when you get your connection sorted out with a decent ISP.
2, to build a decent distro that you can share with others who have better ISPs than yourself.


Apache and PHP are very useful things, however, the point of this thread is to come up with a DvD of apps that you can install offline. The idea is that you never have access to a good ISP and you are working from either a very slow network or no network at all. When you get to your good ISP, then you should just download and install the latest version of those apps then (double so for security reasons). Other than that, I see those two as useful only to develop apps offline, which I don't know how many people do.

Sean Moran
November 2nd, 2010, 01:28 PM
Apache and PHP are very useful things, however, the point of this thread is to come up with a DvD of apps that you can install offline. The idea is that you never have access to a good ISP and you are working from either a very slow network or no network at all. When you get to your good ISP, then you should just download and install the latest version of those apps then (double so for security reasons). Other than that, I see those two as useful only to develop apps offline, which I don't know how many people do.
Yep, fair enough. I'm just thinking about the effort that goes into such a project, and how the extra disk volume is not so much for someone to build their own offline homepage and then upload it sometime later when they have a decent ISP, but I am clutching at straws on that part of it.

Bedtime now. Goodnight and sweet dreams to all, and see you tomorrow, God and DTAC permitting.

3Miro
November 2nd, 2010, 01:34 PM
Yep, fair enough. I'm just thinking about the effort that goes into such a project, and how the extra disk volume is not so much for someone to build their own offline homepage and then upload it sometime later when they have a decent ISP, but I am clutching at straws on that part of it.

Bedtime now. Goodnight and sweet dreams to all, and see you tomorrow, God and DTAC permitting.

Yes, I don't think we can come up with "one size fit all" solution and many of those will depend on the size available on the DvD, if there is space left, we can include those too.

I just finished breakfast and it is time for me to go to work.

undecim
November 2nd, 2010, 02:28 PM
Gnome Do or Kupfer.

yesrno
November 2nd, 2010, 03:13 PM
how about unrar
I second that! Good one.
Personally I use emesene daily for msn.

SlugSlug
November 2nd, 2010, 04:13 PM
absolutely a must for music

mpd + gnome-mpc

beastrace91
November 2nd, 2010, 06:14 PM
Thanks for the tips guys, I added a couple of applications to the ones I plan on making installer packages for. Going to take me awhile to put all these together though... I'll post when they are ready :)

~Jeff