List the best software for Linux

[flar]

I, as with many of you, enjoy discovering cool new software. Why don't we make it easy to find new programs to play with?

This thread is for listing interesting software for Linux. Let's focus on software that is new, or unique, stuff that adds new functionality (no matter how small), or especially stuff that's not in the Ubuntu repositories. Let's try to keep our replies to listing software, rather than debating the merits of the software. This is just to help people find cool software.


I'll get the ball rolling...

gvpn-dialer

https://sourceforge.net/projects/gvpn-dialer/

This is a graphical frontend for the Cisco vpn client that sits in the Gnome notification area. It's very handy and I just found it by chance a while back.

[tribaal]

Edit: The package name is "nm-applet".

One of my personal favorites:

emifreq-applet

A little applet that monitors CPU temperature and scaling, which it lets you modify. Simple, handy, and even good looking (if I dare say so) :)

-trib'

[rfruth]

F-spot Photo manager, now installed by default in Edgy :)

[ComplexNumber]

gaim - the best IM on linux
k3d - the best 3D modeller on linux.
inkscape - the best vector graphics for linux
vlc - the best video player for linux
glade 3.0 - the best GUI designer for linux
smart - the best package manager frontend for linux
leafpad - the best lightweight text editor for linux

[Buzzygirl]

Cartes du Ciel, astronomy/desktop planetarium sky charting software formerly available only for Windows. It is currently available for Linux in a beta version, but I've put it through its paces using Ubuntu and, so far, it works great.

http://www.ap-i.net/skychart/index.php

I used this software on XP for several years, and it was the best free planetarium software I tried. It was better than similar software packages that cost $$. I was very happy when I learned that the software's creator finally created a Linux version.

My only complaint is that the beta Linux version of the software doesn't "look" quite as pretty as it does in Windows, but it functions just as well for my needs.

[Virogenesis]

kopete - best IM client, annoying as its a kde app lets just hope gaim learns a bit
xara or inkscape - both great
pacman - fantastic package manager
apache - rock solid http server
freemind - java mind mapping
planner - produces gantt charts
bmpx - successor to bmp, one of the best media players if not the best.

could name more. :P

[PatrickMay16]

Rosegarden4. I can't stress this enough.
Timidity++

[slimdog360]

yakuake

[bionnaki]

nicotine+ (http://nicotine-plus.sourceforge.net) - a linux soulseek client

[tubasoldier]

Rosegarden4. I can't stress this enough.
Timidity++

I partly agree with you. From all the Music Notation editors in linux this is the closest to being usable. Its great as a sequencer. However, unless they fix a few things in the Notation area it will never take off like it could.

[MedivhX]

PPL, here's a good Linux game: http://www.alientrap.org/nexuiz/

[Circus-Killer]

cool (not strictly) linux app: google earth

awsome (not strictly) linux game: wolfenstein - enemy territory

[MedivhX]

Yeah, Google Earth is sure cool, but is there any program similar to it and is opensource???

EDIT: Does any1 know is WorldWind going to be published for Linux?

[midwinter]

Lately I like,

Geany - excellent GTK2 editor/ide
Sonata - great mpd client
Tremulous - alien vs human FPS/RTS game
Inkscape - everyone knows inkscape

[MedivhX]

Tremulous really is cool!!!

Browse there pages for linux games:
http://www.happypenguin.org/
http://games.linux.sk/

[TheSqueak]

Amarok

[bruce89]

EDIT: Does any1 know is WorldWind going to be published for Linux?

Quite difficult as it uses DirectX and .NET.

Epiphany.

[MedivhX]

S*IT!!! Can they program it for OpenGL???

[Polygon]

not easily as it does use the .net framework... they will have to do some reprogramming...

[MedivhX]

That probably means: IT WILL NEVER BE AVAILABLE ON LINUX!!! :(

[kiddo]

I'm shamelessly promoting my own app, Specto (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1697376) :-D alongside awesome apps such as Colorscheme (http://home.gna.org/colorscheme/), Gajim (http://www.gajim.org), Epiphany, Conduit (http://www.conduit-project.org) and Avidemux.

I really really really wish there was a decent audio editor out there - not a tracker, mixer or something like that. Just a darn audio editor. Like Audacity, without the old cruft, the horrible wxgtk GUI and the non-realtime stuff. I hope someone does an equivalent in gstreamer someday.

[mahy]

Vim and Gnome Mahjongg!

[mad0master]

Vim and Gnome Mahjongg!

:mrgreen: man, i fully agree! but +xfce4 (on Ubuntu) and gcc

[ComplexNumber]

I really really really wish there was a decent audio editor out there - not a tracker, mixer or something like that. Just a darn audio editor. Like Audacity, without the old cruft, the horrible wxgtk GUI and the non-realtime stuff. I hope someone does an equivalent in gstreamer someday.

try glame.

[Brynster]

Songbird
Counstrike Source Server software (Had a clan server running in Ubuntu of well over 8 months)
Thunderbird
Firefox

Non particularly open source and 100% free as in without restrictions but all vital to may day to day life.

[qalimas]

Most of the software I use is actually Linux only...

Kopete
Quanta+
Amarok
Konqueror
Krita
KOffice




...wow, all KDE applications... never really took care to notice that before :D

[bruce89]

Songbird
Counstrike Source Server software (Had a clan server running in Ubuntu of well over 8 months)
Thunderbird
Firefox

Non particularly open source and 100% free as in without restrictions but all vital to may day to day life.

Indeed, I am shocked that you use Firefox.

By the way, this is sarcasm. (mostly)

[mahy]

:mrgreen: man, i fully agree! but +xfce4 (on Ubuntu) and gcc

sorry, i forgot to mention Xfce ](*,)

[KhaaL]

My three that arent listed on this thread yet:

Mercury IM - By far the best MSN client, better that the original client too.
War§ow - A fast paced FPS. those who love quake and ut2k4 will like this.
Blender3D - Why bother with 3D max when there's something better, that's free, and with a built-in game engine? ;)

[SirPecanGum]

Kim - Simple photo modifications from the right-click menu.
Nautilus Scripts.

[kiddo]

try glame.

Actually one of my biggest audacigripes is that nothing is realtime... Their selection of filters/effects, however, is more impressive than any other app. That's the problem... it kind of works... but is a real pain to use. Audacity's development is slow and feels heavy. That's why I am hoping for a future replacement app that would do the same, beautifully with gstreamer. :-k

[kuja]

Crack-Attack - not strictly linux, but a great game
Frozen Bubble - Another game
Kate - killer text editor
KDevelop - Nice multilanguage IDE
Quanta+ - Nice web-dev app
IRKick - GUI for configuring remote control in linux, much easier than writing your own lircrc &c. (package: kdelirc)
Koffice & Krita - The up and coming Office suite, complete with graphics editor. Already good, soon to be great
Katapult - My savior
Obligatory mention: Amarok

[MaximB]

one man spoke the word
BLENDER3D - The best Linux 3d graphic program for movies/animation/modeling/game creating you name it !
and it's all FREE and OPEN SOURCE

give it a try now !
www.blender3d.org
blend like pro !

[hizaguchi]

Bluefish
Banshee
Bonfire
fuse/sshfs
Evolution
Octave/gnuplot
OpenOffice
VLC
GPG
Kate

[chaosgeisterchen]

Konqueror, because it is the one-in-all-wonder of the K-desktop. Yet to come : Having amaroK integrated into Konqui. Partly already happened using the sidebar.

K-desktops offers the superior apps for me. I will stick to KDE.

[cunawarit]

I'm quite new to Linux, so I don't know as much software as some of you guys. However, these are some of my favorites:

Firefox - Opera 9 and IE7 have caught up, however, Firefox still shines because of all the extensions available for it.

GIMP - I'm one of those weird people that doesn't know how to use Photoshop at all, yet is familiar with GIMP. It's a great tool.

GNOME & KDE - I don't care about the rivalry, however, I do care about the fact that these two has made Linux tempting to people who would have never considered it.

fluxbox - If I can choose between a bloated interface and a lightweight one I will more likely than not go for the lightweight one. Particularly when it is as elegant and usable as fluxbox.

wmmount - OK, it is a tiny little tool. But it is very useful for those times when I feel to lazy to mount drives.

MonoDevelop - I've been playing around with this IDE and it isn't bad at all. I wish I could say the same about Gtk, I am sure it is just be not having much of a clue yet, but it is driving me nuts!

OpenOffice - Much like MonoDevelop it may not be quite as fancy as the Microsoft offering, yet it is more than good enough. OpenOffice is great! I use it at home on my Windows machine too.

.......

Good apps that I still have to find:

* A good text editor, I don't want anything like vi or emacs. I have been using Gedit very briefly and it seems OK, but I don't think it has a block search and replace...

* A friendly yet lightweight graphical FTP client.

[puppy]

cunawarit can I suggest fireFTP which is a firefox extension - just opens up in it's own tab, and I find it useful - maybe worth a look?

My personal vote goes for CastPodder - no other podcatching client comes close (even though the interface isn't the prettiest thing you've ever seen...)

[BlueStreak]

good thread but a few words describing the app you list would be helpful :)

[cleverselfreferentialname]

* A good text editor, I don't want anything like vi or emacs. I have been using Gedit very briefly and it seems OK, but I don't think it has a block search and replace...

* A friendly yet lightweight graphical FTP client.

@cunawarit
For the text editor, have you seen Kate? On the second count, gftp is supposed to be light, only a 1MB download. Both are in the repos. For your copy-pastage:
sudo aptitude install gftp kate

Oh, and for the, you know, topic and everything, APT is the greatest thing to happen to software. Ever.

[pdub]

Dia - for creating diagrams
xchat - IRC client

[cunawarit]

cunawarit can I suggest fireFTP which is a firefox extension - just opens up in it's own tab, and I find it useful - maybe worth a look?


@cunawarit
For the text editor, have you seen Kate? On the second count, gftp is supposed to be light, only a 1MB download.

Thanks guys, I will give those a try.

PS: Yes APT is AWESOME!!!! RPM was one of the things that made me not be so keen on Linux before.

[zvezdogled]

mplayer
a really very good command line media player
i adore it.

[darkhatter]

Mahjongg there is a copy for kde and gnome. I wasted many hours on that game

[urukrama]

Amarok -- Best music player I've yet seen in any OS.

Opera -- Not unique to Linux, but still the best browser and email client around.

Krusader -- Though I use Gnome (never liked KDE), this is the best Total Commander like program I've ever seen, and by far even surpasses TC! Gnome-commander is a bit too simplistic and ugly for my tastes.

Thunar -- One of the reasons I decided to drop Xubuntu was because of its file manager (Thunar), which I thought too simplistic and primitive. Well, had a a change of heart, and use it now constantly in Gnome. Way nicer and smoother than Nautilus, even though it doesn't have the same funcionality.

Alexandria Book Collection Manager -- Finally an easy way to keep track of who borrowed my books.

Todo list -- To remind me all the things I should have done yesterday

StarDict -- Handy to have several dictionaries in one single view! Type in a word, and (if you have the dictionaries installed) you get entries from several dictionaries/thesaurus in a single window.

[Magnes]

Scribus
Inkscape
GIMP

[Kieranties]

yakuake

running in gnome with Konsole does cause some rendering issues on the lower part of the window...but I could quite happily sit there pressing f12 all day watching it go up and down :)

Tomboy

I treat my desktop like a real desktop. Normally lots and lots of text files are sat there all reminding me to do stuff. I can never be bothered to use a calender to set reminders. Tomboy handles them nicely, and with a ctrl-sft-t i can write a note in 2 secs and have it gone again

[3rdalbum]

Tomboy: I use it all the time, for practically everything. Now I only wish it was possible to share notes in Tomboy with other people through the web.

Bloboats: It's a fun little game.

Dvdrip: It actually allows you to extract just the audio from a DVD! Just what I've always needed!

DeVeDe: Absolutely the most user-friendly program for converting a bunch of video files (any format) into a VCD/SVCD/DVD/CVD image.

Scorched3D: It's a lot of fun, and I like the special effects.

AlephOne: Sure, there are Mac and Windows version, and it's an open-source port of the Marathon game engine; and sure I haven't got it running on Linux yet; but I used to love Marathon 2.

[Bragador]

I like Liquidwar...

[AndyCooll]

Tomboy - Got to agree with those mentioning this app, a vital quote note taking tool.

Liferea - excellent RSS reader.

Apollon - used with Gift, searches multiple P2P networks.

Revelation - for all those logons and passwords you forget. Store them securely with this app.

KTorrent - a powerful bitorrent app.

Easytag - Great for editing those music file tags.

And then the oldies but goodies - Evolution, Gaim, Amarok etc

:cool:

[red_Marvin]

Console programs:
nano - text editor
w3m - web browser
irssi - irc chat client
Great for those days you can't be bothered to start X ;)


Plugging my own program:p :
videocanvas (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=262365)
A small drawing program with a replay function...

[bonzodog]

Openbox - This is my ideal Windowmanager - it's small, fast, light, and highly configurable.

pypanel - This is an ideal panel for the above.

Quod Libet/Ex Falso - This has got to be the best Audio client I have come across yet. It has a lot of plugins, which will make it a clean gtk contender to Amarok.

Weechat - A curses IRC client with an xchat-like display in terminal. Highly configurable, and supports scripting.

Mini FF Theme - whilst the browser is a very good piece of software, one of it's themes just completes it for me - the mini theme.

Abiword - A simple lighter alternative to getting an entire suite of Office tools.

Gnome-Mahjongg - The most addictive game ever.

[ice60]

i like these -

tomboy
liferea
etherape

http://etherape.sourceforge.net/images/v0.9.3.png

[red_Marvin]

*Agrees about mahjongg
Beat 2m23s on difficult! ;)

Nethack is a quite fun console dungeoncrawler.

[urukrama]

Krusader -- Though I use Gnome (never liked KDE), this is the best Total Commander like program I've ever seen, and by far even surpasses TC! Gnome-commander is a bit too simplistic and ugly for my tastes.


Just tried out Tux Commander, and almost like it. It looks better than Gnome Commander, and unlike Krusader fits in better with my Gnome theme, but it is unfortunately not very customisable. I'd love it (and perhaps even swith from Krusader) if the file/folder icons could match those of my Gnome theme, and if I could add buttons to the toolbar (as one can do in Krusader).

I'll probably keep it for a while, maybe I'll start liking it in the end.

[GStubbs43]

Does any1 know is WorldWind going to be published for Linux?


...a cross-platform version based on .NET and Java is planned for late 2006
and there is a wiki on porting it: http://www.worldwindcentral.com/wiki/Mac_and_Linux_Port_Collaboration#July_12.2C_2005

[ixus_123]

OGMRIP - mencoder based DVD ripper - can handle encode to h264 & handle multiple soundtracks for movie sound & commnetary.

Kmymoney2 - home financing app - much prettier & easier to use than gnucash - keep track of your money or lack of it

streamtuner/ripper browse & listen to tonnes of radio statins & record some of them too - well the ones that don't split up each track :(

gnumeric - spreadsheeet - I'm no power user biut this seems to open & run a lot faster than open office calc. Perhaps a power user could compare the 2?

[Lux Perpetua]

mplayer
a really very good command line media player
i adore it.I also like mplayer...except for the fact that changing the volume in mplayer affects the volume for the entire system, a problem that none of my other applications have. Highly annoying.

On of my favorite applications, which I'm surprised hasn't been mentioned: K3b, the best CD creation program I've ever seen.

[Onyros]

A few of my favourites, and most used are...

The GIMP - Image editing, similar in function (not in spectrum of functionality, though) to Adobe's Photoshop

Drivel - Until BloGTK improves in a few areas, this is the undefeated heavyweight champion of the desktop blogging software of the World

Evolution - I prefer Sylpheed-Claws for email alone, but this is more than just email software. It's my private digital secretary... if only it could make me a good, strong, tasty cup of coffee...

Gaim - Multi-protocol instant messaging at its best

gFTP - Simple, light... it just works (most of the time, has its bugs, but nothing special)

Liferea - Another simple, yet truly effective piece of free and opensource software

AbiWord and Gnumeric - If I could find a replacement for Powerpoint and Impress that was as lightweight and functional as these two I'd be set. OOo is too bloated and has features I'll never use, these two replace Writer and Calc for me, perfectly

Scribus - Coming from QuarkXpress and InDesign, with which I worked professionally, it's obvious it still has some catching up to do... But it's gone a long way, already

Gedit and Leafpad - I alternate between these two text editors. Found about Leafpad through the use of GParted LiveCD, and it does exactly what it's supposed to do. BTW, does anyone know which version of Tetris is that found on GParted's Live CD??

Amarok - There's no foobar2000 for Linux. There's something a whole lot more bloated, yet... just great. Still uncontested as one of the best Linux apps ever

K3b - There are two KDE apps I used on my GNOME and Fluxbox desktops, and these last two are the ones. I just love them both.

Opera - It's closed source, but I couldn't live without it. It's the best browser there is, for any platform, anywhere. I've grown fond of Epiphany, grown tired of Firefox, love Dillo and links2 (apart from the impossibility of typing "é", "ã", "â" and characters of the like), but Opera is just the best.

[Dual Cortex]

Katapult just rocks.

[s_h_a_d_o_w_s]

Inkscape - Needs no explanation
Automatix2 - Great isntaller for tough/extremely useful things
OppenOffice - Better thatn microsoft word (mainly because it's free)
Camorama - Take pictures easily with your webcam!
aMSN - Butt-ugly but atleast webcam WORKS
Checkgmail - gmail notification
mpg123 - music preview

[theicyj]

Unison - My favorite folder sync/backup program.
Dia - Great program for making flowcharts.
Liferea - My current newsreader.

[Nonno Bassotto]

Actually one of my biggest audacigripes is that nothing is realtime... Their selection of filters/effects, however, is more impressive than any other app. That's the problem... it kind of works... but is a real pain to use. Audacity's development is slow and feels heavy. That's why I am hoping for a future replacement app that would do the same, beautifully with gstreamer. :-k

Maybe Jokosher (http://www.jokosher.org/)?

[whatintheworldisthat]

Order of love.

Vim
Quod Libet
Gaim.
Blender
Inkscape

[Johnsie]

Songbird

[TeraDyne]

My favorites:

Amarok - Awesome audio player. The best, IMO.
Quanta - I'm a web programmer, and this thing just rocks.
The GIMP - Best graphic editor you can find on any OS, IMO.
digiKam - Simple, light photo organizer.
K3b - Best burning program for Linux out there, IMO.
Kate - Awesome, feature-filled text editor.

[darrenrxm]

LinDVD

The best dvd player for linux. Especially if you are a newbie.

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=302887&highlight=lindvd

[kevinlyfellow]

I'm a big fan of gjots2 (http://bhepple.freeshell.org/gjots/). I keep all my linux notes in it.

I also like gnuplot since it makes beautiful graphs and I like to use gnumeric for data entry (so I can graph the data in gnuplot via exporting the spreadsheet to a text file).

Also check out
ogg123
mpg123 (see what happens when you hover your mouse over mp3 files in gnome!)
last-exit (along with an account at last.fm)
dopewars (drug economics game)
vorbisgain (normalize all your music)
Audio Tag Tool (http://pwp.netcabo.pt/paol/tagtool/) (a useful way to tag all your vorbis (and mp3) files.

And here's a cool program that I think is really innovative
Gjay (http://gjay.sourceforge.net/)

[Limitlesschannels]

This thread is wonderful, while many of the aforementioned apps are pretty basic IMO i have discovered a number of fantastic ones i was unaware of; i.e. tremulous (but this needs some serious bots), kate (neat), bmpx (interesting), w3m (this is hilarious and actually really handy for uber quick non-X boots), Gjay (WOW THIS IS AMAZING)

let me try some that haven't really been listed yet
mine:

~ gnome-color-chooser (fantastic app for modifying panel color and other things. it allows you to change the text color, unlike the simple "right click/properties/background/solid color..." option)
~ opera (already mentioned, but should receive more credit. see my thread that marked my switch from ff to opera: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=412331&highlight=why+opera )
~ banshee (amarok is excellent, but a couple interface elements bug me and it doesn't seem as responsive as banshee. plus, banshee is simple with everything i need; including the cd burner apparently forgotten in so many audio players)
~ comix (wonderful substitute for CDisplay for those who have any idea what i am talking about)
~ yakuake (already mentioned, but important and first thing i install in fresh installs)
~ wine (of course)
~ Armegatron ( absurdly addicting 3D Tron game)
~ Graveman [that one cd burner i always flop back and forth with (the other one i use is k3b)]
~ Driftnet (like a packet sniffer, but more of a jpeg-sniffer...)
~ Ubuntu Satanic Edition (not an actual distro, but a collection of themes to counter-act the Ubuntu Christian Edition. It is actually some rather fantastic art that I enjoy immensely. Plus, who doesn't love baphomet?)

this thread would be nice with a poll, of course, you would need a couple hundred options.

[chris4585]

I like Liquidwar...

+1 very addictive game.....

you left a description, so i'll fill one in, its a game where you control a large group of dots and you eat the other dots, it gets very fun

[Mary.Riley]

I'm still a big fan of Pidgin.

[chris4585]

you could use finch instead of pidgin its a console based app, pretty much pidgin on the terminal