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View Full Version : How can a student be most productive with a Linux desktop?



wersdaluv
March 7th, 2007, 10:10 AM
What I am looking for with an OS is maximum productivity.

So far, the best things I think I can do with my Linux desktop is to

Maximize the use of BasKet
Automatically hide the panel so that I wont easily be distracted by other tasks
Have desktops assigned for work and others for background tasks
and to have the StumbleUpon Firefox extension which lets me see websites that I have to see


What other suggestions can you give to students like me to design our Linux desktops to help us be as productive as possible?

sophtpaw
March 7th, 2007, 11:17 AM
What I am looking for with an OS is maximum productivity.

So far, the best things I think I can do with my Linux desktop is to

Maximize the use of BasKet
Automatically hide the panel so that I wont easily be distracted by other tasks
Have desktops assigned for work and others for background tasks
and to have the StumbleUpon Firefox extension which lets me see websites that I have to see


What other suggestions can you give to students like me to design our Linux desktops to help us be as productive as possible?

Lots and lots of Frozen Bubble! :lolflag:

SishGupta
March 7th, 2007, 11:22 AM
Mozilla Sunbird to keep track of classes, appointments, and tasks.

I usually use mine a lot if the course load is heavy enough. I fortunately haven't needed to this semester.

Mimou
March 7th, 2007, 11:39 AM
What I am looking for with an OS is maximum productivity.

So far, the best things I think I can do with my Linux desktop is to

Maximize the use of BasKet
Automatically hide the panel so that I wont easily be distracted by other tasks
Have desktops assigned for work and others for background tasks
and to have the StumbleUpon Firefox extension which lets me see websites that I have to see


What other suggestions can you give to students like me to design our Linux desktops to help us be as productive as possible?

I'm Ok with you!! I'm an addict to multi desktops :D.
I can have a desktop for work, an other to search on Web, an other to chat with friends...
It is so frustrating to have only one desktop :D.

sloggerkhan
March 7th, 2007, 11:49 AM
I make an autohiding panel with all my most often used locations, apps, and documents. I try to concentrate all items causing mouse interaction in the top left corner.
I use the deskbar, and integrated evolution/calendar.
Use a couple desktops.

fuscia
March 7th, 2007, 11:50 AM
schiller supposedly kept rotten apples in his desk drawer, thinking the horrific smell would force him to concentrate more on his work.

wersdaluv
March 7th, 2007, 11:58 AM
Mozilla Sunbird to keep track of classes, appointments, and tasks.

I usually use mine a lot if the course load is heavy enough. I fortunately haven't needed to this semester.

Actually, what I use is Kontact. You think Sunbird is better?

wersdaluv
March 7th, 2007, 12:02 PM
I make an autohiding panel with all my most often used locations, apps, and documents. I try to concentrate all items causing mouse interaction in the top left corner.
I use the deskbar, and integrated evolution/calendar.
Use a couple desktops.

That sounds like a great idea, but can you expound on "I try to concentrate all items causing mouse interaction in the top left corner."

rolando2424
March 7th, 2007, 01:07 PM
Try to use Tomboy to keep your notes and things on :D

anaconda
March 7th, 2007, 01:08 PM
Actually, what I use is Kontact. You think Sunbird is better?

I like sunbird, but it is still in beta the newest version is 0.3.1

But works well and havent had problems with it.

23meg
March 7th, 2007, 01:15 PM
and to have the StumbleUpon Firefox extension which lets me see websites that I have to see

This puzzles me; StumbleUpon should be the last thing you want to have if you want to keep focused on work.

Now here's an extension I think you'll like: ScrapBook (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/427/)

wersdaluv
March 7th, 2007, 01:35 PM
This puzzles me; StumbleUpon should be the last thing you want to have if you want to keep focused on work.

Now here's an extension I think you'll like: ScrapBook (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/427/)

LOL...

It's ironic but StumbleUpon leads me to Self Improvement and productivity site, but you have a point there. It also lead me to doing something other than my work. My point is, I use it to see useful information.

Thanks for telling me about ScrapBook by the way. I'll try it.

roderikk
March 7th, 2007, 02:30 PM
Learn how to use LaTeX to write your reports.... I produces superior quality and scales very nicely. Also very good to use in conjunction with a bazaar (bzr) or subversion (svn) repository so you can always keep track of the changes you have made.

While you are at it you could learn some shell scripting to perform some mundane tasks quickly.

I am also currently a student (MSc Aerospace Engineering) and use both these tools quite extensively. Be aware though that they both require quite some initial time input as their learning curve is quite steep.

Good luck!

chewearn
March 7th, 2007, 02:43 PM
Geez, to think that students used to study using books, papers and pencils.
And the geeks with their sliderule, protractor, compas, ...:)

hizaguchi
March 7th, 2007, 03:35 PM
I'll 2nd the LaTeX suggestion. If you use something like LyX or TeXmacs the learning curve isn't so bad though and you still get extremely professional-looking reports.

Gnumeric is godly also once you get out of the Excel mindset. If you do anything with spreadsheets or graphs, odds are you can do it better and faster with Gnumeric once you know how.

It's good to use Tomboy or the gdesklet sticky notes to help you remember to do stuff too. I've got 2 items on my desktop to-do list right now, and though I may be killing time typing this instead of doing that, at least I feel a little guilty for being unproductive. And guilt is the first step toward recovery. :)

Also, don't start messing with theming your desktop. I waste more time on that than anything else I do. I'm constantly adding a prettier icon for this or tweaking my theme's gtkrc to slightly change the color of that. And I'm enough of a perfectionist that I can always find something I don't quite like to waste some time "fixing" rather than doing homework.

On a related note, don't install XGL. The productivity I gain from the convenience of the Expose-like feature is totally lost due to the fact that when I get bored I just sit and spin the cube around and scale my windows.

EdThaSlayer
March 7th, 2007, 05:51 PM
All I can say is to use the multiple workspaces/desktops available. It really helps you with not havig to *search* for a program on the bottom bar of the screen.

wersdaluv
March 7th, 2007, 06:24 PM
I'm taking up Psychology and Business Management.

Any apps or something for those courses?

sloggerkhan
March 8th, 2007, 12:40 AM
That sounds like a great idea, but can you expound on "I try to concentrate all items causing mouse interaction in the top left corner."

Since it's so easy to customize stuff, I move everything I can that requires mouse interaction to the same region of my screen. You have to prioritize some, but I try to put the stuff I click on most in top left, and then move out from the corner with stuff I click on less. It works out best because most programs also put the stuff with mouse interaction in the top left of their windows. In theory, you will spend less time mousing around the screen.

finferflu
March 8th, 2007, 12:54 AM
That gives me an idea... It would be brilliant if we could have multiple taskbars on which we decided which applications to send... i.e. Firefox and XMMS on the top taskbar, The GIMP and Gaim on the bottom taskbar, and so on... I wonder if something of this sort already exists...

ardvark71
March 8th, 2007, 12:58 AM
Lots and lots of Frozen Bubble! :lolflag:

yeah :lolflag:

euler_fan
March 8th, 2007, 01:10 AM
R

If you are willing to put in a little work to learn it, it is a great stats system and makes wonderful looking graphics for papers, etc.

It does take time to get really good with though.

cowlip
March 8th, 2007, 01:51 AM
I think Google Notebook is a great little browser extension for Firefox and IE, it's like "Scrapbook" but you can access it like gmail from any browser on any platform anywhere on the internet. I find it more useful than bookmarks too because you can search through a web pages entire text, collaborate on and share notebooks with other people, etc.

http://www.google.com/notebook