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| PC Today: Notebooks, Shareware, Internet Service Providers | |
| March 2001• Vol.9 Issue 3 Page(s) 76-79 in print issue | |
Linux Useful Applications For An Alternative Operating System |
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[LINUX]
[RICH]
[GRAY]
 The Linux community is based on the notion of
getting something for nothing, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that
high-quality freeware is more plentiful than its shareware counterpart
when it comes to the open-source platform. In fact, you can download much
of the shareware we’ve listed here for free (as provided for in the GNU
License; check that out at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html),
but some of it follows the strict definition of shareware. You’ll have to
pay for (register) the product to use it after a certain trial period or
to get the fully functional version. As you peruse the list, pay close attention to the download sites. Some of these applications only work with specific distributions of Linux such as Redhat or Debian or specific desktop environments such as GNOME, while others may require the addition of specific libraries to your system. We’ve tried to note these in the application descriptions. Also be sure you know what form the software you’re downloading will be in. You’ll usually be able to download either the source code (to compile yourself or just play around with) or binaries of some sort that come precompiled so you just have to double-click the file to install it. Close attention to these download instructions will save you time and aggravation .  HTML Editing &
Web Design. While it’s certainly possible (and sometimes
preferable) to write your own HTML code when constructing Web pages, you
can also use software that can handle many of the tasks involved in
building pages. The following programs offer a host of tools and features
to help you build pages and manage whole sites more
effectively.Bluefish (Olivier Sessink) Free Sporting a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface, Bluefish was developed with experienced Web designers in mind. It offers a variety of wizards that handle startup, tables, frames, and more. Features such as syntax highlighting, project and work management, and tearable menus make Bluefish not only powerful but also highly configurable. Bluefish can run on any Unixlike system that has the GTK libraries installed. http://bluefish.openoffice.nl/download.php CoffeeCup HTML Editor (CoffeeCup Software) 30 days; $20 With a collection of animated .GIF files, background images, icon graphics, sounds, JavaScripts, CGI scripts, and more, CoffeeCup HTML Editor for Linux can have you designing professional-looking Web sites right out of the box. This full-featured Web design tool offers most of the functionality of the Windows version and a wide range of fun “toys” such as a Snippets Editor (to use blocks of code over and over), link wizard, and font designer. The latest version of CoffeeCup HTML Editor (4.1) is targeted for Redhat versions 5.2 and 6.x. http://www.coffeecup.com/products.html Screem (David Knight) Free Developed originally with the GNOME desktop in mind, Screem (which stands for Site CReating & Editing EnvironMent) is a Web site design and management application that you can also use with the KDE desktop environment or a normal X-based setup. This application is packed with features, including auto-link updating, site upload facilities, a preview window, a user-definable tag list, and much more. Screem also supports plug-ins that add functionality and increase customization. Many plug-ins come standard, and developer David Knight promises that more will come later. http://www.screem.org/ Audio & Media
Players. With music exploding on the Internet, a good media
player is almost a necessity. Both of the following handle streaming media
and offer many other features, including the ability to use Winamp
skins.FreeAmp (FreeAmp) Free The FreeAmp media player is an extensible player that can run on several different platforms, including Linux and Windows. The player supports all MPEG 1, MPEG 2 and MPEG 2.5 encoded files, and you can listen to and save ShoutCast, IceCast, and other streaming formats. FreeAmp has built-in support for themes and features a download manager, user-defined prebuffering (to increase performance on slow machines), a powerful music browser /playlist editor, and more. You can run the latest version of FreeAmp, 2.08, with a variety of Linux distributions, including Redhat, Debian, and Slackware. http://www.freeamp.org/index.html?mode=download XMMS (4Front Technologies) Free If you’re one of the many fans of the Winamp application for Windows, be sure to check out XMMS. This media player contains many of the same features as Winamp, and you can even dress it up in Winamp 2.0 skins. XMMS features, among other things, support for Shout-Cast and IceCast. You can run various versions of XMMS, such as FreeAmp, on a range of Linux distributions, including Redhat, Slackware, and Debian. http://www.xmms.org/download.html FTP Programs.
If you’re going to be moving a lot of files around, you’ll need
a good FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program. Both of these should meet the
needs of a wide range of users.IglooFTP Pro (LittleIgloo) $29.95 Both novices and experienced users will find something to like in IglooFTP Pro. The novice will appreciate the ease of use of the program, with its drag-and-drop abilities and built-in text editor. For the more experienced user, features such as URL (uniform resource locator; Web address) clipboard monitoring, symbolic link resolution, and FXP transfers (to transfer files from one FTP server to another) will be very welcome. IglooFTP Pro is also fully configurable and offers extensive firewall support. http://www.iglooftp.com/unix/download.html NcFTP Client (NcFTP Software) Free Another FTP program that is definitely worth checking out is the NcFTP Client. The NcFTP is packed with features, including progress meters, file name completion, background editing, bookmarking, the ability to download entire directory trees, and more. NcFTP also works well with firewalls and proxies and will automatically resume a download that has been interrupted by a disconnect. http://www.ncftp.com/download Office Applications.
This section contains a number of programs that can help you
crunch text, keep track of appointments, and much more. Those with slow
Internet connections may want to think about shelling out a few bucks
rather than trying to download a behemoth such as StarOffice,
though.Corel WordPerfect 8 for Linux (Corel) Free WordPerfect 8 is a fully functional word processor, with import and export filters, multilanguage support, and an online help system. Users can send e-mail directly from the program, and the application even offers support in other areas with 90 built-in spreadsheet functions and a “Publish to Internet” HTML exporting feature. After the 90-day trial period, you’ll have to register the product, but it won’t cost you anything more than handing over some personal information. http://linux.corel.com/download NEdit (Mark Edel) Free Short for Nirvana Editor, NEdit is another Linux solution that will appeal to new and experienced users alike. For use with programs and plain-text files, NEdit is similar to Macintosh and Windows-based text editors and uses many of the same conventions that make those editors so easy to use. NEdit features a fast response time, multiple windows, syntax highlighting, and a comprehensive online help section. It comes with over 150 built-in editing functions and can interact with a wide range of X programs and systems. A variety of mailing lists are available on the NEdit Web site that keep you up to date with the application and let you participate in its ongoing development. http://nedit.org/download/current.shtml
Free download; $9.95 or $39.95 for CD StarOffice offers a comprehensive suite of productivity applications, and it’ll only cost you a rather hefty download. This group of Microsoft Office-compatible applications includes word processing, spreadsheets, presentation graphics, e-mail, news, charting and graphics programs, as well as a full database engine. The latest version (5.2) is available as a free (for non-commercial use) download; those looking to avoid pulling 79MB to 105 MB through their phone line can buy it on a CD for $9.95 or $39.95. http://www.sun.com/products/staroffice/5.2/get.html XNotesPlus (graphics Muse) Free If your office looks like an explosion at a sticky note factory, use XNotes-Plus to regain some semblance of order. This application lets you place editable and searchable sticky notes on your desktop. You can do pretty much anything with these digital notes as you would with their actual counterparts. Notes are highly configurable and can be set up with visual or audio alarms to warn you of deadlines or important dates and appointments. You can also synch the application with 3Com’s PalmPilot to swap information with your computer and handheld. The latest version of XNotesPlus (3.2.2) is free and works with most Unix-type systems. http://www.graphics-muse.org/xnotes/xnotes.html graphics
Programs. Linux covers the area of graphics programs well:
There are a number of excellent graphics options available for this
operating system, all packed with features that should easily meet most
users’ needs.Blender (NaN) Free Blender is an application that has attracted quite a following. It’s a 3-D modeling and animation package that supports the modeling of polygon meshes, curves, NURBS, text, and metaballs and the animation of keyframes, motion curves, morphing, and inverse kinematics. Blender supports multiple platforms and features field rendering, several lighting modes, and vertex keyframing for morphing. As far as formats go, Blender works with Targa, JPEG, Iris, SGI movie, and Amiga IFF. http://www.blender.nl/download/index.php Corel PHOTO-PAINT (Corel) Free Corel PHOTO-PAINT for Linux is a full-featured photo-editing and painting application that also comes with a range of illustration and page layout tools. The application is available as a 90MB download from the Corel Web site, and one of the most useful features is the ability for users to open Adobe Photoshop .PSD files to edit and then export them back into .PSD format. Users can also work with common Web graphic file formats such as .GIF, .JPG, and .PNG; create transparencies; and work with .CPT files across both Windows and Macintosh systems. This package comes with professional clip art and photos to get you started and supports a wide assortment of brushes and filters. http://linux.corel.com/products/draw/index.htm GIMP (Written by Peter Mattis and Spencer Kimball) Free Long a Linux standard, GIMP, or GNU Image Manipulation Program, can do almost anything related to Linux image manipulation that you need it to do. GIMP lets you retouch photos, compose/author images, convert image formats, and more. Features for GIMP include multiple undo and redo capabilities, support for custom brushes, and patterns and advanced scripting options. GIMP supports plug-ins (over 100 are already available) and will work with a number of file formats, including .GIF, .JPG, .PNG, .XPM, .TIF, .TGA, .PS, .PDF, and .BMP. http://www.gimp.org/ Messaging.
Instant messaging has exploded over the past couple of years.
If you can’t live without some form of messaging application, you’ll be
pleased to learn that some excellent ICQ clones exist for
Linux.GnomeICU (Jeremy Wise) Free Jeremy Wise’s GnomeICU is an ICQ clone for use with the GNOME desktop environment, although you can run it on other environments if you have gnome libraries installed on your system. This application gives you many of the features and functions you’ll find in the original ICQ program and is actually based on the ICQ protocol. You can chat and transfer files and URLs, the program also has features such as receive message queue, invisible list, message history (per user), and drag-and-drop support. You can also customize the GUI and color to make GnomeICU look the way you want. http://gnomeicu.sourceforge.net/ Licq (Graham Roff) Free Licq is an ICQ clone. Like GnomeICU, it is based on ICQ and offers many features, from user registration and contact lists to message history, online user notification, and more. Licq supports the use and creation of skins and icon packs, many of which you can download from links on the main Licq site. The application also makes great use of plug-ins that can change the interface and add functionality such as message forwarding and auto responding. A variety of mailing lists help you keep up on and participate in Licq’s development. http://www.licq.org/
Internet
Utilities. Tools that help to ease Internet use are always
welcome. We’ve found a download manager and a dial-up networking tool that
are great.Downloader for X (Koshelev Maxim) Free Downloader for X is a download manager that supports both FTP and HTTP protocols. One of the primary reasons for using Downloader for X is that it can automatically reconnect and resume a download in the event that your connection breaks. Downloader for X is highly configurable and features the ability to log downloads, support for drag and drop, a download queue, and more. This tool is comparable to GetRight for Windows. http://www.krasu.ru/soft/chuchelo X-ISP (Dimitrios P. Bouras) Free X-ISP is an X windows dial-up networking tool. This small application lets you track dial-up costs and usage and interrupt calls in progress, and it provides maximum feedback whenever you attempt to dial up or log in. Serving as a small ISP (Internet service provider) and phone company (PTT) database manager, X-ISP also provides call-back and per-ISP DNS selection capabilities. X-ISP supports Linux-2.x packages such as Debian, Slackware, and Redhat. http://users.hol.gr/~dbouras System Utilities.
A good system utility is worth its weight in gold. While Linux
has much less need for many kinds of system utilities than a cranky
operating system such as Windows, the following are valuable additions to
any Linux system.bzip2 (Julian Seward) Free The bzip2 is a data compression application that can save space on your data storage media by shrinking files. Bzip2 has built-in support for large files and can rescue parts of compressed files that have been damaged. http://sources.redhat.com/bzip2/index.html#what-is-bzip2 FCheck (Michael A. Gumienny) Free It’s important to be aware of any system and network files that have been changed or deleted on your computer; such activities can signal technical problems, human error, or malicious intent. FCheck is one application that can notify you quickly when such problems arise. FCheck can take snapshots of files, directories, and systems, then monitor them for any kind of change. When it detects changes, it will alert you through your existing alert management system, send you an e-mail, or even direct output to a printer. This application can even work with Windows systems that are in your domain. http://www.geocities.com/fcheck2000/download.html RAR (RarSoft) $35 to register The multiplatform RAR is a multifunctional integrated archive manager that allows for high compression ratios, particularly on executable files and object libraries. RAR offers support for .ZIP files, and you can use it to create multivolume archives that are self-extracting. Those with very large files will be pleased to find that size is pretty much no obstacle for RAR; the program supports files and archives up to 8,589 billion gigabytes. http://www.rarsoft.com/ E-Mail Applications
& Utilities. As the most popular Internet activity, lots of
people use e-mail to communicate. The following applications can help keep
your e-mail flowing smoothly and spam-free.CSCMail (CyberSpace Cowboy) Free CSCMail is a powerful graphical mail client for use with Linux and other Unixlike operating systems. It is highly configurable and offers a wealth of features, from schedulable message transfers and full MBOX support to signature support and filters. CSCMail also comes with a smart address book, spell checker, and support for multiple POP3 accounts. http://www.cscmail.net/download.shtml Mailfilter (Andreas Bauer) Free Had it with spam clogging up your e-mail? Mailfilter lets Unixlike operating systems delete spam before it even hits your inbox. With Mailfilter, you can set up a variety of rules or filters that will sift through e-mail sitting on your server and search for keywords, specific senders, or even whole domains that you have specified. Anything running afoul of a rule you set will be zapped before it even gets near your system. Mailfilter includes support for multiple POP3 accounts, so all of your various on- line personas can benefit from filtering. http://mailfilter.sourceforge.net/ Emulators.
Some users may not be excited to try Linux because they already
have lots of Windows-compatible software. Emulator programs can solve that
problem, allowing users to run some Windows applications on Linux.
Wine (Alexandre Julliard) Free Wine lets you run many Windows 3.1/95 /NT programs on Linux or other Unixlike systems. Wine doesn’t require Windows to run, but it will make use of native system .DLLs if they are present on your machine. Wine is probably not for the casual computer user; it is still under development, but if you’re looking for a solution to run Windows programs in Linux, this is definitely the one to try. To get an idea of which Windows programs currently work under Wine, check out the Apps Database available on their site. http://www.winehq.com/download.shtml
Web Browsers.
Without Internet Explorer around for competition, Netscape has
long been the big browser on campus in the Linux world. There are,
however, some other excellent browsers available for Linux
users.Galeon (Marco Pesenti Gritti) Freeware Based on the philosophy of doing one thing and doing it well, Galeon is a fast application with one function: surfing the Web. Built for the GNOME desktop environment and based on the Gecko rendering engine from Mozilla, Galeon is standards compliant and offers features such as a temporary bookmarks file (for bookmarks you don’t want to add to your permanent bookmarks file), a magnify option on the toolbar, and more. The latest version of Galeon works with distributions such as SuSE and Redhat. http://galeon.sourceforge.net/download.html by Rich Gray
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