With that thought in mind, we hope to pave some of the new Ubuntu user’s rocky road with 17 apps that will make that Ubuntu transition smoother. Since Ubuntu comes packaged with all the open source apps that an average user might need (Firefox 2.0, Open Office, Rhythmbox, etc.), it might seem crazy to add more “clutter” to the situation. But what happens if you’d rather use the Opera browser rather than Firefox? Or, perhaps you’d like to add more sound and video apps to your repertoire beyond Rhythmbox. Since the server and desktop versions of Ubuntu support the GNOME 2.18 desktop environment, literally hundreds of additional applications are appropriate for Ubuntu users. But the following free software apps, listed in alphabetical order, provide the new Ubuntu desktop user with a logical beginning to an enhanced open source experience.
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AllTray
Some apps, like gaim (to be renamed Pidgin in its new release), provide a minimizing feature. If you’re logged into gaim, you can click the “close” button and the app will disappear from the windows list and the icon will appear in the system tray. You then click the icon and the gaim window reappears. This feature provides users with a simplified workspace. Now you can dock any application without a native tray icon (like Ubuntu’s email app, Evolution) in the AllTray system tray. The tool lacks a “drag and drop” feature, so you need to capture an open application to dock it in the tray. In addition to GNOME, AllTray also works with KDE, recent versions of XFCE, and window managers such as Fluxbox and WindowMaker.
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amaroK
amaroK is a music player that was built specifically for the Unix/Linux user, so its function and eye-candy interface makes this a must-have app for the music lover. A drag-and-drop playlist creation, 10-band equalizer, and automatic cover art download via Amazon all make Amarok a perfect application for album freaks as well as single-play aficionados. Ubuntu Feisty includes a new guided wizard for automatically installing multimedia codecs not shipped with Ubuntu, so you’re in good shape here.
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Automatix2
Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell, Inc., runs Automatix2 on his home PC (he uses Ubuntu Feisty Fawn as well). So this tool allows you to emulate a famous millionaire as you create a way to install other apps like Skype, Picasa
and Google Earth with ease. Search the Web and you’ll find nothing but raves about Automatix2. You can even find an online tutorial that graphically illustrates how to install this app. -
Beagle
Beagle provides the Ubuntu user with a search tool that basically “ransacks” your personal information space to find what you have stored there. But that’s not the real power behind Beagle, as this tool silently indexes all your files as they’re created (emails are indexed upon arrival), modifies those files as you modify them, and deletes them from its database when you delete the actual file or email. This is a great tool for the person who gathers MP3 files like a squirrel gathers nuts for winter. Find those MP3 files by artist name, emails by author, and documents by keyword.
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Beryl 0.2.1
As a habitual PC user, you might feel lost when faced with the clean Ubuntu desktop. One way to wean yourself from Windows XP or Vista is to use Beryl’s open source desktop experience. Beryl provides the new user with an interface that can closely mimic the Vista interface. But, you also have options to choose several themes and each addition adds to your total desktop experience. You can spend a good hour browsing through screenshots, let alone reading through the Beryl blog and forum. The latter tool provides information on how to install this app.
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CheckGmail 1.11
One loss you’ll experience in the migration from PC to Ubuntu is the use of your Gmail notifier. CheckGmail fills that void with its system tray application that checks a Gmail account for new mail. This new version of CheckGmail can now retrieve the full text of any message listed in the popup and display it inline. The Ubuntu Document Storage Facility offers great install instructions.
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Cinlerra
Billed as a “Movie studio in a Linux box,” Cinlerra provides users with the ability to capture, composite, and edit audio and video with sample level accuracy. If you want to make movies, this is the tool you want with its FireWire input/output, render-farm capabilities, and support for HDTV formats. Get the “Read me” on install for easy instructions. A note here: Cinlerra doesn’t run on Windows, but you can use Live CDs to try this program out. Also, your HDTV definitely isn’t free. You’ll probably want a cash back card for that, eh?
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Deluge 0.5.0 for Feisty
A BitTorrent client enables a user to search for and download torrent files. The huge plus to a tool like this is that the original distributor doesn’t incur the entire costs of hardware, hosting and bandwidth resources. Sounds perfect for sharing files, right? Deluge Torrent provides this capability with the newest version fit for Feisty. If you haven’t used a BitTorrent in the past, this tool will break you into file sharing with little to no pain.
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Flash
How can you live without a Flash Player? Don’t worry - Flash 9 is available in Ubuntu Feisty. However, you will download the plugin straight from Adobe through the Feisty repository interface. Don’t let that throw you off, just follow the instructions. Or, use Automatix2 (above) to install. The only problem you might encounter occurs when you visit sites that lock out various OS and browsers. Some sites, for instance, seem to prefer Windows over Linux, just as other sites work in IE but not in Firefox. These issues belong to the Web sites, not to Ubuntu.
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GIMP 2.2.14
Why pay a fortune for Photoshop and its upgrades when you can use Gimp for free? GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program, a program that accomplishes such tasks as photo retouching, image composition, and image authoring. If you have doubts, take a look at the GIMP screenshots to realize how closely this program mimics Photoshop. You can use GIMP as a tool for your flickr obsession as well. GIMP is the de-facto photo editor for Linux based systems, and the Ubuntu GIMP package (one of 366 available packages!) is available when you tap into “Applications > Graphics > GIMP Image Editor.” How easy is that?
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Gnomebaker
Gnomebaker gets rave reviews across the board as a means to burn your music and videos to CD or DVD. Ubuntu provides instructions on how to install and operate this app.
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KMyMoney 0.8.6
KMyMoney is an open source personal finance software app that can replace just about any commercial personal finance tool. Plus, the developers for this app pride themselves on the fact that KMyMoney is perfect for the non-technical user.
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MythTV
MythTV provides a solid reason to switch from PC to Linux because you cannot use this app on Windows. This tool allows you to turn your desktop into a full-fledged media center/DVR with capabilities to pause, fast-forward, rewind and capture any live television program. Ubuntu MythTV packages have improved significantly for Feisty Fawn, allowing for greater ease of install and error-free setup. Many of the annoying installation quirks have been fixed and suggested improvements have been implemented. You can find those instructions and more at MythTV’s Feisty Fawn section.
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Opera 9 Browser
Yes, Ubuntu Desktop comes bundled with Firefox 2.0, but some users might be addicted to Opera. After the launch of Ubuntu 6.06 LTS, Canonical announced the availability of Opera 9 for Ubuntu. So if you’re one of Opera’s silent addicts, you can download the browser through the official site and open Opera in Ubuntu through the commands, “Applications > Internet > Opera. Easy-peasy.
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Scribes
Ubuntu packages Tomboy, a desktop note-taking application that is definitely more powerful than Window’s NotePad. Tomboy, for instance, provides highlighted text capabilities as well as the ability to auto-link Web & email addresses. But if you’re one of those folks who want to buck the system - even a free one - you might try Scribes, a text editor that works with the Gnome desktop and that provides even more capabilities including templates, tabbed preformatted input, numbered lines, and…well, just visit the Scribes site, watch the Flash demo, and you’ll see what I mean. This text editor is a very dynamic app that may change the way that you text anything from notes to code.
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Thunderbird 2.0
Ubuntu offers Evolution 2.8.0 as their integrated email app, but some users prefer to use Mozilla’s Thunderbird 2.0 instead. One clear advantage to Thunderbird is the ScribeFire add-on, a full-featured blog editor that integrates with your browser and that allows you to post to your blog. The Scribefire drag-and-drop feature provides an easy way to use formatted text from Web pages, and it allows you to post directly to your blog as well.
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VLC 0.8.6b
Raves abound about VLC, an app that claims to be the best cross-platform media player around. With a rate of approximately 1.3 downloads per second it seems that this app is, indeed, popular. This “bug-free” release (April 2007) also includes a new teletext subtitles decoder and new flash video decoders. You can either download VLC from its Web site or use the following command line: apt-get install vlc. Another route for install is displayed at Debian Admin.
More notes for the new Ubuntu User: Ubuntu Feisty comes with a Windows migration tool that recognizes Internet Explorer bookmarks, Firefox favorites, desktop wallpaper, AOL and Yahoo! IM contacts and imports them all during Ubuntu installation. Utilize that tool when you decide to migrate. In addition, new users might remember to try to apt-get a program through Ubuntu’s interface or check repositories before installing from a source. This practice helps to keep your system cleaner and everything more interconnected, making it easier to maintain and update any Ubuntu apps.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, literally hundreds of free apps exist for you to download, install, and try out without having to get your Visa out of your wallet. If you are a geek who is trying to save money, you have nothing to lose here. Other networking and multimedia tools, libraries and games exist to enhance your new Ubuntu user experience. Take it slow and ask questions in forums to make your migration easier and more enjoyable.
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