DIGIT-ARC read-only archive · snapshot: July 23, 2026

Linux - What apps do you use ?

46 posts · originally from https://geek.digit.in/community/threads/linux-what-apps-do-you-use.99245/

MetalheadGautham
MetalheadGautham Original post #1
Oct 6, 2008 at 10:00 PM
I thought I can start this thread to get a general usage feedback about what people really do in their distro. This can help (1) find people who use linux for the same purpose as you, (2) find out the right combinations for a task you have, (3) help newbies decide what to install. Finally, it can also (4) Help us show off.

Let me start first:

I use:


Mozilla Firefox for internet
Opera, Kazehakase, Midori and Dillo as backup browsers
Links as a text browser

VLC Media Player as my primary media player
Xine as secondary media player
MPlayer as backup media player

LXDE as primary DE
Xfce as Secondary DE
IceWM as backup WM

Nano as primary text editor
LeafPad and MousePad as secondary text editor

Geany as primary scripting/programming IDE
QtDesigner to learn Qt4.4

MultiGet as primary download manager
DownThemAll firefox addon as secondary download manager
wget as backup download manager
cURL and Aria2C as alternate console download managers

Gimp and ImageMagiK for image editing

C++ or Python based QT4.4 as prefered application framework.

Audacity and Hydrogen for my music composing needs.
Faun
Faun #2
Oct 6, 2008 at 10:28 PM
FF
MPlayer
Totem
Rhythmbox
Thunderbird
GIMP
Inkscape
Stardict
Gcolor2
Gthumb
Deluge
gFtp
Opera
Pidgin
ooo
abiword
evince
xchm
scrot
snort
nmap
wireshark
Eclipse
geany
audacity
avidemux
kino
brasero
exaile
easyTag
VLC
xvidcap
shady_inc
Oct 6, 2008 at 11:14 PM
KDEmod/XFCE/Fluxbox for GUI.

Opera for browsing,e-mails,IRC.

SMPlayer/VLC as Video players.

Exaile/JuK as Audio players.

vi/Kwrite/Mousepad/ as text editors [Yes, I actually prefer vi over nano].

Audacity/ffmpeg for Audio/Video editing.

Ristretto for image viewing.

Imagemagick/Gimp for Image editing.

Geany as IDE.
hullap
hullap #4
Oct 6, 2008 at 11:28 PM
Ratpoison as primary WM
Fluxbox as secondary
xfce used by family

Opera is primary browser
epiphany secondary

smplayer,vlc for music and videos

exaile and songbird for library management

Gedit and nano for text editors

inkscape and gimp for image editing

Gpicview as image viewer

xchat\irssi as irc client

thunar/nautilus(only for dropbox) as file manager

lighttpd for http server
NucleusKore
Oct 6, 2008 at 11:44 PM
  1. kchmviewer - chm viewer
  2. mplayer - multimedia player
  3. mplayerplug-in - multimedia player browser plugin
  4. audacious - winamp like
  5. k3b - cd/dvd burning
  6. Brasero - cd/dvd burning
  7. devede - dvd authoring
  8. audacity - same as audacity 4 Windows
  9. avidemux - same as avidemux for windows
  10. ffmpeg - CLI video encoder
  11. transcode - CLI video encoder
  12. ntfs-config - mount ntfs partitions read/write
  13. vlc - multimedia player
  14. wine- windows emulator
  15. kaffeine - multimedia player
  16. GIMP - image editor
  17. Firefox - browser
  18. Opera - browser
  19. Openoffice - office suite
  20. Pidgin - instant messaging
  21. KGet - download manager, i use wget usually, but if I want queuing I use this.
  22. Klipper - clipboard
  23. gstreamer and plugins for totem - multimedia player
  24. XAMPP - server for my joomla study
  25. Amarok - music player/organiser
  26. Vuze - bittorent client
  27. Frostwire - p2p (like limewire)
  28. Konversation - irc
  29. Filezilla - ftp upload
Ross
Ross #6
Oct 6, 2008 at 11:50 PM
Internet: Mozilla Firefox.
Media Player : Rhythmbox and Totem.
Text Editor : GEdit
Office : OpenOffice, Evince Document Viewer.
Image Editors/Viewers : GIMP, Inkscape Vector Graphics Editor, F-Spot.
P2p : Transmission.
Messenger : Pidgin.
CD/DVD Burning : Brasero.
:)
MetalheadGautham
Oct 7, 2008 at 4:17 AM
@NucleusKore: K3B ? How did you get that to work ? You using an SVN version ?
NucleusKore
Oct 7, 2008 at 7:42 AM
I use the rpms from Packman or debs packaged by MOTU.
My current k3b version is 1.0.5

The same is available in my package collections on this forum.
H
Hitboxx #9
Oct 7, 2008 at 7:43 AM
I use a lot of mix and match, so *www.imgx.org/files/23730_rps5h/apps.jpg

Primarily, Firefox for Internet, QuodLibet for Audio and Totem for Video.
Psychosocial
Oct 7, 2008 at 8:25 AM
Just installed Ubuntu yesterday though I have used it before.....its really good :D.

As per now -->>

Amarok as music player
Pidgin for IMs and chatting
Evolution as a mail client
FireFox as the browser
Wine for a little games and stuff as I have no Windows OS right now.
Transmission for torrents :D
hullap
hullap #11
Oct 7, 2008 at 10:36 AM
I use a lot of mix and match, so *www.imgx.org/files/23730_rps5h/apps.jpg

Primarily, Firefox for Internet, QuodLibet for Audio and Totem for Video.
why is the phirst app in gfx blurred? :twisted:
gary4gar
gary4gar #12
Oct 8, 2008 at 3:07 AM
  1. Firefox as browser
  2. Gmail's web interface as mail client
  3. Dolphin as File manager
  4. Shaman as Default Package Manager
  5. K3B or Nerolinux for CD/DVD burning
  6. Kopete as Instant Messenger
  7. Amarok as Music player & manager
  8. Smplayer as Default Vedio player
  9. Kate as Defaulte text editor
  10. Konsole as terminal
  11. Lotus Notes Suite as Office Application
  12. FFmpeg/mencoder for Video conversion/Encoding of Home Videos
  13. Konversation for IRC


All this on
Arch Linux 2.6.26 x86_64
with KDEmod 4 as default DE
Sykora
Sykora #13
Oct 8, 2008 at 7:17 AM
I use...

Ratpoison as wm (Although I will be switching to stumpwm soon)

Opera - Primary Browser
Elinks - Secondary Browser
mutt - Email
irssi - IRC
#bitlbee - IM
rss2email - feeds
feh - image viewer
wordnet - dictionary (SUPER)
gnuchess - Chess
vim - Text Editor
vim + latex - Word processing.
genisoimage and wodim - CD Burning

Openoffice.org - Only when I have to print something.
sc - spreadsheeting
devtodo - todo lists
pal - calendar and event notifier

mpc/mpd/ncmpc - music
mplayer - video
aptitude - package management
wget - downloads

Konsole - Term emulator (I'd rather use urxvt, but rp doesn't tile them too well.)

Best of the lot :
zsh - One shell to rule them all.

The rest are mostly scripts that I've written myself, when I haven't found a program for what I needed.
phreak0ut
phreak0ut #14
Oct 8, 2008 at 2:29 PM
KDE as WM
Opera/Firefox(depending on the need) for browsing
Pidgin/Kopete for IM
Amarok for audio
MPlayer for video
OOo for docs
gedit for text editing
GIMP for image editing
K3B for burning, but I'm still a bit scared to use it as I don't want discs which will work only on linux :-/
gnochmviewer for chm files
Dolphin for file management.

This is all I can think of now. Posting from Windows :D
MetalheadGautham
Oct 8, 2008 at 2:41 PM
^^For making discs that work on both linux and windows, select that option from K3B. You can choose to make linux discs, linux/windows discs, dos discs and UDF discs.

And you should use KCHMViewer instead of gnochmviewer. Why use gnome app when kde app exists ?

As for browser, have you tried to use Konqueror ? I think its beautiful in KDE4.1.
gary4gar
gary4gar #16
Oct 8, 2008 at 3:04 PM
As for browser, have you tried to use Konqueror ? I think its beautiful in KDE4.1.
Konqueror sucks as a Broswer and file manager.
That why Dolphin has replaced it in KDE4.

IMO, KDE4 users should use Opera:p

K3B for burning, but I'm still a bit scared to use it as I don't want discs which will work only on linux :-/

Don't worry, it would work fine with windows.
you seem like a Windows guy, so try Nero Linux:D
MetalheadGautham
Oct 11, 2008 at 6:04 AM
Konqueror sucks as a Broswer and file manager.
That why Dolphin has replaced it in KDE4.

IMO, KDE4 users should use Opera:p
Wrong. Konqueror is still a great file manager, thanks to its multi-tab feature which only PCManFM has outside konqueror. Its not even present in Dolphin.

And Konqueror rocks as a browser, and is especially plesant for browsing FTP sites :D

Its dual web/local nature makes it ideal for managing online hosting accounts via FTP.

And its interface is the only thing thats bad in its browser - way too minimalistic for my liking.
NucleusKore
Oct 11, 2008 at 7:13 AM
^+1
Konqueror does give that local feel to ftp browsing, just like Windows explorer used to give earlier.
hellknight
Oct 11, 2008 at 11:33 AM
Firefox and Opera (Konqueror and Midori too sometimes)
Amarok ( I really, really, really like this app)
K3B
VLC Player,
Pidgin
Evolution
Wget
Konqueror (its really powerful)
W3M (for looking cool in front of my friends :D)
Mplayer (from the command line)
Prism
Ktorrent
GNOME (primary DE and KDE Secondary DE)
GIMP (for killing time when the internet is not working)
G
Oct 11, 2008 at 12:41 PM
i love GNU-Octave

and as usual normal linux tools like Open office,Xine,etc that usually come with my Mandriva
shady_inc
shady_inc #21
Oct 12, 2008 at 2:42 PM
I use...

Ratpoison as wm (Although I will be switching to stumpwm soon)

Opera - Primary Browser
Elinks - Secondary Browser
mutt - Email
irssi - IRC
#bitlbee - IM
rss2email - feeds
feh - image viewer
wordnet - dictionary (SUPER)
gnuchess - Chess
vim - Text Editor
vim + latex - Word processing.
genisoimage and wodim - CD Burning

Openoffice.org - Only when I have to print something.
sc - spreadsheeting
devtodo - todo lists
pal - calendar and event notifier

mpc/mpd/ncmpc - music
mplayer - video
aptitude - package management
wget - downloads

Konsole - Term emulator (I'd rather use urxvt, but rp doesn't tile them too well.)

Best of the lot :
zsh - One shell to rule them all.

The rest are mostly scripts that I've written myself, when I haven't found a program for what I needed.
Wow...lots of apps there of which I haven't even heard.
K
kgas #22
Oct 13, 2008 at 6:01 PM
It is nice to see what applications are used by individuals. In my view the usage is highly a personal taste. For a normal user
an office suite (OOo) ,
a web browser (FF 3),
a mail client (TB, really good),
a photo editor (picasa),
vlc player (alternative :XBMC media player like media center in windows)
kino for video editing
will just do and are the basic ones.
Remaining all depends on the user what he/she would like to do.
gary4gar
gary4gar #23
Oct 13, 2008 at 6:51 PM
Wrong. Konqueror is still a great file manager, thanks to its multi-tab feature which only PCManFM has outside konqueror. Its not even present in Dolphin.

Sorry, you are wrong this time:p
Dolphin supports multiple tabs. And it has everything i expect from a decent file manager to have. On top it a Great easy to use interface.
My cousin(die hard windows fan) asked me if this thingy has a windows version too:D

*www.imgx.org/pthumbs/small/11819/2008-10-13-184922_1024x768_scrot.png
MetalheadGautham
Oct 13, 2008 at 8:41 PM
really ? I lost touch with KDE, since my 256mb ram is no longer sufficient to run KDE.
K
khattam_ #26
Oct 15, 2008 at 1:07 PM
Ubuntu Hardy Heron with:
GNOME as DE
SMplayer as Video Player
Exaile as audio Player
VLC as Backup Media Player
OpenOffice for General Document Processing (Not used much)
Eclipse as IDE
Firefox as Browser
ThunderBird as Email Client
Pidgin\Kopete as IM Client
GIMP for basic photo editing
Downloader For X as Download Manager
xCHM as CHM viewer
Gedit as text editor
K3B as Burner
hellknight
Oct 17, 2008 at 10:50 PM
Wow.. one guy is using Mutt.. @Sykora.. how about posting a screenshot of the client!!
krazzy
krazzy #29
Oct 18, 2008 at 9:47 AM
Which apps are used in Linux to create/open Zip and Rar files? Also is these a multi-codec pack like K-Lite for Windows on Linux?
Faun
Faun #30
Oct 18, 2008 at 10:20 AM
^^yup you get all these things :D

file roller for archive (i personally tar.gz files instead of rar or zip as its better)
gstreamer and W32xodecs to play almost ll media
gary4gar
gary4gar #31
Oct 18, 2008 at 10:47 AM
Which apps are used in Linux to create/open Zip and Rar files? Also is these a multi-codec pack like K-Lite for Windows on Linux?
Use mplayer - it plays nearly all formats you throw at it.

Also, there is VLC present;)
Sykora
Sykora #32
Oct 18, 2008 at 12:38 PM
@hellknight : Here you go. View it full-size, you can't really see anything in the thumbnail.

*www.imgx.org/pthumbs/small/11894/screenshot_2008-10-18_1232_1680x1050.png

Mutt, running inside urxvt.
Dark Star
Dark Star #33
Oct 18, 2008 at 2:13 PM
1. Smplayer
2. Amarok 2 Beta 2
3. FF 3.0.3
4. OOO 3.0.0
5. Ktorrent
6. Kget
7. KsCD, K3b, Gimp 2.6.1, Gwenbiew, Okular , Qt toolkit , and host of other Kapps.

P.s : I find KDE apps more pronounced and better than gnome ;)
K
karmanya #35
Oct 24, 2008 at 7:44 AM
What should I use for a c++ and python compiler? Under Hardy Heron. The c++ compiler has to be able to handle non- ANSI code.
MetalheadGautham
Oct 24, 2008 at 3:20 PM
What should I use for a c++ and python compiler? Under Hardy Heron. The c++ compiler has to be able to handle non- ANSI code.
Non ANSI code ? You mean your CBSE Class 11/12 TC equivalent ?
Then I suggest you install DOSbox. Its in almost any distro's repos.
Then make a copy of your school's version of TC 3.0 and extract it to a folder named DOS in your home directory.
After that, mount that directory as C under dosbox.
Now, you can access tc/bin/tc.exe and run school code.
red_devil
red_devil #37
Dec 3, 2008 at 7:16 PM
hey guys, i use Ubuntu 8.10 n XP on my pc...

there are tools which let me write to XP partitions when i'm on Ubuntu like NTFS-config.. but is there any tool which would let me access my Ubuntu folders and let me write some files on it ??

<ps:didn't want to create a new thread as i thought this was a question within the domain of this thread..>
Rahim
Rahim #38
Dec 3, 2008 at 10:37 PM
@n6300 *www.fs-driver.org/
red_devil
red_devil #39
Dec 4, 2008 at 8:36 PM
@rahimveron, i installed that s/w but when i access a linux partition through control panel it asks me if i want to format that partition...

what am i doing wrong ??
A
anarchist #40
Dec 7, 2008 at 9:55 PM
i mostly use
1. tvtime
2. firefox
3. openoffice: calc, writer & impress
4. games: chess, frozen bubble & supertux
MetalheadGautham
Dec 9, 2008 at 6:58 PM
@rahimveron, i installed that s/w but when i access a linux partition through control panel it asks me if i want to format that partition...

what am i doing wrong ??

I suggest Ext2Fsd. Its easy to use, and just configure it during install and you are done. You can access ubuntu's ext2 and ext3 partitions easily, but with ext3, you must force enable write to partition without journalising.
K
khattam_ #42
Apr 5, 2009 at 5:38 PM
Different set now:
Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex with:
Gnome as DE after the latest KDE 4.2.1 update was buggy.
Synaptic as package manager
IM:
Kopete (primary)
GYachE (for yahoo Voice chat)
Browser:
Firefox (primary)
Opera
Video Player:
VLC (primary)
Gstreamer Codecs
Totem (when vlc does not play)
RealPlayer (last option)
SMPlayer (DVD Playback)
Audio Player:
Amarok (Primary)
VLC (sometimes)
Download Manager:
Firefox Default (small files)
Kget (larger files.. thinking of switching to another Download Manager because of the kget forget what was downloading after unexpected termination/crash/power failure problem)
wget (to resume firefox downloads... when firefox stops while downloading a large file, I realize that I should have used kget :) )
Flashgot Firefox Add-on to add files easily to Download Manager
Video Download Helper Add-on for Firefox when I have to download embedded video\audio
Email Client:
Mozilla Thunderbird
Google Desktop Search for Desktop searching
Okular as PDF viewer
Adobe Acrobat Reader for Printing PDFs
xCHM for chm viewing
Liverpool_fan
Apr 5, 2009 at 6:08 PM
@rahimveron, i installed that s/w but when i access a linux partition through control panel it asks me if i want to format that partition...

what am i doing wrong ??
It should work if it has been partitioned with ext2/ext3 but will not work with ReiserFS or XFS or JFS etc and I am unsure for ext4.
Which is the filesystem you have formatted Ubuntu / partition?
talktorishav
Apr 5, 2009 at 9:02 PM
Default Ubuntu 8.10 with

Amarok
Thunderbird
Xchat
Pidgin
Nautilus
File roller
Gnome-do
vlc
Tomboy notes
Wine
Sokoban
Gimp
ooo3
and lot more I cant remember atm
Faun
Faun #45
Apr 5, 2009 at 11:18 PM
hot-babe :D
F
FilledVoid #46
Apr 6, 2009 at 1:10 AM
Firefox
Pidgin
Azureus
Deluge
MPD
Sonata
Xchat
Evolution
gnokii
Chess
Pidgin