David's Freeware Collection!

So you've finally bit the bullet and installed Linux on your system. Now you're wondering what to do next. Well, Linux is great but you're gonna need some software to run on it. The beauty of Linux is most software is free. This page has been set up to inform you what I feel is the software you'll want to install. Depending on the distro you've went with, it may already be installed! Anyway, browse through the following sections, and if you feel I missed anything let me know.

Open Office is the free, open source cousin to Microsoft Office. Where Microsoft wants to charge for licensing and fees for it’s office suite, Open Office is literally giving theirs away. It is a phenomenal program without pretension, giving users the ability to create spreadsheets, documents, and other presentations. Open Office also reads and edits MS Office documents so you don’t have to worry about your co-worker’s work not being compatible with your software. If anything, it is one of the most useful programs for even novice Linux users. Open Office brings familiarity of Microsoft-ish products to the Linux environment.

Open Office Features:

    * Writer - a word processor that can be used for anything.
    * Calc - a useful spreadsheet that allows you to calculate and present data.
    * Impress - a fast and powerful way to create multimedia presentations.
    * Draw - allows you to create diagrams, 3D illustrations, and everything in between.
    * Base - allows users to manipulate databases, modify tables, forms, queries, and reports.
    * Math - creates mathematical equations using a graphic interface.

OpenOffice

If youj're not going to use all the features OpenOffice offers and just want a nice word processor, let me recommend AbiWord.

AbiWord

Another nice alternative to OpenOffice is KOffice. KOffice includes the following components:

•     KWord - word processor and desktop publishing application
•     KSpread - obviosly, a spreadsheet application
•     KPresenter - allows you to make presentations just like PowerPoint
•     Krita - graphics application
•     Karbon - vector drawing application
•     KPlato - project management application
•     Kivio - diagramming and flowchart application

KOffice

If you’re looking for a desktop publishing program look no further than Scribus. For making signs, fliers, brochures, newsletters, it’s the way to go. Scribus is a desktop publishing app that gives you complete control over the layout of elements on the page. It works with CMYK color profiles and has PDF output, so the results are perfect for sending stuff off to the printer.

Scribus

Gimp is a free image program for Linux systems. GNU Image Manipulation Program (Gimp) is the premier image editing and painting software available for Linux under the GPL open source licence.

Gimp is not aimed at the beginner, it is a professional quality package aimed at the more experienced user. The help index is not always complete, so don't expect the help files to always be of much help or any help at all. If you are used to using professional quality image software (like Photoshop ) you will no doubt understand what most of the features do and how to use them, but otherwise you’re gonna be stuck looking to forums and GIMP support & tutorial sites for help with it.

GIMP

GIMPshop is a modification of GIMP that was designed to look and feel like Photoshop. It's perfect for those making the transition from Photoshop.

GIMPshop

Blender 3D offers high-quality, robust animation program with a steep learning curve and the ability to create commercial-quality 3D animations. The software is completely free, with extensive documentation available online for free.

Blender

Named after the Amarok album by Mike Oldfield, AmaroK is becoming everyone’s new iTunes. (Fortunately for Amarok there’s no Linux version of iTunes…and nobody’s gonna use Wine every time they want to play their music.) AmaroK is more than just a music player -  it organizes a library of music into folders by artist, genre, and album, can edit tags attached to most music formats and associate album art and attach lyrics. This is the BEST audio player I have ever used bar none.

AmaroK

Zinf is an another simple but powerful audio player for Linux.

Zinf

VLC Player is hands down one of the best media players on any platform…making it a must have in your linux arsenal. It's particularly useful for opening file extensions that most media players can't.

VLC Player

MPlayer is another awesome media player for Linux.

MPlayer

And just to show that you can have choice with Linux, another one to consider is KPlayer, a great KDE media player.

KPlayer

K3b was created to be a feature-rich and easy to handle CD burning application.

K3b

Firefox is the best browser out there, hands down.

Firefox

Pidgin is an easy to use and free chat client used by millions. Connect to AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and more chat networks all at once.

Pidgin

Konqueror is the file manager for the K Desktop Environment. It supports basic file management on local UNIX filesystems, from simple cut/copy and paste operations to advanced remote and local network file browsing. Konqueror is also an Open Source web browser with HTML 4.01 compliance, supporting Java applets as well as Flash or RealVideo plugins. Last but not least, Konqueror is a universal viewing application, capable of embedding read-only viewing components in itself to view documents without ever launching another application. You’ll really want it to cut down on a lot of frustration when first using Linux…there’s nothing it can’t view/open/use.

Konqueror

If you like Opera then there's a Linux version for you. And it works just like the Windows version.

Opera

Clam AV is designed especially for e-mail scanning on mail gateways.

ClamAV

TrueCrypt is the ideal solution for ALL your encryption needs.

TrueCrypt

Wine allows you to run Windows executable files inside of Linux.

Wine

Conky is a free, light-weight system monitor that displays any information on your desktop. Conky has more than 250 built in objects and can display just about anything. Not only does Conky have many built-in objects, it can also display just about any piece of information by using scripts and other external programs.

Conky