The Linux Programs I Use and What they Are

Firefox 4 – My preferred web browser. I used a PPA to get version 4.

Evolution – My email client, as robust and featured as Microsoft Outlook.

Rhythmbox – My music player, much better than iTunes.

Totem Movie Player – My video and audio player, it will play just about anything.

Hulu Desktop – I use this to watch movies online.

gPodder – The best podcatcher available.

Miro – I occasionally use it to watch videos online.

LibreOffice Writer – Simply the best office suite out there and is compatible to Microsoft Word.

Transmission – My BitTorrent client.

Brasero – A great disk burning utility.

Fontmatrix – Use it to manage true type fonts.

Decibel – A small music player.

Cheese – The best webcam utility for Linux.

Empathy – The instant messaging client I currently use.

Skype – The best voice over Internet program.

XChat Gnome – An easy to use chat program.

gedit – A great program I use for my show notes for the Gnostic Podcast.

Audacity – The easiest and best program for recording and editing audio.

MP3 Diags – Corrects VBR errors in mp3 files.

EasyTag – A great program for editing your ID3 tags and for adding album art.

Filezilla – The ftp client of choice.

gPHP Edit – A great program for writing and editing php.

GIMP – The best graphics program in Linux, but hard to learn. Not the most user friendly program.

Xiphos Bible Guide – The best open source Bible program.

W.I.N.E – There are two or three Windows programs I install under wine because there isn’t a satisfactory Linux equivalent. The two musts are Paint Shop Pro for graphics, and the Word for my Bible program. The third is Dreamweaver, which I use for so web  development stuff.

Gweled – I am not a big gamer, in fact I don’t play games but once in a blue moon. But when I do, Gweled is the only one I currently play.

Well that concludes my list. Remember that I am using the Gnome desktop and don’t want to use KDE applications because of their dependencies. I say that because there are a number of KDE applications that rock. Amarok and K3b come to mind instantly.

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Jay Forrest

Jay Forrest is a long‑time Linux enthusiast who switched to Ubuntu in 2008 after a Windows XP virus convinced him to embrace open‑source software. A former host of the Linux User Podcast, Jay has worked in technical support for AOL, EarthLink, and Route 66 Casino, built his first 486 in the 90s, and has provided web design for businesses and nonprofits. He works with HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and basic PHP, and enjoys exploring open‑source software. As a former Fedora Ambassador, Jay is dedicated to sharing why Linux—secure, stable, and open—remains his platform of choice.