10 Great Linux Apps You Might Not Have Discovered Yet
KompoZer, WINE, andLinux, CheckGmail, Conduit
March 15, 2010
By Eric Geier
Have you just started to experiment with Linux? Are you looking for more than the
basic applications? Here we'll quickly review 10 Linux apps you might
want in addition to those preinstalled with Ubuntu or other Linux distribution (distro).
Now lets get started!
KompoZer for webpage editing
If you do any website authoring or work with HTML, you need a web
page editor. Though you'll probably have OpenOffice.org installed, which
supports basic HTML editing, you should have a tool specifically for
web authoring. One choice is the open source KompoZer application,
available for GNU/Linux, plus Windows and Mac OS X.
Like Microsoft's FrontPage and Expression Web and Adobe's Dream Weaver, KompoZer is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get)
editor. This means you can visually edit the web pages in addition to
being able to edit the raw HTML code. Other key features include
integrated FTP uploading, tabbed editing, and CSS support.
WINE for running Windows apps inside Linux
WINE is not just any application. Its more like an emulator or program
loader, capable of running Windows applications in Linux, BSD, Solaris
and Mac OS X. Its there so you can't make any excuses to why you can't
move to Linux. You can run any must-have Windows-based programs, right
inside your favorite distro. Though not every program works with WINE,
millions of people use it.
andLinux, an opposite of WINE
Want the cost-savings and freedom of Linux inside the familiar Microsoft OS? Well with
andLinux, you can seamlessly run Linux
right in Windows. You get the best of both world's!
After the installation, you'll find several apps already installed
and available from the system tray icon. You can use apt-get or Synaptic to
install any others. You can run the Linux and Windows applications
simultaneously. You can even copy, cut, and paste between them.
andLinux also includes shell extensions for Windows Explorer. For
example, Linux apps will appear in the Open With selections. File type
associations can also be assigned to Linux apps. There's even support for
Windows scripts.Conduit syncs almost everything
If you use multiple computers or mobile devices, check out
Conduit.
Its an all-in-one synchronization application. Keep your files, photos,
emails, contacts, notes, calendar data and other info up-to-date on
another computer, an online service, or mobile device. For instance,
sync your Tomboy notes with another PC, sync your email/PIM client to
your mobile phone or iPod. You might even want to keep photos up-to-date among Flickr,
Picasa, and your iPod. There are so many options.
CheckGmail gives you quick email access
If you use Google's Gmail for your emailing,
CheckGmail is a must-have
app. Like Google's official Gmail Notifier for Windows and Mac users,
this application puts an icon in the system tray to let you know when new
messages arrive. After the quick install, all you have to do to configure it
is enter your Gmail username and password.
CheckGmail will also give you a sneak peek of all new or unread
message with a quick and easy hover over the icon. You'll see the
message's subject, sender, and the first few lines of the message.
Shortcuts are even given for each message, to open, mark as read,
archive, report as spam, or delete.
|
