What OSS do you use?

[krygny]

Just wondering what Free Open Source Software yous think are nice t' have / gotta have, etc. I'm not currently running a recent version of Linux on any of the computers in my dominion but I do use a lot of OSS on Windows, both at home and at work. Here's what I use on a regular basis:

Firefox (work/home)
Browser.

Thunderbird (home)
Email and news client.

OpenOffice.org (work/home)
I do have a licensed copy of MS Office 2000 installed on all my computers. I rarely use it and it is the last one I will ever need.

GIMP (work/home)
As robust and powerful as PhotoShop, and in some ways, more so. However, most long-time PhotoShop users don't like the interface - things aren't arranged the same.

UFraw (home)
For processing the multitude of non-standard RAW image formats. Supports nearly all digital cameras around today. Works as a graphical stand-alone program or as a plug-in for GIMP.

jEdit (work/home)
The last thing anybody needs is another text editor, and I'd rather it weren't Java based but this has so damn many powerful features I just can't help myself.

Inkscape (work)
Vector graphic tool with native SVG output. Good for general illustrating.

Dia (work)
Vector graphic tool similar to Visio. Good for block diagrams, flowcharts, orthographics, etc.

PDFCreator (home)
A neat little program that works just like a print driver, except it prints to a PDF file. Essential for laptops. (@ work, I use Acrobat Pro 'cause it's somebody else's 400 bucks.)

Ghostscript and GSview (work)
Postscript processor and viewer. Not the sort of thing many people need but I do a lot of work with .ps, .eps and PDF files.

Apache (work/home)
Most people don't need a web server either, but I do some occasional web development and testing. The Apache http server is the most widely run software on the planet, and by far the most successful software project in history. Perhaps because it is beautifully designed, well engineered and comprehensively documented. In a word, sublime.

Audacity (home)
An amazingly powerful audio recorder and editor.

7-Zip (work/home)
Archive program like WinZip, but has better compression algorithms and supports more archive formats.

Filezilla (work/home)
Graphical FTP client comparable to, but IMO, better than WSftpPro. They also have an FTP server that's secure and easy to set up.

TightVNC (work/home)
A remote desktop client/service that is more secure and performs better than Windows' Remote Desktop Connection Manager (less latency and better color rendition). I've never used PC Anywhere (never needed it) so I don't know how it compares.

I don't claim to be proficient with all of them but I do use them all and always manage to get the job done.

[LChisum]

Hey krygny, great list! I'm going to give a couple of those a try. I am religious about using Firefox and Open Office, but when I gave Thunderbird a try a couple of years ago, I didn't like it compared to Outlook Express. It didn't display images inline, and it was more difficult to address outgoing email. Maybe they have improved it in the interim.
I am trying to teach myself a little web development, and recently downloaded Tersus Visual Programming . I don't know enough about it yet to make any judgments, but it seems to be a straight forward, Visual Basic like, open source web development system.

Larry

[iglesias]

Originally posted by LChisum
Hey krygny, great list! I'm going to give a couple of those a try. I am religious about using Firefox and Open Office, but when I gave Thunderbird a try a couple of years ago, I didn't like it compared to Outlook Express. It didn't display images inline, and it was more difficult to address outgoing email. Maybe they have improved it in the interim.
Larry

I get images displayed inline. I started using Thunderbird about a year ago, right about the time they went from v1.0.x to 1.5 (now 1.5.0.10).

There are a lot of nice extensions to Thunderbird as well, so you may want to look at those too. I'm using these extensions:

ConfigDate
header scroll extension
Mail Redirect
View Headers Toggle Button
New Mail Icon
Restart Thunderbird
Maximize Message Pane
Xpunge
keyconfig
Quicktext
Enigmail

[krygny]

Originally posted by LChisum
...
It didn't display images inline, and it was more difficult to address outgoing email.
...
recently downloaded Tersus Visual Programming .
...

Yes, Thunderbird displays images inline but it initially blocks them from download until you hit the 'display images' button. For addressing, I find the type-ahead feature is usually all I need. Also check the 'Collected Addresses' folder in the address book; it keeps a record of every incoming and outgoing recipient/addressee.

I'm not a programmer but I'm still kind of old-school when it comes to hacking out scripts and HTML - I use the text editor. I really have to find a good graphical/visual IDE and make my life easier, at least for quick jobs. I'll give Tersus a try. Thanks.

[5Gs]

good list! I used probably half of your list. here's a few more I've used or am currently using:

FreeNAS

Gallery

Gaim

Nagios

MySQL

I'm sure I'm using a bunch more I can't think of right now.

[5Gs]

to make my windows desktop more like my linux desktop.

http://virt-dimension.sourceforge.net/

Welcome to Virtual Dimension: a free, fast, and feature-full virtual desktop manager for Windows platform. The main goal of this open-source project is indeed to enhance the Microsoft "Window Manager" up to the level of usual Unix Window Manager, by providing virtual desktops, as well as some additional features, like always on top, window shading...

[krygny]

I had four desktops available when I used CDE on Solaris, but I never really got in the habit of using more than one. Maybe my thinking was a bit too two-dimensional. And earlier versions of KDE acted "funny" when switching desktops. I haven't thought about it much recently but I'd probably put them to better use now. I'm just a little disappointed in the level of development activity on that project.

[5Gs]

http://www.openwall.com/john/

good idea to check against your password to see if it's secure.

[5Gs]

http://www.truecrypt.org/

disk encryption software. I've used it to encrypt a usb drive that contained a few financial files. really easy to use.

[krygny]

Originally posted by krygny
...
jEdit (work/home)
The last thing anybody needs is another text editor, and I'd rather it weren't Java based but this has so damn many powerful features I just can't help myself.
...

Switched to .::NOTEPAD++::. a while back.

[krygny]

FullSync

As a backup solution, I've always preferred a simple mirror of files and directories rather than incrmental / compressed / archives that need to be restored by a proprietary program. I used to hack out my own batch scripts and that always worked well, but a hassle to maintain, update and test.

Until recently, I was using SyncToy, which is free, but FullSync is just another example of a FOSS program that is simply better, in almost every way, than what Microsoft offers.