software on your desktop computer. Here is a collection of resources to help you evaluate and use open source software on your desktop computer.
You may also wish to visit our glossary of related terms.
The following local services around Richmond, Indiana may be of interest to those using open source software.
Here are some easy tips to make your Linux desktop run even faster.
. abiword-plugins package adds support for more file formats, making it easier to work with Word and OpenOffice files.
If you would consider replacing all or most of your applications with lighter weight versions, consider installing a complete, light weight Linux distribution instead. Recommendations are linked to below.
See Also
The following software are used and recommended by locals to back up Linux desktops:
Mandriva Linux users will be pleasantly surprised to find that a decent backup utility is built into the Mandriva Control Center. Called "DrakBackup", it has a wizard to set up your backup and a number of options to help you work through the details of how you'd like your backup to be set up.
You can connect reliably to AOL with Mandriva Linux using the free 'penggy'
software, downloadable from here. Once
downloaded, you should be able to double-click the resulting icon to install
it.
It lacks a graphical interface, but is easy to setup and use none-the-less.
I set it up in just a few minutes and it connnected on the first try.
Here are some steps to follow once you have it installed:
root. You'll need to this to updatekate in the box. Kate is a text editor.Options button, check the box to "run as another user"./etc/penggy/aol-secrets. Enter your/etc/penggy/phonetab. Enter the phone numbers/etc/penngy/penggy.conf. Thisscreen_name = YouSoCool53. echo "root password: " && su -c /usr/sbin/penggy
This will prompt you for the root password, which is necessary to run penngy.
Once the menu entry is created, check the box for the entry labeled "Open in a terminal".
Press the "Save" icon to finish this step.
Now you are ready to try it out! You should be able to select the menu entry to
penggy. Enter the root password in the resulting terminal, and watch the
output to see how things go. If there is a problem, you may need to make an adjust
to one of the steps above.
When you ready to disconnect from AOL, just close this terminal window.
See Also
This article is in no way an endorsement of AOL. The waste they generate from mailing
out unwanted CDs is horrendous. (Although the CD cases are often re-usable...)
You are encouraged to seek internet service from a locally owned ISP when possible.
Check here to find one. The author of this document does not currently use AOL
and is unlikely to be able to provide further assistance.
If you're looking for a great e-mail client for Linux, you don't have to look very far. Kmail comes installed by default if you install KDE. It's a great application that is similar to (but better than) Microsoft's Outlook.
If you're looking for something a little simpler that only has your basic email/address book/rss functionality, I highly recommend Mozilla Thunderbird. Thunderbird is also available for OS X and Windows, and is a recommended alternative to Outlook's e-mail functionality as well.
There are many other email apps out there, but either of these two will likely meet your needs.
Moneydance is excellent personal
financial management software for Linux. It also runs on Mac OS X and Windows,
which means it's easy to try out even before a complete switch to Linux
happens.
While Moneydance is free to try, there is a $25 cost to add more than 100
transactions.
Mark and Hopi like it because it has many of the features and ease-of-use of
Quicken, and supports importing the standards QIF format. This makes switching
from Quicken or Money rather easy.
Moneydance is easy to install following the instructions on their website. You
may need to add your own menu entry when you are done. (Try right-clicking on
the Start menu to launch the menu editor.)
For those who prefer a free, open source solution, there are good alternatives
as well. GnuCash is perhaps the most
popular and comes with Mandriva Linux. It is capable of small business
accounting as well as personal finance management. Locally, Ehren Nagel uses
it to manage the finances of his own small businesses.
It uses a double entry accounting system which take some adjusting for Quicken users.
Like Moneydance, it imports the QIF format for an easy transistion.
If you're looking for an open source alternative for iTunes, Windows Media Player, WinAmp or any other similar application I highly recommend amaroK. It has some very nice features such as lyric and Wikipedia integration and auto album art retrival, none of which are available on most other applications.
AmaroK will most likely be the default music player for Linux distributions that use KDE, such as Mandriva.
When it comes to office suites, OpenOffice is the clear choice. A capable rival to Microsoft Office, it is available Linux, Mac and Windows, and is installed by default on the most popular Linux distributions.
OpenOffice is known for it's high compatibility with the Microsoft Office file formats, so files can be easily exchanged with people who still use that. As well, the look and feel is designed to make the transition from Microsoft Office easy.
Locally, Earlham School of Religion uses OpenOffice exclusively in its student labs, and Randolph Southern High School uses it on 120 computers. OpenOffice is in use regularly at area businesses including Whitewater Acupuncture and Summersault website development.
Before you purchase or upgrade Microsoft Office, you owe it to yourself to check out OpenOffice!
Linux has excellent options for photo management.
Mark and Hopi use Digikam, which is installed as part of Mandriva Linux.
Evan had been using Picasa for Windows. He found he was able to run it easily with Linux using a free Windows emulator called WINE.
Linux magazine explores more options for photo management in Linux
Here is hardware recommended by local folk for use with open source software.
Firewire are USB 2 offer high speed ways to connect to devices, making them ideal ways to connect to external hard drives or digital video cameras.
For Linux Laptops, the Zonet ZUC2700 FireWire/USB2 PCMCIA card is recommended for laptops. In Mark's testing with Mandriva 2006, the card Just Worked by plugging it in, no special drivers or configuration were required. It includes a port plug in an additional power adapter. It's not needed for low-power applications like flash card readers, or when the external drive supplies it's own power, but may be need for an external drive that depends on USB for power. No power supply is included, but ZoNet support reports that the kind that should be used with it is: "a 5v, center positive, DC power adapter".
The Thinkpad T23 is a model which has two PCMCIA slots on top of each other. This card fit in the slot with the recommended 2wire card underneath.
Mark recommends IBM Thinkpad laptops because they are low cost, highly functional and well-supported. There is an excellent resource website for Linux on Thinkpads at Thinkwiki.org.
ROSCo members who use Thinkpads include Mark Stosberg, Kurt Ritchie, and Matt Woida.
The models we use come from the product range of T20,T21,T22 and T23. This were found on E-bay for around $300. Some even come with pre-installed. I would look at these first not only for the convenience, but also because the laptops with Linux pre-installed tend to sell for a little less on E-bay. Mark and Hopi found that no one else even bid on their $300 Linux laptops!
These models may not come with built-in wireless capabilities, so you may want to supplement it with a wireless card we recommend
Most any standard wheel or optical mouse should work with Linux with no effort at all, including scroll wheel mice.
Laptops can often be taughth to emulate a scroll wheel using their builtin touchpad or TrackPoint. There's a page on the Thinkwiki site which explains how to emulate a scroll on Thinkpad laptops.
There are a number of hidden uses of the scroll wheel waiting to be discovered. Try these:
Linux has reputation for running well on older harder.
This is true, but it's not pixie dust that you can sprinkle on any old piece of hardware and expect the Prince of Good Performance to appear.
Generally, expect Linux to perform about like Windows does on the same hardware. Or more accurately, expect to perform like Windows does before it's bogged down with an investation of spyware and adware.
Mark recommends the following as minimum specs for a Linux desktop experience that will fill comfortable to use for everyday applications including web browsing, e-mail, office applications, watching video clips and basic music and photo processing.
The absolute minimums are usually much lower. Check the details for your preferred distribution of Linux before you install.
If you have particularly old hardware you'd like to keep alive, be prepared to use it a little differently.
Damn Small Linux is an easy to use LiveCD full of slimmed-down applications. It gives you the option to add larger applications like OpenOffice if your computer can handle it.
Modems can sometimes be a sticking point with Linux. Locally, Mark recommends the Best Data v.92 USB modem, available at OfficeMax.
The vendor, Smart Link, has a clue and provides Linux drivers.
However, at least with Mandriva Linux you won't need them-- they are included in Mandriva Discovery disc set.
To start using it, simply plug it in, and go through Mandriva's wizard to set a new modem connection. It will lead you through installing the needed software from the Mandriva CDs if necessary.
Thanks to Kurt Ritchie for the initial research on this modem.
For a list of printers recommended for use with Linux, see LinuxPrinting.org's page of suggested printers.
LinuxPrinting.org also has a service to check the a compatibility of a particular printer model.
Even if you don't need the portability of laptop, consider the following. Laptops include LCD screens, which are easy to read and can show more "screen real estate" than conventional monitors. A 15" laptop screen can contain as much detail as a 17" old school model.
If you don't like using a laptop on your lap, it's easy to prop it on a stand to put the screen at eye level, and plug in an conventional keyboard and mouse if you like.
Laptops can be silent. Laptops can quickly suspend and resume, making them totally quiet, while providing a much faster alternative to shutting down and booting up again.
Rethink portability. You don't have to travel to enjoy the portability of laptop. It can be nice to compute on the couch or in the kitchen for a change of pace. Also, there are now some free "wireless hotspots" around Richmond, like Charlie's Coffee bar, providing additional locations to work and play on the 'net.
Laptops are also fairly upgradable. They can typically support more memory, a larger hard drive, a DVD or CDRW upgrade, not to mention the many USB devices that can be plugged in as, as well as the special slot laptops have for PCMCIA cards.
Laptops save energy. You'll be even more prepared to live up the grid with a power-saving laptop!
Last but not least, laptops can now be bought at prices comparable with desktop systems, removing a key barrier to their adoption.
For best security and forward compatibility, choose a wireless card that supports the WPA2 standard.
However, when connecting to public "wi-fi hotspots", typically no encryption at all is used, and a cheaper card may work for that.
Besides WPA, there is an older standard called WEP that provides some encryption, but is no longer considered secure.
The following recommendations are for WEP cards, which are lower cost and may still be of interest to some home users, as well as those primarily using the cards at public wi-fi hotspots.
The Orinico Gold 802.11b WEP wireless card is a great product that is very well supported by Linux.
Locally, at least four of us are using this kind of card in our laptops with good results.
If this link to the 2wire refurbished cards still works, you are in luck. Pick one up for about $35 including shipping.
Using the wireless card could be as easy as inserting it into the machine and connecting to a public wi-fi network.
For a more complete list, see the Free Software Foundations (long!) list of wireless cards that work well with Free Software and Linux.
OfficeMax sells a Linksys Wireless-G "WMP54G v4.1" PCI wireless card. This is the style made to go in desktop computers. In August, 2007, these sold for about $50, and were found to be compatible with Ubuntu Feisty (7.04) Linux.
Unlike Windows and Macintosh, there are many distributions of software. Each one starts with the Linux kernel, or core, and ships many applications with it.
This creates innovation as the different distributions push each other to be the best, but it can make a difficult choice for a potential Linux user. Which distribution to choose?
Here are some recommendations from other local users.
Mandriva is recommended by Mark Stosberg and is being used by several around town. Mark says "Mandriva is easy to install, use and administer. New and advanced users will be at home."
Linspire is being used on 120 computers at Randolph Southern High School. It is designed to be very easy to use.
Ubuntu is now considered to be the most popular Linux distribution, and is also used by a number of people locally. Read Mark's comparison of Mandriva and Ubuntu.
The following Linux distributions are made especially for old hardware, and have been tested or used locally.
Xubuntu is recommended as a first choice for a light desktop, although perhaps it requires a little more resources than the other options listed here. Mark finds it very polished and pleasant to use. As part of the Ubuntu project, access to lots of other Ubuntu software programs and documentation are available if you need it. If already have Ubuntu installed and want to try Xubuntu, you can install the xubuntu-desktop package, making both the Gnome and Xubuntu packages installed. On the login screen, select "XFCE" as the session type. If Xubuntu is still too slow on your computer, read on...
Puppy Linux provides impressive functionality and ease of use in a small package. It's mininum requirements are listed as being a 166Mhz processor and 128 Megs of RAM. Mark and Kurt have tested it locally and give it thumbs up.
Damn Small Linux has the lowested advertised minimum requirements of the choices here-- only a 486 with 16Megs of RAM! It is distributed a 50 Meg business-card size CD. However, with such small package comes a price. It is less user-friendly than Puppy Linux. However, the business card LiveCD can make a highly portable instant Linux desktop. Mark has used it as Linux rescue CD in the past.
The Macintosh operating system is built on a large foundation of open source software, and runs many more open source titles easily.
For example, the printing system and the windows file sharing in OS X use the same open source technologies as Linux. The Safari web browser shares the same rendering system of the Konqueror browser popular on Linux.
An excellent resource to find open source software for Mac OS X is OpenSourceMac.org.
Open Source software isn't just for Linux. Many excellent applications are available for Windows and Mac OS X as well.
While switching completely from Windows to Linux is recommended and usually feasible, you can try some great applications you'll find on Linux before the switch.
To find out more about free Open Source software for Windows, here are some recommended options.
The Open CD is a free CD that contains many open source Windows programs. Through their website, you can learn more, download some applications immediately, or purchasing a convenient CD for just a couple of bucks. The CD is a joy to browse through, with easy to read descriptions and screenshots. To make it ultimately cool, it also doubles as a Ubuntu LiveCD, allowing you directly and easily a complete Linux desktop without altering your Windows installation at all.
OpenOffice and Firefox are highly recommended!
A little more adventurous option is have a free Ubuntu LiveCD shipped to you (Two CDs mailed to you completely free!). One of the CDs will contain
several open source applications for Windows including:
Using these disks, you can also demo a complete Linux desktop using the included LiveCD, or install Ubuntu
using the Install CD.
