Recommended Applications

Backup Software

The following software are used and recommended by locals to back up Linux desktops:

• rsnapshot is a simple command line backup tool used by Mark. It has the benefit of being very space efficient, and not requiring any special tools to restore the data. Despite being a command line utility, it is simple to setup and use, as well as automate if you'd like.

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.

Connecting to AOL with Linux

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:

1. Make sure your modem installed and working. That task is beyond the scope
   of this article. You can proceed and hope this is already working.
2. Open a text editor as root. You'll need to this to update
   some configuration files. Try pressing "ALT-F2" to display a "run command" box,
   and enter kate in the box. Kate is a text editor.
   Press the Options button, check the box to "run as another user".
   Then you can editor the password for root, and press "run" to open the editor.
3. With Kate, open the file /etc/penggy/aol-secrets. Enter your
   AOL usernames and passwords to connect with there. Save it.
4. With Kate, open the file /etc/penggy/phonetab. Enter the phone numbers
   that AOL should try to dial. Save it.
5. With Kate, open /etc/penngy/penggy.conf. This
   is a longer configuration file, but very little needs to be changed in
   it in most cases. Scroll down or search for "screen_name". After the
   related block of comments, add a new line with your preferred screen
   name like: screen_name = YouSoCool53.
   If something doesn't work later on, you may need to poke around more
   in this file for other possible changes.
6. Create a menu entry. By right clicking on the start menu ("K menu"), you
   launch the menu editor. With it, you can navigate to the internet category,
   and add a new application entry. I titled mine "Connect to AOL". The command
   to use is:

   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

• Installing Software on Mandriva Linux
• Recommended Modems for use with Linux
• Linspire Linux has their own AOL dialer which appears to be very easy to install and use.

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.

E-mail

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.

Financial Software

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.)

GnuCash

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.

Music Management

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.

Office Suites

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!

Photo Management

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