Ubuntu Software Recommendations?

[Red Hawk]

I just installed Ubuntu 12.04.1 on my laptop alongside Windows 7. I've installed some basic software (Flash, open source Java (IcedTea), AMD drivers) and I'm wondering what other basic software should I install to get the best Ubuntu experience. Anyone got any tips?

 

[MrColin]

The closed source AMD graphics driver if its the laptop on your sig. You will likely get better battery life and graphics performance than with the open driver. Double check that you can suspend/hibernate/and resume once its installed.

I also prefer chrome on all os's. I read somewhere that adobe is going to drop flash support for all other browsers on linux (its just built in to chrome). Out of date flashplayer is asking for trouble, I'd pull the one you installed and use no-script and adblock plugins for firefox. You can use FF for security-needed websites exclusively, and then chrome for random browsing. Thats what I do anyway.

 

[Red Hawk]

Already installed the closed source AMD drivers. As for Chrome, meh, I sort of dislike Chrome, but I'll certainly start using it if Adobe stops providing Flash updates for Linux.

 

[theevilsharpie]

Anyone got any tips?

Ubuntu Linux is a general purpose operating system that can be programmed to do anything you want. Can you be more specific on what type of software you want?

 

[Red Hawk]

Just general use, typing up documents, listening to music, etc. So anything that is necessary for smoothly using Ubuntu and anything that might be fun to mess around with. Is there anything that I need to install to make sure it's up to the functionality of Windows 7?

 

[theevilsharpie]

Windows 7 doesn't really do a whole lot out of the box. Windows needs a lot of third-party software to be effective, and everyone's needs (and resultant software loadout) are different.

If you're just exploring, you may want to look at sites such as Full Circle Magazine or OMG! Ubuntu!. They're geared toward desktop users, and often run application reviews, Top 10's, and other articles that'll help you find applications that might interest you. If you're looking for a replacement for a particular application that you use on Windows, look at AlternativeTo.

Here's some of the applications that I use. I bounce between Windows and Linux machines a lot, so when I choose which application to use, I lean toward apps that are cross-platform.

gnome-session-fallback - Desktop environment that replicates the look and feel of GNOME 2.x
Google Chrome - Web browsing and viewing Flash media
Pidgin - Instant Messaging
SpiderOak - Offsite backup and keeps files in sync between machines
Dropbox - Alternate sync and file sharing
Shutter - Screenshots
GIMP - Image editing
SpeedCrunch - Calculator I use when I'm doing more than one-off calculations
Weather Indicator - Little weather applet for my indicator bar
Pithos - Unofficial native Pandora app
LibreOffice - Documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc.
gedit - Basic text editor with syntax highlighting
Eclipse - Programming IDE
Firefox - Alternate web browser for things that have trouble in Chrome
Remmina - Remote Desktop client
VMware Workstations - Virtual machines
Skype - VoIP
gufw - GUI firewall manager
VLC - Audio and video player
BleachBit - Clears up temp files and such (kind of like CCleaner)
CryptKeeper - GUI frontend for eCryptFS, which can password-protect directories
TrueCrypt - Cross-platform folder encryption
KeePass2 - Password management​

 

[lxskllr]

DeaDBeeF music player
qBittorrent
GRPN rpn calculator
Xonotic arena shooter fps
convertall unit conversion
Conky system status display, and huge time sink :^D
xscreensavers great screensaver package
xpenguins penguins on your desktop
cowsay and xcowsay with fortunemod Cows tell you stuff
vrms tells you what non-free software's on your system. Doesn't see everything though
VirtualBox
Screenlets desktop widgets

 

[TSDible]

w

DeaDBeeF music player
qBittorrent
GRPN rpn calculator
Xonotic arena shooter fps
convertall unit conversion
Conky system status display, and huge time sink :^D
xscreensavers great screensaver package
xpenguins penguins on your desktop
cowsay and xcowsay with fortunemod Cows tell you stuff
vrms tells you what non-free software's on your system. Doesn't see everything though
VirtualBox
Screenlets desktop widgets

Do you like VirtualBox over VMWare?

I've gone full bore on my laptop... no more Windows at all on this system. I find myself very productive, except....

I still have to use MS Office for some of my work stuff on the road. LibreOffice is compatible, but not 100% with all the features my office uses.

I just ordered a new laptop, and plan to run a Windows system in a virtual machine just to run office.

 

[theevilsharpie]

I use VMware Workstation because I already have a library of pre-built VMs for it that I've built up over the years. I'm strongly contemplating a switch to VirtualBox as VMware Workstation 8 doesn't really work properly under Ubuntu 12.04 (there are some hacks involved), and rather than release a fix, VMware wants people to upgrade to Workstation 9.

Virtualbox is free, so you may as well try it out. I believe Virtualbox has a feature called Seamless Mode that will "hide" the desktop of a Windows VM, allowing you to treat MS Office as just another application.

However, before you go the VM route, I'd test to see if your version of Microsoft Office works in Wine.

 

[TSDible]

We do a bit of VBA stuff that never seems to work with wine.

I may have to check in to it again though...

 

[lxskllr]

I like that VirtualBox is libre software, and it works for my purposes. I've used a couple of the major packages on various systems, and for my needs, VirtualBox is fine. It's been a long time since I've used vmware so I can't give a point by point critique, but the general 'feel' I get from various tech forums is vmware is a little bit better. Better's relative though. On Windows, I really liked VirtualPC for some uses. It was technically inferior to just about anything else I used, but it was fast and easy to setup for Windows on Windows. If you didn't have to do anything special, it was the quickest to get going.

As the evilsharpie said, start with VirtualBox, and see if it works for you. If it's lacking something you'd like, give vmware a try. There's also xen and kvm, but I don't have personal experience. I also second the Wine suggestion. It should be compatible, though you may need to play with settings. If so, a web search should help you out. Wine's kind of hackish, and while it can get some Windows software working for you, I wouldn't count on it to run all your favorite Windows software. It's better to find a native replacement if possible.

 

[TSDible]

I like that VirtualBox is libre software, and it works for my purposes. I've used a couple of the major packages on various systems, and for my needs, VirtualBox is fine. It's been a long time since I've used vmware so I can't give a point by point critique, but the general 'feel' I get from various tech forums is vmware is a little bit better. Better's relative though. On Windows, I really liked VirtualPC for some uses. It was technically inferior to just about anything else I used, but it was fast and easy to setup for Windows on Windows. If you didn't have to do anything special, it was the quickest to get going.

As the evilsharpie said, start with VirtualBox, and see if it works for you. If it's lacking something you'd like, give vmware a try. There's also xen and kvm, but I don't have personal experience. I also second the Wine suggestion. It should be compatible, though you may need to play with settings. If so, a web search should help you out. Wine's kind of hackish, and while it can get some Windows software working for you, I wouldn't count on it to run all your favorite Windows software. It's better to find a native replacement if possible.

I agree that native is better. For the most part, I have found some great native apps.

However, my particular employer will never switch from MS Office....

🙁