Coffee Dharma

My Ubuntu Groove

Posted on 14. Nov, 2007 by Rob in Musings, Older, Review

After using Ubuntu exclusively for a few days now I have found that not only do I not miss Windows (yet), but I have found the programs available for Linux fit my style better than ever expected. Many software choices are simplistic and elegant in their design. One of the things that bothers me with programs such as media players and word processors is the vast amounts of extras and bloat I rarely if ever use. The problem has usually been that while I don’t use these extra features, the design is often beautiful and hard to give up. I wanted to share a list and explanation of a few of the programs I have settled on within Ubuntu. Many of these programs will be familiar to a lot of people but there may be a few you haven’t used or heard of before.

1) Firefox

Many people are very familiar with Mozilla’s Firefox browser these days. With the hundreds of add-ons, themes, and reliable rendering engine, the Firefox browser has quickly built a large fan base. There are quite a few other choices for browser needs in Linux and while some offered better speed, lower memory requirements, and even slightly better reliability, I found Firefox to be the tool for all seasons. I use a few add-ons to enhance my daily browsing so this was the browser for me.

2) Banshee

I have been an iTunes user since early 2003 and have had a hard time finding another media player I liked as much. The biggest benefit for iTunes to me was the library and look. I enjoy the simplicity of finding songs in my library and media players such as Winamp, MediaMonkey, Songbird, and such always seemed cluttered and over complicated to me. Banshee is the closest thing to iTunes I have found for Linux. The look is even nicer and shares many of the same styles and library features as iTunes. Obviously it does not include the iTunes Music Store but since have used that store only twice I did not miss it whatsoever. A couple of big advantages with Banshee for me were the much lighter requirements (iTunes is a bloated hog on Windows) and the great taskbar integration. As with most software on Linux there are countless choices and you may find another program that better suits your needs. Banshee works the best for me by far.

3) Straw

I frequent 10-15 blogs and news sources daily and have become an RSS addict. Straw is a simple feed aggregator for Gnome. I found usage and browser compatibility great and love the layout. I’m sure there are others with many more features and I did not test too many different ones out. I figured if one of the first ones I tried worked so well for me, why move on.

4) FileZilla

In Windows I used CuteFTP for my FTP needs. FileZilla is the next best thing for me. I honestly haven’t tested out every feature of this program as I just don’t use many extras in it. It worked perfectly for my needs (I run three websites and often work with FTP) with ease. I did not find any other program quite as easy to use as FileZilla in this department.

5) Thunderbird

Quite a few users are familiar with Mozilla’s Thunderbird email client. It is simple in design and usage and quickly became my default email client on Ubuntu. I used Evolution Mail for the first day or two but after multiple crashes, a buggy address book, and some personal design issues I switched to Mozilla’s reliable client. Again, I rarely use more advanced features of email clients as I don’t deal with large volumes of mail. I found setup of accounts and customizing folder behavior a breeze with Thunderbird and that was good enough for me.

As time goes on I may find myself drifting to other applications to fill my needs and I often read reviews of new programs in hopes that something even better will come along. The biggest surprise for me in my switch to Linux was the ease in which I was able to find replacement programs for my Windows defaults. Many of these replacements often did a better job and with much less resources. The only software I have missed is Photoshop. Again, GIMP is a great program but just not the same. I did try the Wine emulation of Photoshop CS (an old copy I had) and while it did work somewhat it was a deplorable experience compared to what I was used to. I have been using GIMP and trying to get familiarized with it but so far have not been terribly impressed. Maybe someday as Linux becomes more popular Adobe will develop with us in mind, though I am not holding my breath.

Tags: Linux, Musings, News, Review, Software, Tech, Ubuntu