54 BEST LINUX APPS
BEST LINUX APPS Grab a shovel and join Mike Saunders on a dig for the best free software gems.
ebian GNU/Linux’s software repositories magazine. We also get many recommendations from contain a whopping 48,564 packages for you, our readers. So this issue we decided to collect Dx86-64 machines. Just think about that for a together the best applications in the FOSS world and moment: it’s a staggering figure. Not every package is share what makes them great! a single application, sure, but the total number of You may be familiar with a few of the big-name programs available for Linux numbers in the tens of programs, so we’ll look at what they have in the thousands. You have a giant wealth of software that’s pipeline for upcoming releases. But for most of the free to install, explore and modify – and all just a few next few pages we want to introduce you to software apt-get, yum or pacman commands away. you’ve never come across before, or perhaps heard of This is brilliant, but who has time to try all of these in passing, but never actually tried. We’ve all had the programs? How can you easily sort the wheat from experience of discovering an awesome new program the chaff when the range is so exhaustive? We at that we come to use on a daily basis, and wonder how Linux Voice spend a lot of time rummaging around we managed without it beforehand. So by the end of package repositories, source code mirrors, GitHub and this article, you’ll be ready to spruce up your Linux box other sites, finding sparkling new gems to cover in the up with a bunch of new FOSS goodies. Let’s go…
18 www.linuxvoice.com 54 BEST LINUX APPS
POEDIT JED BLEACHBIT Ever fancied There’s more to Deleting a program doesn’t (eg previously opened files or viewed helping out with an open console text editors than necessarily remove all traces of it from URLs) or cached data – for others it source project, but don’t Emacs vs Vim, despite your hard drive. Many programs can does more complicated work. have the sufficient the endless flamewars leave behind logs, temporary files, For instance, in Firefox, Chrome hacking nous to edit the on the web. Jed offers a cached files, and other bits ’n’ bobs that and other apps, BleachBit can shrink source code? If you can glut of power-user you’d rather get rid of. Sometimes you configuration files without removing speak more than one features, especially for can find these by poking around inside vital data, to improve performance language, you can almost coders, including code /tmp and your home directory, but it can and save disk space. On many Linux certainly help the folding and extensibility be a lot of hassle to do a thorough job. distributions it can remove language program by providing 2via scripts. But! These BleachBit aims to free up disk space packs for languages that you don’t interface translations. features aren’t hidden and maintain your privacy by getting use, and fix broken symbolic links. It’s Poedit is a friendly behind various cryptic rid of this unwanted junk. It cleans up a fantastic toolbox for keeping your graphical app that helps key combos – everything after a wide range of programs, both system clean, tidy and secure –3 and you to create translations is provided via DOS open source and proprietary, and in its definitely one to recommend to those of for software that uses EDIT-style drop-down Windows incarnation it can purge the your friends and colleagues who are still 1the Gettext framework. menus. junk from a whopping 1,200 apps. For battling with Windows. www.poedit.net www.jedsoft.org/jed many programs it simply erases history http://bleachbit.sourceforge.net
MUPEN64PLUS ARIA2 Fancy some The mother of all Goldeneye 007 or download tools, Aria2 Mario 64 fun? Of course supports: HTTP(S), FTP, you do! Emulation of the BitTorrent and Metalink; Nintendo 64 console is a downloads from multiple mixed bag on5 Linux, but sources for maximum Mupen64Plus is the best speed; and remote solution we’ve found. It control operation via has a range of plugins for JSON-RPC and XML- CPU and video RPC. You can use proxy emulation, so you can servers, set bandwidth6 pick and choose the best limits, and create custom JOSM that work for you. HTTP headers. Basically, We all rave about the benefits of tutorials before you really get stuck in to http://tinyurl.com/ it does it all. open source, but open data is becoming editing map data. dyzktf7 http://aria2.sf.net equally important. Take OpenStreetMap for https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/ instance: it’s rather like Wikipedia in that JOSM/Guide is a great place to get started, the data is generated by users rather than with step-by-step guides showing how to do EASYSTROKE companies. This data is freely licensed in a basic editing jobs and upload your changes, Gesture recognition tends to get the most similar fashion, so anyone can use, modify while http://learnosm.org/en/beginner/start-4 attention on tablet and mobile devices, but it can be and share it. If you like the goals behind josm lets you play around with a sample very handy on the desktop as well. With Easystroke, OpenStreetMap but the data for your area map. Don’t worry if you make a mistake with is incomplete or incorrect, what can you a real map and upload the data – it’s not you can create custom gestures and assign them to do? Well, JOSM is a graphical editor for the hard for administrators to roll back to the X11 keybindings or shell commands. OpenStreetMap data, and it’s written in Java previous version. So, you could right-click and swipe rightwards so it runs pretty much everywhere. OpenStreetMap embodies the principles anywhere on your desktop to open a new terminal JOSM isn’t designed to be the most of collaboration and sharing that we love in window, or add specific gestures to your favourite newbie-friendly tool in the world, so you’re Linux, FOSS and the GPL, so give it a go. expected to work your way through a few http://josm.openstreetmap.de applications (eg swipe upwards to go to the start of a document). It’s also possible to add modifier keys to gestures, so that they don’t interfere with your apps. SYLPHEED http://github.com/thjaeger/easystroke Mail clients are ten a penny in Sylpheed supports POP3, IMAP4 the free software world, but few are as and SMTP out of the box, and can be 8 slick as Sylpheed. It’s written in C with a extended with junk mail filtering and GTK front-end, and aims to provide GnuPG signing functionality. We’ve used most of the functionality that end users Sylpheed on and off over the years, expect, without chomping through your and found it to be a solid app, and a RAM banks. The three-pane7 interface lightning fast performer when it comes (folder list, message list and message to searching through large mailboxes. If contents) is familiar and clean, while you’re tired of the bloat and fiddliness of plenty of keybindings obviate the need your current mail client, give it a try, to keep faffing around with the mouse. http://sylpheed.sraoss.jp/en
www.linuxvoice.com 19 54 BEST LINUX APPS
WIRESHARK KDEVELOP Formerly known Many people think as Ethereal, Wireshark is that KDevelop is only arguably the best packet useful if you’re writing analyser available on any KDE apps in C++, but this platform. It lets you integrated development inspect the contents of environment is a lot more network packets as they capable than that. It flow through your supports many other network, whether it’s for languages including troubleshooting9 or you’re Python, PHP, Ruby and just curious to see how a JavaScript, along with certain program is various document communicating with the markup formats. outside world. It can be a KDevelop 4.7 has just complex tool though – been released – it’s the there’s even a 408-page last of the 4.x line, so it book available explaining will have longer support how to use it! than regular versions. www.wireshark.org www.kdevelop.org10
Midori’s default search engine is DuckDuckGo, which doesn’t track you.
MIDORI Remember when Firefox split off supports tabbed browsing, session from the Mozilla project, with the goal of management, extensions, a “speed being a fast and lightweight browser? dial” view, smart bookmarks and much It’s still a good performer today, but more. Midori uses WebKit as its HTML many have questioned its purpose now rendering engine, so it’s well equipped that it seemingly rolls11 in everything to handle the latest HTML5 and CSS. including the kitchen sink. You might have come across Midori Midori could be regarded as the before, as it’s the default browser in new Firefox: it’s deliberately designed Raspbian and Elementary OS; we’d KDevelop is best known as a C++ and Qt IDE, but it’s to be speedy and conservative with also like to see it adopted in other usable with other languages too. RAM, while still offering core features mainstream distros. that users expect. For instance, it www.midori-browser.org TOX BIRDFONT DOSBOX While the Snowden is implemented as a We must admit: Fancy playing some old DOS classics? Shudder revelations have made library, and then end-user many of us consider programs are built on despite being übergeeks, at the thought of fiddling with CONFIG.SYS and alternative email services, top of that. So for Linux until a few months ago AUTOEXEC.BAT for hours? DOSBox makes it easy: it’s instant messaging (IM) you’ll see that there are we had never ventured a DOS session in a box (ie window) on your desktop. systems are also being qTox and Toxic programs into the scary territory of Compatibility is excellent, and most programs run spied on by the powers that (GUI and command line font creation. It looked without any big hassles.13 We use it a lot to relive the be. Tox is a “new kind” of respectively). Clients for IM network designed with Android are also available. like black magic. Then glory days of Microprose F1GP and Frontier. privacy as its number one Tox is still a baby, having we discovered BirdFont, a www.dosbox.com priority. It aims to offer only come to life 18 months friendly graphical editor text-based messaging, ago on notorious lulz-fest that not only makes the audio calls and video site 4chan, so its security job simpler12 than conferencing, all neatly has yet to be proven over encrypted away from any serious length of time. expected, but fun as well prying eyes. But its goals are admirable, (especially when you’re If you go to the Tox the separation14 of the app tracing another font). It’s website, though, you’ll into a library and front-ends essentially a vector notice that there’s not a should ease development, graphics editor with single “Tox” program to and it could grow into download. What’s going something very big. some extra bits – see on? Well, the system https://tox.im LV004 for a tutorial. www.birdfont.org
20 www.linuxvoice.com 54 BEST LINUX APPS
STELLARIUM I3WM Stellarium is one of those and thrown onto SourceForge. But no REDSHIFT Traditional programs with a version number that – we think it already deserves a 10.0 Here’s a clever desktops and window doesn’t reflect just how awesome and label, and it’s one of our favourite non- one: Redshift adjusts the managers don’t always make the best use of rich it actually is. Check it out: this Frontier space-based programs. (You colour temperature of screen space, especially desktop planetarium includes over might notice a pattern here…) your screen depending when you have a huge 600,000 stars (with 120 million more www.stellarium.org on the time17 of day. The monitor. i3 is a tiling available in add-on packs), all the idea is to make your window manager that planets of our solar system (rendered in screen easier on your automatically divides up 16beautiful detail), and constellations eyes, especially in the your screen space into sections (tiles), so you galore. It has won awards, it’s being evening when you don’t can see many apps at used in commercial products, and have sources of natural the same time. Plenty of hardcore astronomers love it too. light around. keybindings are included So what’s it’s version number? 0.13. Linux Voice Editor so you don’t have to poke the mouse all the That’s right: if you just came across Graham uses this all the 15time, and it’s a favourite this program in a list (eg in your time, and says that it has among coders and package manager), you’d be forgiven really helped to reduce terminal dwellers. for dismissing it as yet another barely- eye strain during epic Qt www.i3wm.org alpha piece of throwawayware cooked Track celestial bodies as they move across coding sessions… up by a couple of kids on a weekend the night sky in Stellarium. http://jonls.dk/redshift
MINETEST HTOP QALCULATE Now that You’re probably We discovered Minecraft is owned already familiar Qalculate over two years by Microsoft, many fans with the top process ago: it’s an immensely are left wondering viewer (or if not, open a powerful desktop whether the game (or terminal window, enter calculator with custom shall we say, giant top, and see what functions, a huge range sandboxed environment) happens). It’s a very of units to convert will continue to work on standard Linux/Unix tool, between, arbitrary Linux. What if Microsoft but it’s not the prettiest precision and much 18releases Minecraft 2 just thing around and is more. It even has both Qt for Windows and/or the missing plenty of extra and GTK interfaces. Just Xbox? Fortunately, we features. Htop provides don’t be put off by the have an open source everything in regular top, program’s My Little clone that’s still in but with colour, bar Pony-esque website! mid-development, but charts for memory http://qalculate.sf.net20 looking promising. usage, process trees, a Minetest already user-friendy interactive includes multiplayer mode, and more. It’s an VLC support and a modding essential weapon in any We don’t want to engine, with more system administrator’s CHECKINSTALL start a flame war here, goodies to come. armoury, we reckon. You know when you’re compiling a program as we know there are many other excellent www.minetest.net http://hisham.hm/htop/19from source code, and you perform the make install media players for step? This copies the files into your Linux installation Linux, but VLC is still (for example into /usr/local) but it can be tricky to our favourite. Over the keep track of them, especially when21 you want to years it has never let us remove a program. Some programs include a make down, playing absolutely everything we throw at it, uninstall option in the Makefile, but not necessarily regardless of the video every one. And if you remove the source code encoding or container directory, you’re stuck. format. It’s also very CheckInstall is a godsend here. Essentially, it keeps good22 at converting tabs on the files that are placed into the system during media from one format to another, providing a a make install operation, generating an RPM or Deb straightforward GUI (so package for the files (and adding the information to you don’t have to learn a the package database). So if you’ve installed FooApp giant stack of command from source via CheckInstall and want to remove it, line options). Plus, it you don’t need to poke around in /usr/local and find runs on pretty much every major OS. all its files – just use your package manager. Explore giant worlds and build colossal constructions in www.videolan.org the Minecraft playalike, Minetest. http://asic-linux.com.mx/~izto/checkinstall
www.linuxvoice.com 21 54 BEST LINUX APPS
COREBIRD PITIVI PENTADACTYL Many people use Some would We often mention Twitter via its web-based argue that OpenShot is the importance of interface, which does an the best video editor for learning a good text acceptable job, but a Linux, but Pitivi has seen editor, and Vim is a native desktop app like a surge in development classic example. With Corebird is much better. activity recently, thanks Pentadactyl, you can use It’s faster, can be used largely to a fundraising Vim-like keybindings to entirely with the campaign that aims to browse the web, so you keyboard, and looks speed up progress don’t26 have to take your great on a GTK-based towards version 1.0. The hands off the keyboard. desktop such as Xfce or development team has It’s a Firefox extension Gnome. Thanks to concocted a hugely that many Vim users GStreamer integration, detailed plan (http:// simply can’t live without 23Corebird can even play fundraiser.pitivi.org/ – try it if you’re sick of linked media directly the-plan) and has raised shoving around that inside the app, without over €19,000 from users damn rodent! needing to pop up and24 supporters. After the http://5digits.org/ another program. Not all 1.0 release, if more pentadactyl distro repositories have it money comes in, a stack UBERWRITER packaged up though... of new features will be “A beautiful, distraction-free word processor http://corebird. implemented. and editor” – that’s what UberWriter claims to be. And baedert.org www.pitivi.org it’s right: the interface is as minimal as you get, and FIREFOX there are no options for formatting, adding 3D text, or Everyone knows about Firefox, but what’s anything else like25 that. By and large, it just looks like an to come in the next few extremely simple text editor, or even a sample app releases? Soon we’ll from a programming tutorial. see support for the What makes UberWriter special is its use of
CLEMENTINE KEEPASSX First Passwords are a problem. Even All of your login details are then ABIWORD appearances count, and if you come up with the ultimate, long, stored in a single AES or Twofish- We’re not ones to Clementine is one of the hard-to-guess password, it’s a bad idea encrypted file, with a master password tell part-time developers most polished pieces to use the same one across multiple providing access. It’s an essential tool if what to do, but AbiWord of FOSS we know. It’s sites and services. And then, every so you’re suffering password fatigue. team: please, please a music player inspired by the interface of an often there’s a major break-in on some www.keepassx.org update your website! older Amarok release, website or other, and we’re all AbiWord is an excellent, 28with heaps of features encouraged to make new passwords. fast and lightweight word piled on top. It can play 29KeePassX is a graphical password processor, and version internet radio stations manager that aims to simplify the 3.0 was released with and music stored on cloud services (eg situation, by keeping track of all your zero fanfare a year ago. Dropbox and Google login details in one place. Along with But the website still says Drive). It can fetch lyrics, usernames and passwords, you can that 2.8 is the latest album art and other data also attach comments to the data, version –30 so the dev from the web (and tag and set an expiry date (so that you’re team should highlight files accordingly). And it can even transcode into forced to create a new password after that the program hasn’t other formats. It’s ace. a certain period of time). It’s even faded into obscurity, and clementine-player.org possible to attach standalone files to an Having trouble memorising a zillion it’s still doing well… entry in the database. different passwords? This will help. www.abisource.com
22 www.linuxvoice.com 54 BEST LINUX APPS
RADIO TRAY PIDGIN This isn’t a You may have SYNAPSE full-blown music player; come across Pidgin Many desktop environments and can also take into account your recent window managers have tried to do away with activity, such as where you’ve been on the instead, it’s a small before (it’s included as the decades-old “start menu” concept, with web, which files you’ve had open, and what’s internet radio streamer standard in many varying degrees of success. Synapse is a inside those files. It can keep track of emails, that lives in the distros), but if not: it’s the souped-up program launcher that also has instant messaging conversations,33 scripts notification area (system mother of all instant a modern twist on things: it’s a “semantic you’ve been editing, and all sorts of data. tray) of your desktop. It messaging programs. It launcher”, which means it does more with So, if you want to quickly find an email 32 your input than just execute whatever conversation, you can try typing a few uses GStreamer libraries suports an astonishing commands you type in. relevant words into Synapse and it should to support various media range of chat protocols, For instance, it’s aware of other programs come up. Or if you remember editing a file formats, and can work including all the major on your Linux installation, so you can use it called myscript.sh a few days ago, but can’t with a variety of playlists ones (eg Google Talk, to play music in specific programs, or even remember exactly where it is, try typing it (PLS, M3U, ASX, WAX Yahoo etc) along with operate a music app by typing in commands. into the Synapse search box. It’s not always 31 You can use Synapse to perform dictionary perfect, but it provides a useful alternative and WVX). It’s ideal if you many you’ve probably lookups, execute power management to the typical approaches to finding data (eg like listening to net radio, never heard of. You can operations (eg suspend or hibernate), and hunting around inside a file manager) and and want stations just a even use it as an IRC even shut down your machine. The idea is many people absolutely love it. couple of clicks away. client. that you can do pretty much everything in Also, the program can be enhanced with http://radiotray.sf.net www.pidgin.im one place: launching programs, opening files, various addons. For instance, with the and performing typical desktop tasks. Calculator plugin you can even perform Now, Synapse is especially clever in that calculations inside Synapse, without having ZATHURA it doesn’t just work on filenames alone. By to launch an external tool. Document viewers are hardly the most exciting utilising the Zeitgeist back-end, Synapse http://synapse.zeitgeist-project.com things in the world of software, but Zathura is one of our favourite discoveries in recent years. Thanks to a plugin system, it’s capable of displaying various TORCS formats including PDF, PostScript, DjVu and even The Open Racing Car Simulator is you busy for weeks. One of its coolest comic books (CBR files). far more than just a game: it’s a features is the TORCS Racing Board, Its interface is34 rather minimal, with just a status complete framework for learning about where you compete against other bar along the bottom, because it’s designed to be motor vehicles, physics and artificial drivers. But! You don’t compete directly; operated primarily with the keyboard. So it has a intelligence. Indeed, TORCS has been instead, you hack some code to create slightly steeper learning curve than graphical apps, used in many scientific research a robot that drives by itself. It might but it’s a joy to use. Plus, it supports bookmarking projects over the years – but in the end, seem ridiculously hard at first, but there of pages, and automatically reloading when a we still play it because it’s fun. are plenty of tutorials to get you started, document changes (which is especially useful if you’re 35With a huge range of tracks, and it adds a whole other dimension to generating PDFs yourself). opponents and customisation options, the gameplay. http://pwmt.org/projects/zathura this racing game has plenty to keep http://torcs.sf.net
ANKI LIBREOFFICE If you’ve ever tried We won’t see the to learn a foreign next major release of this language, or been in a suite (4.4) until late similar position where January next year, but you’ve needed to already new features are memorise lots of things, starting to be you’ll probably have tried implemented. Writer will using flashcards. They gain support for master can help enormously, but document templates they’re often a pain to (useful if you regularly organise36 by hand. Anki is work on large projects), a desktop flashcard app while shapes in the word that features the spaced processor can have text repetition method – in boxes inside. Context other words, newer (and menus have also been therefore less familiar) redesigned so that the cards are shown more most common often than the older ones, operations (cut, copy and so you focus on new paste) now appear at the material but still get top of the list. This is just reminders of things you the start37 – many other learned a while ago. features are still to come. Zathura’s interface doesn’t have lots of bells and whistles – it focuses on content. www.ankisrs.net www.libreoffice.org
www.linuxvoice.com 23 54 BEST LINUX APPS
SCRIBUS HANDBRAKE Without question, Scribus is the At Linux Voice we have a long-term DELUGE A few pages leading desktop publishing tool for goal of making the entire magazine Deluge is up there ago we mentioned that Linux and other free software OSes. in Scribus; it’s a complex job, but the with Transmission in the the VLC media player is great for converting This Qt-based app is impressively tweaks and new features in 1.5 should front row of BitTorrent video between different featureful, with import filters for a wide make it easier to switch eventually. clients. The program is formats, but HandBrake range of image formats (PostScript, www.scribus.net modular, 40so you can use is even better at this SVG, Adobe Illustrator etc) and the it via GTK, CLI or task. You can customise ability to export to industry standard web-based interfaces, the output settings to a 39PDF/X files. Scribus 1.4 was four years and it’s loaded with tremendously detailed level, or if you don’t in the making – but we’re especially features including global have time to fiddle with excited about the upcoming 1.5 release. and per-torrent speed everything manually, This will bring about a shedload of limits, protocol you can choose presets improvements including ePub export, encryption, and µTorrent for various devices (eg Android smartphones) a tabbed document view, interface peer exchange support. 38as well. It’s a superb app improvements (including a redesigned But that’s just the start: for ripping your DVDs to Preferences dialog), and new import over 40 third-party digital copies too. filters (CVG, WPG, PGF, MS Visio and plugins are available to https://handbrake.fr more.) A new plugin for scripting extend the app as well. facilities has been rolled in too. www.deluge-torrent.org
SEAMONKEY LLVM/CLANG FREECIV If you don’t like the GCC has been the With nearly 20 direction Firefox has dominant compiler in years of development taken in recent releases, FOSS operating systems history behind it, Freeciv or you prefer a more for decades, but times is one of the best games traditional43 internet suite are changing, and there’s bar none, let alone in the with the browser, mail a (relatively) new kid on FOSS world. It’s a single and chat all rolled into the block in the form of and multi-player one app, try SeaMonkey. LLVM/Clang. This is a C/ turn-based strategy It’s from the good people C++/Objective C game, heavily inspired by at Mozilla, but is more 41compiler toolset with a Sid Meier’s classic conservative than Firefox much more permissive Civilization. You guide a in its GUI and pace of BSD licence. tribe of people from development. Some would argue 4,000BC through newer www.seamonkey- that GCC, because of the eras, constructing cities project.org GPL, is still the way to go, as technologies emerge, but at least LLVM/Clang and fighting battles (or is providing competition forging friendships) with MUTT and new features. GCC other groups. It’s big, Guess what: Mutt sucks. Even the still has the edge in many deep and keeps you SYSTEMD developer admits it. But benchmarks though. hooked for days. Yes, we know that a lot of people don’t like Mutt “sucks less” than http://clang.llvm.org www.freeciv.org systemd. There are still things about it that make us other email clients, and 42 furrow our brows too – the binary logging format, the we’d have to agree. Like GNUCASH “everything including the kitchen sink” approach, and many other text-based programs, it has a fairly Designed for both home users and small other aspects of the design. But45 systemd is becoming steep learning curve, but businesses, GnuCash is the best all round free the de facto standard initialisation and base system the end results are great. software financial accounting app, in our experience. for almost every major Linux distribution, so we Mutt is entirely It has been in development for over 15 years – and is should consider some of its plus points too. keyboard driven and still seeing regular updates today. First, it helps to remove some niggling (and supports POP3, IMAP, message threading, GnuCash supports double-entry bookkeeping, arguably pointless) differences between distros. searching46 with regular scheduled transactions, stock/bond/mutual fund You can still log to text via syslog, but also perform expressions, various accounts, custom reports and graphs, and various complex searches (eg “show warnings from program mailbox formats, small business features (eg customer and vendor Foo in the last X boots”) without having to construct and much more. tracking, invoicing and so forth). GnuCash stores a load of grep commands. It’s easier to restrict a You can even record macros (sequences of its data in XML format, although experimental SQL daemon’s capabilities, and boot times are often faster keypresses) to automate 44options are also available. The program can import as well. It’s not perfect and arguably overcomplex, but oft-repeated jobs. data in QIF (Quicken) and OFX formats too. it does a lot of things that people really want. www.mutt.org www.gnucash.org www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd
24 www.linuxvoice.com 54 BEST LINUX APPS
CALIBRE BLUEFISH If you’re into If you do a lot of eBooks, you absolutely website development cannot miss this. work, you’d be wise to Calibre47 (as reviewed by give Bluefish a try. This is Ben last issue) doesn’t pretty much a one-stop- have the prettiest shop for text editing, with interface in the world, but support for (X)HTML, it understands a CSS, XML, PHP, Perl, ridiculously large range Python, Ruby, JavaScript of eBook and document and many other formats (23 as of the languages. It lets you latest release) and it organise files into can convert to 17 projects, has unlimited formats as well. It’s undo/redo, and (via excellent for managing GVFS) has heaps48 of ways your library of books for you to upload your and also syncing them work onto the web. to your e-reader devices. http://bluefish. www.calibre-ebook.com openoffice.nl
Baobab provides a quick graphical guide to how you’re squandering your disk space. GIMP SHUTTER BAOBAB Gimp is one of models. GEGL will also There are a million and one ways to take Running out of the oldest flagship free provide non-destructive software applications, editing on image buffers screenshots on Linux; chances are that your desktop disk space? Can’t tell and in recent years it has that are larger than RAM. environment pops up something when you hit the which application or appeared as if development A GTK 3 port is planned PrntScr button on your keyboard, or you just use directory is hogging too is stagnating. But the team for Gimp51 2.10, bringing it Gimp. Those tools are OK for the purpose, but a much of your drive? is working on Gimp 2.10, in line with Gnome 3 and dedicated app like Shutter (which formerly had the Baobab is a graphical which will bring a bunch of many other desktop apps; new features to the table. this should also make dreadful name “GScrot”) does a much better job. disk usage analyser First off, the long- it work better on HiDPI Along with capturing the entire screen or a specific which shows pie charts awaited GEGL integration displays. We may even portion thereof, Shutter can grab a single window – depicting the layout of will be finally complete see a script recording and 49or even just a menu or tooltip. Once you have what your drive. It helps you to (having started in Gimp playback system too – but you want, you can then perform various editing jobs, identify the largest 2.6), which will boost only time (and developer support for high bit-depth willingness) will tell. cropping the image, adding arrows and text, and even directories in root (/), and images and other colour www.gimp.org blurring out bits of sensitive information that you don’t their subdirectories. want the world to see (eg an IP address). www.marzocca.net/ www.shutter-project.org linux/baobab MAILVELOPE HIGHLIGHT NETHACK 50 After the Snowden revelations last year, you If you’ve been The best game ever made? NetHack may look might be taking extra steps to keep your personal beavering away on some pants, but it’s brain-frazzingly deep, complex and full communications safe from the prying eyes of code and want to share it of surprises. No two games are ever the same in this governments and big businesses. But if you use a with the world, Highlight dungeon-exploring romp, and people play it for years Webmail service, it’s not easy to encrypt your data – can turn it into colourful (and even decades) before finally completing it. You not without a lot of hard work, at least. and pretty HTML, (La) need to invest a lot of time53 into it, but the rewards are Mailvelope is a browser extension for Firefox and Tex, ODT and other worth it – see issue 5’s feature for the full lowdown. Chrome/Chromium that adds an extra54 button to the formats with a single www.nethack.org compose forms in webmail services such as Google command. It supports a Mail. After a few minutes of setting it up and creating whopping52 180 a public/private key combination, you can then begin programming languages, writing encrypted emails while still using your regular and includes 80 different service. (Along with Gmail, it also works with Outlook. colour schemes to com, Yahoo Mail, GMX and other providers.) match your website. It’s There are several browser plugins that do the easy enough to use via same job, but Mailvelope is by far the simplest we’ve the command line, but come across, with an excellent user guide, putting there’s also a version for OpenPGP in the hands of everyone, regardless of users who prefer the GUI. technical level. www.andre-simon.de www.mailvelope.com
www.linuxvoice.com 25