Robert Fisher, 2004-02-25 12:45:17: > You can ignore or scoff at the idea if you like but I will be bold > enough to start the ball rolling. If it prompts others to ask more and > expand their knowledge and use of Linux then good. I know most of what > I use is because someone else suggested it.
I've enjoyed reading the replies so far. I'll try to throw in a few things/ideas I haven't seen mentioned yet. I use GNU/Linux as a home computer OS. Here's what I run: - Operating System: Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 Linux pratfall 2.4.18.20031202 #1 Tue Dec 2 15:22:54 NZDT 2003 i686 - Desktop: GNOME 2.4.2 Compiled/installed under /usr/local/GNOME. This way I have a swish desktop on top of a solid OS. I didn't like GNOME 1.x much at all, but 2.x is totally different (simple, tidy, out of the way). I'm now using it all the time (after having spent 6ish years switching between fvwm and WindowMaker). - Browser: Firefox Firefox has just replaced Mozilla as my fave browser. I'm not bothering to compile them myself, because the binary tarballs distributed by mozilla.org work fine, plopped into $HOME/bin. - Web server: Apache I run apache, but it's shut off from the outside world. It's a really convenient way to access locally stored documentation, and a great way to experiment with my homepage. It also means I can run a personal wiki to keep notes and articles (e.g., my browser's "startpage", computer logs, reminders, discographies, whatever...), all easy to find and edit. (Some wiki info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki) - Email: fetchmail, procmail, exim, mutt/vim, abook When I switched to GNU/Linux, one of the biggest hassles was finding an email app that I liked. I failed, and decided to use mutt instead. (I wish all my failures turned out this well! The only problem with mutt is that it can feel rather awkward _at first_.) And I've not found a need for anything besides procmail to accurately can my spam. My ~/.procmailrc seems to have settled at about 400 lines, including comments and blanks, so it's not ridiculous. - Newsreader: pan Coz it's good. - Graphics/digicam: gphoto2, libexif, gimp, gthumb Compiled with libexif, The GIMP (1.3/2.0) and gthumb (image browser) have EXIF support. Very cool for folks with digital cameras. Good tutorials, BTW: http://gimpguru.org/ http://mmmaybe.gimp.org/tutorials/ - Music player: rhythmbox Still a bit rough (version 0.6.4), but very nice/usable. The GUI is modeled after iTunes. - Media player: gstreamer, gst-player gst-player is a shaping up to be a really nice media player. A neat toy is the "goom visualization", which fills the screen with swirling colours and patterns when you play audio tracks - a lot like iTunes and the probably now defunct cthugha. - Finance: GnuCash 1.6.6 (This is the GTK 1.2 version that comes with Debian 3.0.) I've been using gnucash to keep track of my personal bank accounts for about 4 years now, with no problems. - Dictionary: dictd, gnome-dictionary GNOME's gnome-dictionary program is a front-end to the dictd dictionary server. Very handy - I use it several times a day. I guess KDE must have a dictd front-end as well. - Office stuff: OpenOffice.org, gnumeric I rarely use word processors and spreadsheets. Gnumeric's very nice though. AbiWord seems eternally flaky, otherwise I'd choose it over OOo for the kind of word processing I do (i.e., occasional simple stuff). - Intrusion detection: integrit Its simplicity gives me confidence that it's set up correctly and doing its job. - Fave games: armagetron: Excellent 3D Tron clone http://armagetron.sourceforge.net/ quakeforge: http://www.quakeforge.net/ Quake and Quake II. freedroid: http://freedroid.sourceforge.net/ Ever play Paradroid on a C64? If so, you _need_ this :) > NTP for time synchronisation "chrony" does the same job here. Tim -- Timothy Musson - [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~trmusson/ A day for firm decisions!!!! Or is it?
