Gnome Do has definitely grown on me, and I now use it on all of my Linux systems. At first I didn't quite understand how it would be useful, but it learns from what you do and it's an all-purpose shortcut to just about anything. I prefer it to any of the docks (it doesn't take up space on your screen for no reason).

You didn't mention Compiz, but it can really be helpful as well. I find that the Ring Switcher plugin is a lot more useful than a dock. Having multiple desktops might mean that you have to search for specific windows, but this plugin resolves that potential issue.

I prefer mail-notifier to Check Gmail (it does the same thing, but I had trouble with Check Gmail and my GAFD account), and I use Jungle Disk for offsite backups.

zoomZAP

Very nice article with helpful information. ^__^ I am looking forward to having a Linux system running soon (recently downloaded the KDE version of Mint Linux) in addition to my XP and Vista systems. ^__^

Thanks Kevin! ^__^

Asian Angel

Just out of curiosity, how hard would it be for somebody to roll all of this into a live distro? I'm interested in playing around with all of this stuff, but I don't have a linux box and I don't want to spend hours setting up something that I potentially won't use. Any help?

lehmon

I use Katapult as an application launcher. Very quick and less resource consuming than GNOME-do. I also recommend keepassx (linux version of keepass), unison (a quick & easy file synchronizer), and of course the gnome-games package for fun.

chancy

you might also say something about evolution, or other such PIM. Good for communications

rubbsdecvik

I'm a hardcore gamer and I run ubuntu!!

Sure I have to switch from Wine to Cedega or VirtualBox every once in a while but no matter, I escaped from the Windows realm and only run WindowsXP when I really need to.

The only thing holding me back on my main PC @ home is my roommates knowledge about computers. He find ubuntu really hard to use so I dual boot for his sake.

Khaavren

@lehmon: [wubi-installer.org] ? It's ubuntu only but it takes the hassle out of setting up most of it. And yeah it did work when I used it.

Ajh

If I wasn't a gamer I'd be typing this from linux. It would be a linux machine for over two years. I CAN dual boot, and I did at one point, but I found it a hassle to change back to windows just to game for an hour or two and then restart in Linux.

Absolutely Linux is better looking and more functional than windows most of the time. And the customization you can do with it can put it up on par with OSX or higher in terms of style, but for me, and many other windows users who'd switch..what we need isn't there.

I am however passing this wonderfully informative post off to a friend that uses linux..There might be some new toys here for him.

Ajh

nice article however i have found use of the dock in linux to be rather unproductive and more of eye candy. BTW would love a similar article to this but for os x, the mac tips seem to be quite limited these days.

kseve

@lehmon: not all of the features can effectively be done in a live distro. The compositing feature of cairo-dock can be made to work, but it would be a little rough, I imagine.

really, though, using reconstructor you could pretty easily roll-your-own distro with all of this functionality.

gforster

I'm still dreaming of an eeepc 901 with an ubuntu on it to do all my administrative work.

well, back to to ole' XP...

chaos0815

"On my own system, VirtualBox is the solution for Office 2007 apps and, when I need it, iTunes (without USB/iPod functionality, unfortunately)."

Out of curiosity, why would you need iTunes outside of connectivity with an iPod? It's nowhere near the best media player (open or closed source) and I can't see much reason to use it except maybe something iPod/phone related that you can't do in Amarok or whatever.

JerryA

At first I wanted to get snarky by taking on the persona of an incredulous Windows user unable to believe Linux can be an easy-to-use and productive system and comforted by the knowledge that there are no native versions of MS Office and Photoshop for Linux. But that approach would not convince anyone not already using Linux to try it.

I'm not sure what would convince anyone to try it, especially without doing so only to see how closely Linux mimics Windows, which seems to be the expectation desktop Windows users have of Linux (but not of Mac OS X for some reason).

The user cultures of Windows, Mac OS X and Linux value different things. Mac users seem to value style and polish; Windows users seem to value its ubiquity; Linux users seem to value its freedom from proprietary control and price.

Many people refuse to use Linux because certain applications are not made available for it. To me, that is just letting others dictate their choices for them. Some people say particular features in specific applications that are not available on Linux keep them on Windows. I haven't heard of many that did not either have a direct counterpart in an equivalent application or a simple workaround. Sometimes the direct counterpart in an alternative application is simply unknown to them, such as OpenOffice's counterpart to Excel's pivot tables.

For many people, it simply comes down to personal preference; they simply like Windows, Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop or whatever and are reluctant to simply say so and, instead, feel a need to justify their preference by pointing out perceived shortcomings in alternatives.

This article nicely points out that Linux does provide some very cool and useful alternatives to Windows and Mac applications.

penguiniator

also, for the sake of those who might be making the switch AND have tivo,

pyTivo is a FANTASTIC (and better) alternative to the official Tivo Desktop software.

boandmichele

@chaos0815: supposedly ubuntu 8.10 (coming out next month, of course) will fully support the eee's. ill see if i cant find a cite for that.

boandmichele

This wasn't the best Lifehacker article I've seen. A few handy apps, but it's mostly just eye-candy and running Windows on linux.

I was hoping for a few tips on productivity apps for linux.

w/e the others are good.

IMO, Gnome-Do is better than Launchy. Great plugins. I basically abandoned launchy, considering I waited for the linux version for 8 months and Gnome-Do has worked perfectly since last year.

Daniel

I ran Ubuntu for 6 months on my laptop in an effort to see if I could switch, and it was an "almost".

Here is not the place to get into it. Two things that would really make me re-think the switch is if I could find a Video editing app that I liked, and ditto for a multi-track audio editing app I liked... maybe a couple "High 5s" comming up? :D

They would have to work with my FireWire camera and FireWire Alisis MultiMix - natch.

AnonJr

@ajh But the article is about productivity in Linux! When I was dual-booting I found it easier to focus on work if I had to reboot to play any games...well, until I discovered Battle for Wesnoth...

Since then I've eliminated Windows since I spent well...a lot of money on a PS3 that's been kinda neglected lately anyway.

Then again, I find most PC games require so much tweaking under Windows that I might as well be compiling from source and whatnot...but that's my experience.

As for additional productivity, you missed some REALLY cool stuff like Conduit...plus the Barry + Opensync solution for Blackberry users to sync up with Evolution (open source e-mail client that looks like Outlook but doesn't choke on IMAP.)

shatteredmindofbob

@Daniel: I was indeed trying to offer up a few tips for those thinking about switching. Perhaps more advanced tips for established Linux users might be forthcoming!

Kevin Purdy

@penguiniator:

Many people refuse to use Linux because certain applications are not made available for it. To me, that is just letting others dictate their choices for them.

That is precisely the criteria in which most people should be choosing their operating system.

An operating system is a big complicated program that lets other big complicated programs coexist peacefully on the same machine. You don't pick your operating system first, then find ways to solve your needs. You have it completely backwards.

Let's say you're a carpenter and you need a new vehicle. You have tools, you haul lumber, etc. You don't buy a Mini Cooper and figure out how to tow a small trailer with your gear and find special tie-downs for your Cooper's roof rack for schlepping 4x4s.

And yes, this is coming from a former Linux user (1998-2002, Red Hat and gentoo).

When I left Linux desktops, I had come to the conclusion that the sysadmin load was way too high, the device driver support was inadequate, and documentation quality was poor.

Perhaps that has all changed, Linux has virtually zero sysadmin load, my flash-memory HD camcorder is just plug-and-play and I can be editing videos in the bundled software within minutes, and the documentation quality is excellent.

All of it on a notebook computer.

Is this in fact the state of desktop Linux today?

Thanks,

A former Linux sysadmin

cv

EXCELLENT post.

Honestly, I can't code in any text editor other than vim (although I'm sure I could get used to emacs).

fuhrysteve

I'm kind of dissapointed that RainLendar2 wasn't mentioned.
I've started school and have used Rainlendar2, Google Calendar, and GCalDaemon to keep everything synced and continuously updated. My calendar has all my class days, projects and work due, and exam dates.

Greg2B

@JerryA: Mostly to write about iTunes-related tweaks and apps ;)

Kevin Purdy

Great post Kevin. There's another productivity tool that comes built-in with Linux: multiple desktops. Not everyone uses them, but if you are a multi-tasker they can be great for keeping your individual tasks separated (and cheaper than a multi-monitor setup.)

eeefresh

"On my own system, VirtualBox is the solution for Office 2007 apps and, when I need it, iTunes (without USB/iPod functionality, unfortunately)."

Using VMWare Server 2.0 RC2 - [www.vmware.com] I can connect my iPod Touch to iTunes and sync flawlessly. I have it set up so that I can boot Windows, or boot Ubuntu and virtualize Windows. The last day I booted Windows on the bare metal was the day I got USB 2.0 passthru working on VMWare Server.

heltoupee

@cv: For the most part, I find that most of the complaints you list have been dealt with in most Linux distros, to varying degrees of success. A lot has changed with Linux in the past 6 years (and I do mean a *LOT*). I even find, with distros such as Ubuntu, the device recognition out-of-the-box is actually superior to anything Windows has put out thus far, even Vista (I wonder how many people would still think Windows "Just Works"(tm) if they had to reinstall the OS from scratch and without any of the driver cds which came packaged with their machines?)

The one sore point I have, however, is the documentation; "man" pages just don't cut it for the average user and, after all these years, they still stink (especially when compared to *BSD). Google and IRC are still a Peguinista's best friends, it seems.

A present-day Linux sysadmin

tech10171968

IIRC, the enterprise/closed-source version of virtualbox is the one that allows USB pass-through as an option. I use it all the time to connect my PDA and camera, iPod should work as well.

ReallyVirtual

@boandmichele:
great news about the ubuntu... now I only need to find me an eeepc 901... ;-)

chaos0815

@cv: As for having it backwards, here is how I look at it. If you have a task to perform, you look for tools that let you get it done. I find that most OS's these days have all the necessary tools to do the job. Mostly, it is a matter of personal preference (speaking of individual users here, not someone responsible for administering a network of desktops on behalf of others). Sure, there was a time when if you wanted to be a Linux user, you had to sacrifice function. That is very rarely the case these days.

And documentation? Yes, it can be spotty at times, but in general I find Linux program documentation to be both more intelligent and more honest than for some Windows programs, e.g. NotePad and WordPad help both try to sell users on a more expensive word processor in the guise of helping them choose the right tool for the job (Notepad overview/Related Topics/Choosing a program to write a document). And it is not unusual to see Linux program documentation warn users about known bugs with the software, e.g. KMail warns about known problems sending large attachments (KMail help/FAQ 6.12).

penguiniator

@tech10171968:
@penguiniator:

Thanks, both of you, for your responses.

I wouldn't consider Linux again until documentation is comparable to what I have on my Macbook (my personal/home machine).

I use Windows XP at work. I've used a variety of Windows (95, 98, Me, NT) at home in the past and administered Unix systems a long, long time ago. Luckily, I don't administer my work system (we have IT staff that do that).

Once the Linux folks polish up documentation, you can bet that many more people will migrate to Linux for the desktop. Until then, its primary forte is on the server side.

cv

What is the task list thing (the icon has a tick)?

dougaitken

I'm sure I'm not the only Lifehacker junkie running Linux as a virtual machine of a Mac via VMWare Fusion. A heads-up to other that Fusion doesn't (yet) support the accelerated display mode necessary to run Avant Window Navigator. I went through a lot of installation tries before I finally figured that out.

martin_kelley

As someone pointed out earlier, VirtualBox comes in two versions, both are free (no cost). If you are installing VirtualBox through the facility provided by your distro, for example the Add/Remove on Ubuntu or through OpenSuSE's one-click install thing (forgot the name, sorry:P), and so on, then chances are you'll be installing VirtualBox OSE (Open Source Edition), which has several features cut out, including USB support. If you jump onto [www.virtualbox.org] and download the standard version, you'll get USB support, so you'll be able to use your iPod, or whatever else USB devices you want. Happy hacking :)

rhyshale

@penguiniator: I'll have to ditto cv that the documentation is still lacking. So is the documentation in Windows, and darn near everything else. I've yet to find good, useful documentation.

Also, while I'll admit that the driver situation isn't as bad as it was back in the 90's when I first started looking at Linux, its still not quite there yet either. I can find Windows drivers for all my hardware, but I still can't get my Audigy 2 ZS to consistently run right under a variety of distros.

Its getting there, but its not quite there yet.

AnonJr

at anyone using rainlendar + gcaldaemon: can i configure the alarm it sets up on gcal? by default it seems to set up an alarm to email one hour before event, though i'd rather sms 15 minutes before. can i change it?

at anyone using gdeskcal: is it useful for anything? can't see any events i set up on evolution calendar... and right clicking does nothing (i'd like to manage appointments through gdeskcal).

cetheriel

@Khaavren: For which games does virtualbox work better than wine? Does virtualbox have 3d acceleration now?

nighttimestereo

edit: it's not **only** the documentation,

JadeEmperor

@cv: it's not the documentation, the applications themselves are half baked.

take a simple one like IM. the most popular pidgin doesn't even recognize your webcam and making webcam work with the OS is a royal pain, but workable.

i think now that Canonical is or will be working with X.org maybe we'd see linux moving forward to the desktop real soon. until then, linux stops at the doorway.

JadeEmperor

So, that link in my previous comment goes to a blog I wrote about making virtual box see your USB devices.

beau.raines

re: virtual box and ipods

The closed source version of Virtual Box support USB and I use it to sync my iPod! The online manual details how to enable the USB support (groups and some filesystem changes).

[bohblog.blogspot.com]

beau.raines

OK, wrong link, argh. Here's the link to the Virtualbox bug: [www.virtualbox.org]

kayeoz

Regarding Virtualbox, it can sync iPods, but not iPod Touch/iPhone. It's a well known bug due to Apple's non-standard USB. This bug was already fixed in VMWare, but unfortunately not yet in Virtualbox :( Like everyone else subscribed to the bug report, I'm eagerly awaiting a fix as well.

kayeoz

gnome-do is huge!!!!! load up launchy :-)

neergrm

@dougaitken The task click thing is AWN (Avant Window Navigator) running the RTM (Rememberthemilk.com) applet. I have found it very handy for my own productivity.

cainmark

Lets talk about productivity.

a) How many applications are available on Linux which will do multi-page/duplex multi-page scanning? Zero.

b) How many accounting applications equivalent to Peachtree or Quickbooks are available on Linux? Zero.

c) If I take a Linux laptop for to a client site, how easy it is to connect to their network or projection equipment? Hard to impossible.

d) If a problem is found in Linux applications, who will provide a fix and in how much time? Most Linux applications are not maintained and developers have lost interest in them. It can be several months before a problem is fixed depending on how many users are complaining about it. I am not referring to security related bugs, just general issue where an application fails to work as advertised.

e) Are there any standards for developing GUI in Linux? There doesn't appear to be any looking at the applications. The GUI is poorly designed.

f) What about stable, unattended backup of Linux systems? How long would it take to setup?

g) Connectivity with a UPS system. It will take hours to establish connectivity so that the UPS will be able to reliably shut the system down in the event of a power failure.

h) Wireless networking. This is one area which can easily drive anyone insane during setup.

In the absence of native driver support and application support from the device manufacturers, the Linux applications offer a limited subset of functionality which can be used with a wide array of generic device of a given type.

It takes way longer to setup a Linux distro with all the cool features that the time spent is not worth it considering that I cannot use the desktop for any serious work.

I have multiple Linux distros installed but all I can do is sit on my desktop rotating the desktop like a cube or see water drops fall on the screen or watch the windows go up in flames or squeeze windows into a magic lamp.

arungupta

Great post with some fantastic software. I use most of these and thanks to them I feel my Linux computer is the most productive and easy to work on, compared to my Win & Mac computers.

I wrote an article on Productivity and Web development on Linux which you can find here: [gleamingpixel.co.uk]

dannyking

I prefer it to any of the docks (it doesn't take up space on your screen for no reason).

Techbrain

For "cloud" backup I use Jungle Disk, which in turn uses Amazon S3 for storage. (Amazon, Jungle, get it? Haha... NOT!)

It isn't free, but for $20, plus $1/month if you're interested in some optional extra features, plus the extremely cheap S3 storage, you get a very good package: executables for Linux, Windows and Mac (including pendrive versions) with free upgrades for life and the right to install in as many computers you want; a virtual drive; automatic backups with shadow copy; strong cryptography; and full web access to your files.

In Linux you can also run it as a daemon and use rsync to backup your files, although I myself don't use this. Must be useful for corporations, I don't know. They in fact have a corporate version, but I haven't looked at what it adds.

A negative point: in Gnome the task bar icon sometimes doesn't appear if you set it to run at your login, so you have to wrap it in a script to delay its start up for a few seconds. But other than this minor annoyance, I'm satisfied.

alexgieg

Lifehacker seems to constantly prefer Gnome-do (and now Launchy) over Katapult. Katapult is a great program as well that deserves mention.

Another few good apps to add:

1. Kontact. Kontact is a great PIM. I can keep track of notes and to dos with BasKet, e-mails with KMail, my feeds with Akregator (I'm typing this comment from a tab in Akregator inside Kontact), and my calendar which is synced with Google Calendar and thus my Nokia N800 (also synced with Google Calendar).

2. Yakuake. A drop down terminal is great. Tilde is lacking in features.

Jawee

since i got the thinkpad x300 i've been slowly switching to Linux. I still haven't figured out how to enable Verizon's WWAN on it. I also often feel like the windows management is sluggish compared to Windows, I don't know why. I hope I can do the final switch soon.

andresmh

Someone mentioned Evolution, which IS a very good piece of software. Since I still dual-boot, though, Evolution isn't an option for me if I want access to my info in both Windows and Linux. For this reason, Thunderbird with the Lightning extension gives me nearly all I need, and it's cross-platform, so Mac users can use it in dual-boot too.

Wollombi

Adobe AIR allows for a bunch of new utilities, check out uvlayer, it's one of my favorites www.uvlayer.com/download.html

thesphinx

I've switched our 2 home PC's from Windows XP & Windows Vista to Ubuntu about a year ago and we (my wife and I and our children) haven't had a concrete reason to lament that fact yet.

I can't recommend Ubuntu enough. It has more eye-candy, more productivity suites/software and just more plain old wow-factor than anything Microsoft has on offer right now.

Sure it's not a silver bullet for all your computing needs, but then neither is Windows - or Mac for that matter.

thedukeofchutney

I didn't want to flame this war anymore, but It has to be said. People, if your not a linux-desktop user, skip these articles, and skip the useless "this is why linux sucks comments". We get it already.

Personally, I use Ubuntu on my laptop, mythbox and desktop. I've tried allot of the fancy GNOME-Do style launchers and such, and they don't work for me. I prefer a stock linux desktop. Just like Vista, I turn off all the fancy graphical crap. I find most of that stuff takes away from the producitvity. I add my most used apps to the launcher near applications. One click, and I'm off to the races.
For productivity, I think webapps like gmail and gdocs are fantastic. I get 90% of the information I want anywhere, anyhow. That's productivity. I will have to try some of these web-desktop that are popping up. What my ultimate productivity tool would be my own desktop, at any computer or web enable device i'm at, anywhere in the world. I don't really care what OS is sitting in the background taking care of the details. I do find with a linux based desktop, with a simple putty terminal, i'm allot closer then anything in windows land..

prosonik

Why not add the equally easy to use ThinkFree Office?

It comes with 1 GB of free storage and it's free (ad supported, but so far the only ad they display is theirs).

When offline you could find useful though to add to the folder where it saves your stuff (so it can upload it to your "office") a link to your Documents folder (if you want to save offline in Linux at least).

The best part? Since it's Java based, all you need is a browser to log to your account there and start using online the same program you use on your PC.

Give it a go.

whiskey