The following is a list of some OpenSource Applications, that actually help make Linux more usable for people. It is my hope that this list shows potential Linux users that there really is a large, effective, productive and usable range of free, OpenSource applications. For existing Linux users, I think this will provide a great resource in finding applications that may better suit your needs, or just for fun!
Needless to say, this is just some of the thousands of applications available! The majority of these applications can be installed by either apt-get or synaptic, however I’ve included the web site addresses of these applications so that you can obtain more information.
Audio Applications
Ardour:
(http://www.ardour.org/)
Ardour is a digital audio workstation. You can use it to record, edit and mix multi-track audio. You can produce your own CDs, mix video soundtracks, and many more about music.
That is some Ardour capabilities :-
multichannel recording
non-destructive editing with unlimited undo/redo,
full automation support
a powerful mixer
unlimited tracks/busses/plugins
timecode synchronization
hardware control from surfaces like the Mackie Control Universal
If you’ve been looking for a tool similar to ProTools, Nuendo, Pyramix, or Sequoia, you might have found it.
Audacity:
(http://audacity.sourceforge.net/)
Audacity is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems.
You can use Audacity to:
Record live audio.
Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs.
Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files.
Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together.
Change the speed or pitch of a recording
And more !!!
LMMS:
(http://lmms.sourceforge.net/)
LMMS aims to be a free alternative to popular (but commercial and closed- source) programs like FruityLoops/FL Studio, Cubase and Logic allowing you to produce music with your computer.
This includes creation of loops, synthesizing and mixing sounds, arranging samples, having fun with your MIDI-keyboard and much more….
MusE:
(http://www.muse-sequencer.org/)
MusE is a MIDI/Audio sequencer with recording and editing capabilities written by Werner Schweer.
MusE aims to be a complete multitrack virtual studio for Linux.
Midi sequencing
Record/Playback/Import
Input filter
Audio sequencing
Record/Playback several mono/stereo inputs/outputs.
AudioGroups
LASH
Perform audio effects like chorus/flanger in realtime!
Jack – jack-audio-connection-kit
Use the jack for midi/audio routing.
Internal Audio Routing Interface
ALSA – based on the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
You can use several soundcards to access external midi devices and record/playback them with MusE.
Graphic Design Applications (2D)
GIMPshop:
(http://www.gimpshop.com/)
GIMPshop is a modification of the free/open source GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP), intended to replicate the feel of Adobe Photoshop. Its primary purpose is to make users of Photoshop feel comfortable using GIMP.
It shares all GIMP’s advantages, including the long feature list and customisability, while addressing some common criticisms regarding the program’s interface: GIMPshop modifies the menu structure to closely match Photoshop’s, adjusts the program’s terminology to match Adobe’s, and, in the Windows version, uses a plugin called ‘Deweirdifier’ to combine the application’s numerous windows in a similar manner to the MDI system used by most Windows graphics packages. While GIMPshop does not support Photoshop plugins, all GIMP’s own plugins, filters, brushes, etc. remain available.
Due to the changes to the interface, many Photoshop tutorials can be followed in GIMPshop unchanged, and most others can be adapted for GIMPshop users with minimal effort.
Inkscape:
(http://www.inkscape.org/)
An Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format.
Inkscape supports many advanced SVG features (markers, clones, alpha blending, etc.) and great care is taken in designing a streamlined interface. It is very easy to edit nodes, perform complex path operations, trace bitmaps and much more. We also aim to maintain a thriving user and developer community by using open, community-oriented development.
Scribus:
(http://www.scribus.net/)
Scribus is an open-source program that brings award-winning professional page layout to Linux/Unix, MacOS X, OS/2 and Windows desktops with a combination of “press-ready” output and new approaches to page layout.
Underneath the modern and user friendly interface, Scribus supports professional publishing features, such as CMYK color, separations, ICC color management and versatile PDF creation.
Graphic Design Applications (3D)
Art Of Illusion:
(http://www.artofillusion.org/)
Art of Illusion is a free, open source 3D modelling and rendering studio. It is written entirely in Java, and should be usable on any Java Virtual Machine which is compatible with J2SE 1.4 or later.
Many of its capabilities rival those found in commercial programs. Some of the highlights include subdivision surface based modelling tools, skeleton based animation, and a graphical language for designing procedural textures and materials.
K3DSurf:
(http://k3dsurf.sourceforge.net/)
K3DSurf is a program to visualize and manipulate Mathematical models in three, four, five and six dimensions. K3DSurf supports Parametric equations and Isosurfaces.
Studying mathematical surfaces with K3DSurf include doing Interactive visualization with mouse events (Right: Rotate, Middle: translate and left: Scale).
Real time animation (rotation) and morph (by the introduction of t_time variable).Animation and morph can also be monitored by controls that affect the CPU usage and time step. Create screenshots by copying the draw window or by using the best ray tracer on the net
Povray :
Create movie scene is also supported.
Generate Mesh files that describe the shape of the mathematical model.
Supported Formats Are :
Povscript: Povray is the best ray tracer available on the net…and it’s free.
VRML2: to use with the majority of current browsers via an appropriate plug-in.
OBJ: a well-known file format supported by the majority of 3D applications (Blender, MAYA and Moray…)
White Dune:
(http://vrml.cip.ica.uni-stuttgart.de/dune/)
White_dune is a low level VRML97 tool for Unix/Linux/MacOSX and Windows.
It can read VRML97 files, display and let the user change the scenegraph/fields.
Unlike most highlevel tools, it uses a light model based on the VRML97 standard.
Video Applications
AvideMUX:
(http://avidemux.berlios.de/index.html)
Avidemux is a free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. It supports many file types, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEGfiles, MP4 and ASF, using a variety of codecs. Tasks can be automated using projects, job queue and powerful scripting capabilities.
Cinelerra:
(http://heroinewarrior.com/cinelerra.php3)
Cinelerra does primarily 3 main things: capturing, compositing, and editing audio and video with sample level accuracy. It’s a seamless integration of audio, video, and still photos rarely experienced on a web server.
If you want to make movies with the same kind of compositing and editing suite that the big boys use, on the world’s most efficient UNIX operating system, it’s time for Cinelerra.
CinePaint:
(http://www.cinepaint.org/)
CinePaint is used to retouch feature films and in pro photography. CinePaint opens high fidelity image file formats such as DPX, 16-bit TIFF, and OpenEXR, and conventional formats like JPEG and PNG. It has a flipbook for movie playback of image sequences in RAM. It supports 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit color channels, HDR and CMS.
CinePaint is used for motion picture frame-by-frame retouching, dirt removal, wire rig removal, render repair, background plates, and painting 3D model textures. It’s been used on many feature films, including The Last Samurai where it was used to add flying arrows.
For still photography, CinePaint can import bracketed HDR exposures. It has gallery-quality 16-bit per channel color printing with GutenPrint. CinePaint’s high dynamic range is crucial with B&W still photography, where images only have a single channel.
Jahshaka:
(http://jahshaka.org/)
Edit with flexibility and speed.
Create Effects in real time.
Animate with unlimited features.
Paint and design on moving video.
Create music with all the tools the pros use.
Work in any format at any resolution.
System Applications
APTonCD:
(http://aptoncd.sourceforge.net/)
APTonCD is a tool with a graphical interface which allows you to create one or more CDs or DVDs (you choose the type of media) with all of the packages you’ve downloaded via APT-GET or APTITUDE, creating a removable repository that you can use on other computers.
APTonCD will also allow you to automatically create media with all of your .deb packages located in one specific repository, so that you can install them into your computers without the need for an internet connection.
Beagle:
(http://beagle-project.org/Main_Page)
Beagle is a search tool that ransacks your personal information space to find whatever you’re looking for.
More technically, Beagle is a Linux desktop-independent service which transparently and unobtrusively indexes your data in real-time.
For example:
Files are immediately indexed when they are created, are re-indexed when they are modified, and are dropped from the index upon deletion.
eMails are indexed upon arrival.
IM conversations are indexed as you chat, a line at a time.
Web pages are indexed as you view them (with a browser extension).
ClamAV:
(http://www.clamav.net/)
Clam AntiVirus is an open source (GPL) anti-virus toolkit for UNIX, designed especially for e-mail scanning on mail gateways. It provides a number of utilities including a flexible and scalable multi-threaded daemon, a command line scanner and advanced tool for automatic database updates.
WINE:
(http://www.winehq.org/)
Wine is an Open Source implementation of the Windows API on top of X, OpenGL, and Unix.
Think of Wine as a compatibility layer for running Windows programs. Wine does not require Microsoft Windows, as it is a completely free alternative implementation of the Windows API consisting of 100% non-Microsoft code, however Wine can optionally use native Windows DLLs if they are available. Wine provides both a development toolkit for porting Windows source code to Unix as well as a program loader, allowing many unmodified Windows programs to run on x86-based Unixes, including Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, and Solaris.
Developer Applications
Bugzilla:
(http://www.bugzilla.org/)
(I know Bugzilla is web-based, but it’s so good). Bugzilla is a Web-based general-purpose bugtracker tool originally developed and used by the Mozilla project. Released as open source software by Netscape Communications in 1998, Bugzilla has been adopted by a variety of organizations for use as a defect tracker for both free software and proprietary products.
Eclipse:
(http://www.eclipse.org/)
Eclipse is an open source community whose projects are focused on building an open development platform comprised of extensible frameworks, tools and runtimes for building, deploying and managing software across the lifecycle. A large and vibrant ecosystem of major technology vendors, innovative start-ups, universities, research institutions and individuals extend, complement and support the Eclipse platform.
Email Applications
Firefox:
(http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/)
I think most people know that Firefox is a web browser. Choose from over a thousand useful add-ons that enhance Firefox. It’s easy to personalize Firefox to make it your own.
Gnome Do:
(http://do.davebsd.com/)
A powerful, speedy, and sexy remote control for your GNOME Desktop. GNOME Do is not only for GNOME. Although it was created by a GNOME lover, Do runs on KDE and other common environments.
GNOME Do is not a search tool. If you know what you’re looking for and what you want to do with it, Do will help you do it quickly. GNOME Do is not just a launcher. Send emails and IMs, play music, search the web, and launch applications too. Plugins make it possible.
Thunderbird:
(http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/)
Thunderbird allows you to customize your email to suit your specific needs whether it’s how you search and find messages or listening to music right out of your inbox.
Thunderbird 2 offers a variety of ways for you to organize and display your folders, whether by favorites, recently viewed or folders containing unread messages. As always, you can also set up RSS and newsgroup folders to stay on top of news and your interests.
Thunderbird 2 also allows you to maximize your message view pane by opting for a folder drop down menu instead of the traditional sidebar.
Thunderbird 2 allows you to “tag” messages with descriptors such as “To Do” or “Done” or even create your own tags that are specific to your needs. Tags can be combined with saved searches and mail views to make it easier to organize email.
Zim:
(http://www.pardus.nl/projects/zim/)
Zim is a WYSIWYG text editor written in Gtk2-Perl which aims to bring the concept of a wiki to your desktop. Every page is saved as a text file with wiki markup. Pages can contain links to other pages, and are saved automatically.
Creating a new page is as easy as linking to a non-existing page. Pages are ordered in a hierarchical structure that gives it the look and feel of an outliner. This tool is intended to keep track of TODO lists or to serve as a personal scratch book.
Web Development Applications
Amaya:
(http://www.w3.org/Amaya/)
Amaya is a Web editor, i.e. a tool used to create and update documents directly on the Web. Browsing features are seamlessly integrated with the editing and remote access features in a uniform environment. This follows the original vision of the Web as a space for collaboration and not just a one-way publishing medium.
BlueFish:
(http://bluefish.openoffice.nl/index.html)
Bluefish is a powerful editor targeted towards programmers and webdesigners, with many options to write websites, scripts and programming code. Bluefish supports many programming and markup languages, and it focuses on editing dynamic and interactive websites.
FontForge:
(http://fontforge.sourceforge.net/)
FontForge — An outline font editor that lets you create your own postscript, truetype, opentype, cid-keyed, multi-master, cff, svg and bitmap (bdf, FON, NFNT) fonts, or edit existing ones. Also lets you convert one format to another. FontForge has support for many macintosh font formats.
SeaMonkey:
(http://www.seamonkey-project.org/)
The SeaMonkey project is a community effort to develop the SeaMonkey all-in-one internet application suite (see below). Such a software suite was previously made popular by Netscape and Mozilla, and the SeaMonkey project continues to develop and deliver high-quality updates to this concept. Containing an Internet browser, email & newsgroup client, HTML editor, IRC chat and web development tools.
SeaMonkey is sure to appeal to advanced users, web developers and corporate users.
FOR MORE INFORMATION YOU CAN VISIT THIS LINK :
http://www.ubuntulinuxhelp.com/top-100-of-the-best-useful-opensource-applications/
http://www.seopher.com/articles/100_awesome_free_and_open_source_applications