ubuntu for gold

[Caled]

tl;dr Whats your favourite linux program?

So, I cracked the proverbials, and installed Ubuntu, which I used to love and stopped using when 10.something didn't play so nice with a new laptop that I bought. I've been having issues with it recently (with both osx and win7), and so far have been pleasantly surprised to discover that 12.04 does in fact behave rather well. I'm not entirely sold on the rocket-dock clone (which I don't like or use in osx either, but in both cases it can be hidden) - but the launcher and the HUD are great.

Today, Vadi and some guy called Feepbot introduced me to Sublimetext (as a npp replacement) and it is really great. That prompted me to make this post though.

What other software for linux/ubuntu is really nice like that? When I have a need for a function, I do the research like anyone else - google, overclockers, tomshardware, lifehacker, ubuntu forums etc, but none of my usual searching found sublimetext, so if you have a particular favourite, maybe post and let me know? Assume the really obvious ones like gimp and openoffice are already known...

So far I've (re)discovered:
guake
sublimetext
xchat (for irc)
myunity (tweaks for unity)

Things I plan to find:
jailbroken iphone manager (if rhythmbox wont load music on this annoying...thing)
ebook format converter (assuming calibre isn't x-platform)
teamviewer-for-ubuntu
a skype alternative - I speak to someone in China on a daily basis

There are likely other things I have not thought of yet.

[Vadi]

Guake is a good one, something I use daily. Another good thing is redshift, it's one those apps that adjusts the monitor depending on the time of day, so it's not super-bright late night.

Shutter for screenshots - it comes with a great, easy to use and adapted for screenshots editor (as well as built-in upload functionality).

iremsg - indicator for IRE games, shows you messages and events semi-realtime.

I use Teamviewer on Ubuntu - they provide a wine-packaged version that works fine, and it saves hassle as a lot of people on windows who are likely to need support - already have it installed, and know how it works and etc. Same deal with Skype.

Crossover for Windows games - because they do a lot of work Wine, their UI wrappers for it are easy to use, and their support is golden.

Pidgin for all IM + IRC. I haven't made friends with Empathy yet - I dutifully try it on every upgrade and unfortunately rid in favour of Pidgin.

That's about it for my daily essentials! The rest are defaults (nautilus, evince, totem, etc.)

[kevutian]

For me:

Wireshark,
CACTI,
Geany,
Autokey,
Handbrake,
Conky,
Teeworlds,
Jokosher,
Octave,
GDB,
Valgrind.

@Vadi: You run Skype through WINE? o.O

[Vadi]

No, I use the Linux Skype...

[kevutian]

@Caled: This might be what you're looking for.

Support for many devices is still not possible, but they do list those that are supported on the webpage.

Good luck with it.

Edit: Also, why the Skype alternative? Check this page.

[Caled]

If skype-for-linux is better now, sure. I'll give it a go. It was moderately awful a few years ago though.

[kevutian]

Yeah, agreed. It was pretty crappy, but it's certainly a lot more stable now. It does not have all the features of the Windows client, but it's most definitely in a usable state.

[Caled]

Yeah, agreed. It was pretty crappy, but it's certainly a lot more stable now. It does not have all the features of the Windows client, but it's most definitely in a usable state.

That might be a good thing. Skype on windows is getting more and more bloated - all I want out of it is a contact list, skype-to-phone, and video calls.

[Vadi]

I forgot about some other essentials.

Diodon - clipboard manager. Solves the problem of losing what you've copied when you copy over it by accident by adding a history to this deal, so you can just choose an old paste from the list. Has an indicator and a lens, very useful.

SysPeek - one of the many indicators for system activity, I prefer this one.

I also use Hardware Sensors Indicator - but that's just because I built my PC from scratch and thought I had overheating problems (I didn't). Didn't get rid of the indicator, it's somewhat handy to keep around.

Skype works fine, I don't call to landlines but computer-to-computer it's always been mostly problemless. It's been updated to the new UI recently as well.

[Rakon]

I'll echo the love for Guake. Love and use it so much, that I've kinda cloned it on windows via powershell/autohotkeys programs!

Other well used items include SciTe, CrashPlan, Skype, Pidgin, Evolution. Currently running Debian Wheezy though and the Gnome 3 desktop... sometimes gets very very sluggish after prolonged usage.