Bob Uttl, Ph.D.
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Go Linux!







Go Linux!

Windows or Linux OS?  

Financial costs (several 1,000s of dollars for software per computer) and hassle factor
(your MS OS is licensed only for that computer and if it dies you need to buy a new computer AND new MS OS; you need to call MS when you change components in your computers more than MS allowed number of times) of using Windows OS are unjustifiable.

In contrast, Linux OS has evolved beyond MS OS -- it is more stable, easy to use, etc..  Moreover, it is free, you can install it on as many machines as you like, you do not have to buy a new copy every time your computer dies, etc..  And your colleagues will never know that you edited their MS doc in OpenOffice...

This page has a selection of software I use as well as software I know is made for Linux and is useful in academic work. Some of these free, open applications  are also available for MS Windows, most notably, OpenOffice and R statistical computing package.

Linux Operating System (alternative to MS Windows)
OpenSuse Linux OS  FREE

Office Applications (alternative to MS Office)
OpenOffice 
FREE
  reads & writes OpenDocument format (OASIS)
  but also reads & writes MS doc, ppt, xls, etc. files
  components include: Writer, Impress, Math, Draw, Calc, & Base
  multiplatform -- available for Linux, MS Windows, etc.
  multilingual -- too many to list

PDF Readers and Creators
Adobe Reader  
FREE
Ghostview  FREE
Ghostscript  FREE
XPDF  FREE
GV  FREE

Internet Browsers
Firefox
FREE
Mozilla FREE
Opera  FREE
  
Image Manipulation Programs
Gimp  
FREE
  replaces Photoshop
  multiplatform -- available for Linux, MS Windows, Mac, etc.

Email Clients
Evolution  
FREE
  email client, calender, & more
Thunderbird
 FREE 
  runs from any media (hard drive, USB stick, external hard drive)

Statistical Computing
R  
FREE
  statistical software
  dialect of commercial S-Plus
  multiplatform -- available for Linux, MS Windows, Mac, etc.
Stata $$$$
  statistical software
  multiplatform -- available for Linux, MS Windows

Mathematical Computing
Matlab  $$$$
  high level language for numerical computations
Octave  FREE

  high level language for numerical computations
  "mostly compatible with Matlab"

Music Players
Amarok
FREE
  
music player, replaces iTunes
GtkPod
FREE

Photo & Image Processing Software
Gwenview  
FREE
  image viewer
Gimp  FREE
  replaces Photoshop
  multiplatform -- available for Linux, MS Windows, Mac, etc.

Web Authoring
Mozilla Composer (part of Mozilla)
FREE
OpenOffice Web Creator (part of OpenOffice) FREE
NVU  FREE
Quanta FREE


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January 6, 2006