Linux Software Guide - Overclock.net

error10 · 10-19-08

OK, so you finally installed Linux ... but now what? Sure you can find your way around, but maybe you need to know what software does what since everything's all different.

This is a quick guide for some of the apps and utilities you'll want to install to get the most out of your new Linux installation. We'll cover the two most popular Linux distributions, Ubuntu 8.10 and Fedora 9, and if you have something that's based on one of those, then it'll be very similar for you so you can still follow along. (Of note: Linux Mint is getting increasingly popular. Most all of the instructions for Ubuntu also apply to Linux Mint.)

Throughout this post there will be links where you can get more detailed information on a given topic. Click the links if you have questions.

I assume you've already found Firefox and know what it is. I also will skim over or won't cover software that's preinstalled on your Linux computer. I expect you to browse through your menus and click on all the apps and see what they do. You may be pleasantly surprised! I'll only point out preinstalled programs when it's not blatantly obvious what they're for.

In a few places we'll have to run commands, so open a terminal and then get a root shell on the terminal. In Ubuntu, type "sudo -s" in the terminal. In Fedora type "su -" in the terminal. Wherever a command appears below it's assumed you're already root, or the command won't work.

How to Add Software

Use your package manager to add software. On Ubuntu you find it by going to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager. On Fedora you find it by going to System > Administration > Add/Remove Software. Either way you can enter a package name (like those given below) to find and install it.

For either you'll need to add some software repositories to get all the software available to you but that can't be shipped by default (e.g. due to licensing restrictions). On Ubuntu you want to select all the repositories shown in System > Administration > Software Sources. On Fedora you want to download and install the RPM Fusion free and nonfree repositories.

On Ubuntu, also install the medibuntu repository by running these commands (you should install this because several other packages below need it). Afterward, restart Firefox.

Code:

wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/intrepid.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list
apt-get update && apt-get -y install medibuntu-keyring apturl

To install software on the command line, which you might sometimes find easier than the GUI, on Ubuntu, type "apt-get install <packagename(s)>" and on Fedora, type "yum install <packagename(s)>". Sometimes in Ubuntu, apt-get will fail to configure a package. You can usually fix this by running "apt-get -f install" which will pick up where it left off.

Whenever there are software updates available, you'll be notified by a taskbar icon. Be sure to install all updates to ensure your system security, fix problems, etc.

On Ubuntu, a .deb is an installable software package. The same for .rpm on Fedora. Some proprietary software can be downloaded in packaged form this way. Either way, double click the file to install it.

Archives

Your Linux box comes with support for many popular archive formats already, though RAR and 7-zip aren't installed by default. For Fedora, install the unrar and p7zip packages. For Ubuntu, install rar, unrar, p7zip, p7zip-full and p7zip-rar. This will let the Archive Manager GUI use .rar and .7z files.

Adobe

Let's get you set up to get Adobe Reader and Flash Player all at one pop.

Go to the Adobe Flash download site. For Ubuntu, select ".deb for Ubuntu 8.04+". For Fedora, select "YUM for Linux". In each case open the file it downloads and install it. (For 64-bit Ubuntu, save the file to disk instead, and run "dpkg --force-architecture -i /home/<your-username>/Desktop/install_flash_player*.deb" instead.)

Now you have the Adobe Linux repositories installed and you can get updates for Flash Player and Adobe Reader automatically.

To install them, on Ubuntu, install the packages adobe-flashplugin, acroread, mozilla-acroread and acroread-plugins. On Fedora install the flash-plugin and AdobeReader_enu packages.

If you're running 64-bit Fedora, also install the nspluginwrapper.x86_64 and nspluginwrapper.i386 packages. Once installed, run the command "mozilla-plugin-config -i -g -v" and it will wrap your 32-bit plugins to work with 64-bit Firefox. You'll need to run this command and restart Firefox whenever you install a new 32-bit plugin (but not when you merely upgrade one).

If you're running 64-bit Ubuntu, also install the nspluginwrapper package. Once installed, run the command "nspluginwrapper -i /usr/lib/adobe-flashplugin/libflashplayer.so" and it will wrap your 32-bit Flash plugin to work with 64-bit Firefox. You'll need to run a similar command and restart Firefox whenever you install a new 32-bit plugin (but not when you merely upgrade one). A 64-bit wrapper is already provided for Adobe Reader.

Drivers

Linux will recognize most of your hardware out of the box, and will even cope with most hardware changes without complaint, though some wireless cards are extremely problematic (and outside the scope of this document) and ATi and NVIDIA cards need to have their drivers installed.

For Ubuntu, go to System > Administration > Hardware Drivers and select the video driver you want to install. If you have problems with this method, try using the envy script to install your video drivers.

For Fedora, install the akmod-fglrx package (for ATi) or the akmod-nvidia package (for NVIDIA) then restart your computer. You will receive driver updates automatically, though they may be a few weeks behind the manufacturers' releases.

For wireless cards, Intel chipsets have the best support, followed by Atheros chipsets (though on Fedora you need to install the madwifi package and reboot). Anything else is a crapshoot or is going to require something almost as painful as a root canal. For now. Driver support is always improving and by the time you read this, your wireless card might just work. Google your wireless card model followed by linux and you should be able to find a clue as to the chipset it uses.

DVD, Movies, MP3

All of these involve restricted formats which can't be legally distributed with the OS as shipped to you, and the instructions for getting them working would make this article much longer than it should be. So for Ubuntu follow this guide.

For Fedora, install these packages: libdvdcss libdvdnav ffmpeg gstreamer-plugins-bad gstreamer-plugins-bad-extras gstreamer-plugins-ugly

To play your extensive MP3 and Ogg collection, or buy music online, try Rhythmbox (which should already be installed). Rhythmbox also supports podcasts.

IM, Chat, Skype

For instant messaging using AIM, Yahoo, MSN and Google Talk (Jabber) protocols use the pidgin package, which should already be installed. For encrypted IMs using the Off The Record protocol, install the pidgin-otr package, restart pidgin, and enable the plugin in your preferences.

For IRC, use X-Chat (install the xchat package).

For Skype, on Ubuntu, install the skype package. On Fedora, download and install Skype from its web site.

To use your webcam, install the cheese package. You may also need to install webcam drivers (which unfortunately is beyond the scope, blah blah).

CD/DVD Burning

Linux will burn audio and data CDs and data DVDs out of the box. CD/DVD images should be in ISO format with the .iso extension. Then right-click and choose Write to Disc.

To rip audio CDs, try the Grip program (install the grip package). It can download CD track data and tag your files for you automatically and uses Xiph CDDA Paranoia as its ripping backend, which means you can get your audio off of even heavily scratched CDs with little or no loss in perceived audio quality.

If you want to edit CD/DVD ISO images, e.g. to add files, try the ISO Master program (install the isomaster package). You can also double-click the ISO image to browse its contents and extract files. (This doesn't work with Mac .dmg files and I don't have a converter handy.)

Audio and Video Editing

There are several video editors available for Linux, ranging from simple to immensely complicated. Try the Kino or Pitivi video editors (install the kino or pitivi packages) for fairly simple video editing and conversion. For professional grade stuff, you'll have to hunt down cinelerra.

To create Video DVDs or VCDs, try the DeVeDe program (install the devede package).

For audio editing, the Audacity and Ardour programs should meet most of your needs (install the audacity and ardour packages; on Fedora it's audacity-nonfree for MP3 support).

Photos and Graphics

Linux will recognize and import photos from most digital cameras automatically. The software you need should already be installed.

For standard raster graphics, The GIMP is king (the "gimp" package should already be installed). While not quite as powerful as Photoshop it should meet most people's needs.

For vector graphics install Inkscape (inkscape package).

And for 3D modeling/raytracing, there's nothing like Blender (blender package).

Peer to Peer (P2P)

The Transmission BitTorrent client should already be installed. It may feel kind of stripped down compared to other clients like Azureus Vuze but it gets the job done. Speaking of which, you can install that too: just install the azureus package. Another great BitTorrent client is Deluge (on Ubuntu, install deluge-torrent; on Fedora, install deluge). It has all the features you expect but is much lighter than Azureus.

For Gnutella networks, install the gtk-gnutella program. Instead of LimeWire consider using Frostwire, available from the Frostwire website.

Remote Desktop

To allow access to your desktop (via VNC) from remote computers, go to System > Preferences > Internet & Network > Remote Desktop.

To connect to other computers with VNC, install a VNC viewer such as vinagre (the GNOME VNC client) or vncviewer (the original VNC client, aka RealVNC).

To connect to MS Windows computers using RDP, install the rdesktop package.

And to have a nice GUI which integrates all your VNC and Windows remote desktops, install Terminal Server Client (tsclient).

Other Internet Apps

Obviously you should get Thunderbird for your e-mail but it may not be installed by default (install the thunderbird package). You can also try Evolution (preinstalled) or Seamonkey (install seamonkey).

For RSS, I love Liferea (install liferea).

For FTP/SFTP, try FileZilla (install filezilla).

Windows Files and Programs

Wine. You've all heard of it. In case you haven't, it lets you run many Windows programs sort of natively on your Linux computer. Install the wine package to get it. Once installed, you can just double click an .exe or .msi file to install a Windows program, and you'll find a new Wine menu under Applications for all the Windows programs you have installed.

To read your Windows hard drive partitions under Linux, you need to have the ntfs-3g package installed (if your drives don't show up after installing it, restart your computer).

Overclocking

First you need some sensors. On Fedora, the lm_sensors package should already be installed. On Ubuntu, install the lm-sensors package.

Run "yes | sensors-detect" from the command line to detect your motherboard's sensors. (You only have to do this once; if you replace your mobo then you'll have to do it again.) Once sensors-detect finishes then you can run "sensors" from the command line to view all the sensors, or add the Hardware Sensors applet to your panel. I generally add a drawer to the panel, and then add the sensors applet to the drawer. (If the applet isn't available, on Fedora, install the gnome-applet-sensors package, and on Ubuntu, install sensors-applet.)

You will likely see some sensors which don't actually exist on your motherboard. This is normal because mobo manufacturers make several different boards on the same design and some sensors may be present on the high end boards that aren't present on the low end boards. But the hardware still is capable of addressing the absent sensors. You can hide them in the Hardware Sensors applet by right-clicking and choosing Preferences.

NOTE: Sensors does not work with server motherboards or the Skulltrail. You'll know you have such a board if sensors-detect complains about "bmcsensors" being missing. On these boards you will need to install the OpenIPMI and OpenIPMI-tools packages, and use the "ipmitool sdr elist" command to view motherboard sensors.

Linux 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Prime95 are available from the GIMPS download page. The Windows version of Prime95 also runs in Linux using Wine.

Memtest was preinstalled with your Ubuntu or Fedora system. On Fedora, you need to run the "memtest-setup" command to add it to your boot menu. To run memtest, reboot and select it from the boot menu.

To overclock your NVIDIA GPU, you need to enable Coolbits. Edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file by running the command "gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf". Find the line which says Driver "nvidia" and add a new line below it which reads Option "Coolbits" "1" After you log out, Coolbits will appear in the NVIDIA control panel. For older NVIDIA cards, run the "nvclock" command or select the NVCLOCK GUI from the menus. (On Fedora, install the nvclock and nvclock-gui packages. On Ubuntu, install the nvclock and nvclock-gtk packages.)

On ATi cards that support OverDrive, you can enable OverDrive with the "aticonfig --od-enable" command. The Catalyst Control Center GUI will support OverDrive in a future release, according to AMD. For older ATi cards, you'll need the rovclock command line utility.

To benchmark your system, try the Phoronix Test Suite.

Conclusion

This is just a small sampling of the Linux software you now have access to. But it'll cover a wide variety of situations and make your life in Linux just a little easier. If I forgot your favorite piece of software then feel free to mention it in the little box below.

If you still have questions about doing something in Linux, the first thing you want to check are the FAQ's for your given distribution. For Ubuntu bookmark the Ubuntu Guide, for Mint bookmark the Mint Wiki and for Fedora bookmark the Fedora FAQ.

Enjoy Linux!

sc30317 · 10-19-08

nice job +rep!

error10 · 10-19-08

Added an Overclocking section to the OP.

-iceblade^ · 10-19-08

+rep.

very useful to the newer Linux users out there, i'm sure

francesthemutes · 10-19-08

rep+! Fantastic guide. Good to get those Linux legs movin'!

Melcar · 10-19-08

A few things:

- For wlan devices, you forgot Ralink chips. The driver for them works really well, but Ubuntu tends to have better support for them since the package maintainers tend to patch drivers a lot (therefore they tend to be more current and compatible). Very easy to obtain chips as well, compared to Atheros based cards. Broadcom should also be considered since the chips are fairly easy to get working now (requieres a bit of work, but they do work and no need to mess around with ndiswrapper). Another chip that does work "out of the box" is the Zydas chip, usually found on USB devices.

- The latest fglrx driver supports Overdrive for r6xx and r7xx cards. Rovclock only supports a few old cards (r3xx and older I think). If you have a r6xx or newer card you're only choice is to install the latest drivers, which is not that hard.

error10 · 10-20-08

I didn't forget Ralink chips. I just haven't heard from anyone who has one that didn't have a complete nightmare trying to get them to work. The same is true of Broadcom chips. Ralink, at least, has a driver that's shaping up quite nicely, even if it takes some work to install. The Broadcom driver still needs a lot of work and is quite the pain to get working.

As for overclocking ATi cards, you'll need to explain that a little better. How does one overclock their card? That was not at all clear from what you wrote. Edit: I just Googled it and updated the OP.

Melcar · 10-20-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by error10

I didn't forget Ralink chips. I just haven't heard from anyone who has one that didn't have a complete nightmare trying to get them to work. The same is true of Broadcom chips. Ralink, at least, has a driver that's shaping up quite nicely, even if it takes some work to install. The Broadcom driver still needs a lot of work and is quite the pain to get working.

As for overclocking ATi cards, you'll need to explain that a little better. How does one overclock their card? That was not at all clear from what you wrote. Edit: I just Googled it and updated the OP.

Hardy already has patched Ralink drivers. They really do work out of the box (all my machines have Ralink cards in them, R61, RT2500, RT2400, RT2561). Broadcom chips are also configured automatically (it still requires a firmware hack that you must accept to do). OpenSuse 10.3 is pretty much in the same boat.

error10 · 10-20-08

Oh, and I don't know about the Ralink serialmonkey driver, but the Broadcom driver apparently has no support (yet) for draft-n cards.

DigitalSonata · 10-20-08

Great guide, though for BT Deluge is so much better than any other client its not even funny.

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Linux Software Guide

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