Each issue we’re going to be hunting down the best Linux applications available on the internet so you don’t have to. This could be anything from image manipulation to web browsers, from hardware monitoring to encryption and everything in between. You name it, we’re likely to cover it. Best of all, everything you’ll find on this page will be free and open source. So no nagging popups, no time restrictions and no feature limitations. Just strictly no holds barred functionality! Read on to find out what we’ve been digging during the last month.
etm
Always forgetting important events or when you need to complete tasks by? Then you’ll want to make use of etm, or Event and Task Manager as a Linux-based personal assistant. It processes text files to store events and tasks, which can be viewed in a command line interface. In addition there’s alarm support for repetition of events if you need to be nagged.
Monitorix NEW
It’s common sense to keep a watchful eye on parts of the computer because there’s always a chance you can see the beginnings of a hardware failure before it completely manifests. With Monitorix you’re able to see data including the CPU load, CPU temperature and users currently on the system. Most aspects are displayed in a simple graph making it easy to compare trends.
Keep tabs on your computer using Monitorx to help stave off failures
ImageMagick NEW
Gimp’s a big name in the open source image editing world, but there are alterntaives. Once such alternative is ImageMagick. With it you can create, edit, compose, or convert bitmap images. There’s also read/write support for over 100 other formats including DPX, EXR, GIF, JPEG, JPEG-2000, PDF, PhotoCD, PNG, SVG, and TIFF.
Calibre NEW
Like any vast collection of files it all becomes easier to manage when there’s some order to the data chaos. Ebooks are no different, especially if your virtual bookshelf is expansive. With Calbire you can sort books using title, author, date added, date published, size, rating and series. Then there’s the search mechanism, which makes pinpointing a particular book a piece of cake.
KMediaFactory
Making DVDs is becoming increasingly more easier in no small part thanks to tools like KMediaFactory. Once you’ve done the hard work of creating a video it’s often deemed more straight forward to burn it straight to disc. But with KMediaFactory you can create some plush menu systems for your movies by importanting image files as slideshows..
p7zip
Many of you may not be aware of p7zip, but it’s actually a port of 7za.exe, which itself is a command line version of the very popular file archive application 7-zip. This port is designed for POSIX systems like Unix including Linux, Solaris, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, Cygwin and AIX. But the main feature of this software is that it draws on 7-zip’s high compression ratio.
CherryTree NEW
Taking down notes is not really a task that requires a full-blown word processing package. In fact some of the better note-taking tools have features with a particular focus on this task. Take cherrytree, it treats text input with a hierarchical approach and offers rich text and syntax highlighting functionality.
CherryTree offers a helping hand for all your note taking needs
PhotoFiltre LX
A clone of the previously windows-only image editor. The aim of this particular development project is to bring quick, simple photo manipulation to the Linux masses and it’s safe to say that it doesn’t go far wrong. Of course you have the usual features such as cropping as well as some cool effects like PhotoMasque, Revive Colours, Gamma Adjust and more.
TrueCrypt NEW
Quite possibly the ultimate encryption utility. We’ve yet to encounter anything that surpasses its breadth of functionality. From the 11 algorithms you can use to password-protect your private files to the option of storing data in files or even partition, TrueCrypt is likely to be the only encryption tool that you’ll ever need.
Giada NEW
One for the DJs and live performers. Giada bills itself as a hardcore loop machine. There’s the option to load up to 32 smaples and select whether to play them in single mode as a drum machine or utilise them more as a sequencer in loop mode. You don’t even need a dedicated hardware controller because all samples can be activated through your computer’s keyboard.
All these great tools are part of issue 314 of PC Plus, on the shelves on 18th October 2011. Subscribe today to the paper edition and you can get it up to a week early! Subscribe to PC Plus.
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