Free and/or Open-source Alternatives to many Common Programs

[wkronbaek]

I'd imagine that would be the case for Steam games that overlap, or launching the Steam client through Playonlinux; is that what you mean? Or is it either the native Steam client or the Playonlinux client, not both at once?

 

POL does have an amazing selection of GOG.com games. All/most of those are DRM-free too, so that makes it easier.

Playonlinux launches the normal windows steam, not any sort of client for it : P

I just use it as a Wine UI with scripts for the apps that need it and a nice clean layout for keeping your emulated programs organized.

It'll launch pretty much everything non-dx11 you find in steam if you let the steam it opened install it inside the virtual drive it gets.

[rashdanml]

Playonlinux launches the normal windows steam, not any sort of client for it : P

I just use it as a Wine UI with scripts for the apps that need it and a nice clean layout for keeping your emulated programs organized.

It'll launch pretty much everything non-dx11 you find in steam if you let the steam it opened install it inside the virtual drive it gets.

I meant the Playonlinux GUI itself; I know it launches the same Steam client on Windows. I'm assuming it's possible to have Steam-Linux and the Playonlinux GUI both open at once, but without launching the Steam windows client through POL. Sorry for the confusion. 

 

I do like POL's directory structure; it keeps it very well organized and isolated from each other.

[chirag.rh]

Awesome thread! I absolutely love Blender, fantastic, small and powerful albeit confusing and slightly complicated for me. I recommend people to use Open Office say if they are not really willing to spend cash to buy MS Office and are not heavily dependent on it. Notepad++ is excellent, best ever according to me. Simple and clean to use. 

[chirag.rh]

General

This section contains mostly things that don't fall into the above categories, generally free. Some of them are cross-platform. Some of the summaries below may not be very accurate, so correct me if I'm mistaken. I've only used a couple of them in the past.

1) PDFCreator - print to PDF, among other features. There are also other free program that allows for converting any file format to PDF (will look it up and edit)

2) 7-zip - Everyone should have this, everyone should love it. Much better features compared to winzip and works with many different compression formats.

3) NotePad++ - improved Notepad, syntax highlighting, great for programmers. Open-source, so can be compiled on Linux. Has a lovely FTPsync plugin that does exactly what it says.

4) Programmer's Notepad - similar to Notepad++

5) KeePass2 - encrypts and stores all of your passwords.

6) Xming - view/run X (Unix/Linux) based programs on Windows.

7) Cygwin/MinGW - Linux environment on Windows, can be used to compile programs from source on Windows. More involved, so usually ideal only for the tech savvy. Nice to have though, for people who want to tinker.

8) PuTTY - Simple SSH Client. Good for managing servers via command line.

9) Filezilla FTP - One of the best free FTP clients. Believe it also has SSH built in, but never used it.

10) Ghostscript/Ghostview - viewer/interpreter for Postscript, a programming language for creating vector graphics.

 

You can also add TrueCrypt for Encryption. Best free Encryption software available right now, gives TONS of options and has some very advanced features also is really powerful and also supports on-the-fly encryption as well. One of the most powerful encryption software available for free.  

 

I have done networking and PuTTY is pretty darn good.

Also if anyone is interested in Networking or want to practice it, they could use Packet Tracer from CISCO for reviewing or practicing your networking skills, it's not open source but it's free. Thought I ought to add that.

[CornOnJacob]

Don't forget that Blender has a pretty good video editor built in. It may not be on par with something like lightworks, but it works well. And I think there are plans to overhaul it in the coming months (Maybe not until Blender 2.7x).

[rashdanml]

Don't forget that Blender has a pretty good video editor built in. It may not be on par with something like lightworks, but it works well. And I think there are plans to overhaul it in the coming months (Maybe not until Blender 2.7x).

Of course, forgot about that. I should also include Blender as a game engine, as it has one built in. Pretty basic, but capable. 

[wsjohn]

I would like to add XBMC as media player http://www.xbmc.org

 

It's open source, it's cross platform (even on android) and in one word: amazing!!

[rashdanml]

Thanks for the suggestions guys! 

 

Think I'm going to expand it to include CAD programs too. I primarily use Solidworks for all of my CAD work, and came across an interesting free CAD program that I want to try out. Of course, for users into some serious CAD and Simulation work, there's always CAE-linux which comes pre-packaged with everything you could possibly want. 

[Ashley]

You should add Clementine to your list of open source music players.

[lutzee]

Email clients:

Thunderbird 

Mutt - terminal client

 

Also chat platform add weechat next to irssi, they are very similar, weechat is a bit easier to set up for new users.

 

cmus - terminal music player, simple

 

terminal text editors (most come on linux by default)

vi/vim

nano

emacs

 

Maybe have a linux terminal section that has all of these?

[GoodBytes]

SKyDrive has Office inside. That's a free alternative to the Office desktop suit

[rustikles]

Plex is basically the only media sever/streaming solution I'll use now. Completely free with a few other bits of useful content in the paid version.

[rashdanml]

Maybe have a linux terminal section that has all of these?

Done! There's probably more terminal-based programs (rtorrents is one, maybe I should open up a torrent clients section).

 

Topic updated with links and couple of other sections. CAD/CAM/CAE was something I meant to add a while back. 

[Mooshi]

No, no, no ,no ,no, no, no ,no ,no, no, no, no, ..... no, no, NO.

 

Gimp will never be a proper equivalent to Photoshop..ever..not even close. There are things Gimp does that is neat, but it's no replacement for CS6. At the same time, CS6 doesn't remotely deserve it's high price tag, either. Especially if you do artwork. Lineart in Photoshop is trash tier vs line art in the 50 dollar Japanese program known as Paint Tool Sai.

 

This is just me not really liking Gimp from experience. I actually think the OP list is brilliant! Some of these I've been using for years.

[Lord Pantaloons]

You forgot Winamp

[_ASSASSIN_]

For android Music Player, I'd put apollo

[Mooshi]

You forgot Winamp

 

I prefer Foobar2000 myself..not sure if either are available for Linux, though. I know Foobar2000 isn't.

[IdeaStormer]

You forgot Winamp

 

You got the name wrong, its bloat-amp or toolbar-amp. It has as many holes as swiss cheese after its been shot with a shotgun at point blank.

[techswede]

Just gonna mention sumatraPDF and the KMPlayer before the onslaught of people that follow linus on twitter/facebook suggests all the good stuff^^

[Aho]

MPC-HC is better than VLC in just about every way...

[Eyal]

Liberoffice instead of Microsoft office, Jitsi and SIP instead of Skype..

Gimp is too complicated for me, so I use paint more lol...

And this is pretty obvious, but I'll put it here anyway, Firefox instead IE.. Lol

[ILoveShaders]

You should mention in your intro section that although these are free alternatives they are not replacements, you will not have all the options that the paid applications have. For example GIMP is in no way, form or shape close to the feature set of Photoshop CS6 (or even worse CC). But will be enough if you don't use all those extra settings.

 

Maybe you can add development tools?

Visual Studio Express is free, and considering the price of VS people should really look into it (windows only).

Eclipse is open-source (works both on linux, mac and windows).

Code::Blocks again open-source (works both on linux, mac and windows).

 

Most developers probably already know these, but this thread is very useful for those who are just starting out.

[Jonny.Wong.16]

Awesome thread!

 

It needs an Antivirus/Security section.

 

- Microsoft Security Essentials

- AVG

- Avast

- Malwarebytes

[needmorewood]

great thread! just found it since linus posted it on FB.
thanks alot for it!

[rashdanml]

You should mention in your intro section that although these are free alternatives they are not replacements, you will not have all the options that the paid applications have. For example GIMP is in no way, form or shape close to the feature set of Photoshop CS6 (or even worse CC). But will be enough if you don't use all those extra settings.

 

Maybe you can add development tools?

Visual Studio Express is free, and considering the price of VS people should really look into it (windows only).

Eclipse is open-source (works both on linux, mac and windows).

Code::Blocks again open-source (works both on linux, mac and windows).

 

Most developers probably already know these, but this thread is very useful for those who are just starting out.

Fair point. I do realize that not all of the features exist, as brought up by @Mooshi regarding GIMP. Photoshop CS6 is certainly in a league of its own. The essential features that people use commonly though, exist in most of the alternatives in some form. 

 

Thanks for the input guys! I will update the OP with suggestions asap.