Debian
is a computer operating system composed of software packages released
as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public
License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which
includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and
influential Linux distribution. It is distributed with access to
repositories containing thousands of software packages ready for
installation and use. Debian is known for relatively strict adherence to
the Unix and free software philosophies as well as using collaborative
software development and testing processes. Debian can be used on a
variety of hardware, from NAS devices to phones, laptops, desktops and
servers. It focuses on stability and security and is used as a base for
many other distributions. This guide was created primarily to help new
Debian users transition quickly over from other operating systems, but
is just as useful to even very experienced Linux users. When you are
done installing everything on this list hopefully you will have
everything you would probably find on other comparable commercially
available operating systems. There was a step-by-step list written for
Fedora many many years ago when I was first starting out learning about
Linux OS and was the concept for this guide, and I always found this to
be best way to do fresh installations of Linux on my own computers.Existing Linux OS users can install Unetbootin from the repositories, and use that application to migrate your downloaded image to a USB Flash Drive or USB Thumb Drive and afterwards you can boot from your USB drive, or you can burn it to a disc with Brasero, or K3b, and boot from your CD/DVD drive instead. USB is much faster than CDs or DVDs when it comes to installation time, and less chance of data corruption.
Existing Windows OS users I recommend using a USB Flash Thumb Drive to install Debian *.ISO live hybrid (Recommended):
http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/
Download:
First thing you want to do after installing Debian is update your system:
Special Note: If you need instructions on how to build your own server you may want to review:
http://woodel.com/
Special Note: Ice Weasel Web Browser (Identical to Firefox) will run VERY slow until you upgrade to the latest version of Ice Weasel Browser. After adding the repositories and upgrading the entire system, the first thing you should do is upgrade Ice Weasel Web Browser from 3* to 17* (Recommended)
Edit the repositories:.
Open a terminal and drop to root login (that is what the su command is for):
suEnter your password and then:
gedit /etc/apt/sources.listDelete everything listed in your sources.list file and copy the following:
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ squeeze main deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ squeeze main deb http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main deb-src http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main # squeeze-updates, previously known as 'volatile' deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ squeeze-updates main deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ squeeze-updates main ## Debian – Stable deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main contrib non-free deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main contrib non-free ## Security Updates deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib non-free deb-src http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib non-free ## Multimedia deb http://www.deb-multimedia.org stable main non-free deb http://www.deb-multimedia.org squeeze main non-free deb http://backports.debian.org/debian-backports squeeze-backports main deb http://mozilla.debian.net/ squeeze-backports iceweasel-releaseSpecial Note: If you are outside the USA you can build your local list of repositories here:
http://debgen.simplylinux.ch/
Adding your repositories keys for the above source.list:
gpg --keyserver pgpkeys.mit.edu --recv-key 07DC563D1F41B907 gpg -a --export 07DC563D1F41B907 | apt-key add - gpg --keyserver keys.gnupg.net --recv-key 06C4AE2A gpg -a --export 06C4AE2A | apt-key add -Time to update the entire system and upgrade everything and reboot until no more updates are available after rebooting.
su apt-get update apt-get upgrade apt-get dist-upgrade apt-get autoremoveYou can set up automatic unattended-upgrades pretty easily by typing this in a terminal:
su
apt-get install unattended-upgrades
dpkg-reconfigure unattended-upgrades
What is smxi?
smxi is an interactive script designed to help people maintain their systems. It supports Debian (Stable, Testing, and Sid) and true Debian based distros (such as, but not limited to, AntiX, Aptosid, Epidemic, Linux Mint Debian [LMDE], Mepis). It does not support Ubuntu based distros because there are too many differences between Debian and Ubuntu.
Smxi is a feature rich, powerful script, and has the following primary features and options:
- System Upgrades (dist-upgrade / upgrade)
- Kernel upgrades / kernel module upgrades
- Automatated video card driver installation (plus any needed patches), especially non-free drivers like nVidia and AMD/ATI fglrx
- Installing extra software (including building a desktop/server from scratch, starting with just the base Debian system)
- Removing certain software
- Cleaning up your system (cleaning up apt archives, removing kernels/ kernel modules, cleaning system cruft, etc)
- Tweaking your system, mozilla configurations, installing some small graphics tweaks, etc.
http://smxi.org/site/about.htm
Here is how to install SMXI in Terminal:
cd /usr/local/bin && sudo wget -Nc smxi.org/smxi.zip && sudo unzip smxi.zip && sudo smxiHow to manually install Video drivers (without use of smxi script up above)
http://wiki.debian.org/ATIProprietary#Squeeze
su aptitude -r install linux-headers-2.6-$(uname -r|sed 's,[^-]*-[^-]*-,,') fglrx-control fglrx-driver aticonfig --initialor
http://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers
"I don't use Nvidia video drivers so you will have to figure this out yourself"If you are having video issues in general, make sure your video card is supported:
http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/linux-display-ia32-304.37-driver-uk.html
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/linux/Legacy/Pages/radeon_linux.aspx
http://intellinuxgraphics.org/index.html
Essential tools for compiling from sources.
There are times when you need to compile software from sources, maybe because you need to compile the package with some specific option that is not enabled in the default package, or maybe the software application you wish to install isn’t available in any of your repositories. When you begin the installation process you will come to a window that will require you to accept the EULA to install, and you will need to click on your <Tab> key to select <OK> and press enter. (Here is a guide on how to compile software from source) and here are the required packages you need in order to compile sources in Debian:
su apt-get install build-essential apt-get install autotools-dev cdbs check checkinstall dctrl-tools debian-keyring devscripts dh-make diffstat dput equivs libapt-pkg-perl libauthen-sasl-perl libclass-accessor-perl libclass-inspector-perl libcommon-sense-perl libconvert-binhex-perl libcrypt-ssleay-perl libdevel-symdump-perl libfcgi-perl libhtml-template-perl libio-pty-perl libio-socket-ssl-perl libio-string-perl libio-stringy-perl libipc-run-perl libjson-perl libjson-xs-perl libmime-tools-perl libnet-libidn-perl libnet-ssleay-perl libossp-uuid-perl libossp-uuid16 libparse-debcontrol-perl libparse-debianchangelog-perl libpod-coverage-perl libsoap-lite-perl libsub-name-perl libtask-weaken-perl libterm-size-perl libtest-pod-perl libxml-namespacesupport-perl libxml-sax-expat-perl libxml-sax-perl libxml-simple-perl libyaml-syck-perl lintian lzma patchutils strace wdiff
Auto Mount Windows NTFS Partitionssu apt-get install ntfs-config mkdir -p /etc/hal/fdi/policyUncomplicated Firewall (UFW & GUFW) (Recommended) is a firewall that is designed to be easy to use. It uses a command line interface consisting of a small number of simple commands, and uses iptables. iptables is already a very powerful tool by itself, but it’s syntax can get awkward at times and hard to figure out, so Ubuntu developers decided to make ufw (“The reason ufw was developed is that we wanted to create a server-level firewall utility that was a little bit more for `human beings`.”), which was to be simpler. Now, on the graphical side of things, Firestarter already existed. But why not make an even easier to use GUI for desktop `human beings`, powered by ufw?
This is where GUFW comes in.
Open your Terminal, copy and paste:
su apt-get install gufwGUFW is located in System >> Administration >> Firewall Configuration.
If you would like to simply use UFW from the command line, you can try any of these commands to make changes to your firewall.
To check your current settings:
ufw status verboseTo add basic firewall rules:
sudo ufw deny 5353/udp sudo ufw deny 5900/tcp sudo ufw deny 22 sudo ufw deny 25/tcp sudo ufw deny 135,139,445/tcp sudo ufw deny 137,138/udp sudo ufw deny 110 sudo ufw deny 2049 sudo ufw deny 143 sudo ufw deny 21/tcp sudo ufw deny sshTo block Outgoing Ports Except Those Needed (This configuration will allow the following outbound ports: 20-21, 53, 80, 123, 443 which is all that is required for many users, unless you are running anything like a server):
sudo ufw deny out 1:19/tcp sudo ufw deny out 1:19/udp sudo ufw deny out 22:52/tcp sudo ufw deny out 22:52/udp sudo ufw deny out 54:79/tcp sudo ufw deny out 54:79/udp sudo ufw deny out 81:122/tcp sudo ufw deny out 81:122/udp sudo ufw deny out 124:442/tcp sudo ufw deny out 124:442/udp sudo ufw deny out 444:65535/tcp sudo ufw deny out 444:65535/udpRe-check your changes:
ufw status verboseRe-check enable:
ufw enableIt will automatically load these settings from now on. If you need to access one of those ports temporarily, then you can open gufw and disable your firewall momentarily. Just don’t forget to re-enable it when you are done.
Here is a configuration script if you are running a server:
#!/bin/sh # obtain server's IP address SERVERIP=`hostname --all-ip-addresses | cut --fields 1 --delimiter " "` # disable firewall ufw disable # reset all firewall rules ufw reset # set default rules: deny all incoming traffic, allow all outgoing traffic ufw default deny incoming ufw default allow outgoing # open port for SSH ufw allow OpenSSH # open port for Webmin ufw allow webmin # open ports for Samba file sharing ufw allow from 10.0.0.0/8 to $SERVERIP app Samba ufw allow to 10.0.0.0/8 from $SERVERIP app Samba # open ports for Transmission-Daemon ufw allow 9091 ufw allow 20500:20599/tcp ufw allow 20500:20599/udp # open port for MySQL ufw allow proto tcp from 10.0.0.0/8 to any port 3306 # open ports for Lighttpd ufw allow “Lighttpd Full” # open port for network time protocol (ntpd) ufw allow ntp # enable firewall ufw enable # list all firewall rules ufw status verboseFor more information:
http://www.frozentux.net/documents/iptables-tutorial/
Internet Web Browsers:
How to update to the latest Ice Weasel Browser (from 3.* to 17+)
su apt-get install -t squeeze-backports iceweasel apt-get dist-upgrade apt-get autoremoveHere are some highly recommended add-ons for Ice Weasel:
Adblock Plus (plugin) (Highly Recommended)
Adblock Plus (ABP) is a content-filtering extension for Mozilla Ice Weasel and Google Chrome web browsers. ABP, a forked version of Adblock, allows users to prevent page elements, such as advertisements, from being downloaded and displayed. Very popular, and almost what I would consider to be a necessity, if you surf the Internet on a daily basis. Works great with sites like youtube.com and other similar web sites that bombard you with constant commercials. It will also allow you to import preconfigured blocklists to stop tracker web sites from monitoring your browser presence.
Password Exporter (plugin)
This extension allows you to export your saved passwords and disabled login hosts using XML or CSV files that can be imported later. Very helpful when needing to re-install Ubuntu onto a new system or migrating your data and personal information.
NetVideoHunter (plugin)
NetVideoHunter is a Ice Weasel add-on (extension), and you can easily download videos and audio from almost all audio and video streaming web pages with two clicks. Tested and considered to be probably the best plugin out of all the other similar plugins available for this kind of task.
HTTPS Everywhere (plugin)
HTTPS Everywhere is a Ice Weasel and Chrome extension that encrypts your communications with many major websites, making your browsing more secure.
Dictionaries & Language Packs (plugin) (Recommended)
Spell checking plugin for Mozilla Ice Weasel browser.
And for the rest of you diehard Firefox fans that still want Firefox instead of Ice Weasel (they are identical to each other in every way except branding) here is how you install the latest Firefox in Debian:
apt-get remove iceweasel
echo -e "\ndeb http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/ubuntuzilla/mozilla/apt all main" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list > /dev/null
apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com C1289A29
apt-get update
apt-get install firefox-mozilla-build
Multimedia
Windows equivalent : windows media player, real player, vlc, mplayer, media codecs
Ubuntu equivalent : vlc, mplayer, fluendo media codecs
Unfortunately, many audio and video formats won’t work “out of the box” with Ubuntu, or most Linux distros.
Adobe Flash Player
su apt-get install flashplugin-nonfreeIf you are running a 32-bit version of Debian, copy and paste in Terminal:
su apt-get install libavcodec-extra-53 wget http://www.deb-multimedia.org/pool/non-free/w/w32codecs/w32codecs_20110131-0.1_i386.deb dpkg -i w32codecs_20110131-0.1_i386.deb wget http://www.deb-multimedia.org/pool/main/libd/libdvdcss/libdvdcss2_1.2.10-0.3_i386.deb dpkg -i libdvdcss2_1.2.10-0.3_i386.deb wget http://www.deb-multimedia.org/pool/main/g/gst-plugins-ugly/gstreamer0.10-lame_0.10.17-0.0_i386.deb dpkg -i gstreamer0.10-lame_0.10.17-0.0_i386.debIf you are running a 64-bit version of Ubuntu, copy and paste in Terminal:
su apt-get install libavcodec-extra-53 wget http://www.deb-multimedia.org/pool/non-free/w/w64codecs/w64codecs_20071007-0.5_amd64.deb dpkg -i w64codecs_20071007-0.5_amd64.deb wget http://www.deb-multimedia.org/pool/main/libd/libdvdcss/libdvdcss2_1.2.10-0.3_amd64.deb dpkg -i libdvdcss2_1.2.10-0.3_amd64.deb wget http://www.deb-multimedia.org/pool/main/g/gst-plugins-ugly/gstreamer0.10-lame_0.10.17-0.0_amd64.deb dpkg -i gstreamer0.10-lame_0.10.17-0.0_amd64.deb
MPlayer is a movie player that plays most MPEG, VOB, AVI, OGG/OGM, VIVO, ASF/WMA/WMV, QT/MOV/MP4, FLI, RM, NuppelVideo, yuv4mpeg, FILM, RoQ, and PVA files. You can also use it to watch VCDs, SVCDs, DVDs, 3ivx, RealMedia, and DivX movies. It supports a wide range of output drivers including X11, XVideo, DGA, OpenGL, SVGAlib, fbdev, AAlib, DirectFB etc. There are also nice antialiased shaded subtitles and OSD.
VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player and multimedia framework capable of reading most audio and video formats as well as DVDs, Audio CDs VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a media converter or a server to stream in uni-cast or multi-cast in IPv4 or IPv6 on networks.
Open your Terminal, copy and paste:
su apt-get install vlc mplayer mozilla-plugin-vlc guayadeque radiotraySMPlayer intends to be a complete front-end for MPlayer, from basic features like playing videos, DVDs, and VCDs to more advanced features like support for MPlayer filters and more. One of the most interesting features of SMPlayer: it remembers the settings of all files you play. So you start to watch a movie but you have to leave. Don’t worry, when you open that movie again it will resume at the same point you left it, and with the same settings: audio track, subtitles, and volume. This is really great for watching DVD movies.
su apt-get install smplayerFFMpeg is a complete and free Internet live audio and video broadcasting solution for Linux/Unix. It also includes a digital VCR. It can encode in real time in many formats including MPEG1 audio and video, MPEG4, h263, ac3, asf, avi, real, mjpeg, and flash.
Open your Terminal, copy and paste:
su apt-get install libxine1-ffmpeg gxine mencoder mpeg2dec vorbis-tools id3v2 mpg321 mpg123 libflac++6 ffmpeg libmp4v2-0 totem-mozilla icedax tagtool easytag id3tool lame libmad0 libjpeg-progs libquicktime1 flac faac faad sox ffmpeg2theora libmpeg2-4 uudeview flac libmpeg3-1 mpeg3-utils mpegdemux liba52-0.7.4-devGstreammer 0.10
Open your Terminal, copy and paste (when you get to the EULA prompt press Tab key):
su apt-get install gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3 gstreamer0.10-gnonlin gstreamer0.10-sdl gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad totem-gstreamer gstreamer-toolsAdditional True Type Fonts
When you begin the installation process you will come to a window that will require you to accept the EULA to install, and you will need to click on your <Tab> key to select <OK> and carefully press enter key and then carefully use <TAB> to select YES at the next prompt.
Open your Terminal, copy and paste:
apt-get install ttf-mscorefonts-installerExtra Multimedia packages:
For 32-bit
su apt-get install w32codecs libdvdcss2 gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3 ffmpeg sox twolame vorbis-tools lame faad gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad avifile-divx-pluginFor 64-bit
su apt-get install w64codecs libdvdcss2 gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3 ffmpeg sox twolame vorbis-tools lame faad gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad avifile-divx-plugin
cd ~/ wget https://github.com/flexiondotorg/oab-java6/raw/0.3.0/oab-java.sh -O oab-java.sh chmod +x oab-java.sh sudo ./oab-java.sh -7 sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-jre oracle-java7-jdk oracle-java7-plugin oracle-java7-fontsIf you are behind a proxy you may need to run using:
sudo -i ./oab-java.shIf you want to see what this script is doing while it is running then execute the following from another shell:
tail -f ./oab-java.sh.logThanks to https://github.com/flexiondotorg/ for providing us this method to install Java on Ubuntu.
Test your browser to make sure your Java is installed and working properly here:
http://browserspy.dk/java.php
If you are still having problems trying to install Java and getting Java to work correctly on your system, please visit the following web site for further support:
http://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/java
Archiver/ Packing software (Recommended)Windows equivalent : winrar, zip, 7zip
Ubuntu equivalent : tar, unrar, p7zip, arj, unace
An archive format is the file format of an archive file. The archive format is determined by the file archiver. Some archive formats are well-defined by their authors and have become conventions supported by multiple vendors and/or open-source communities.
sudo apt-get install unace rar unrar p7zip zip unzip p7zip-full p7zip-rar sharutils uudeview mpack lha arj cabextract file-rollerAlternative Graphical Web Browsers
Windows equivalent : Internet explorer, opera, google chrome
Ubuntu equivalent : Opera, Chromium, Google Chrome, Google Chrome Beta
Opera
is a web browser and Internet suite developed by Opera Software. The
browser handles common Internet-related tasks such as displaying web
sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts,
chatting on IRC, downloading files via BitTorrent, and reading web
feeds.su sh -c 'echo "deb http://deb.opera.com/opera/ stable non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/opera.list' sh -c 'wget -O - http://deb.opera.com/archive.key | apt-key add -' apt-get update apt-get install opera
Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine. It was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and the public stable release was on December 11, 2008. It uses its own flash plugin to play flash video/audio. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or “chrome”, of web browsers. As of June 2011, Chrome was the third most widely used browser with 20.65% worldwide usage share of web browsers, according to StatCounter.
su wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | apt-key add - sh -c 'echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list' apt-get update apt-get install google-chrome-stableor if you want the latest developmental version:
su apt-get install google-chrome-betaGoogle Chrome Plugins:
Adblock Plus (plugin) (Recommended)
Adblock Plus (ABP) is a content-filtering extension for Google Chrome web browsers. ABP, a forked version of Adblock, allows users to prevent page elements, such as advertisements, from being downloaded and displayed. Very popular, and almost what I would consider to be a necessity, if you surf the Internet on a daily basis. Works great with sites like youtube.com and other similar web sites that bombard you with constant commercials. It will also allow you to import preconfigured blocklists to stop tracker web sites from monitoring your browser presence.
Remote Desktop (plugin)
Access other computers or allow another user to access your computer securely over the Internet.
HTTPS Everywhere (plugin)
HTTPS Everywhere is a Firefox and Chrome extension that encrypts your communications with many major websites, making your browsing more secure.
Reditr is to Reddit what Tweetdeck is to Twitter. And now you can experience it under any GNU/Linux based system thanks to Google Chrome.
Google Talk is a browser plugin that lets you voice and video chat with friends and family from your browser. Install this plugin and logon to Gmail with your webcam and microphone attached to your computer, then initiate a chat with a friend or family member. It will try to connect to your webcam and enable video chat.
Special Note: After install Google Talk, if you see something like this:
W: Duplicate sources.list entry http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable/main Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/dl.google.com_linux_chrome_deb_dists_stable_main_binary-amd64_Packages)
You will need to open Synaptic Package manager and find the duplicate repository entry and disable it manually. Also, I haven’t gotten around to testing this plugin to work with 12.04 yet.
su wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | apt-key add - sh -c 'echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/talkplugin/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list' apt-get update apt-get install google-talkpluginNautilus Utilities and terminal root:
There are times when you need to work with graphic files but with administrative rights (such as copying and pasting a wallpaper in /usr/share/backgrounds, for example), for this we use the extension nautilus-gksu. When you install this extension also installs the package gksu, Which is a graphical interface su and opens an entry in the gnome menu with a program called Terminal “Root”, which is useful when you want to perform administrative tasks from the console and install packages, install it by typing in a console:
Open a terminal and type (logged as root):
su apt-get install nautilus-gksuTheme engines gtk+ 2.0 and core themes gnome:
When you install Debian Squeeze it comes with the Clearlooks theme and few alternative options, for more gtk themes you can install the following packages, typing in a terminal (logged as root):
su apt-get install gtk2-engines gtk2-engines-murrine murrine-themes gnome-themes-more
LibreOffice is
a free software office suite developed by The Document Foundation as a
fork of OpenOffice.org. It is compatible with other major office suites,
including Microsoft Office, and available on a variety of platforms.
Its developers’ goal is to produce a vendor-independent office suite
with ODF support and without any copyright assignment requirements. The
name is a hybrid word with the first part Libre, which means free (as in
freedom) in French and Spanish, and the English word Office.The first thing you need to do to install LibreOffice is remove the old outdated OpenOffice.org that you aren’t going to need anymore.
Remove all instances of OpenOffice.org:
su apt-get autoremove openoffice.org-*32-bit:
su wget http://download.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice/stable/3.6.3/deb/x86/LibO_3.6.3_Linux_x86_install-deb_en-US.tar.gz wget http://download.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice/stable/3.6.3/deb/x86/LibO_3.6.3_Linux_x86_langpack-deb_es.tar.gz tar xzvf LibO_3.6.3_Linux_x86_install-deb_en-US.tar.gz tar xzvf LibO_3.6.3_Linux_x86_langpack-deb_es.tar.gz cd LibO_3.6.3.2_Linux_x86_install-deb_en-US/DEBS/ dpkg -i *.deb cd desktop-integration dpkg -i *.deb cd ../../../LibO_3.6.3.2_Linux_x86_langpack-deb_es/DEBS/ dpkg -i *.deb64-bit:
su wget http://download.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice/stable/3.6.3/deb/x86_64/LibO_3.6.3_Linux_x86-64_install-deb_en-US.tar.gz wget http://download.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice/stable/3.6.3/deb/x86_64/LibO_3.6.3_Linux_x86-64_langpack-deb_es.tar.gz tar xzvf LibO_3.6.3_Linux_x86-64_install-deb_en-US.tar.gz tar xzvf LibO_3.6.3_Linux_x86-64_langpack-deb_es.tar.gz cd LibO_3.6.3.2_Linux_x86-64_install-deb_en-US/DEBS/ dpkg -i *.deb cd desktop-integration dpkg -i *.deb cd ../../../LibO_3.6.3.2_Linux_x86-64_langpack-deb_es/DEBS/ dpkg -i *.debHow to install Grammar checking Plug-in for LibreOffice Writer(:
http://debianhelp.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/how-to-install-grammar-checker-in-libreoffice-in-ubuntu/
Viewing PDF files (Recommended)
Windows equivalent : Adobe Reader
Ubuntu equivalent : Adobe Reader
Adobe Reader enables users to view and print PDF files but doesn’t have PDF creation capabilities. Acrobat and Reader are widely used as a way to present information with a fixed layout similar to a paper publication (when you get to the EULA prompt press Tab key) and make sure to install medibuntu repository at the beginning of this guide at the top:
su apt-get install acroreadGraphical FTP clients
Windows equivalent : CuteFTP, SmartFTP, CoreFTP
Ubuntu equivalent : FileZilla
FileZilla is free, open source, cross-platform FTP/SFTP software, consisting of FileZilla Client and FileZilla Server. Binaries are available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. It supports FTP, SFTP, and FTPS (FTP over SSL/TLS). As of 18 April 2011, FileZilla Client was the 7th most popular download of all time from SourceForge.net.
This is great FTP client, very complete, in my opinion, and the best one around.To install FileZilla in terminal:
su apt-get install filezilla filezilla-commonAccess it through Applications → Internet → FileZilla FTP Client.
GEdit
Essentially is it like notepad in MS Windows but with many many more features.
su apt-get install gedit gedit-pluginsGeany is a lightweight cross-platform GTK+ text editor based on Scintilla and including basic Integrated Development Environment (IDE) features. Among the supported programming languages are C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, PHP, HTML, LaTeX, CSS, Python, Perl, Ruby, Pascal, Haskell, Erlang, Vala and many others.
It
was developed to provide a small and fast IDE, which has only a few
dependencies from other packages. It supports many filetypes and has
some nice features.su apt-get install geany geany-pluginsKompoZer is an open source WYSIWYG HTML editor based on a rewritten version of the now-discontinued Nvu editor. KompoZer is maintained as a community-driven fork and is a project on Sourceforge.
KompoZer’s
WYSIWYG editing capabilities are one of the main attractions of the
software. In addition, KompoZer allows direct code editing as well as a
split code-graphic view:su apt-get install kompozerAccess it through Applications → Programming → Kompozer
Image Editors
Windows equivalent : Adobe Photoshop
Debian equivalent : GIMP
GIMP
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free software raster graphics editor. It is primarily employed as an image retouching and editing tool and is freely available in versions tailored for most popular operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, and GNU/Linux. It has layering abilities like Photoshop.
In addition to detailed image retouching and free-form drawing, GIMP can accomplish essential image editing tasks such as resizing, editing, and cropping photos, photomontages combining multiple images, and converting between different image formats. GIMP can also be used to create basic animated images in the GIF format.
New additions in Gimp 2.8 are single window mode, on-canvas text editing, layers group, and to apply all changes to a layer grouping.
GIMP’s product vision is that GIMP is, or will become, a free software high-end graphics application for the editing and creation of original images, icons, graphical elements of web pages and art for user interface elements.
su apt-get install gimp gimp-data gimp-data-extrasAccess it through Applications → Graphics → GIMP Image Editor.
Special Note: If you want the latest version of Gimp, I have attempted to figure out a way to install the latest GIMP 2.8 in Debian Squeeze and I couldn’t find instructions that would work to allow me to successfully build it from scratch. I was able to install Gimp 2.7, but it had problems too after testing it out. There really isn’t a way to get 2.8 on here without a huge hassle – AFAIK.
Download additional Script-Fu filters and tweaks:
Instructions on how to install Scripts that work in Gimp:
http://www.gimphelp.org/script28.shtml
To install additional helpful plugins for Gimp try:
http://registry.gimp.org/popular
Photo Management
Windows equivalent: Aftershot Pro, Lightroom, Bridge, Photoshop Organizer
RAW file viewers/editors/plugins for SLR Digital Photography
Not the most intuitive program to use at first, Raw Therapee is a fairly feature rich and comprehensive RAW editor that’s compatible with Linux. At the time of writing, the team are working on a stable release of version 3.0, which is a major release for the project. Unidentified Flying RAW (or UFRaw for short) is a dedicated RAW image editor based on GTK+. It can be used as an application on its own or as a plugin for GIMP (simply open a RAW image in GIMP to be presented with the UFRaw editor window).
apt-get install libraw-bin ufraw ufraw-batch and gimp-ufraw rawtherapeeFor more raw file utilities visit: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-great-tools-editing-raw-photos-linux/
Darktable is an open source photography workflow application and RAW developer. A virtual lighttable and darkroom for photographers. It manages your digital negatives in a database, lets you view them through a zoomable lighttable and enables you to develop raw images and enhance them. It focuses on the workflow to make it easier for the photographer to quickly handle the thousands of images a day of shooting can produce. It’s also one of the very few FOSS projects able to do tethered shooting.
apt-get install darktable
Shotwell
can import photos and videos from a digital camera directly. Shotwell
automatically groups photos and videos by date, and supports tagging.
Its image editing features allow users to rotate, crop, eliminate red
eye, and adjust levels and color balance. It also features an auto
“enhance” option that will attempt to guess appropriate levels for the
image. Shotwell allows users to publish their images and videos to
Facebook, Flickr, Picasa Web Albums, Piwigo, and YouTube.apt-get install shotwellAudacity is a cross-platform multitrack audio editor. It allows you to record sounds directly or to import files in various formats and convert audio files into many different audio file formats too. It features a few simple effects, all of the editing features you should need, and unlimited undo. This is the first and last GUI audio editor you will ever need on Ubuntu.
The GUI was built with wxWidgets and the audio I/O supports PulseAudio, OSS and ALSA under Linux.apt-get install audacity lame libmp3lame0gtkpod
gtkpod is a graphical user interface for the Apple iPod for Unix-like systems, written using the GTK+ toolkit.
Windows equivalent : iTunes
This
application allow you to connect to your ipod, shuffle,
idohickeythingamabob so you can access your music, mp4s, and tranfer
them, copy them, rename them, with Ubuntu or Debian systems. It’s all
kinds of good stuff for apple media users.apt-get install gtkpodSpotify is a Swedish-founded, UK-headquartered DRM-based music streaming service offering streaming of selected music from a range of major and independent record labels, including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal.
Launched
in October 2008 by Swedish startup Spotify AB, the service had
approximately ten million users as of 15 September 2010; about 2.5
million of whom were paying members.The service is, as of November 2011,
available in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, France,
the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom
and the United States.su apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 94558F59 sh -c 'echo "deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list' apt-get update apt-get install spotify-client-qtSpecial Note: It is possible to crash Spotify in Squeeze if you push it hard enough, however I was happy with its performance anyhow.
Map Viewing and Management
Google Earth allows you to travel the world through a virtual globe and view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, and much more. With Google Earth’s rich, geographical content, you are able to experience a more realistic view of the world.
Software Prerequisite: Make sure you have all your media codecs installed listed at the beginning of this tutorial.
And if you are running a 64-bit version of Debian:
apt-get install ia32-libsPrerequisite (both 32-bit and 64-bit):
apt-get install lsb-coreClick here to go to the Google Earth deb package download page.
Select either: 32 bit .deb (For Debian/Ubuntu) or 64 bit .deb (For Debian/Ubuntu)
And install it with Gdebi like this:
Checkgmail
If you would like to get notified when you have a new mail in your google mail account, checkgmail is for you.
To install Checkgmail type the following command in the Terminal Window.apt-get install checkgmailNow you can launch it from Application → Internet → CheckGmail
VOIP
Windows equivalent : Skype
Ubuntu equivalent : Skype, Jitsi, Brosix
Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chats over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system. Skype has also become popular for its additional features which include instant messaging, file transfer, and video conferencing.
http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/get-skype/on-your-computer/linux/
Hardware acceleration and WebGL also feature in this release but are not turned on by default. Head into opera:config to enable it.
Other new features include:
- Webcam support
- Support for the Do Not Track header
- CSS3 Animations and Transitions
- Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (Cors) Support
- Improved language support
If you have webcam issues with skype, fix this by doing this:
echo -e '#!/bin/bash n LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /usr/bin/skype' | tee /usr/local/bin/skype chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/skypeIf that doesn’t fix it trying downgrading your Ubuntu OS from 64-bit to 32-bit during the installation and then reinstall it. Yes, that means reinstalling your entire system from the beginning.
Hard Disk Partition Manager
Windows equivalent : Norton Partition Magic
Ubuntu equivalent : GParted
GParted is a GTK+ front-end to GNU Parted and the official GNOME Partition Editor application.
It
is used for creating, deleting, resizing, moving, checking and copying
partitions, and the file systems on them. This is useful for creating
space for new operating systems (works with Vista / Windows 7 System
& Data partitions), reorganizing disk usage, copying data residing
on hard disks and mirroring one partition with another (disk imaging).
It is useful for tasks such as: creating space for new operating
systems, restructuring disk space to separate user and operating system
data, and copying partitions to enable upgrading to a larger hard disk
drive. Your hard disk drive or USB flash drive can be subdivided into
one or more partitions. GParted enables you to reorganize your disk
partitions while preserving the contents of these partitions.apt-get install gpartedCalibre is a free and open source e-book computer software that organizes, saves and manages e-books, supporting a variety of formats. It also supports e-book syncing with a variety of popular e-book readers. calibre is cross-platform (programmed in Python and C) and is intended for the three main operating systems, Linux, Mac OS X and Windows.
Windows: “Kindle for PC” software
Calibre was originally called libprs500, but was renamed calibre (lower case ‘C’) in mid-2008. calibre is primarily an e-book cataloging program. It is designed around the concept of the logical book, where a single database entry corresponds with the same book in a variety of formats. calibre supports the following formats for cataloging: AZW, AZW1, CBR, CBZ, CHM, EPUB, FB2, HTML, IMP, LIT, LRF, LRX, MOBI, ODT, OEBZIP, OPF, PDB, PDF, PML, PMLZ, PRC, RAR, RB, RTF, SNB, TPZ, TXT and ZIP.
apt-get install calibreAlso make sure to install better smaller fonts:
http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/957788-installing-calibri-font/
Compiz (very optional)
Compiz is a compositing window manager for the X Window System, using 3D graphics hardware to create fast compositing desktop effects for window management. Effects, such as a minimization animation or a cube workspace, are implemented as loadable plugins. Because it conforms to the ICCCM standard, Compiz can be used as a substitute for the default Mutter or Metacity, when using GNOME Panel, or KWin in KDE Plasma Workspaces.
Copy and paste the following command into Terminal:
apt-get install compiz compizconfig-settings-manager compiz-pluginsP2P Clients & Servers, File Sharing
Windows equivalent : Limewire, utorrent, Azureus, Emule, PeerGuardian
Ubuntu equivalent : Frostwire, Deluge, Azureus, Amule, Moblock/Mobloquer
BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol used for distributing large amounts of data over the Internet. BitTorrent is one of the most common protocols for transferring large files, and it has been estimated that it accounted for roughly 43% to 70% of all Internet traffic (depending on geographical location) as of February 2009.
Frostwire
Windows equivalent: Limewire
FrostWire is a free, open source BitTorrent client, first released in September, 2004, as a fork of LimeWire. It was initially very similar to LimeWire in appearance and functionality, but developers added more features, such as BitTorrent support. In version Five, Gnutella support was dropped entirely, and now FrostWire only uses the BitTorrent network. Development of the program has been active since the program was first released in September 2004.
Install Frostwire:http://www.frostwire.com/download/?os=ubuntu&
Bittorrent Add-ons for Ubuntu:
Windows Equivalent: PeerGuardian (highly recommended for Bittorent users)
Ubuntu equivalent : PGL and PGLGUI
PeerGuardian Linux (pgl) is a privacy oriented firewall application. It blocks connections to and from hosts specified in huge blocklists (thousands or millions of IP ranges). Its origins lie in targeting aggressive IPs while you use P2P.
While you are installing PGL just accept the default settings for now. You can change them with PGLGUI after you are done installing everything.
To install PGL and PGLGUI in terminal (select the default settings by using the TAB key and pressing enter – there will be several prompts – just accept default settings and afterwards you can configure the blocklists):
Add these to your source.list:
deb http://moblock-deb.sourceforge.net/debian squeeze main deb-src http://moblock-deb.sourceforge.net/debian squeeze mainUpdate your system.
And then copy and paste in Terminal:
gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys C0145138 gpg --export --armor C0145138 | sudo apt-key add - sudo apt-get install pgld pglcmd pglguiMake sure to enable your blocklists you want and update PGLGUI after you get it completely installed:
The first thing most users will notice after installing PGL and have it running is that their Pidgin/Empathy/IMclientOfChoice/WebBrowser stops working. PGLGUI log will list the IP’s and info about the IP’s, so just whitelist them if need be with one mouse click.
It is really a very strong utility and will block pretty much everything until you tell it to do otherwise. But you only need to run this when you are seeding or downloading torrent files.
Deluge Client is a full-featured BitTorrent client for Linux, OS X, Unix and Windows. It uses libtorrent in it’s backend and features multiple user-interfaces including: GTK+, web and console. It has been designed using the client server model with a daemon process that handles all the bittorrent activity.
The Deluge daemon is able to run on headless machines with the user-interfaces being able to connect remotely from any platform.apt-get install deluge-torrentAccess it through Applications → Internet → Deluge Torrent.
Azureus Client: Uses Java to run, very complete but a bit heavy. And has a wide variety of add-ons to choose from too.Vuze (formerly Azureus) is a P2P file sharing client using the bittorrent protocol. Search and download torrent files. Play, convert and transcode videos and music for playing on many devices such as PSP, TiVo, XBox, PS3, iTunes (iPhone, iPod, Apple TV).
apt-get install azureusAccess it through Applications → Internet → Azureus.
µTorrent Server is a very tiny BitTorrent server, super fast and ultra light. µTorrent’s built for speed. That means ultra-efficient downloads of mega-sized files. Untested in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS.
Go to µTorrent official site and download the Ubuntu installation package and use the following instructions to install µTorrent at:
http://ubuntuguide.net/install-lightweight-fast-%C2%B5torrent-on-ubuntu-12-04-lts/
They aren’t quite Ubuntu friendly, but they will help you get that on there.
BleachBit (recommended) quickly frees disk space and tirelessly guards your privacy. Free cache, delete cookies, clear Internet history, shred temporary files, delete logs, and discard junk you didn’t know was there. Designed for Linux and Windows systems, it wipes clean 90 applications including Firefox, Internet Explorer, Adobe Flash, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari, and more. I highly recommend installing this on your system at some point, and making sure to have it automatically run at system login as a reminder. Even though Ubuntu doesn’t have issues with Viruses and Spyware, however your system can become slowly bogged down with tmp cache files in Mozilla Firefox and Chrome with heavy use, so it makes sense to run bleachbit periodically to speed up your system.
Windows equivalent : CCleaner
Beyond
simply deleting files, BleachBit includes advanced features such as
shredding files to prevent recovery, wiping free disk space to hide
traces of files deleted by other applications, and vacuuming Firefox to
make it faster. Better than free, BleachBit is open source. If you have a
system that seems to be running slower than normal, it’s always a good
idea to try running Bleachbit to see if it may resolve your performance
issues that you may be experiencing. I personally recommend that heavy
internet users run this at least once or twice a month.apt-get install bleachbit bleachbitSources:
http://packages.debian.org/stable/
http://wiki.debian.org/MultimediaCodecs
