I Want A Linux/Unix Utility To...

Maintained by Rich Burridge - Sun Microsystems Inc.

Version 0.4.4 - last updated 2nd August 2007.

Thanks to: Adam Caldwell, Adam Israel, Adam Williamson Aidan Delaney, Alan Horkan, Amjith, Amos Erskine, Andrew Nicholson, A. Schreiber, Andrew Sayman, Bart, Bart Raatgerink, Ben Pintilie, Bill Childers, bob, Brian, Charaka, Charles Nichols, Christian Neumann, Christoph Brill, Colin Marquardt, Daniel Elstner, Daniel P. Berrange, Denis, Derek Atkins, Diego Pettenò, dmbkiwi, dorn, Erick Woods, Flávio Pontes, François, Iain Cheyne, Jakob Petsovits, Jason, Jeff, Joachim Sauer, Joanie, Johannes Schmid, John, karderio, Knox Harrington, liquidat, Martin Garton, Michael Knepher, mike, Miro, nate, Nick, Omari Norman, Pádraig Brady, Patrick, Patrick Wagstrom, Renato, Robert Sugg, Ronald S. Bultje, Rusty, sam tygier, Sarath MS, S. Chauveau, Sebastian Pölsterl, sxj, Tester, Thomas Garner, Wes W, zbrox

Categories:

A. Anti-Spyware/Anti-Virus/Anti-Rootkit
B. Audio/Music/MP3/Real/Wav
C. Business/Office
D. Communication
E. Desktop
F. Editors/Notepad Replacements
G. Files and Folders
H. Financial
I. Graphics/Images/Photographs
J. Information/Fun/Misc
K. Internet
L. Keyboard
M. Performance/Recovery/System
N. Productivity
O. Programming
P. Uninstaller
Q. Video/DVDs
R. Corrections

General Introductions:

References:

I Want A Freeware Utility To... - Windows version
Comments received to my blog postings related to this list. [19 Dec 2006] [10 Jan 2007] [17 Jan 2007] [24 Jan 2007] [1 Feb 2007] [7 Feb 2007] [14 Feb 2007] [2 Aug 2007]
The table of equivalents / replacements / analogs of Windows software in Linux
The Linux Equivalent Project
Mohawke's Best of the Best Free and Open Source Software Collection from Dark Artistry

Notes:

For most of these categories, there is probably a GUI or command line application already available that will do the job. As a starting point, look at the package manager/installer for the distribution you have installed. Use its search facility.
Other places to look include:

Todo:

Adjust the little graphical images beside each entry from their "unknown" state, to indicate whether they are GNOME, KDE, CLI, X or "other" applications.
If an entry is specific to certain distributions, indicate accordingly.
The original blog entry comments provided some additional commentary for some of the entries that I haven't included. See if there is a good way to easily add this to the relevant entries.
Are there better links for each application then the ones that I am currently using?
Add in proper alt="..." tags for all of the images.
Add an indication when any of these applications aren't open source.
Determine which of them is accessible.

Key:

- no suggestions for this topic yet.
- something suggested that I haven't personally tried.
- something I've personally tried that works for me.
- GNOME/GTK application.
- KDE application.
- X11 application.
- Command line application.
- "other" application (something that uses different a graphics environment eg. OpenOffice).
- unknown application (still to be put in one of the other categories - GNOME, KDE, CLI, "other").

A. Anti-Spyware/Anti-Virus/Anti-Rootkit

1.	check if there is a rootkit installed on my computer :	Tripwire chkrootkit "Tested and works" Rootkit Hunter
2.	anti-virus :	ClamAV MailScanner F-PROT
3.	anti-rootkit :	NONE.
4.	stop/cleanup homepage hijacking :	???

B. Audio/Music/MP3/Real/Wav

1.	burn a CD :	cdrecord cdrw - (Solaris) nautilus K3b Brasero GnomeBaker gcombust
2.	burn an audio CD :	nautilus K3b Brasero serpentine gcombust
3.	organize the mp3 collection :	rhythmbox Amarok listen Exaile Banshee GMM quodlibet
4.	play all mp3 files in a folder :	mplayer totem SOX ("play .mp3") xmms ("xmms .mp3") xine ("xine .mp3") "for i in .mp3; do madplay ${i}; done" mpg123
5.	play an audio CD :	Sound Juicer xmms xine grip
6.	play an audio file :	totem XMMS SongBird SOX ("play FILE") xmms xine
7.	play real audio (.ra, .rm) files without the real software :	You need the codecs from RealPlayer on your machine. Copy them to /usr/lib/codecs and then mplayer and vlc should be able to play those."
8.	record/save streaming music :	StreamRipper mplayer mplayer -dumpstream -dumpfile output.xxx http://some.stream.thing/streaming/something" MiMMS
9.	rip music from a CD :	Sound Juicer Kaudiocreator K3b rubyripper Grip
10.	show song lyrics for the song playing :	Banshee with Lyrics plugin Amarok
11.	tag/fix mp3/audio file tags :	Audacity easytag Amarok XMMS banshee
12.	cut mp3 files into small parts :	mp3splt-gtk Audacity
13.	cut wav files into small parts :	Audacity avidemux shntool
14.	edit mp3/wav files :	Audacity

C. Business/Office

1.	capture the screen :	"gnome screen capture. default bindings work the same as they do in windows." scrot gimp xwd \| convert - screen_image.jpg ksnapshot
2.	convert a document into a different format :	OpenOffice KOffice
3.	convert a document into pdf :	OpenOffice KOffice "the print dialog in KDE allows this". a2ps -o - in.txt \| ps2pdf - out.pdf
4.	create a small database :	"OpenOffice has built in SQL database and front end tools to attempt to compete with Access." KOffice
5.	create pdf file :	OpenOffice KOffice Ghostscript utilities.
6.	create/edit css lists :	NetBeans 5.5
7.	create/edit html color codes :	gcolor Agave KDE color selector, also available standalone as KColorChooser
8.	show all the fonts installed :	"To show all the fonts installed, you can go to the fonts:/// location in Nautilus". "To show all the fonts installed, you can go to the fonts:/ location in Konqueror". gnome-font-properties "(a bit awkward just for that)" fc-list (part of fontconfig).
9.	convert access database into mysql :	MDB Tools
10.	create/edit html file / website :	quanta "Tested and works" bluefish "Tested and sucks"
11.	duplicate a block of text with some programmed variables :	???
12.	OCR a document :	gOCR "Tested, partly works" Tesseract OCR
13.	General word processing :	OpenOffice KOffice abiword

D. Communication

1.	chat on IRC :	XChat gaim Konversation BitchX
2.	chat with different messenger clients :	gaim Gyachi Kopete
3.	check multiple email accounts with 1 utility :	evolution thunderbird Kontact/KMail
4.	phone free using the internet :	"maybe Ekiga" OpenWengo Gizmo
5.	talk to skype and google-talk clients :	skype ("very bad" QT application). coccinella - google-talk (still experimental) psi - google-talk (still experimental) gossip - google-talk (still experimental) tapioca "Google Talk is Jabber, so any Jabber client, like gaim, will work." Kopete
6.	telnet/ssh to a site :	telnet and ssh from a terminal window. Putty
7.	video conference with others :	Ekiga

E. Desktop

1.	add useful widgets :	gDesklets karamba
2.	change desktop wallpaper automatically :	Drapes "Changing background images automatically is part of the normal KDE wallpaper dialog." "RotateBG for nautilus, maybe."
3.	display a calendar :	evolution Kontact/KOrganizer cal
4.	display weather information :	GNOME weather applet. Liquid Weather
5.	hide/bring back all the icons on the desktop :	"Here is a little script that you can put as the command for a launcher on the GNOME panel if you like, clicking the launcher will toggle the visibility of your desktop icons."
6.	launch applications :	"alt-f2 for application dialog in gnome. deskbar applet" katapult
7.	launch applications quickly (icons) :	"drag and drop icons out of your menu."
8.	launch applications with shortcut names :	GNOME deskbar applet "Just launch with Alt+F2" katapult
9.	make application windows transparent :	"(maybe) Beryl or Compiz can do this."
10.	multiple desktops and switch between them :	"Any decent window manager does this automatically."
11.	synch computer clock to exact time :	ntpdate
12.	write sticky (post-it) notes on the desktop :	tomboy Koncat/KNotes
13.	automatically take screenshots at regular intervals :	cron + xwd ?
14.	change my cursor shape/size :	gnome-mouse-properties
15.	manage icons :	???
16.	manage wallpapers :	wp_tray Desktop Drapes

F. Editors/Notepad Replacements

1.	edit programming source code :	vim emacs jEdit NetBeans Eclipse Kdevelop Kate Anjuta (beta)
2.	edit text :	vim emacs gedit Kate jEdit
3.	edit a file collaboratively :	gobby "Tested, works great"
4.	edit in hex :	hexedit ghexedit2 bless "Tested, works"
5.	edit php source code :	quanta "Tested and works" bluefish "Tested and sucks" kwrite "Tested, my favorite" gedit "Tested, good"
6.	preview any file as a hex dump :	hexedit ghexedit2 bless

G. Files and Folders

1.	access files remotely :	"FUSE + SSHFS. Mounts shares over ssh, very slick. Stability is dependant on ssh server your connected to. Openssh is superior to all others." "ftp://, webdav:// and (for ssh) fish:// works in every KDE application, no need for add-on applications."
2.	archive (zip) files :	zip File Roller Ark 7-zip Xarchiver
3.	backup/mirror a folder on another drive :	rsync unison "rdiff-backup keeps diffs of old backups "dar
4.	change file-date on multiple files :	touch -d "Feb 7 2007 12:00:00" FILES
5.	compare two text files and find difference or merge them :	diff patch tkdiff Kompare Meld sdiff vimdiff / gvimdiff
6.	create a self-extracting compressed files archive for a list of files :	makeself
7.	display size/space of folders on a drive :	du Filelight Baobab - a.k.a. Disk Usage Analyzer
8.	encrypt a file :	GnuPG dar supports the Blowfish algorithm. You can use File Roller to create a password protected archive. Seahorse encrypt - (Solaris)
9.	find/delete duplicate files :	FSlint
10.	keep various versions of a file :	svn cvs
11.	list all files in a directory/folder in a text/html file :	"ls > filename"
12.	locate a file on the hard drive :	Beagle "locate filename" find / -iname \filename\
13.	perform muliple operations on files/folders :	"shell scripting."
14.	rename multiple files :	qmv rename Thunar (Xfce file manager) KRename Purrr "shell scripting."
15.	search file/text on the computer :	Beagle grep -r PATTERN [FILE]
16.	search and replace text in multiple files :	regexxer perl -pi -w -e 's/search/replace/g;' *.txt
17.	upload/download using FTP :	ftp gftp 'ftp://' inside the Firefox browser. "ftp:// works in every KDE application, no need for an addon application." vsftp
18.	upload/download using TFTP :	tftp
19.	use GMail to store some files :	FUSE Gmailfs
20.	view all text files in a folder :	less FILES more FILES cat FILES vim FILES
21.	add a comment field for file/folders :	???
22.	create an encrypted archive :	Seahorse
23.	display all shared folders :	cat /etc/exports (nfs mounts?)
24.	encrypt a large file quickly :	Seahorse
25.	identify a file :	file filename
26.	keep two folders in synch :	rsync krusader "Tested, perfect"
27.	print the directory/folder tree list (and optionally, file list) :	???

H. Financial

1.	manage personal finances :	Gnumeric Gnucash ledger KMyMoney Eqonomize! Grisbi Homebank
2.	budget and track expenses :	???
3.	calculate retirement cash flow :	???

I. Graphics/Images/Photographs

1.	convert images into various formats :	gimp imagemagick Krita
2.	create a flash-based animated how-to/tutorial :	"OOo's ooimpress can export presentations as a Flash thing." "(maybe) Istanbul ?" "(maybe) byzanz-record ?" "(maybe) vnc2swf ?"
3.	create a web photo album and slideshow from my photographs. :	JAlbum f-spot Gallery plugin for Konqueror digiKam PennAve gthumb
4.	create icons :	gimp
5.	create thumbnails of images :	nautilus just to view. gimp to do a few scripting imagemagick or gimp-fu to do a lot. digiKam or every other application that supports kipi-plugins.
6.	draw charts/graphs in 2D/3D from data :	OpenOffice KOffice
7.	draw diagrams :	Kivio "dia ?"
8.	edit an image :	gimp Krita Showfoto
9.	find the color of any pixel :	Color selector in gnome or gimp KDE color selector, also available standalone as KColorChooser
10.	magnify image to pixel level :	xmag
11.	manage galleries of photographs :	f-spot digiKam KPhotoAlbum
12.	paint creatively :	Krita
13.	paint creatively (for kids) :	"Kolourpaint ?"
14.	pick a color from a pallette :	"any graphics application?"
15.	remove unnecessary information from a jpeg file :	jpegtran jhead - use with 'jhead -purejpg *' imagemagick - "the 'convert' function has a strip parameter. Also the '-thumb' parameter"
16.	stitch together multiple photographs :	autopano-sift hugin "scripts for gimp will do it."
17.	view images in an album folder :	f-spot Gwenview Showfoto gqview
18.	extract icon files from applicatio/library files :	???
19.	find any duplicate photographs in a folder :	gqview
20.	draw vector graphics :	Inkscape skencil gimp

J. Information/Fun/Misc

1.	convert units of measures :	Google calculator units
2.	find word meanings and synonymns :	Thesaurus.com Merriam-Webster Online Roget's Thesaurus Online - Yahoo!Education gnome-dictionary
3.	see 3d space simulation :	celestia stellarium
4.	solve a scientific calculation :	gcalctool Google calculator "python"
5.	solve equations and plot graphs :	GNU Octave R - for statistical plots Lybniz - for plotting of math functions maxima gnuplot
6.	zoom onto the Earth from space :	celestia Google Earth
7.	learn the periodic table information :	Gperiodic Kalzium
8.	learn typing :	TuxTyping gtypist typespeed tipptrainer tuxtype "for children"
9.	learn world geography :	KGeography

K. Internet

1.	backup mozilla (firefox/thunderbird) browser profile :	FEBE "cp ~/.mozilla/ ~/save/mozilla.backup"
2.	blog from the desktop :	Drivel Journal Editor KBlogger blogtk GNOME Blog
3.	create a single page html of all your browser bookmarks :	"find ~/.mozilla/ \| grep bookmarks.html" ? Firefox ("Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks...; File > Export...") Konqueror (from the bookmark editor: File, Export, Export to HTML bookmarks)
4.	create/edit html files / website :	vim emacs nvu bluefish Quanta+ Drupal Joomla! Plone Oxalis screem amaya
5.	create/edit xml files :	vim conglomerate NetBeans 5.5 MlView nxml mode for emacs Kate kxmleditor
6.	download a file via a torrent / p2p site :	gnome-torrent Azureus btdownloadcurses KTorrent gnome-btdownload
7.	download an entire website :	httrack wget
8.	download manager for internet downloads :	gwget "I use default epiphany." "KGet (This is the visible face of the FTP component of Konqueror (the invisible face is a click+drag panel-2-panel downloading capability)." Sun Download Manager Downloader for X
9.	encrypt email messages :	enigmail for thunderbird GnuPG Kontact/KMail
10.	ftp multiple sites simultaeously :	"ftp from the command line then tar" ?
11.	ftp files securely :	sftp Use 'sftp://' from the Nautilus browser. Use 'fish://' from Konqueror
12.	log into an internet-connected computer from another :	ssh "fish:// location from Konqueror."
13.	manage passwords :	gpass KWallet "Put them in a plain text file, then use GnuPG to encrypt it." revelation
14.	manage/resume file downloads :	gwget "Why not just use Firefox's built-in download manager?"
15.	monitor bandwidth usage :	ntop bwm-ng jnettop knetstats knemo iftop
16.	read my RSS feeds :	liferea Akregator RSSOwl
17.	remove all html tags from a file to make a into text file :	"lynx -dump " or "links -dump " "OpenOffice ?" KOffice
18.	remove dead (404) bookmarks :	wget --spider --force-html -i bookmarks.html
19.	safely browse the web :	firefox Konqueror "Even safer vmplayer + 'web appliance'."
20.	search the web from the browser :	Google
21.	tune-up firefox browser :	Firefox extensions called Fasterfox and Google browsersync, adblock plus, linky, downthemall
22.	browse the web (small footprint browser) :	Dillo

L. Keyboard

1.	automatically send defined keystrokes :	xbindkeys-gui
2.	easily enter unicode characters :	gnome-character-map
3.	remap the keyboard :	xmodmap xkeycaps gnome-keyboard-properties

M. Performance/Recovery/System

1.	backup/restore the gconf database :	cp
2.	burn/create CD/DVD iso image files :	built in gnome burner K3b GnomeBaker Brasero growisofs ("combined mkisofs frontend/DVD recording program") gcombust mkisofs isomaster
3.	capture all text written to screen :	script
4.	completely wipe/delete a file :	shred wipe
5.	completely wipe/delete a hard disk :	shred
6.	defrag the hard drive :	defrag ("which will defragment your ext2 filesystem") "Defragging is only needed for ancient dumb file systems like FAT."
7.	display CPU information :	gnome system monitor applet KInfoCenter cat /proc/cpuinfo
8.	display TCP/UDP endpoints and applications using them :	"netstat -ap \| less"
9.	display all file activity in real-time :	"lsof lists open files, don't know if that can help."
10.	display all processes running :	"ps aux" htop top KDE System Guard, summoned by Ctrl-Esc on a KDE system
11.	display hard drive status information :	smartmontools
12.	display system information :	KInfoCenter "There's stuff in /proc, stuff in /sys, and you can also use lspci and lsusb."
13.	display/edit gconf entries neatly :	gconf-editor
14.	find which program has a particular file or directory open :	fuser lsof
15.	optimize TCP/IP settings :	"You'll need to read and analyze your own environment; no automated tools can do this well that I am aware of. Perhaps some browser-based tools at DSLreports.com can help?"
16.	remotely control another computer :	ssh vnc 2X TSClient (also a front-end to VNC and X via XDMCP). X
17.	scan IP/ open ports :	nmap
18.	tweak security settings :	"bastille ?"
19.	view/kill running tasks :	gnome-system-monitor KDE System Guard kill / killall top
20.	audit all hardware and software installed :	lspci [-v] dmidecode hwinfo
21.	automatically adjust cpu loads :	"The kernel's got different performance governors and there's a gnome applet to switch between them. Also mentioned in Ubuntu Hacks".
22.	display all startup programs that run on my computer :	???
23.	display and automatically optimize memory usage :	???
24.	display motherboard system information :	dmidecode. hwinfo
25.	display which programs are accessing the gconf database :	???
26.	monitor voltages, fan speeds and temperatures :	sensors_applet lm_sensors "Tested, great" ksensors xsensors gkrellm xfce4-sensors kima
27.	stress test the system :	memtest86+ ("for memory") stress ("Available in the Ubuntu repositories").
28.	image/clone systems so that they can be easily restored :	ghost for linux partimage
29.	act as frontend for Firewall (ip_tables) :	Be able to do such things as: graphical manage an ip_tables firewall generate reports of the ULOG chain of ip_tables be interactively informed about possible attacks Firestarter
30.	backup my data :	tar Amanda bacula Conduit Simple Backup Suite

N. Productivity

1.	connect two/more internet-connected-computers into a virtual network :	OpenVPN ssh tunnel
2.	keep more than 1 text snippet in the clipboard :	glipper klipper
3.	organize calendar, contacts, to-do :	evolution Kontact
4.	organize schedules and tasks :	Kontact Karm planner "Tracks" - for tasks
5.	read the text file to me :	orca KTTS - also works with PDFs from KPDF and HTML files from Konqueror festival
6.	spell check in an application that doesn't have that feature :	"aspell works on any plain text file." "ispell works on any plain text file." the built-in KDE spell checker, enables spell checking in all text boxes.
7.	make a to-do list :	tomboy Notecase KOrganizer/Kontact
8.	write a business plan :	???
9.	write a daily diary :	???

O. Programming

create installation programs :

"checkinstall for debian ?"

P. Uninstaller

cleanly uninstall applications :

"Depends on the package management system."
have not tried

Synaptic or Panel Menu->Applications->Add/Remove (on Ubuntu)
have not tried

"apt-get remove --purge proggy" - Debian based systems (Ubuntu).

Q. Video/DVDs

1.	backup a DVD :	dd MEncoder dvdbackup DVDShrink (see Ubuntu Linux DVD Shrink, DVD Decrypter Guide) K9Copy
2.	capture screen activity into a movie :	Istanbul
3.	copy a DVD :	dd cdrecord K3b dvdbackup
4.	copy/shrink a DVD to the hard drive :	MEncoder? dvdrip dvdbackup K9Copy
5.	convert DVD to DIVx :	Handbrake thoggen "Tested, XviD only" dvdrip
6.	edit an avi file :	Avidemux
7.	identify missing codecs for playing avi file :	Xine "xine tells you what is missing."
8.	join two mpg files :	Avidemux mpgjoin
9.	play Quicktime movies without Apple software :	VLC mplayer xine Kaffeine
10.	split/join avi files :	Avidemux avisplit / avimerge
11.	convert and transfer video to my ipod :	thin liquid film gtkpod ("transfer to ipod"). ffmpeg ("convert"). transcode ("convert").

R. Corrections

1.	edit PDF files :	pdftk flpsed multivalent
2.	print 2 pages on 1 side of the paper :	"CUPS has settings that will enable this. Try 'man lpoptions'." mpage a2ps mp Most GNOME applications allow this (in the print dialog select the paper tab, then layout). Available as an option in every KDE printing dialog.