Software

It's only time I blab about that – software is very easy to download & install, and the same applies to removal. By the way – removing apps in Linux leaves shit behind too. But by lesser extent than in Windows.

But, it IS very easy to try and test everything you fancy.

I personally started quickly to prefer adding & removing soft with Synaptic (as opposed to Software Manager). Reason: With Synaptic you can see what happens, what additional packages (dependencies) are installed or removed. It is important if one cares what to keep in the computer. Here is one short description what Synaptic is (but don't download it from there - it's a lot more carefree with Software Manger and from repository.

FOR EXAMPLE: Removal: It seems to be growing tendency in distros to make things 'essential part' of operational system. Yes – like Windows, like incorporated IE. So - you can't remove certain things without removing whole DE. Mint Cinnamon finds Pidgin to be so important as to be unremovable – and that was one reason for me to drop Cinnamon. I do not need new Windows – An Almighty System that knows what I need and have to use. Puke!

The same goes with KDE, only couple of times more heavy-handedly. From widely hated bastards Nepomuk/Akonady to Kontakt-suit. You touch them, and your KDE will be removed – which is silly thing to happen. But only if it was unintentional, of course.

But it's definitely worth to observe also the less dramatic uninstalls – apps leave sometimes their shit behind (libraries not used by anyone etc). Or they try to bring 'helpful' stuff with them.

Installation: The same thing – look for unwanted quests. Synaptic has by default the option 'consider recommended packages as dependencies' on. Means, you get things you – maybe – do not need. Some packages bring along all their beloved shit – like Gedit brings Zeitgeist (which can be removed after install, except one library); every second KDE app tries to introduce Nepomuk or Akonady or Kontakt to your system. I, personally, do not need these things.

With Synaptic you can at least see what is gonna happen.

Yes, yes - CLI rules as the king of flexibility. But I am a noob, I use it as little as possible.

TIP: There are two different operations in Synaptic – 'remove' and 'completely remove'. The first leaves files behind, the second removes everything from /root, BUT leaves conf files and folders in your ~home anyway... Use 'completely...' - less crap to clean.

But, contradicting my own words now – if one is Windows-user extraordinaire and first time in Linux, then use Software Manager, by all means. It lets you choose apps by topic, it lets you read user-reviews, and has nicy pictures. You can make your choice at least a bit informed way. And one silly link to see here, and a second one (silly, because you have to make your own choices anyway).

And here, very short overview of my current apps-choices.

Terminal, Gedit, Synaptic, Firefox, archiver (zips and tars!) – do get things done in system. Like, to write command line, write into text file how you did what you did, get help from web anyway, before or after you unarchived those bug-bags you carelessly downloaded.

Font Manager – for really tidying up that area (which is quite a mess).

GIMP – Linux Photoshop-equivalent; it's not exactly on Adobes' level, but it is quite capable.

Gthumb – thumbnail viewer with some nice simple file-tweaking abilities. As a Windows-user you might know super-handy utility Irfanview. Strange enough – there is nothing comparable to that in Linux. There are lot of them – and they all lack some different feature.

Inkscape – Linux's Coreldraw. Native format is svg. If one plans to seriously mess with icons – and lot of them are svg-s, it's a must. Others are png – go for GIMP.

Qbittorrent – I don't like Transmission which seems to be favorite of many-many distros.

VLC – media player (it has also Windows version). And I do not have it. It played but frequently skipped parts and volume went up and down. Now, a linuxpro would say something about ALSA and Pulseaudio and layers and of trying different confs. I say – 'completely remove'. Now I have Clementine installed and no problems. Besides, it has nice logo-icon – slice of clementine, surprisingly.

Libreoffice suit = MS Office (and for less complicated docs Abiword = MS Wordpad is OK choice). At least the first one is quite compatible with Office of the Great Satan.

Bleachbit – to clean system occasionally (temps, unused language files etc).

Gparted – disk formatting and partitioning.

Only thing of those that crashed on me, was Libreoffice, on its first run. Which means that Firefox behaves much better than in Windows (no crashes or minutes-long full stops). Ups? Oh, it's faster too. Firefox, I mean.

Distributions ISO-s usually contain quite a lot of apps which will be installed out of box. Selection is what distros think you might appreciate, or just like that, or for arcane reasons. I always remove some of defaults – old school, can't stand useless stuff on my hdd.

For users of Ubuntu-family distro, the choice of apps is huge, it is said that only Debian have even more packages. Which means that you can get everything desired from ubuntu software center via manager or Synaptic. If need arises for something special – then you have to find it in web and either add new 'ppa' to your software sources or download tar pack. In first case (how to add code is usually provided on apps' page), install with Synaptic. In second case, have to read install-notes (usually also included in tarball).