Installed Programs
A partial list of packages and commands available on most CS Linux systems
| Package or Command | Blurb |
|---|---|
| acroread | Acrobat Reader. View .pdf files. |
| autoconf | Creates autoconf scripts. If you're developing something to be distributed widely, please consider the use of this. |
| automake | Automake is a tool for automatically generating Makefiles compliant with the GNU Coding Standards. |
| bash | Bourne-Again Shell. Based on bourne and tcsh shells. |
| bc | command line calculator |
| binutils | GNU bin utilities - programming support tools. |
| bison | A parser generator, similar to yacc. |
| clisp | Common Lisp implementation |
| cvs | Concurrent Versions System. Lets you manage multiple versions of a source tree. Great for managing group programming projects. |
| ddd | Cool graphical debugger front-end to gdb. |
| elm | Good but somewhat dated mail program. Most people use pine instead. |
| emacs | A full-featured editor. |
| enscript | A free version of Adobe's transcript. A pretty printer. |
| exmh | Graphic front end to mh/nmh mail reader. Makes handling large amounts of email easier. Be warned: sucks all your mail into a format all its own (mh/nmh users know what I'm talking about already). |
| expect | A scripting utility coupled with TCL that allows one to script usually interactive processes. |
| fileutils | When regular ls just won't cut it, try GNU ls! Or chgrp, chmod, chown, cp ln, mv, rm etc etc. |
| flex | GNU counterpart to lex - generates parsers. |
| fvwm | A virtual window manager. The old version |
| fvwm2 | Newer version of the virtual window manager. |
| fvwm95 | A virtual window manager that is a Windows-lookalike version. |
| gawk | GNU's version of awk, a string processing script language. |
| gcc | GNU's C/C++ compiler. |
| gd | An ANSI C library for the dynamic creation of images. |
| gdb | GNU Debugger. Figure out why you shouldn't be messing with your pointers like that. |
| ghostscript | A postscript renderer/viewer. See also gv. |
| ghostview | A postscript viewer with slightly nicer interface than plain old ghostscript (gs). See also gv. |
| gimp | A painting package. |
| glimpse | Indexes your files to allow you to easily find content. |
| gnuplot | Plot data, generate postscript. |
| grind | Solve differential equations. |
| groff | Good alternative for nroff. Most useful for converting man pages into nice-to-look-at postscript output. |
| gs | ghostscript, used by ghostview |
| gv | Like ghostview only different. |
| gzip | Compress and decompress files. |
| imagemagick | commandline utilities to create, edit, or convert images. Can also be used by Perl. |
| ispell | Interactive spelling program |
| jdk | Java Development Kit. |
| jpeg | JPEG libraries. |
| kde | A window manager |
| khoros | Image processing software. |
| knews | A graphic news reader in the mold of xrn. |
| latex2html | Convert those latex documents into HTML . |
| latex2rtf | |
| less | Similar to the more command: pauses output. Unlike more, allows you to move backwards in the output and highlights what you search for |
| lesstif | LessTif is a free replacement for OSF/Motif |
| libpng | PNG graphics libraries. |
| libPropList | Library to support NeXT-Step list tree abstraction. Required by WindowMaker, among others. |
| libungif | Library for gif manipulation - it's libgif with enhancements |
| lynx | Text-based web browser |
| m4 | A pre-processor that would like to take over cpp's place. |
| make | GNU Make. Make with lots of GNU extensions. |
| man | Useful for discovering command line options. As in, man ls. |
| matlab | Full-featured mathematics package. |
| metamail | Small programs designed to help extract MIME attachments from email, news, or text files. |
| more | Used for pausing output, as in: ls -al | more |
| motif | Graphical package |
| Mozilla | Most common Linux web browser |
| mpage | Cool little package that prints 2-up, 4-up, or 8-up. Handles postscript input, too. |
| mswordview | Converts MSWord 8 (Office 97) files to html format. |
| mtools | utilities to access DOS disks in Unix |
| mutt | A very configurable text-based MIME mail client. |
| mzscheme | Implementation of the Scheme programming language |
| ncftp | An ftp client, text-only. |
| netpbm | A set of small, specific purpose graphic program that allows one to create powerful functions by stringing them together in a pipeline. |
| pdksh | A freely distributable korn shell. |
| perl | An interpreted language often used for system administration and web pages. |
| pgp | Encryption software. Mostly used for people who want to digitally sign stuff they mail/post. Also can be used to encrypt/decrypt files. Most people use GnuPG now. |
| pgp4pine | pgp4pine is program to use pgp in pine. |
| pine | Pine Is Not Elm. It's the standard mailer for those who don't use a graphical one like Mozilla Mail. |
| procmail | mail processing utility |
| prolog | Prolog programming language |
| purify | finds run-time errors and memory leaks in your program so you can make it more pure |
| python | python programming lanuage |
| realplayer | Plays RealAudio files |
| rsync | Command for synchronizing two different file systems. |
| rxvt | An xterm type program that lets you throw up pixmaps in the background of the terminal. |
| samba | SMB protocol implementation for UNIX - aka: filesharing glue between windows and UNIX boxes (both directions). |
| screen | virtual terminal window for linux |
| sed | GNU's sed. |
| sharutils | GNU's version of uuencode/uudecode and their ilk. |
| sml | Standard ML of New Jersey. Executable in /usr/local/bin/sml |
| ssh | Secure SHell: encrypted remote login shell. Don't telnet, use ssh! |
| Staroffice | A MSOffice immitation. Reads (and edits) MSWord, MSPowerPoint, MSExcel files. |
| STk | A Scheme interpreter, but with the awesome TK graphical toolkit. |
| swisswatch | A customizable clock |
| tar | Can you believe it gets its own package? GNU tar. Better than most vendors tar. |
| tcl | A good, easy-to-learn language often used with tk to create portable graphics applications. |
| tcsh | Default shell. |
| teTeX | A good distribution of TeX/LaTeX. |
| texinfo | software documentation system |
| textutils | GNU versions of standard text processing tools (cut, wc, etc). |
| tiff | TIFF image libraries. Required by some apps. |
| tk | An easy way to create portable graphic apps. Use with tcl. |
| tkdesk | a Graphical File and Desktop Manager for the X Window System |
| tm | mime solution |
| top | displays all the tasks being run on a linux system, starting with the most CPU-intensive on down. Find out if someone else's job is snarfing so much cpu you'd be better off logging onto a different computer. |
| traceroute | Find the Internet route from the computer you are on to anywhere on the Internet. Not nearly as useful as before with so many firewalls blocking it. |
| unzip | |
| vile | A vi clone. |
| vim | An improved vi that really does improve vi. Graphical if you really need it (vim -g). |
| WindowMaker | window manager with a graphical preferences utility and a NeXTStep-inspired look. Can be extreme eye-candy, supports themes. |
| X11 | Graphical wrapper to linux |
| x11amp | Mp3 Player For Linux |
| xanim | Program for playing a wide variety of animation, audio and video formats on unix X11 machines. |
| xdaliclock | X clock that can melt, among other features |
| xemacs | The X version of emacs. |
| xfig | Facility for Interactive Generation of figures under X11 |
| xforms> | GUI toolkit with buttons, scrollbars, menus, etc. Comes with a GUI designer also (fdesign). |
| xftp | X interface to ftp |
| xlock | A tool to lock your screen whilst you're away! |
| xmcd | Motif CD Player |
| xmms | X Multimedia System |
| xntp3 | A suite of time-synching utilities, including support for all manner of funky clocks. |
| xpm | xpm libraries. Required for many apps. |
| xswarm | A spiffy xwindows program. For amusement purposes only. Please, no wagering. |
| xv | Graphics displayer and touch-up. Useful for screen grabs. |
| zlib | Compression libraries. Required for some apps. |
| zsh | Another wonky shell with its own brand of wonky shell-ness. |
