Linux Office and Productivity Applications
Linux has some great applications for productivity and below I list those which I use personally for word processing, presentations, research and note taking. These applications are ideal for researchers, writers and anyone who creates tutorials. The application screen shots were taken on the Gnome desktop version of Linux Mint but they can also be installed and run on KDE desktop versions of Linux
OpenOffice Writer
For word processing OpenOffice Writer is an excellent application which I have been using for about 5 years. I used it to write my
final year project report and the software was not found wanting in any way. The interface is clean with no distractions and it can
do most of the things other word processors can do. It uses the Open Document Standard for files but can open, edit and save files
created in Microsoft Word. One killer feature it has is the ability to save documents in pdf format. Writer is part of the OpenOffice
suite of office applications and is totally free software meaning it can be heavily customised. The Central Scotland Police Force
uses Writer and it get lots of attention from budget strapped IT departments. For small businesses and students it is an ideal word
processor and in some ways it is superior to Microsoft Word
Dictionary
Dictionary is a really cool Gnome desktop application that comes with Ubuntu and Linux Mint. After typing in a word or phrase the results
will appear in the main window and if you wish you can also search for text within the result. The application lets you save the
result to a text file or print it out as a hard copy. Several dictionaries are available and there are some for translating words
and phrases between languages
The application allows you to add a Dictionary Applet to your desktop menu panel and this feature is really cool. You can type your word or phrase straight in to the text box of the Applet or you can select a word from any documents you have open and ask it to look up the selected word. The Applet responds your query by displaying the result in a small pop up window
Zim - Personal Desktop Wiki
Zim is my favourite application for taking notes and I have been using it since I started using Linux. It is a deceptively simple
application which allows you to keep tabs on a phenomenal amount of information via hyperlinking and a folder structure which you
navigate using the treeview control on the left of the interface. Zim auto-saves your work as you type and this nice feature means you
can concentrate on writing without having to remember to save your notes. Images can be attached to your notes and you can format your
article text using headings, bold, italic and underline styles. Zim stores pages in Notebooks and by creating a new Notebook for every
new project you undertake you become efficient because all your notes are stored in separate folders and are easily managed. Zim
will be of interest to researchers and writers
Tomboy Notes - Electronic Sticky Notes
Tomboy Notes is a note taking application that borrows it's metaphor from those little yellow sticky notes we have all seen. It can be used
as a personal information manager like Zim and a lot of people like it but I have not really used it much. Tomboy supports plugins
and two of the most useful of these are BlogPoster and Reminder. BlogPoster can turn Tomboy Notes into a simple blog posting
application and you can post entries to Blogger, LiveJournal and Wordpress. Reminder allows you to add a date and time to a note so that the
note opens up at the time you have entered. This is very useful for people like me who don't carry mobile phones and who spend a lot
of time working on their computer
OpenOffice Impress - Create professional looking presentations
Impress is a desktop application for creating presentations and it is very similar to Microsoft Powerpoint. It can open, edit and save
Powerpoint files and also has the ability to save files in .pdf format and as .swf files. The .swf format can be played back on any
computer that has a flash player installed. Impress and Powerpoint are so similar that anyone who knows one application will easily
be able to migrate to the other. Impress has better graphical tools but for embedding sound and movies PowerPoint has the edge. For
most people the real difference between them will be the price - Impress is free and PowerPoint costs plenty of dollars
Calculator
Usually there is not really much to say about a calculator but this one might be of serious interest to electronics people and programmers.
There are 5 views available - simple, advanced, financial, scientific and programming. The programming view is the most interesting,
and I would say that :-), but the financial view allows you to carry out some complex calculations such as: compound interest,
future value, double-declining depreciation and periodic repayments. The programming view has functions for bitwise operations,
shift left, shift right, 1s and 2s complement, conversion between denary, binary, octal and hexadecimal
Catfish - Desktop search utility
Sometimes we save files and can't remember where we put them and this is where a desktop search tool earns it keep. Catfish is one such
search tool and it is very handy because it can work with any search tools you have installed
Catfish has a simple two pane interface where you set up the search parameters in the left pane and the results appear in the right pane. From the screen shot you can see that I used Catfish to search for any files in the Irishlight directory that have the the word "linux" in the file name. If you click on a file in the results pane the file will be opened in the default application used to handle that particular file type
RecordMyDesktop - A screen and voice recorder for creating instructional videos
RecordMyDesktop is a nifty little screen recorder for creating video tutorials and software demonstrations. The software records your
voice and on screen activities and then saves the movie as a file. You can then edit your movie and upload it to video sharing sites like
YouTube or use it for internal training purposes. It will be of interest to IT trainers and Educators providing distant learning
courses
RecordMyDesktop lets you record either a window, the whole screen or just a selected part of the screen. Videos are saved in .ogg theora format but they can easily be converted to other formats using a media converter like AviDemux. RecordMyDesktop is brilliant for video, especially if you are using a dedicated video card, but if you want great sound it is better to also invest in a decent sound card and a high quality microphone. USB sound is not the best because it runs off the CPU whereas a mic plugged into a sound card will offer better audio processing capabilities and therefore higher sound quality
Final thoughts
These Linux applications are all really nice to use and offer great functionality. There are literally hundreds of Linux applications for productivity but these are the ones I use from day to day and I can vouch for them. If I discover better ones over time I will come back and update this page
Links
The home of Linux Mint
You can download Linux Mint from here
Mint Art Work and Themes
A nice article on all previous and current Mint releases listing their unique tools on Wikipedia
Mint on Distro Watch
Review of Linux Mint 7 'Gloria' on OSNews
How To Forge tutorial packed with Linux Mint screenshots detailing the easy installation routine and how to create the perfect desktop
