HOWTO Lightweight package selection (using Xfce and suitable for office usage)

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This article is part of the HOWTO series.
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Contents

[edit] Purpose

This article aims at helping you to choose applications when setting up a lightweight Desktop Environment under Linux. In the Xfce philosophy, applications are lightweight when they are low on memory usage and do not require heavy dependencies (such as KDE or Gnome). This article sticks to it. In case there is no lightweight reliable feature-equivalent application, Gnome depending programs may be added here. Otherwise, all useful applications are welcome: GTK+, QT, tcl/tk, closed source, etc. However, please consider that only free programs (as in free to use) are preferred.

As you might have already understood, this article focuses mainly on lightweight and easy to use applications that would fit a "typical" Desktop Environment. For tweaking your system in order to have a light Gentoo installation, this article should be of interest. Since this article discusses setting up a system suitable for office usage, I am supposing that the final user will be an end-user, not knowing much other than to point and click.

Warning: Throughout this article, packages tagged with the asterix (i.e. GnomeBaker*) require heavy Gnome dependencies.
Note: Please do NOT add anything that depends on the KDE libraries; this page is aimed at not having to run two trees at the same time. Having both QT and GTK libraries running does stress your system.
Note: Before adding packages to this list, please discuss it first.
Note: "Platforms" indicates the various Operating Systems on which the specific application is known (sometimes believed to) run, other than, of course, Linux. At times cross-platform programs are more useful, especially when dealing on a day-to-day basis with different environments, say, with Windows.

[edit] System related choices

[edit] Choosing the filesystem

For maximum file system performance, search the Internet (I'm no expert and the opinions might diverge greatly). For maximum interoperability with Windows, consider using Ext3, at least for your /home partition.

Provides support for read and write operations and makes Windows handle the partition natively, i.e. the drive will be available under, say, the drive letter G:\.
  • FAT32 -- Kernel driver
Provides good support for read and write operations. However, the file system is quite limited: it is case insensitive, handles badly UTF-8, limits the allowed size of a single file, etc.
Provides support for read and write operations, is actively maintained and went stable as of 2007.
  • ReiserFS -- rfsd also called ReiserDriver
Provides support for read-only operations. Be warned that it is not maintained since 2005 and is available under pre-release form only.

Further information: HOWTO Newbie Guide to Stage1 NPTL Install, Ext3 in windows, NTFS-3G, HOWTO Mount Windows partitions (DOS, FAT, NTFS).

[edit] Choosing fonts

Now, this is one extremely subjective matter, so consider these only as suggestions of fonts that may suit your purpose. Certain users believe that the following are high-quality fonts.

Many users feel that un-antialiased fonts look "cleaner", especially on LCD monitors. After having read and understood this legal note, consider enabling TrueType's Byte Code Interpreter (BCI) in FreeType. Documentation: HOWTO Xorg and Fonts.

emerge -tva ttf-bitstream-vera
Usage: User interface, display
emerge -tva dejavu
Usage: User interface, display
emerge -tva liberation-fonts-ttf
Usage: User interface, display, printed output.
emerge -tva terminus-font
Usage: Console, virtual terminal
Wikipedia has an article on:
emerge -tva texlive-fontsextra
Usage: High-resolution printed output
Documentation: The LaTeX font catalogue
emerge -tva texlive-fontsrecommended
Usage: Printed output
Documentation: The LaTeX font catalogue
emerge -tva corefonts
Usage: Compatibility with .doc-like documents
Remarks: the fonts installed by the Corefonts ebuild are somewhat out-dated (in my experience). You'll be better off installing them manually from your Windows installation.

[edit] Gentoo specific utilities

emerge -tva porthole
Documentation: Overview of portage tools, TIP Speeding up portage with tmpfs, Flagedit
Toolkit: GTK+2
Alternatives: Portato
emerge -tva gpytage
Toolkit: GTK+2
emerge -tva elogviewer
Toolkit: GTK+2
emerge -tva autounmask
Interface: CLI
  • eix (app-portage/eix) -- Small utility for searching ebuilds, with indexing for fast results
emerge -tva eix
Interface: CLI

[edit] Setting up the Desktop Environment

  • X.Org (x11-base/xorg-x11) -- An X11 implementation maintained by the X.Org Foundation (meta package)
emerge -tva xorg-x11
Documentation: HOWTO Modular Xorg, Xorg
Platforms: BSD, Solaris, Unix-likes, Windows (via Cygwin)
emerge -tva slim slim-themes
Documentation: SLiM
Platforms: BSD
Alternatives: Xfce/Installation
emerge -tva xfce4 xfce4-extras xfburn xarchiver squeeze xfmedia ristretto midori xfkc
Documentation: thunar-volman, Locales, HOWTO Synchronize time
Toolkit: GTK+2
Platforms: BSD, Solaris
Alternatives: Enlightenment DR17, Fluxbox, Desktop Customization
Wikipedia has an article on:

At this point you will be able to start the X Server and login into Xfce using a graphical Display Manager. You will also be able to perform, among many others, the following basic tasks:

Note: As of May 2008, Xfmedia is quite mature but still problematic on playing videos. Several alternatives are presented in the relevant sections bellow. As of August 2008, Midori has just joined Xfce and is still alpha.

[edit] File management

Wikipedia has an article on:
emerge -tva emelfm2 enca
Documentation: todo
Toolkit: GTK+2
Platforms: BSD
Remarks: Those coming from Windows and looking for a Total Commander alternative under Linux need to at least check this application. It does not strive to emulate the look and feel of Total Commander; it does however offer you similar (sometimes more) functionality with a more Unix-like approach.
manual installation (ebuild; HOWTO Installing 3rd Party Ebuilds)
Homepage: http://software.twotoasts.de/index.php?/pages/catfish_summary.html
Toolkit: GTK+2

[edit] Office tools

With office usage, compatibility and sharing documents in mind, OpenOffice is the obvious choice for an office suite. It is however criticised for its slowness, as well as bloated code and interface. Users report nights of compiling, so seriously consider installing the binary package. OpenOffice hardly fits the scope of this article, but is the choice for inter-operability with Microsoft Office and as an alternative to the latter.

Lightweight alternatives to this heavyweight are AbiWord and Gnumeric, word processor and spreadsheet, respectively. Ted is decidedly a "heavy-lightweight", but may prove well handy for certain tasks, like handlingy MS Word created .rtf files. It is up to you to try these and decide whether they fit your needs. A worthy alternative to conventional word processors is LyX.

emerge -tva openoffice-bin
Toolkit: GTK+2
Platforms: BSD, IRIX, Mac OS X, OpenVMS, OS/2, Solaris, Windows
Alternatives: AbiWord, Gnumeric, Ted
Wikipedia has an article on:
emerge -tva lyx
Documentation: todo, Compatibility with MS Word, LyX vs other software, LyX with R through Sweave
Toolkit: QT4
Platforms: Mac OS X, OS/2, Unix-likes, Windows
Remarks: LyX is an WYSIWYM [1] frontend to LaTeX. It can be used to create structured documents and presentations, professionally typeset mathematical formulae, and to insert diagrams in its documents (as images, and created by an external application, such as Dia).
Note: Please do not underestimate LyX as an alternative to word processors. Conventional word processors are stupid and innefficient. For arguments on LaTeX strengths and weeknesses, check this Cambridge University page.

Basically it goes down like this: TeX is a professional type-setting system. LaTeX is a collection of macros that helps using TeX in a somewhat systematic and organized way. LyX helps use LaTeX in a easy way. Somewhat time-consuming are the first two documents; then, using the likes of MS Word or OpenOffice feels like a pain.

Why all the rant? Check this pdf document giving reasons for using LaTeX with, at the end, a page containing MS Word-like text near LaTeX formatted text. Or this comparison of LyX and Word output of a similar document. You'll understand that it is much about output and printing quality. With LyX the user only has to care about the structure and content of the text, while the formatting is done by LaTeX, an advanced typesetting system. Again, check the application, then decide whether it suits your needs.
emerge -tva texlive writer2latex
Toolkit: GTK+2
Alternatives: teTeX
Remarks: Check the USE flags; there are plenty. As the backend used by LyX, you will probably prefer the modern TeX Live to the no longer maintained teTeX. Here you will also find several backend applications that improve the LyX experience, mainly additional convertors.
  • eqe (app-office/eqe) -- LaTeX equation editor that produces images interactively
emerge -tva eqe
Toolkit: GTK+2
Alternatives: Ekee
Remarks: Perfect if you want to use beautifully typeset LaTeX equations in conventional word-processors. The application also has support for drag-and-drop. Ekee is in fact the recent (as of March 2008) successor of eqe, using however QT4. The latter has many more features and seems to be more robust.
emerge -tva scribus
Toolkit: QT3
emerge -tva acroread
Toolkit: GTK+2
Alternatives: ePDFView, Xpdf
Remarks: Beginning with the acroread-8* editions, Adobe's Reader give the feel of a "normal" GTK+ application, which loads relatively fast. If you prefer open-source programs, consider ePDFView (GTK+2 based) or Xpdf (Motif based), both free lightweight PDF document viewers. Please note, however, that in day-to-day usage acroread-8* feels faster and more comfortable.
emerge -tva osmo
Toolkit: GTK+2
Alternatives: gfa
Remarks: Osmo and Orage functionality overlap, but each is good at what it does best. You would use Osmo as an Address book and as a Date calculator. It also allows you to easily keep track of your contacts' birthdays, store encrypted notes and learn "kool" stuff like, say, the current moon phase. Orage would be better suited when used as DE easy-to-access calendar and as a time organiser. It even allows you keep a private journal. The good news is that both are in active devlopment, so expect new features and closed bugs. At last, gfa is hardly an alternative to either Orage or Osmo, but can come in handy for an Address book. If in gfa you input your contacts "internally" only, and may not export them, Osmo supports importing from and exporting to CSV.
emerge -tva qalculate-gtk qalculate-bases qalculate-currency qalculate-units
Toolkit: GTK+2

[edit] Statistical packages

Migrating to Linux often means searching open-source equivalents to proprietary software. For those looking for an alternative to SAS or SPSS statistical packages, the R programming language is the answer. R is command-line driven. However, it does provide several GUIs among the multitude of its modules.

Wikipedia has an article on:
  • R (dev-lang/R) -- Language and environment for statistical computing and graphics
emerge -tva R
Documentation: todo
sudo R and install.packages("Rcmdr", dependencies=TRUE)
Homepage: http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/jfox/Misc/Rcmdr/
Documentation: todo
Toolkit: Tcl/Tk
Remarks: Unless you use Paludis, Rcmdr needs installed from within R.
Note: From my quests, this is the more viable alternative to SPSS. It provides a clean user interface and is designed "to support, through an easy-to-use, extensible, crossplatform GUI, the statistical functionality required for a basic-statistics course". Although it does not yet offer all the advanced functionality of SPSS, recently (as of end 2007) a plugin infrastructure was implemented, meaning that Rcmdr has interesting perspectives for growth. Check the available plugins ("RcmdrPlugin.*") on the Contributed Packages at CRAN.
sudo R and install.packages("JGR", dependencies=TRUE)
Homepage: http://rosuda.org/JGR/
Interface: Java
sudo R and install.packages("rattle", dependencies=TRUE)
Homepage: http://rattle.togaware.com/
Toolkit: GTK+2
  • GGobi (not in portage) -- A visualization program for exploring high-dimensional data
manual installation (ebuild; HOWTO Installing 3rd Party Ebuilds)
Homepage: http://www.ggobi.org/
Toolkit: GTK+2
Remarks: There is also an R package, rggobi, which acts as an interface between R and GGobi.
emerge -tva paraview
Toolkit: QT4

[edit] Network related applications

emerge -tva opera aspell
Documentation: Opera
Toolkit: QT3
Alternatives: SeaMonkey
Remarks: Beginning with version 9.50, if run under the correct environment (say, DESKTOP_SESSION=xfce) Opera uses the native GTK+ file-chooser. Under the awful sounding SeaMonkey, one will find the good old Netscape Communicator, also known as the Mozilla Application Suite - web browser, email, HTML editor, IRC.
emerge -tva epiphany
Toolkit: GTK+2
Alternatives: Kazehakase
emerge -tva gftp
Toolkit: GTK+2
emerge -tva pidgin pidgin-extprefs pidgin-libnotify pidgin-smileys
Toolkit: GTK+2

[edit] Graphics applications

emerge -tva mirage
Toolkit: GTK+2
emerge -tva gimp
Toolkit: GTK+2
emerge -tva inkscape
Toolkit: GTK+2
emerge -tva dia
Toolkit: GTK+2
Alternatives: grace
Remarks: Dia is somewhat similar to the proprietary MS Visio. It can export to an array of formats, and thus can handily be used to create and insert diagrams into LyX documents (capabilities that are integrated in conventional word-processors).

[edit] Multimedia applications

  • Brasero (app-cdr/brasero) -- Application to burn CD/DVD for the Gnome Desktop
emerge -tva brasero
Toolkit: GTK+2
Alternatives: TkDVD, Graveman!, GnomeBaker*
Remarks: These are alternatives to Xfburn. Brasero performs various checks before burning the CDs. If you don't care much about having your CDs and DVDs messed up from time to time, consider the alternatives; Graveman! is out of maintainence, while TkDVD is highly transparent in its operations.
emerge -tva xsane
Toolkit: GTK+2
emerge -tva sonata mpd xfce4-mpc
Documentation: MPD
Toolkit: GTK+2
Remarks: This is a (partial) alternative to Xfmedia. Sonata is an excellent "music player", with a highly clean and intuitive interface. It uses MPD as a backend for playing audio files and for the library support. The "kool" thing about MPD is that at boot-time it will resume playing before X is initialized and at halt-time will stop playing after X was shut down.
  • VLC media player (media-video/vlc) -- Media player supporting a large number of multimedia formats
emerge -tva vlc
Documentation: VLC
Toolkit: GTK+2
Wikipedia has an article on:
emerge -tva gnome-mplayer gecko-mediaplayer mplayer-skins
Documentation: MPlayer
Toolkit: GTK+2
Remarks: GNOME MPlayer pulls in only the base Gnome libraries, and provides a clean and intuitive interface to MPlayer. It is also well suited for playing audio disks. Gecko Media Player makes GNOME MPlayer available as a browser plugin.
  • OGMRip (media-video/ogmrip) -- Graphical frontend and libraries for ripping DVDs and encoding to AVI/OGM/MKV/MP4
emerge -tva ogmrip
Documentation: HOWTO DVD to Matroska
Toolkit: GTK+2
emerge -tva grip
Toolkit: GTK+2
  • EasyTAG (media-sound/easytag) -- Utility for editing MP2, MP3, MP4, FLAC, Ogg and other media tags
emerge -tva easytag
Toolkit: GTK+2
Remarks: Beginning with version 2.1.1, EasyTAG uses libid3tag. Thus, it fully supports writing UTF-8 tags to mp3 files, tags that are - among others - compatible with at least Winamp >=5.5.
emerge -tva audacity
Toolkit: GTK+2

[edit] Miscellaneous utilities

emerge -tva xpp
Toolkit: FLTK
  • StarDict (app-dicts/stardict) -- An international dictionary supporting fuzzy and glob style matching
emerge -tva stardict
Toolkit: GTK+2
Alternatives: WordNet Browser
Remarks: Too bad it cannot connect to the Internet through a proxy.. WNb is a Princeton dictionary browser.
emerge -tva gtk-splitter
Toolkit: GTK+2
Remarks: The application is somewhat old (latest release dates 2005), but "it can also generate a DOS batch file so that the split files can be combined on DOS/Windows systems." If you do not need the Windows compatibility, and for a better user experience, you could handily use the "Custom commands" (two items relevant) menu shipped by default with emelFM2.
manual installation (ebuild; HOWTO Installing 3rd Party Ebuilds)
Homepage: http://hardinfo.berlios.de
Toolkit: GTK+2
  • Gmrun (x11-misc/gmrun) -- Launcher box with bash style auto completion
emerge -tva gmrun
Toolkit: GTK+2
manual installation (ebuild; HOWTO Installing 3rd Party Ebuilds)
Homepage: http://developer.berlios.de/projects/ktsuss
Toolkit: GTK+2
emerge -tva wpa_supplicant
Toolkit: QT4
emerge -tva gparted
Documentation: HOWTO Manipulate (move, resize) hard disk partitions
Toolkit: GTK+2
emerge -tva gtkam
Toolkit: GTK+2
emerge -tva alexandria
Toolkit: GTK+2

[edit] Developer's corner

Wikipedia has an article on:
emerge -tva geany
Toolkit: GTK+2
Platforms: AIX v5.3, FreeBSD, MacOS X, NetBSD, Solaris Express, Windows
Remarks: The application is mainly developed by Enrico Tröger, an Xfce developer. This in mind, the application's "intuitive behaviour", and its scarce demands on dependencies and ressources, you might perceive it as the "Xfce IDE".
emerge -tva bluefish
Toolkit: GTK+2
Remarks: Bluefish is more than an HTML editor: "Bluefish is a powerful editor targeted towards programmers and webdesigners, with many options to write websites, scripts and programming code."
emerge -tva meld
Toolkit: GTK+2
  • poEdit (app-i18n/poedit) -- Cross-platform gettext catalogs (.po files) editor
emerge -tva poedit
Toolkit: GTK+2
emerge -tva wxchecksums
Toolkit: wxGTK

[edit] Mind-breaking games

I've worked hard to get to this section. :) It's pause time.

emerge -tva enigma
emerge -tva eboard
Documentation: HOWTO Chess
Toolkit: GTK+2
emerge -tva pouetchess

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Credits

Original article written by --Landroni 22:12, 19 January 2008 (UTC). If you can improve this page, don't be shy - do it. For package additions please take the time to discuss them first on the talk page. If this article was of any help or you have any comments, you can always leave a message on my talk page.

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