Popular Applications Reference
This is an alphabetical reference of highly popular additional applications for Kubuntu. For categorical listings please see:
- Stock Kubuntu Applications Table (Table of popular applications installed as part of default Kubuntu)
- Popular Applications Table (Table of highly popular additional applications for Kubuntu)
  1. [®4] acroread + mozilla-acroread: Adobe Acrobat Reader + Plug-in [Alt= KPDF & KGhostview]
  2. [2] Apollon : P2P Client for OpenFT, Gnutella and KaZaA
  3. [2] Audacity : Audio editor
  4. [1] build-essential: Debian packaging tool-set
  5. [2]CinePaint (Film-Gimp) : Graphics and Video Editor
  6. [2] Dia : Schematics
  7. [2] Digikam : Digital Camera Management
  8. [2] Firefox : Web Browser
  9. [2] Firehol : Firewall (text config file based)
  10. [®4] flashplayer-mozilla: Flash Plug-in for Konqueror & Firefox [Alt= libflash-mozplugin]
  11. [2] font* : Extra fonts for specific languages
  12. [2] gcjwebplugin : Java (JRE) and browser plug-in (open source)
  13. [2] GIMP : Graphics Editor (Photoshop equivalent)
  14. [2] Guarddog : Firewall (GUI based)
  15. [2] Inkscape : SVG Drawing (like CorelDraw)
  16. [®] j2re1.4 : Java (JRE) and browser plug-in (non-free)
  17. [2] KBear : FTP Client
  18. [2] kdeedu : Edutainment (education by entertainment) Suite
  19. [3] Kdenlive : Video editor
  20. [2] kdetoys : Funny toys and passtimes
  21. [2] KDiskFree : Disk, CD etc free space and other properties monitor
  22. [2] KFax : Fax Viewer
  23. [2] KGet : Download Manager
  24. [2] Kivio : Flowcharting
  25. [2] KMLDonkey : P2P eMule/eDonkey2000 Client
  26. [2] KMyMoney2 : Personal Finance Management
  27. [2] KNemo : Network Interface Monitoring
  28. [2] KPhone : Internet Telephony (VOIP)
  29. [3] KPlayer : Multimedia Player (video/audio)
  30. [2] KRec : Sound Recorder
  31. [3] libdvdcss2 : Encrypted DVD playing support
  32. [2] libflash-mozplugin : Flash Plug-in for Konqueror & Firefox
  33. [2] LinPopup : WinPopup for Linux
  34. [2] MJPEG Tools : MPEG Video Capture/Encoder/Editor
  35. [2] MPlayer + mozilla-mplayer : Multimedia Player (video/audio) + Plug-in
  36. [2] msttcorefonts : Microsoft TT fonts for improved Windows compatibility
  37. [1] nvidia-glx : NVidia graphics driver
  38. [2] Nvu : HTML editor - WYSIWYG
  39. [1] OpenSSH-server : SSH Server (secure remote access)
  40. [®4] Opera : Web browser & Mail client [Alternatives= Konqueror & KMail]
  41. [2] Planner : Project planning & management (like MS-Project)
  42. [2] QTorrent : P2P BitTorrent Client
  43. [2] QTParted : Hard disk partition editor (like Partition Magic)
  44. [®4] rar : RAR Archiver [Alternative= unrar]
  45. [®4] RealPlayer : RealNetworks Real Player [Alternative=Helix]
  46. [2] Rosegarden4 : Music editor & MIDI/audio sequencer
  47. [1] Samba : Windows file/print sharing services
  48. [2] SCIM : Smart Common Input Method (for Asian/CJK languages)
  49. [2] Scribus : Desktop Publishing (like Quark/PageMaker/InDesign)
  50. [®4] Skype : Internet Telephony (VOIP) [Alternative= KPhone]
  51. [2] Smb4K : Windows Share Browser (like "Network Neighborhood")
  52. [2] Streamtuner : Stream directory browser (Internet radio)
  53. [2] Synaptic : Package management
  54. [2] Thunderbird : Mail & News Client
  55. [2] Timidity++ : Midi Player
  56. [2] Unrar : RAR Archive Extractor
  57. [4] w32codecs : Proprietary Multimedia Codecs [Alternative=???]
  58. [2] Xine-UI : Multimedia Player (video/audio)
  59. [2] XMMS : Music/Audio Player (WinAmp clone)
The same color and number keying scheme used in Popular Applications Table is also used here.
    FIXME
  1. Gold getting mixed with silver. Split the list into class-1 and class-2 lists, with 33 and 67 entries respectively, each sorted alphabetically within themselves. Packages overflowing from class-1 go into class-2. Packages overflowing from class-2 go away. (Or maybe 3 classes?)
  2. How to give visual cues without making it look like a pajama?

Notes Regarding This Chapter

 Before you start installing programs in this chapter, see:
  1. "General Notes"
  2. "Software Repositories and Package Management", particularly:

acroread ®(4) + mozilla-acroread ®(4) : Adobe Acrobat Reader + Acrobat Plug-in

Very advanced PDF viewers/plugins (both KPDF and KGhostView) are already provided with Kubuntu 5.04

Adobe Acrobat Reader & Acrobat Plug-in (i386 only; ???/CSS; ??MB)
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install packages: acroread , mozilla-acroread
  3. See How to import Firefox plug-ins into Konqueror
  4. Test Acrobat plug-in.

Apollon (2) : P2P Client for OpenFT, Gnutella and KaZaA

 KDE-based interface to the giFT file-sharing system (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
Apollon is a graphical frontend to the giFT file-sharing system. It allows the user to perform searches and control downloads and uploads. Apollon needs a giFT daemon to be useful. Apollon has many fine features such as file preview, multi-tabbed searching, filtering of search results, docking in the KDE/GNOME system tray, and downloading of entire remote directories. Homepage is, http://apollon.sourceforge.net/
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install packages: apollon , gift , libfasttrack-gift


Audacity (2) : Audio editor

 A fast, cross-platform audio editor (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
Audacity is a multi-track audio editor for Linux/Unix, MacOS and Windows. It is designed for easy recording, playing and editing of digital audio. Audacity features digital effects and spectrum analysis tools. Editing is very fast and provides unlimited undo/redo. Supported file formats include Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV, AIFF, and AU. For more information, see http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: audacity


build-essential (1) : Debian packaging tool-set

 Informational list of build-essential packages (amd64 & i386; Main/on-CD; 0MB)
This package contains an informational list of packages which are considered essential for building Debian packages. This package also depends on the packages on that list, to make it easy to have the build-essential packages installed.
If you have this package installed, you only need to install whatever a package specifies as its build-time dependencies to build the package. Conversely, if you are determining what your package needs to build-depend on, you can always leave out the packages this package depends on.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: build-essential

CinePaint (2) (Film-Gimp) : Graphics and Video Editor

 A motion picture image painting and retouching tool (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
CinePaint is a painting and image retouching program designed to work best with 35mm film and other high resolution high dynamic range images. Through its frame manager and flipbook player, CinePaint can be used for painting of background mattes and for the frame-by-frame retouching of movies. Its studio developers incluce Rhythm & Hues, Sony Pictures Imageworks, DreamWorks and ILM.
The 32-bit per channel color range of CinePaint appeals to 35mm cinematographers and professional still photographers because film scanners are capable of greater color bit-depth than can be displayed on an 8-bit per channel monitor or can be manipulated in typical programs. However, CinePaint is a general-purpose tool useful for working on images for motion pictures, print, and the Web.
Apart from conventional image formats (eg. JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and TGA) CinePaint also has support for specialised motion picture formats such as Kodak Cineon, ILM OpenEXR, Maya IFF and 32-bit TIFF.
Homepage: http://cinepaint.sourceforge.net/
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: cinepaint


Dia (2) : Schematics

 Diagram editor. (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
Dia is an editor for diagrams, graphs, charts etc. There is support for UML static structure diagrams (class diagrams), Entity-Relationship diagrams, network diagrams and much more. Diagrams can be exported to postscript and many other formats.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: dia


Digikam (2) : Digital Camera Management

Digital camera integration, Kamera, is already provided with Kubuntu 5.04. It's accessible via:
Konqueror => Location: camera:/

Digital photo management application for KDE (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
Digikam is an easy to use and powerful digital photo management application, which makes importing, organizing and manipulating digital photos a "snap". An easy to use interface is provided to connect to your digital camera, preview the images and download and/or delete them.
Digikams buildin image editor makes the common photo correction a simple task. The image editor is extensible via plugins. The digikamimageplugins package contains many useful image editor plugins.
Digikam can also make use of the KIPI image handling plugins to extend it's capabilities even further for photo manipulations, im- and export, etc. The kipi-plugins package contains many very useful extentions.
Homepage: http://digikam.sourceforge.net/
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install packages: digikam , digikamimageplugins


Firefox (2) : Web Browser

Konqueror Web Browser (and file-manager and content viewer) is already provided with Kubuntu 5.04

Lightweight web browser based on Mozilla (amd64 & i386; Main; ??MB)
Firefox is a redesign of the Mozilla browser component, similar to Galeon, K-Meleon and Camino, but written using the XUL user interface language and designed to be lightweight and cross-platform.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: mozilla-firefox
  3. Optionally, if your locale is other than English, then also install mozilla-firefox-locale-XX package, where "XX" is your country code.


Firehol (2) : Firewall (text config file based)

 An easy to use but powerful iptables stateful firewall (all; Universe; ??MB)
Generates generic firewalls with an extremly simple but powerful configuration language, enabling you to design any kind of local or routing stateful packet filtering firewall with ease.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package firehol

flashplayer-mozilla ®(4) : Flash Plug-in for Konqueror & Firefox

 Flash Plug-in (i386 only; ???/CSS; ??MB)
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: flashplayer-mozilla
  3. See How to import Firefox plug-ins into Konqueror
  4. Test Flash plug-in.

font* (2) : Extra fonts for specific languages

 Extra Fonts (all; Main/Universe/Multiverse; ??MB)
There are a lot of extra fonts you might want to install, and a few fonts you might want to uninstall. Search for string "font" in the Kynaptic package manager, while [x]Name and [x]Summary boxes are checked (but [ ] Description box not checked). The result will list all font packages available with an indication of which ones are already installed and which ones are available to install. Remove the fonts you don't want, and install the ones you do, again from within Kynaptic.

Alternatively, from console, you can see all the packages with the string "font" in their Name or Summary, with 

apt-cache --names-only search font | less
And the installed ones (the ones with "ii" indicator), 
dpkg -l '*font*' | less
Then, remove the unwanted ones with, 
sudo apt-get remove package-name package-name package-name ...
and install the wanted ones with, 
sudo apt-get install package-name package-name package-name ...
If you want to install all fonts available (very unlikely), 
sudo apt-get install 'font.*'


gcjwebplugin (2) : Java (JRE) and browser plug-in (open source)

 Web browser plugin to execute Java (tm) applets (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
gcjwebplugin is a little web browser plugin to execute Java (tm) applets. It is targeted for Mozilla and compatible browsers that support the NPAPI. It also brings in JRE (gij). http://www.nongnu.org/gcjwebplugin/
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: gcjwebplugin

FIXME: Describe, either here or with a pointer, how to make Konq use Java. Better here, as it's difficult to generalize due to each Java package having its own idiosyncrasies regarding directories, symlinks etc.


GIMP (2) : Graphics Editor (Photoshop equivalent)

 The GNU Image Manipulation Program (amd64 & i386; Main; ??MB)
The GIMP lets you draw, paint, edit images, and much more! GIMP includes the functionality and plug-ins of other famous image editing and processing programs.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install packages: gimp , gimp-data-extras , gimp-svg , gimp-help-en , gimp-manual , grokking-the-gimp
    Note-1: Alternatively, you might want to install gimp-help-de (Deutsch), gimp-help-fr (Français), gimp-help-sv (Svenska) or gimp-help-zh-cn (中文), instead of gimp-help-en (English), depending on your preferred language.
    Note-2: There are other Gimp related packages. Search for the string gimp in Kynaptic (search in package names only).


Guarddog (2) : Firewall (GUI based)

 Firewall configuration utility for KDE (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
Guarddog is a firewall configuration utility for KDE. It is aimed at two groups of users: novice to intermediate users who are not experts in TCP/IP networking and security, and those users who don't want the hassle of dealing with cryptic shell scripts and ipchains/iptables parameters.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install packages: guarddog , guidedog
  3. Firewall set-up:

  4. Internet sharing:


Inkscape (2) : SVG Drawing (like CorelDraw)

 Vector based drawing program (amd64 & i386; Main; ??MB)
Inkscape loads and saves a subset of the SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) format, a standard maintained by the WWW consortium.
Inkscape user interface should be familiar from CorelDraw and similar drawing programs. There are rectangles, ellipses, text items, bitmap images and freehand curves. As an added bonus both vector and bitmap objects can have alpha transparency and can be arbitrarily transformed.
Inkscape supports multiple opened files and multiple views per file. Graphics can be printed and exported to png bitmaps. Homepage: http://www.inkscape.org/
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install packages: inkscape , pstoedit , libwmf-bin

j2re1.4 (®) : Java (JRE) and browser plug-in (non-free)

 Blackdown Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (amd64 & i386; External/CSS; ??MB)
The Blackdown Java-Linux Java 2 Runtime Environment contains the Java virtual machine, runtime class libraries, and Java application launcher that are necessary to run programs written in the Java progamming language (this includes the Java 2 Plug-In for Netscape and Mozilla browsers). It is not a development environment and doesn't contain development tools such as compilers or debuggers. For development tools, see the Java 2 SDK, Standard Edition (package j2sdk1.4) NOTE: You must accept Sun's EULA prior to successfully installing this package.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Make sure you have uncommented a Blackdown mirror in your sources.list
  3. Install package: j2re1.4

    4. AMD64! Due to a bug in blackdown j2re1.4 packaging, plugin symlinks are broken. They erroneously point to
    /usr/lib/j2se/1.4/jre/plugin//mozilla/libjavaplugin_oji.so
    instead of (note the missing "amd64" part)
    /usr/lib/j2se/1.4/jre/plugin/amd64/mozilla/libjavaplugin_oji.so

    To work around this bug, additionally do the following steps: 
    sudo -i
cd /etc/alternatives
ln -sf /usr/lib/j2se/1.4/jre/plugin/amd64/mozilla/libjavaplugin_oji.so
ln -sf /usr/lib/j2se/1.4/jre/plugin/amd64/mozilla/libjavaplugin_oji.so libjavaplugin_oji_mozilla_firefox.so
logout
  4. Test Java/JRE plug-in.

KBear (2) : FTP Client

Common FTP client functions are already provided (via Konqueror) with Kubuntu 5.04

Graphical ftp client for KDE (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
KBear is a graphical ftp client with the ability to connect to multiple hosts simultaneously. You can copy/move files or directories between the hosts by drag and drop or cut and paste. It also has a dynamic site database.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: kbear


kdeedu (2) : Edutainment (education by entertainment) Suite

 Educational apps from the official KDE (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
This is a collection of 17 educational applications provided with the official release of KDE:
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install packages: kdeedu , kdeedu-doc-html


Kdenlive (3) : Video editor

 A Non-Linear Video Editing Suite for KDE (amd64 & i386; Marillat; ??MB)
Kdenlive! is a Non-Linear Video Editing Suite for KDE. It is released under the GPL. Kdenlive uses Piave as it's video rendering engine to display and manipulate video clips. We have now reached our first milestone release.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install packages: kdenlive , piave


kdetoys (2) : Funny toys and passtimes

 Collection of 9 toys provided with official KDE. (amd64 & i386; Main; ??MB)
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install packages: kdetoys , kdetoys-doc-html


KDiskFree (2) : Disk, CD etc free space and other properties monitor

 KDE disk free (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
KDiskFree displays the available file devices (hard drive partitions, floppy and CD drives, etc.) along with information on their capacity, free space, type and mount point. It also allows you to mount and unmount drives and view them in a file manager.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: kdf


KFax (2) : Fax Viewer

 Fax Viewer for KDE, supporting the G3 and G4 standards. (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: kfax


KGet (2) : Download Manager

 KDE Download Manager (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
KGet can work integrated with Konqueror (e.g. drag&drop operation, sys-tray applet)
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: kget


Kivio (2) : Flowcharting

 A flowcharting program for the KDE Office Suite. (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
Kivio is a flowcharting program that offers basic flowcharting abilities, but with a twist. Objects are scriptable, and a backend plugin system offers the ability to make objects do just about anything.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: kivio


KMLDonkey (2) : P2P eMule/eDonkey2000 Client

 KDE GUI for MLDonkey (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
This package provides a GUI for MLDonkey and integrates MLDonkey into the KDE framework. It has the following features: ED2k link handling in Konqueror; A Konqueror service menu for adding all links on a web page; A Control Center module for configuring MLDonkey and client connectivity; A panel applet for Kicker that displays MLDonkey status and can launch the GUI on demand. Home page: http://kmldonkey.org/
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: kmldonkey


KMyMoney2 (2) : Personal Finance Management

 Personal finance manager for KDE (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
KMyMoney2 is specifically aimed at the typical home user at present. The current version, provides the basis for manipulating accounts that contain transactions. Each account belongs to an institution and can be reconciled to balance your transactions.
Quicken QIF import and export is supported within accounts so KMyMoney2 can read files exported from other programs and when downloaded from online banking institutions.
KMyMoney2 is still under development, so a lot of cool features are yet to come. It's quite usable already, nevertheless.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: kmymoney2


KNemo (2) : Network Interface Monitoring

 Network interfaces monitor for KDEs systray (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
KNemo displays for every network interface an icon in the systray. Tooltips and an info dialog provide further information about the interface. Passive popups inform about interface changes. A traffic plotter is also integrated.
Homepage: http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=12956
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: knemo


KPhone (2) : Internet Telephony (VOIP)

 Voice over IP (VoIP) phone application (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
Kphone is a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) user agent for Linux, which allows Voice over IP (VoIP) connections over the Internet. Kphone supports Presence and Instant Messaging, and to some extent video calls between two hosts.
Website: http://www.wirlab.net/kphone/
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: kphone


KPlayer (3) : Multimedia Player (video/audio)

Note-1: A very advanced multimedia player and browser plug-in, Kaffeine, is already installed in default Kubuntu 5.04, though the stock version is not very stable.
Note-2: KPlayer currently conflicts with Kaffeine. I.e. you can either have KPlayer or Kaffeine, but not both. Installing KPlayer will uninstall Kaffeine.

A KDE media player based on MPlayer (amd64 & i386; Marillat; ??MB)
KPlayer is a multimedia player based on the popular MPlayer. It provides video, audio and subtitle playback from files, URLs, DVDs, VCDs, audio CDs, TV, DVB and KDE I/O Slaves as well as global and file specific options, various controls, playlist, progress and status display, and a message log.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: kplayer


KRec (2) : Sound Recorder

 KDE based recorder app (amd64 & i386; Main; ??MB)
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: krec


libdvdcss2 (3) : Encrypted DVD playing support

 Simple foundation for reading DVDs - runtime libraries (amd64 & i386; Marillat; ??MB)
To allow applications to access some of the more advanced features of the DVD format.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: libdvdcss2

libflash-mozplugin (2) : Flash Plug-in for Konqueror & Firefox

 GPL Flash (SWF) Library - Mozilla-compatible plugin (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
The GPL Flash library is a set of functions that can be used by applications to play Flash movies. The core of the library is a portable graphic renderer that can be used to add SWF support to an application.
This package contains the Mozilla-compatible browser plugin, which will work with many browsers (Mozilla, Firefox, Konqueror, etc).
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: libflash-mozplugin
  3. See How to import Firefox plug-ins into Konqueror
  4. Test Flash plug-in.

LinPopup (2) : WinPopup for Linux

 X Window System port of Winpopup, running over Samba (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
This allows a linux system to communicate with a windows computer that runs Winpopup, sending or receiving message. It also provides an alternative way to communicate between Linux computers that run Samba.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Read Samba Installation and How to share Kubuntu folders out to Windows
  3. Install package: linpopup
  4. Read How to add/remove/relocate programs in K-Menu and then add linpopup icon into K Menu like below: 
    Position :: Utilities
Icon     :: /usr/share/pixmaps/linpopup.xpm

Name:        LinPopUp
Description: Win-Popup clone
Command:     linpopup

[x] Enable launch feedback
[ ] Place in system tray
Work path:   (Blank)
[ ] Run in terminal
[ ] Run as different user


MJPEG Tools (2) : MPEG Video Capture/Encoder/Editor

 MJPEG video capture/editting/playback MPEG encoding (amd64 & i386; Multiverse; ??MB)
The mjpeg programs are a set of tools that can do recording of videos and playback, simple cut-and-paste editing and the MPEG compression of audio and video under Linux. This package combines them with important supporting libraries required for their use.
The "lavrec" utility supplied supports capture from Zoran based MJPEG capture/playback cards like the Buz (Iomega), DC10 (MIRO, Pinnacle) and the LML33 (Linux Media Labs). Compatible MJPEG avi files can also be created using any frame-grabbing card supported by the xawtv tool.
Videos recorded in this way can be filtered, edited, and converted to MPEG streams. The MPEG encoder is optimised for high quality results at medium to high bit-rates (1Mbps upwards) and supports MMX/SSE/3D-Now and SMP. A Duron 700 can deliver around 15-20 352x288 frames per second.
A key design objective of the tools is interoperability with other video tools: currently xawtv, bcast2000, nuppelvideo and vcdimager are known to interoperate. The MJPEG utilities can read AVI, Quicktime, and movtar streams. The MPEG encoder can produce streams suitable for burning to VCD/SVCD using vcdimager or similar tools. The software playback of MPEG streams works with almost every player and every OS. SSE/MMX and 3D-Now! are supported permitting a 700Mhz CPU to deliver arond 15-20 VCD frames/second.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install packages: mjpegtools , mpeg2dec , toolame , sox

MPlayer (2) + mozilla-mplayer (2) : Multimedia Player (video/audio) + Plug-in

 The Ultimate Movie Player For Linux (amd64 & i386; Multiverse; ??MB)
It plays most mpeg, avi and asf files, supported by many native and win32 DLL codecs. You can watch VCD, DVD and even DivX movies too. The other big feature of mplayer is the wide range of supported output drivers. It works with X11, Xv, DGA, OpenGL, SVGAlib, fbdev, but you can use SDL (and this way all drivers of SDL) and some lowlevel card-specific drivers (for Matrox/3dfx/SiS) too! Most of them supports software or hardware scaling, so you can enjoy movies in fullscreen.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Depending on your computer's architecture, install one of the following package groups:
    • For amd64: mplayer-amd64 , mozilla-mplayer , mplayer-fonts
    • For i386: mplayer-386 , mozilla-mplayer , mplayer-fonts
  3. See How to import Firefox plug-ins into Konqueror


msttcorefonts (2) : Microsoft TT fonts for improved Windows compatibility

 Installer for Microsoft TrueType core fonts (all; Multiverse; ??MB)
This package allows for easy installation of the Microsoft True Type Core Fonts for the Web including: Andale Mono, Arial Black, Arial (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic), Comic Sans MS (Bold), Courier New (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic), Georgia (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic), Impact Times New Roman (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic), Trebuchet (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic), Verdana (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic), Webdings. You will need an Internet connection to download these fonts if you don't already have them.

Note that you can also achieve smooth compatibility of documents in mixed platform environments, if you use Bitstream Vera fonts in OpenOffice.org. See Font-HOWTO for more info.

    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: msttcorefonts

nvidia-glx : NVidia graphics driver

 NVIDIA binary XFree86 4.x/X.Org driver (amd64 & i386; Restricted/on-CD; 0MB)
These XFree86 4.x/X.Org binary drivers provide optimized hardware acceleration of OpenGL applications via a direct-rendering X Server and support the TNT, TNT2, TNT Ultra, GeForce, nForce and Quadro chipsets. AGP, TV-out and flat panel displays are also supported.
To enable the driver, run "sudo nvidia-glx-config enable"
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install packages: nvidia-glx , nvidia-settings , nvclock-qt
  3. sudo cp -a /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.`date +%y%m%d-%H%M%S`
sudo nvidia-glx-config enable
  4. Read How to add/remove/relocate programs in K-Menu and then add "NVIDIA Settings" program, to be run as root, into K Menu like below:
    (Make sure you've selected "[x] Run as different user" and left the "Username:" field blank.) 
    Position :: System
Icon     :: (Choose an icon you like via the Icon Selector)

Name:        NVIDIA Settings
Description: NVIDIA Settings
Command:     nvidia-settings

[x] Enable launch feedback
[ ] Place in system tray
Work path:   (Blank)
[ ] Run in terminal
[x] Run as different user
Username:    (Blank)
  5. Graphics configuration:

  6. Graphics over-clocking:
    kdesu nvclock

Nvu (2) : HTML editor - WYSIWYG

 
There is already a wysiwyg HTML editor (OpenOffice) provided with stock Kubuntu 5.04
Mozilla Composer flavor (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: nvu


OpenSSH-server : SSH Server (secure remote access)

 Secure shell server, an rshd replacement (amd64 & i386; Main/on-CD; 0MB)
This is the portable version of OpenSSH, a free implementation of the Secure Shell protocol as specified by the IETF secsh working group.
Ssh (Secure Shell) is a program for logging into a remote machine and for executing commands on a remote machine. It provides secure encrypted communications between two untrusted hosts over an insecure network. X11 connections and arbitrary TCP/IP ports can also be forwarded over the secure channel. It is intended as a replacement for rlogin, rsh and rcp, and can be used to provide applications with a secure communication channel.
This package provides the sshd server.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: openssh-server
  3. Konqueror (at remote machine) :: [fish://this.machine ]
  4. Konsole (at remote machine) :: 
    ssh this.machine

Opera ®(4) : Web browser & Mail client

 Opera web browser and e-mail client (i386 & ppc; External/CSS; 4.1MB)
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Download Opera from http://opera.com/download/ (select "Ubuntu" as distro)
  3. Assuming that downloaded file's name is "opera_8.0-20050415.5-shared-qt_en_sarge_i386.deb" 
    sudo dpkg -i opera_8.0-20050415.5-shared-qt_en_sarge_i386.deb


Planner (2) : Project planning & management (like MS-Project)

 A Project Management Application (amd64 & i386; Main; ??MB)
Planner is a project management program that can help build project plans, and track the progress of a project. It supports gantt charts, resources and have a calendar module. Planner is formerly known as MrProject. The development of Planner is led by Imendio as a free software project, and all code is licensed under the GNU General Public License.
Homepage: http://planner.imendio.org/
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: planner


QTorrent (2) : P2P BitTorrent Client

 BitTorrent client for QT 3.x (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
QTorrent is a PyQT-based client for the popular BitTorrent software known for allowing users to distribute content without massive bandwidth usage.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: qtorrent


QTParted (2) : Hard disk partition editor (like Partition Magic)

 A parted frontend using QT (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
QTParted is a Partition Magic clone writen using C++. It is based on libparted and QT toolkit.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install packages: qtparted , ntfsprogs


rar ®(4) : RAR Archiver

 RAR Archiver (i386 only; External/CSS?; ??MB)
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: rar

RealPlayer ®(4) : RealNetworks Real Player

 Real Player (i386 only; External/CSS; ??MB)
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. wget http://myosc.org/ubuntuguide/realplay-10.0.4.750-linux-2.2-libc6-gcc32-i586.bin
chmod +x realplay-10.0.4.750-linux-2.2-libc6-gcc32-i586.bin
sudo ./realplay-10.0.4.750-linux-2.2-libc6-gcc32-i586.bin
...
Enter the complete path to the directory where you want
RealPlayer to be installed. You must specify the full
pathname of the directory and have write privileges to
the chosen directory.
Directory: [/home/chua/RealPlayer]: /opt/RealPlayer

You have selected the following RealPlayer configuration:
Destination:		/opt/RealPlayer
Enter [F]inish to begin copying files, or [P]revious to go
back to the previous prompts: [F]: F

Copying RealPlayer files...configure system-wide symbolic links? [Y/n]: Y

enter the prefix for symbolic links [/usr]: /usr
...


Rosegarden4 (2) : Music editor & MIDI/audio sequencer

 Music editor and MIDI/audio sequencer (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
Rosegarden4 is a KDE application which provides a mixed Audio/MIDI sequencer (for playback and recording), a multi-track editor, music editing using both piano-roll and score notation, MIDI file IO, lilypond and Csound files export, etc.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install packages: rosegarden4 , swh-plugins


Samba : Windows file/print sharing services

 A LanManager-like file and printer server (amd64 & i386; Main/on-CD; ??MB)
The Samba software suite is a collection of programs that implements the SMB protocol for unix systems, allowing you to serve files and printers to Windows, NT, OS/2 and DOS clients. This protocol is sometimes also referred to as the LanManager or NetBIOS protocol. This package contains all the components necessary to turn your Debian GNU/Linux box into a powerful file and printer server.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install packages: samba , smbfs


SCIM (2) : Smart Common Input Method (for Asian/CJK languages)

 Smart Common Input Method platform (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
SCIM is an input method (IM) platform. It provides a common platform for different independent IM programs. SCIM is highly modularized, providing abstract interfaces to various modules for configuration, IM engine and front end. It supports both shared library and server/client mode.
This package is the main binary package of SCIM. It includes: the main program scim; other support programs; simple configure module; X11 front end module; rawcode and table IM engine modules; GTK+ panel; and GUI setup tools.
Currently, SCIM supports XIM, GTK+ immodule, and Qt immodule framework, features various input method engines such as scim-table, scim-chinese (smart pinyin), scim-uim (using UIM library), scim-hangul, scim-chewing (using libchewing library), and scim-m17n (using libm17n library).
If you use generic table IM engine, you need to get the data table in other packages, such as scim-tables-zh, scim-tables-ja, scim-tables-ko, or scim-tables-additional. You can also use other IM engines packaged in scim-chinese, scim-uim, scim-hangul, scim-chewing and scim-m17n. Homepage: http://www.scim-im.org/
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes and How to install extra fonts
  2. Install packages: scim-gtk2-immodule , scim-m17n , m17n-env , scim-uim
  3. Depending on your language (Chinese, Hangul, Japanese, Korean) additionally install one or more -possibly all- of the following packages:
    • scim-chinese
    • scim-hangul
    • scim-tables-ja
    • scim-tables-ko
    • scim-tables-zh
    • scim-tables-additional

  5. To activate SCIM, press 'Ctrl + Space'

I've just adapted Chinese specific input method solution of Ubuntuguide to a more generic CJK solution, on "best guess" basis. I didn't (can't) verify it. However I would appreciate your +/- feedback and corrections.


Scribus (2) : Desktop Publishing (like Quark/PageMaker/InDesign)

 Free-Software desktop page layout program (amd64 & i386; Main; ??MB)
Scribus is a desktop page layout program for GNU/Linux similar to Corel Ventura(R), Quark Xpress(R), Adobe PageMaker(R) and InDesign(R).
Scribus can be used for many tasks; from brochure design to newspapers, magazines, newsletters and posters to technical documentation. It has sophisticated page layout features like precision placing and rotating of text and/or images on a page, manual kerning of type, bezier curves polygons, precision placement of objects, layering with RGB and CMYK custom colors. The Scribus document file format is XML-based. Unlike proprietary binary file formats, even damaged documents, can be recovered with a simple text editor.
Scribus supports professional DTP features, such as CMYK color and a color management system to soft proof images for high quality color printing, flexible PDF creation options, Encapsulated PostScript import/export and creation of 4 color separations, import of EPS/PS and SVG as native vector graphics, Unicode text including right to left scripts such as Arabic and Hebrew via freetype. Graphic formats which can be placed in Scribus as images include PDF, Encapsulated Post Script (eps), TIFF, JPEG, PNG and XPixMap(xpm), and any bitmap type supported by QT3.
Printing, PDF and SVG creation are done via custom driver libraries and plug-ins, giving Scribus inventive features: the abilities to include presentation effects with PDF output, fully scriptable interactive PDF forms, SVG vector file output. The internal printer drivers fully support Level 2 and Level 3/PDF 1.4 postscript features including transparency and font embedding.
When run from KDE, Drag and Drop, for example from desktop to the canvas, is enabled. There is easy to use drag and drop scrapbook for frequently used items such as text blocks, pictures and custom shaped frames.
Homepage: http://www.scribus.net/
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install packages: scribus , gsfonts-x11 , xfonts-scalable


Skype ®(4) : Internet Telephony (VOIP)

 Skype (i386 only; External/CSS; ??MB)
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: skype

  4. For more info/help visit http://www.skype.com/

Smb4K (2) : Windows Share Browser (like "Network Neighborhood")

There's already Windows local network browsing facility provided with default Kubuntu 5.04

A Samba (SMB) share advanced browser for KDE (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
Smb4K is a SMB (Windows) share browser for KDE. It uses the Samba software suite to access the SMB shares of the local network neighborhood. Its purpose is to provide a program that's easy to use and has as many features as possible.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install packages: smb4k , smbfs


Streamtuner (2) : Stream directory browser (Internet radio)

 A GUI audio stream directory browser (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
Streamtuner is a stream directory browser. It offers an intuitive and unified interface to various streaming directories through the use of a C/Python plugin system. Current plugins included in this package are: SHOUTcast; Live365; Xiph.org; basic.ch; and more!
For more information: http://www.nongnu.org/streamtuner
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: streamtuner


Synaptic (2) : Package management

 Graphical package manager (amd64 & i386; Main; ??MB)
Synaptic is a graphical package management tool based on GTK+ and APT. Synaptic enables you to install, upgrade and remove software packages in a user friendly way.
Besides these basic functions the following features are provided:
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: synaptic


Thunderbird (2) : Mail & News Client

 Mozilla Thunderbird standalone mail client (amd64 & i386; Main; ??MB)
Mozilla Thunderbird is a redesign of the Mozilla mail component. The goal is to produce a cross platform stand alone mail application using the XUL user interface language. Mozilla Thunderbird leaves a somewhat smaller memory footprint than the Mozilla suite.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: mozilla-thunderbird


Timidity++ (2) : Midi Player

 Software sound renderer (MIDI sequencer, MOD player) (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
TiMidity++ is a very high quality software-only MIDI sequencer and MOD player. It uses sound fonts (GUS-compatible or SF2-compatible) to render MIDI files, which are not included in this package.
Homepage: http://timidity.sourceforge.net/
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install packages: timidity , freepats


Unrar (2) : RAR Archive Extractor

 Unarchiver for .rar files (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
Unrar can extract files from .rar archives. Can't handle archives in the RAR 3.0 format.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: unrar

w32codecs (4) : Proprietary Multimedia Codecs

 Proprietary Multimedia Codecs (i386 only; ???; ??MB)
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: w32codecs

Xine-UI (2) : Multimedia Player (video/audio)

Note: A very advanced multimedia player and browser plug-in, Kaffeine, is already installed in default Kubuntu 5.04, though the stock version is not very stable.

The Xine video player, user interface (amd64 & i386; Universe; ??MB)
This is an X11 based GUI for the libxine video player library. It provides xine, a skin based media player that can play all the audio/video formats that libxine supports. Currently, this includes MPEG1/2, some AVI and Quicktime files, some network streaming methods and disc based media (VCD, SVCD, DVD). A more complete list can be found on http://xinehq.de/index.php/features/.

Kaffeine and xine-ui both use the same xine video engine in the background. They're just different GUI front ends. The Xine engine is already installed on default Kubuntu 5.04 and, unlike KPlayer, Xine-ui can co-exist with Kaffeine.

    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: xine-ui


XMMS (2) : Music/Audio Player (WinAmp clone)

 Versatile X audio player that looks like Winamp (amd64 & i386; Main; ??MB)
X MultiMedia System is a player for various audio formats, with a customizable interface based on X/GTK+. It's able to read and play: Audio MPEG layer 1, 2, and 3 (with mpg123 plug-in); Ogg Vorbis files (with the Ogg Vorbis plug-in); CD Audio (with CDAudio plug-in), with CDDB support; WAV, RAW, AU (with internal wav plug-in and MikMod plug-in); MOD, XM, S3M, and other module formats (with MikMod plug-in); .cin files, id Software. It has eSound, OSS, and disk writer support for outputting sound. It looks almost the same as famous Winamp, and includes those neat features like general purpose, visualization and effect plug-ins, several of which come bundled, then spectrum analyzer, oscilloscope, skins support, and of course, a playlist window.
    Installation:
  1. See Chapter Notes
  2. Install package: xmms