Write this down somewhere I can get to it I suppose (What I want for Linux-mas)
Written by
on
in
Snaking.
So, since Tim gets to play with his shiny new laptop this afternoon (lucky sod) thought I'd play at figuring out what I want to install when I attempt a Gentoo build for my next attempt to Linux-ify myself.
Comments
Comments are closed.
Pingbacks
Pingbacks are closed.
Mike C. Fletcher, the VRPlumber, is a philosopher of design turned computer programmer based in Toronto, Canada. He works primarily in the Python programming language, and maintains a large number of Open Source software packages. You can reach him at: mcfletch@vrplumber.com.
Will Rogers on 06/09/2004 11:47 p.m. #
I don't know who you are or what you do, exactly, since I happened across your blog during a routine Google search, but I can shed some light on some of your Linux app concerns.<br />
<br />
First, you don't need a "PuTTY" or "WinSCP" equivalent - you just open a terminal (xterm, aterm, Eterm, Konsole, Gnome Terminal, etc.) and do "ssh user@some.host.net" for an SSH session, or "scp user@some.host.net:~/path/file.txt ~/local/dest" to copy files. If you want a graphical SFTP client, try gFTP. The package you want for SSH, SSHD, SCP, etc in Gentoo is openssh. I'm pretty sure it's part of the base system.<br />
<br />
Second, Vim comes with modes for more or less all file types you'd ever want to edit, including Python, HTML, and XML. I use it for all editing purposes in Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. If by PythonWin-like editor you mean autocompletion, then Vim can't help there, but I feel the superior general editing features more than make up for the lack of autocompletion. Autocompletion just makes you lazy, anyway. Vim also has a visual diff mode that is extremely useful. Oh, and don't forget that there are two separate Vim packages in Gentoo, "vim" for the console version and "gvim" for the graphical version. You can safely install both.<br />
<br />
For CVS, do you know about http://www.wincvs.org/? It's multiplatform.<br />
<br />
For CD burning, everyone loves K3b.<br />
<br />
No, anti-virus scanners don't exist to my knowledge. Just don't run unneeded services, keep your passwords secure, and make sure you install security updates frequently.<br />
<br />
Xine is good for DVD playback. MPlayer is a more general media player that is also excellent.<br />
<br />
All I know about digital cameras is that the best (only?) way to use them is to use them as USB mass storage devices, if the camera supports that. This means you simply mount the camera's filesystem and copy the pictures manually.<br />
<br />
You seem to have figured most other things out already, or else I don't know anything about it. Oh, one more thing - I recommend you use Mozilla Firefox, not the suite. Firefox is much awesomer. :-p Feel free to e-mail me if you have other questions about Linux apps.
Mike Fletcher on 06/11/2004 12:44 a.m. #
I was looking for the GUI clients for ssh and sftp/scp, rather than the command-line versions (which are fine, but I prefer GUI for day-to-day work).<br />
<br />
As for an editor, vim is something I see as an installation requirement (because it's an okay non-GUI editor), but I don't consider it a reasonable day-to-day hacking environment. I want the whole MDI environment, auto-completion (I find without it my hands just go funky), lightweight operation and robust simple editing with the windows-style editing commands/keystrokes.<br />
<br />
Maybe it was just the installation I was working on, but I didn't find the Gnome version of WinCVS particularly impressive. Was sort-of hoping there was a more polished feeling "best-of-breed" app.<br />
<br />
Checked out K3B this afternoon, does look like it's going to work, so thanks.<br />
<br />
Xine and Mplayer on the list to play with now.<br />
<br />
I may try the split-out versions, but I still haven't been convinced that they're really better than the suite (which I use all day every day on Windows w/out any major complaints).<br />
<br />
Thanks for all the comments.
Will Rogers on 06/12/2004 2:12 p.m. #
Ok, ok, if you insist on the big honky style of editor, SPE looks pretty good for Python-only. It integrates with wxGlade (a wxWidgets RAD GUI designer) also. You might also check out Komodo, ASPN's project to produce a crossplatform Visual Studio style environment. I don't believe it's free, though.<br />
<br />
I do feel compelled to say that I think if you really spend the time to learn Vim (read the first 70 pages of the Vim book or so), you might be surprised at how productive it is. When you can do the cursor movements, window splitting, window switching, cutting, pasting, etc. that you do in the general course of editing all without moving your hands from the home position on the keyboard, it makes life a lot easier - and faster. But, on the other hand, I can't argue with the need for autocompletion. If you really like it, then Vim can't deliver it.<br />
<br />
I've never actually used gCVS, only WinCVS, so if you say it's not very polished I believe you. I don't really like WinCVS very much myself, but it's sort of all there is.<br />
<br />
Lastly, what features do you want in a GUI SSH client that you don't get by opening an xterm and typing "ssh ..."? You end up with a big window full of text, just like you do with PuTTY. Is it the GUI options dialog that you miss? I ask because I'm curious. Anyway, I highly doubt that you'll find something like PuTTY for Linux, because xterm and the ssh command are present on basically every Linux installation, so no one feels the need to duplicate that functionality. My Google searching seems to confirm this impression - there just isn't anything.<br />
<br />
There is a need for a graphical FTP-style interface to SFTP, though, which is why programs like gFTP support SSH (SFTP) connections.<br />
<br />
Oh, and my biggest argument for using Firefox/Thunderbird instead of the suite is that I don't like it when I have my suite browser open and it slurps up my mail, too :-p
Mike Fletcher on 06/13/2004 8:19 p.m. #
I've evaluated SPE within the last few weeks. I wound up spending all of my time writing bug reports, so I wound up having to give it a miss. Komodo was just too slow the last time I played with it, and yes, I gather it is for-pay now. I've just now upgraded to Eric 3.4, and it seems like I'll wind up going with it, though it's a bit heavy and slow to start up. SciTe is good too (especially as it's really lightweight), but it's not picking up the TTF fonts from XWindows/KDE, so it's rather horribly ugly looking.<br />
<br />
Vim: no comment :) .<br />
<br />
I was actually trying to use gCVS (LinCVS isn't really winning me over) again, and ran into a config error. Oh well, will figure out how to love the one or build the other eventually :) . Haven't tried Cervisia yet.<br />
<br />
Regarding the GUI SSH, you know, it's just laziness on my part. I like being able to just point and say "use that profile" (and be able to set up all the little terminal emulation features and the like). It's not a big deal, I can create menu shortcuts for each host to which I want to connect, I just like having it all nicely arranged for me already :) . The little key-agent proggy is nice too.
Will Rogers on 06/14/2004 11:58 p.m. #
One last thought for you, then: set up keychain ("emerge keychain" and follow the instructions, I think there's a HOWTO for it somewhere on the Gentoo site). It does everything that pageant (the PuTTY key agent) does in Windows.
Mike Fletcher on 06/15/2004 1:11 a.m. #
Thanks. Tim (a.k.a. x) just mentioned it as well, so I guess it's got plenty of recommendations. Will emerge it as soon as I reboot back into Linux.
Johan Palmqvist on 06/19/2004 8 p.m. #
Hmm. Why not just use the Linux-port of PuTTY? ;)