Best Downloads for Linux

As a follower of the very popular productivity website Lifehacker.com, today I just stumbled on one of their most recent posts. The post, titled Lifehacker Pack for Linux: Our List of the Best Linux Downloads lists and describes a number of free/open source software products that can be downloaded and installed on Linux. The post mentions that these are mostly for the Ubuntu distribution, but many of these applications have releases for other Linux distributions as well.

I personally find this list to be very useful, since it includes many applications that one would need in everyday's work/life, and many of them are not included by default with Linux. These include: web browser (Firefox, Chrome), email client (Thunderbird), office suite (OpenOffice.org), text editor (gedit), and many more. The list even provides direct links to download these applications or to directly install them in Ubuntu.

OpenDisc - Free Software to Download

Are you a fan of free, open-source software?
If yes, then please continue reading. Otherwise...well...also continue reading, you might change your mind!!

A while ago, I was surfing the net, and I came across the OpenDisc project. This is basically an ongoing collection of high quality open-source software for Windows, classified into categories, such as: Design, Internet, Multimedia, Utilities, etc.

The programs in this collection include (click here for the complete list):

• Blender: an advanced 3D graphics modeling program


• The GIMP: the open-source alternative for Adobe Photoshop (although a bit hard to learn)


• Azureus: a powerful BitTorrent protocol client


• FileZilla: a fast and reliable FTP client and server


• Firefox: web browser


• Audacity: an audio editing program


• VLC: a media player that supports a lot of audio and video file-types


• OpenOffice.org: a full-featured office suite including a word processor, spreadsheet, web page editor and presentation program.


• and many more...

Of course all these programs can be downloaded from their corresponding websites, but I think it is a good idea to group them all into one collection that can be downloaded from one location. The whole package can be downloaded as an ISO image that can be easily written to a CD. Go to http://theopendisc.com/ for more information or to download the package.

Also, another related project is the OpenEducationDisc, which is similar to the main OpenDisc collection, except that it claims that it focuses on providing students with quick, easy and powerful tools specially selected to solve their educational needs. However, I personally don't see much difference between the two collections (except for 3 or 4 science and mathematics programs). The whole list of programs can be found here.

Still, I think it's a good idea, and I'm sure more and more programs will be added to the list in the future. The project team is open for suggestions, and users can suggest programs on the forum.