Clemson Laptop Software
Comparable Linux Applications

Bill Moss
May 2002

This article is for members of the Clemson community who may be considering running a dual boot configuration or Linux only. For each application in the Clemson Laptop image, we list in the first table one or more open source Linux applications that my be considered a reasonable substitute. In the second table, we list software that is only required in certain laptop courses.

 

Clemson Laptop Windows Image - Linux Software Comparison

Windows Linux Comments
Windows desktop GNOME, KDE desktops KDE is a Windows desktop look-alike.
MS Word OpenOffice Writer Windows version available. File compability with MS Word. Both have a "Save As Web page" feature.
MS Excel OpenOffice Calc Windows version available. File compability with MS Excel.
MS PowerPoint OpenOffice Impress Windows version available. File compability with MS PowerPoint.
MS Access MySQL, Interbase, PostgreSQL OpenOffice may eventually choose one of these as the official OpenOffice database.
MS Equation Editor OpenOffice Math Windows version available. OpenOffice translates between math formats in both directions.
MS Draw OpenOffice Draw Windows version available. OpenOffice Draw is a standalone application that can open and save using numerous image and drawing formats.
  OpenOffice HTML Editor Windows version available. OpenOffice HTML Editor produces clean HTML.
J2RE 1.4 J2RE 1.4 Sun's Java 2 run time library is an optional component of OpenOffice. It includes the Sun Java VM which is also used by Mozilla.
Netscape 6.2.2 Netscape 4.79 Composer can be used for HTML editing.
  Mozilla 1.0RC2 Windows version available. The core of Netscape 6.x is Mozilla. Mozilla supports MathML. We hope an upcoming version of Netscape will as well.
Internet Explorer 6.0   No longer comes with the MS Java VM but user is prompted to download the first time a Java applet is run. If the Sun's J2RE is loaded, the user can choose between these VM's. With the free MathPlayer plugin installed, IE supports MathML.
Secure Shell Client OpenSSH (ssh, sftp, scp) Preferred method of connection to remote machines from on and off campus.
Secure File Transfer Client sftp, gftp Like the Secure File Transfer Client, gFTP has a nice GUI interface.
Hummingbird telnet The campus should move away from telnet for security.
WS FTP LE gftp Like WS FTP LE, gFTP has a nice GUI interface. The campus should move away from ftp for security.
X-Win 32 X-Windows Linux window managers are built on top of the X-Windows system.
Acrobat Reader 5.0 Acrobat Reader 4.05 Read and print PDF files.
Eudora 5.1 Ximian Evolution Mail Ximian Evolution is similar to MS Outlook without the security holes. All the features of Outlook and Eudora and more including address book and contact list. Excellent GUI and integration.
  Ximian Evolution Calendar Your appointments.
  Ximian Evolution Task List Your to-do list.
WinRAR zip, unzip, gzip, gunzip, tar, cpio Archiving software. Windows versions available.
RealPlayer 8 RealPlayer 8, Mplayer RealNetworks audio and video media player. Mplayer plays most MPEG, VOB, AVI, VIVO, ASF/WMV, QT/MOV, FLI, NuppelVideo, yuv4mpeg, FILM, RoQ, and some RealMedia files.
Quicktime CrossOver Plugin, Mplayer CrossOver runs Windows web browser plugins such as QuickTime, Windows Media Player, and Shockwave, Word, Excel, PowerPoint Viewers in Linux. Not open source - $24.95. Mplayer plays most MPEG, VOB, AVI, VIVO, ASF/WMV, QT/MOV, FLI, NuppelVideo, yuv4mpeg, FILM, RoQ, and some RealMedia files.
Windows Media Player CrossOver Plugin, Mplayer CrossOver runs Windows web browser plugins such as QuickTime, Windows Media Player, and Shockwave, Word, Excel, PowerPoint Viewers in Linux. Not open source - $24.95. Mplayer plays most MPEG, VOB, AVI, VIVO, ASF/WMV, QT/MOV, FLI, NuppelVideo, yuv4mpeg, FILM, RoQ, and some RealMedia files.
Norton Anti-virus   Virus software is not needed on Linux. Security holes are rapidly patched. Red Hat provides software errata notifications for registered systems. It is easy to keep your system up-to-date with the update agent.
WebDrive DAV Explorer, cadaver WebDrive is Windows drive mapping software which uses the HTTP extension WebDAV. OpenOffice supports WebDAV.
Winamp XMMS, MPG123 MP3 players

 

Software Required in Certain Laptop Courses

Maple   Maple is available for Linux. CES is working on extending the campus network site license for Maple to student owned machines.
MATLAB Octave, Scilab MATLAB is available for Linux. CES has extended the campus network site license so that MATLAB may be launched from a mounted network directory. Octave + GNUPlot is an open source clone of the of MATLAB core. Octave is available for Windows. Scilab is a MATLAB work-alike that includes 2d-3d graphics, control, optimization, signal processing, simulation. Scilab is available for Windows.
Adobe Photoshop The GIMP Windows version available.
Adobe Acrobat Distiller PStill Windows version available.