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Sometimes we can all use a little help in being more productive. Any program that can make getting things done easier is a good app in my book. Let’s take a look at applications available for Ubuntu that do just that.
Gnome Do is one of my favorite applications. Taking it’s cue from the famous Quicksilver, Gnome Do aims to be that killer app to help you get it done. I could explain all the features but the wiki explains it best:
GNOME Do (Do) is an intelligent launcher tool that makes performing common tasks on your computer simple and efficient. Do not only allows you to search for items in your desktop environment (e.g. applications, contacts, bookmarks, files, music), it also allows you to specify actions to perform on search results (e.g. run, open, email, chat, play). Want to send an email to mom? Simply type "email mom." Want to listen to some music? Simply type "play beatles." Do provides instantaneous, action-oriented desktop search results that adapt to reflect your habits and preferences. For example, if you use Firefox web browser often, typing "f" in Do will launch it. Or, if you visit The New York Times webpage often, Do will open it if you simply type "nyt." Unlike other search tools that present search results as flat, homogeneous lists, Do provides familiar graphical depictions of search results that assure you that your intent is being realized correctly; searching for "mom" will show a picture of mom, and searching for "beatles" will show a Beatles album cover. Do has many more powerful and exciting capabilities that must be seen to be appreciated.
Freemind
Sometimes it’s hard to get your ideas down and organized. A great way to get things going is to make a mind map. For Ubuntu, the best app to do that is Freemind.
FreeMind is a premier free mind-mapping (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map) software written in Java. The recent development has hopefully turned it into high productivity tool. We are proud that the operation and navigation of FreeMind is faster than that of MindManager because of one-click “fold / unfold” and “follow link” operations.
To get Freemind you can install from the terminal with:
sudo aptitude install freemind
or check our their sourceforge wiki.
CheckGmail
While I use Evolution for my website related email addresses I still use gmail for a lot of other stuff. You can jump on gmail every ten seconds or you can install CheckGmail and let it conveniently sit in your notification area and keep you up to date automatically. Not only does it tell you when you have new gmail it also lets you see what you have in your mailbox with a small excerpt in a sidebar that pops up.
CheckGmail is a system tray application that checks a Gmail account for new mail. When new mail is present the tray icon changes, an optional animated popup is displayed and a tooltip displays the number and details of new messages. Each message can be opened directly in a browser window, and many common Gmail operations (marking as read, archiving, deleting or reporting as spam) can be carried out on messages directly within CheckGmail, without the need to use the Gmail web interface.
To get CheckGmail you can install it from the terminal with:
sudo aptitude install checkgmail
or check out their sourceforge website.
WorkPlace Switcher
This isn’t an extra app, it’s an already built in feature but it is by far one of the best ways to organize your clutter. If for some reason you have no idea what I’m talking about it’s the squares on the bottom right of your bottom task bar. Being able to group programs, such as keeping your internet browser on one desktop and your GIMP in another, is a perfect way to keep things out of site until you need them. Creating a habit of using the workspaces will improve your productivity and allow you to keep things organized as you work.
To get WorkPlace Switcher.. just use Ubuntu or any other Gnome based Linux!
Visual Effects
Visual Effects, powered by Compiz Fusion, is more than pretty effects for your Ubuntu desktop. There are several features that allow you to manage and view your applications.
Getting those effects and benfits:
1. First make sure you have your graphics card’s drivers installed.
2. Navigate to System -> Preferences -> Appearance
3. Go to the Visual Effects tab.
4. Choose Extra, after it applies you may need to restart.
5. Open a Terminal window,
sudo aptitude install compizconfig-settings-manager fusion-icon
6. Navigate to System -> Preferences -> Advanced Desktop Effects Settings
7. For a 3-D cube effect enable Desktop Cube and Rotate Cube. Press and hold Ctrl+Alt, left-click and drag to move or press the left or right arrow while holding those same bindings.
8. For a Mac like exposé effect scroll down to Window Management and enable Scale. Select Scale, go to the binding tabs, select Initiate Window Picker and choose which corner you want to activate exposé. Note that if you have Expo enabled you will have to change it’s bindings if you chose top-left or top-right for the scale effect. (Note: the expo effect is not the same as the Mac version of exposé, rather, scale is.)
Visual Effects are rather stressful on your system if it is not high end. The effects may benefit you but those with lower end systems may find them too taxing.
SeaMonkey
SeaMonkey is an all-in-one internet suite that lets you surf the web, read email and chat on IRC. If you’re familiar with the Mozilla Suite then you’ll be confortable with SeaMonkey. Instead of using seperate programs for email, internet browsing and IRC you could use SeaMonkey to get them all done at once. While not for everyone it is a great option for those that like multi taskers.
The SeaMonkey project is a community effort to develop the SeaMonkey all-in-one internet application suite. Such a software suite was previously made popular by Netscape and Mozilla, and the SeaMonkey project continues to develop and deliver high-quality updates as well as new features and improvements to this concept. Containing an Internet browser, email & newsgroup client, HTML editor, IRC chat and web development tools, SeaMonkey is sure to appeal to advanced users, web developers and corporate users.
SeaMonkey is built on the open source Mozilla Gecko engine, the same code which underlies the highly successful siblings Firefox and Thunderbird, as well as other projects such as Sunbird, Camino, Songbird and Miro. SeaMonkey benefits from the cross-fertilization with these other projects, by gaining (and contributing) new features and the ongoing security updates which are a modern necessity. The Mozilla Foundation provides hosting and legal backing for the SeaMonkey Project.
What have a I missed? I’d love to hear your suggestions.
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