Comments on: Linux + college = ?

Question: Linux + college = ?

Blandanomics — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 18:22:05 -0800

I just made the jump to Linux (Ubuntu). Any good note taking software for this strange new beast?

Or really any college essential software for my laptop. I checked out/was inspired by this thread but it was more of a windows thing.

By: pompomtom

pompomtom — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 18:50:49 -0800

The beagle search app.

By: puffin

puffin — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 18:53:15 -0800

Take your pick:
gjots2
notemeister
notecase
newton (wiki style)
treepad lite for linux

Sadly I don't like any of them as much as I loved MS OneNote, but oh well.

Other college-y programs? Mostly all I need use for school is SwiftFox, Thunderbird, and Open Office -- exactly what you would expect.

By: puffin

puffin — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 19:01:35 -0800

Also, since you have a laptop and your college likely has wifi: NetworkManager is definitely essential.

By: jzb

jzb — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 19:09:19 -0800

Tomboy is really popular amongst some Linux folks.

By: intermod

intermod — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 19:59:54 -0800

Re puffin's comment, Ubuntu 6.06 (dapper) already uses NetworkManager as its built-in ... network manager.

I hoped to upgrade from 5.10/breezy to 6.06/dapper this weekend, didn't happen ...

By: jjj606

jjj606 — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 20:15:21 -0800

I've been using Tiddlywiki to keep notes on a complicated server install. It's surprisingly useful, and the whole wiki is in one html file, so I can email it or back it up.

"It's written in HTML, CSS and JavaScript to run on any modern browser without needing any ServerSide logic. It allows anyone to create personal SelfContained hypertext documents that can be posted to a WebServer, sent by email or kept on a USB thumb drive."

To download it: "Because TiddlyWiki is a single HTML file, you've actually already downloaded the entire software just by viewing this site."

By: Izzmeister

Izzmeister — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 20:29:01 -0800

Goodle Video about Ubuntu Basics.

By: lunchbox

lunchbox — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 21:25:49 -0800

I'm in college and on Ubuntu.

(1) I absolutely love FreeMind. It isn't available through synaptic, but you can download the .deb package from sourceforge. Do:

dpkg -i freemind.deb

This will show you a bunch of unsatisfied dependencies. Clean up the mess with:

apt-get -f install

Then there might be one package left to install, libforms-java. If you don't have this you can download it as a .deb package from a debian repository. Then just do dpkg -i, and you're all set.

Once you've installed it, find a diagram of the keybindings online and paste it on your wall. Take 10 minutes to learn them, and you've significantly boosted your note-taking efficacy.

(2) If you're studying science, especially math-related subjects, use LyX to take notes instead of doing them by hand or using LaTeX. If you've struggled through LaTeX before, LyX's ease of use will make you very happy. Produces beautiful documents, too.

By: lunchbox

lunchbox — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 14:42:52 -0800

And for those nights of procrastinating, the video/other codecs in EasyUbuntu will be essential. (Google it.)