[vox] Survey: What do YOU use Linux for?

[Jeff Newmiller]

On Wed, 6 Jul 2005, Bill Kendrick wrote:

> 
> There's a demo this Sunday at the Davis Food Co-Op, and I thought it'd be
> neat to have a list of "things LUGOD members use Linux for" available
> for when people ask.
> 
> So, here's a very short survey...  What do YOU use Linux for?
> (Server?

A little...
I use Slimserver for my music database, and Samba to fill in for Windows
2xxx Server stuff in my network.

> Desktop?

yes

> PDA?

No... haven't found one that can compete with cheap PalmOS PDAs.

> Appliance?

I don't own a TV, so I watch DVDs on it with MPlayer or Ogle.

> What services do you run?

HylaFax... easier to delete the fax spam when it is a PDF file.
Sshd... I have multiple computers, and log in from each other.
MySQL ... I work on various projects using the database storage model

> What desktop apps do you use?  ... and anything else you can think of! :^) )

Mozilla, OpenOffice, acroread, GnuCash. No, I don't use TeX.

I also work (you know, a job) remotely on my office computer (WinXP) using
rdesktop (through a VPN).

I use grep and some custom programs for assistance in solving word puzzles
sometimes.

I use pine for email (old dog) and screen so I can access my pine session 
from ssh.

I use various tools for processing ABC music notation files to help me
learn music (I play the guitar but don't read music very well).  Produces
PDF and MIDI files. Haven't found a solution for tablature that I like
yet, though.  I also use Audacity and a guitar pickup fed through my
stereo system to my soundcard to record my guitar playing (though I am
discovering why people put out $$ for specialized input hardware).

I use Gaim to chat with my fiancee.

I use Konquerer to browse my digital pictures, galrey to setup web
galleries to share, and sitecopy to synchronize my local copies of my web
pages with the server web spaces I have available.

I study the Japanese alphabet with Kanjitest.  I haven't figured out how
to type Japanese under X-Windows yet, though.

I use Knoppix to setup temporary networking to extract data from Windows
computers before reinstalling (or in a few cases, converting computers to
Linux).

I run old Fortran programs for which I have no Windows compiler...
typically when I am trying to re-implement algorithms in a more flexible
computing environment (C, or Visual Basic when the client requires it).

I use IPCop to rehabilitate not-too-old computers as VPN firewall routers.  
(LEAF works on really old computers, but I don't have much time to fight
the old hardware anymore.)

I use CGoban to review SGF records of Go games (I imagine chess lovers
would be using KChess or somesuch).

I use TuxPaint to keep kids occupied sometimes.

I use cygwin on my work WinXP machines so I can use bash instead of the
native Windows commandline. (Tab-completion and sensible quoting rules are
too addictive to do without.)

That is all my tired brain can think of at the moment.

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