Desktop Applications

Once you've selected a window manager, you're ready to get some desktop applications. The standard UNIX desktop application is still the command line. There's a special type of terminal window used for X windows, called an xterm. Some window managers include their own terminal application, and several different types of X terminal program have been written. But you'll find an xterm wherever you go.

You probably didn't install X just to use a terminal window, however. Let's look at some of the basic applications you might need.

Web Browsers

You won't find Internet Explorer for FreeBSD coming out any time soon, and that's probably a good thing. FreeBSD includes several different Web browsers, however, the most well known of which is Netscape.

Netscape

You'll find several different versions of Netscape under /usr/ports/www. The communicator versions include an email client, a news reader, and a Web−page authoring tool; the navigator versions include only the Web browser.

The FreeBSD and BSDi versions of Netscape include security holes that Netscape has not bothered to address. If you want to use Netscape, use the Linux versions. The Linux versions can use Linux plug−ins, which are more common than FreeBSD plug−ins, but require that you install the Linux compatibility module (see Chapter 11). Using the Linux version of the browser also allows you to use the Linux RealPlayer and Shockwave plug−ins.

Mozilla

If you want a newer browser than Netscape, take a look at Mozilla (/usr/ports/www/mozilla), the code that Netscape 6 is based on. Mozilla is fairly solid and reliable, and is getting better all the time. It also supports Java and Flash, and is my preferred browser. The Linux port of Opera (/usr/ports/www/linux−opera) is growing in popularity, and many people compare it favorably to Netscape. Still another popular choice is konqueror, the file manager included in the KDE window manager that handles both local file viewing and Web page rendering. You get it by installing KDE.

Text Browsers

If you don't have X installed, you can surf the Web using a text−mode browser. This is the original way the Web was used, way back in the early 1990s. I frequently use a text−mode browser when I'm in a hurry and just need to get some information without worrying about the graphics or other pretty features. The three most popular text−mode browsers are Lynx (/usr/ports/www/lynx−ssl), w3m (/usr/ports/www/w3m), and links (/usr/ports/www/links). Using one of these browsers can also be an enlightening experience; for example, many blind people use one of these tools to access the Internet.

Email Readers

FreeBSD supports many different mail readers (see /usr/ports/mail for a complete list). Again, because people have very different tastes in mail clients, try several and pick one you like. Still,

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here's look at some popular ones.

GUI Mail Readers

If you're coming from a Windows or Mac background, you'll probably find that Arrow (/usr/ports/mail/arrow) or Evolution (/usr/ports/mail/evolution) will be comfortably familiar. Evolution resembles Microsoft Outlook, but it requires huge chunks of the Gnome desktop environment. You can also use the email client found in Netscape (/usr/ports/www/linux−netscape47−communicator) or Mozilla (/usr/ports/www/mozilla). These are simple and intuitive for most users coming from a GUI environment.

Mutt

If you're looking for a more UNIX−like mail reader, you might try Mutt (/usr/ports/mail/mutt). Mutt is the end result of 15 years of mail−reader evolution. Every old UNIX hand I know who has tried Mutt has liked it.[5] Mutt is highly configurable and allows the reader to process information very quickly.

One of Mutt's nicest features is that it's threaded; thus, messages that are part of a single discussion are grouped together, in order. I receive a truly monstrous amount of email, at times over 2,000 messages a day. Each must be read and evaluated. Only a fraction of these require my personal attention, and perhaps two dozen need an answer. (There are usually several more that I should answer, but never get around to.) If I had to use a mail program like Microsoft Outlook, I would be utterly lost. Mutt allows me to manage this tsunami in an almost reasonable manner.

Pine

Another popular UNIX mail reader is Pine. This looks more friendly than Mutt and it's menu−driven. While it's not as configurable as Mutt, it's a good choice for someone who isn't as technical or who doesn't process obscene amounts of email. My wife quite happily reads her email in Pine.

Office Suites

If you're working on a desktop, you'll want things like a word processor, spreadsheet, drawing program, and so on. FreeBSD includes three, though you'll need X installed to run all of them.

StarOffice

StarOffice (/usr/ports/editors/staroffice60) is a full office suite with a lot of features. (This is actually a Linux version running under Linux mode.) StarOffice is fairly effective; this book was written using it. This version of StarOffice costs a nominal fee.

OpenOffice

The company that produced StarOffice was bought out by Sun Microsystems, who decided to release the source code of the program. This meant that they had to rip out a whole bunch of stuff that had been licensed from other companies, and replace it. The result is OpenOffice (/usr/ports/editors/openoffice). OpenOffice is expected to run natively on FreeBSD. It might be some time before all the features of StarOffice are fully available, however. I highly recommend OpenOffice, version 1.0 or later, for average use.

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Koffice

Another popular choice is koffice (/usr/ports/editors/koffice). It's built with KDE, however, so you might find its system requirements rather high.

Music

Everyone who works at a computer for any length of time winds up playing CDs. While a computer's speaker system isn't up to audiophile standards, it's good enough for work.

FreeBSD includes a variety of CD players, all under /usr/ports/audio. Gnome and KDE include their own CD−playing programs. There are a couple of utilities designed for use with WindowMaker, of which /usr/ports/audio/wmcd−play is my favorite. Many people like xmms and gkrellm as well.

Browse through the directory and you'll find any number of CD, MP3, MIDI, and MPEG players.

Graphics

Today's computing world uses a variety of graphic formats. It can be very frustrating to try to view a file in an unfamiliar format. Here we'll mention some of the most common graphic formats, and what programs you need to use to see them.

Viewing Common Graphics

Most of the common graphic formats can be viewed with xv (/usr/ports/graphics/xv). The xv program handles file formats including (but not limited to) GIF, JPEG, TIFF, PBM, PGM, PPM, X11 bitmap, BMP, XPM, PCX, IRIS RGB, and PNG.

Another common format is PostScript or Encapsulated PostScript. You can view these files with ghostview (/usr/ports/print/ghostview).

When you encounter an unfamiliar graphics format, chances are there's a small program that will open it in /usr/ports/graphics/README.html.

Viewing Video

To view video, try xanim (/usr/ports/graphics/xanim) or xmps. The avifile port can play MPEG4/DIVX videos.

Creating Graphics

To create your own graphics, check out the Gimp (/usr/ports/graphic/gimp). This toolkit has been favorably compared to Adobe Photoshop.

Desk Utilities

These days, people are used to putting all sorts of things on a computer screen, from sticky notes to calculators. I prefer using real sticky notes myself—you can pull them off the edge of your monitor and hand them to someone else—but if you want this functionality, FreeBSD includes it. For a complete list, shuffle through /usr/ports/deskutils. We'll just cover the highlights here.

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GnuCash

One of free software's killer applications is GnuCash, a personal money manager much like Quicken. You can find it in /usr/ports/deskutils/gnucash. While it requires that you have Gnome installed, you can use it while running any other window manager. GnuCash cannot yet interoperate with bank financial systems in the same way Quicken can, but it should be able to about the time this book comes out.

Palm

Similarly, personal digital assistants are quite common these days. WinCE devices are too tightly tied to Microsoft's operating environment to work well with FreeBSD. However, Palm−based devices, including Handsprings, do work well with FreeBSD. You'll find an entire category of Palm software under /usr/ports/palm.

Games

Now the important stuff! FreeBSD includes a variety of nifty games, all under /usr/ports/games. If you're running KDE or Gnome, you already have a few simple games installed. If you want to snag these packages without the accompanying window managers, they're available as /usr/ports/games/kdegames2 and /usr/ports/games/gnomegames. The ports will automatically install the bare−minimum underlying libraries to use them. Many of us are stuck doing that anyway, because some other piece of software requires them.

Xevil

For straightforward mayhem, network play, and fast action, check out xevil. It's an old−fashioned 2−D shooter, with ladders and robots and all sorts of things that need to be shot, burned, and exploded. It's not for the easily offended, but you can easily lose days with this simple toy. Best of all, it's lightweight; you don't need Gnome or KDE or qt or xview or any other graphics toolkit to run it.

Heretic, Doom, and Quake

If you're into fancier graphics or three dimensions, there's native FreeBSD ports of Heretic, Doom, and Quake (/usr/ports/games/quakeforge). These are classic games produced by Id Software: Run around, get bigger weapons, find evil monsters, and feed them the rockets they so richly deserve. The one problem with Doom is that it only runs on 8−bit X terminals.

You can start up a Doom−compliant X session with this command:

...............................................................................................

# startx −bpp 8

...............................................................................................

This means you have to exit and restart X to play these games, but that's not too bad. After all, try running Doom on a modern Windows system and see if you like what you see.

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Nethack and Angband

If xevil and Doom are simply too graphically intense, you can step back into the 1980s with Nethack, Angband, and their variants. Both are simple games that run on block maps. You are a character in a dungeon, trying to reach the lowest level and take out whatever horrible beast lives in that version of the game.

Nethack runs without X, and is addictive nonetheless. Angband runs on X, but can use richer graphics than Nethack. Both have forked time and time again, so you can pick and choose among the variants. My personal favorite is vanilla Angband, but I've lost several hours to Nethack as well.

Civilization

If violence isn't your thing, proceed directly to Freeciv (/usr/ports/games/freeciv). Freeciv is a Civilization clone. You start with a tribe of settlers, and try to build a worldwide empire. You compete with other players across the network, or just play solo. Of all the things that made me risk missing the deadline for this book, Freeciv was by far the most insidious and most dangerous.

If you prefer original software to a clone, you can also run a demo version of Civilization 2. Check under /usr/ports/games/civ2demo.

Minesweeper, Pac Man, Mahjongg, etc.

Other games are fun to have around, just in general. When I started in technical support, I would play Minesweeper to kill time while on hold or letting a user drone on about the problem of the week. There are several Minesweeper clones, such as freesweep, wmtimebomb, and yamsweeper. You can find a Pac Man clone under xchomp. Mahjongg lives as xmahjongg or xvmahjongg. There's chess, and Go, and just about every classic game that has kept humanity occupied for the last thousand years.

[5]At this point, I will of course be deluged with mail from people saying that their gray beard is far longer than mine, and they've tried Mutt and didn't like it. Oh, well.

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