*nix packages

[Warrior4Christ]

Since there are many packages, and most have cryptic/weird names, sometimes it's hard to discover good/useful packages. And I'm likely to install Linux again soon. So what are some packages that you recommend/find useful? (I know, this is quite broad..)

I'll start with one I was recently told about:
Git. A local revision control system! I haven't tried it yet, but it looks handy.

[Mithrandir]

Look into SNORT, if you are interested in network security. For that matter, find a good tripwire program, too.

If your install doesn't include pine ( now "nano" ) as an editor, you might want to consider that - unless you prefer only gui editing.

Also Ximian (or however it's spelled) was a decent mail reader.

I also like MySQL for DB purposes.

For languages, I like to make sure I've got Perl, PHP, and all the C variants.

That's the stuff off the top of my head.

[Warrior4Christ]

If your install doesn't include pine ( now "nano" ) as an editor, you might want to consider that - unless you prefer only gui editing.

NO!! ed is the standard! It's not a nanoitor, or an emacsitor. Surely you jest. They're not even words. It's an EDitor.
[I assume you know what I'm referring to...]
Seriously, I took a quick look, and I think I'll stick with vim. Although, at work they're trying to corrupt me with emacs...

[Mithrandir]

I won't corrupt anyone who's a vi user. (Have you ever noticed that we refer to people who use computers a lot as "users." It's like people who use crack a lot. I don't think it's a coincidence.)

Do you do any kind of server work, or are you mostly into the client aspect? I can probably give more ideas about unix packages for servers than I can for clients.

[Warrior4Christ]

Mostly client-y things.


In case you didn't know what I referring to before:
http://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/ed.msg.html

[LorentzForce]

Real programmers set the universal constants at the start such that the universe evolves to contain the disk with the data they want. -xkcd

Personally, I prefer vim. I think I'll learn python just to complement my shell scripting.

Another useful program: lftp. Also useful: ssh. Actually, I use ssh for pretty much everything these days, like transferring files around, logging in into remote machines, etc etc.

[Saj]

hmm... can i buy all your guys knowledge of linux?

[Mithrandir]

SSH really is one of the best utils out there. If you don't know it - you should learn!


And Saj, you certainly can. It will cost about 100k to get the undergrad degreee, and another 25k to get the grad degree. Add in 7 years of school. After that, you can actually get PAID to learn more as you go. YMMV.