Free linux desktop software for linux

SAM Linux Desktop is a live and installation CD based on Mandriva Linux, is an easy-to-use, fast and clean XFce Linux desktop for home users.
SAM Linux Desktop is enhanced by several popular non-free applications, such Macromedia Flash plugin, Java and RealPlayer.
Enhancements:
- SAM 2007.1-test1 is available for testing. The most important changes: OpenOffice.org was dropped, here is the reason: SAM now comes with basic support for more than 50 languages, proprietary ATI and NVIDIA drivers have been added to the live CD with a nice GUI to install them, under the hood it is running a development version of kernel 2.6.20.11. All packages have been updated to their newest versions available in the PCLinuxOS repositories, some new ones have been added (PDFedit, Planner, Searchmonkey, Ntfs-config, VirtualBox...) and a fresh theme was created.

GNU/Linux Desktop Testing Project (GNU/LDTP) is aimed at producing high quality test automation framework and cutting-edge tools that can be used to test GNU/Linux Desktop and improve it.
GNU/Linux Desktop Testing Project uses the "Accessibility" libraries to poke through the applications user interface. The framework has tools to generate "AppMap" by reading through the user interface components of an application. The framework also has tools to record test-cases based on user-selection on the application.
GNU/LDTP core framework uses "AppMap" and the recorded "test-cases" to test an application and gives the status of each test-case as output.
As of now, GNU/LDTP can test any GNOME application which are accessibility enabled, Mozilla, OpenOffice.org, any Java application (should have a UI based on swing) and KDE 4.0 applications based on QT 4.0 (based on the press releases by KDE).
We encourage you to join the project and help us to create robust, reliable and stable test tool/framework for Linux Desktops.
Main features:
- LDTP concepts are derived from Software Automation Framework Support
- LDTP supports verification of actions performed (GuiExist, VerifyState, etc) - API Reference
- Writing test scripts are very easy, the script writer need not know about the object hierarchy
- CPU / Memory performance monitoring of application-under-test can be measured - Class pstats
- From the XML log, we can gather HTML report using XSLT
- Group based execution, which provides precise control on the flow of test-script execution - Gldap XML
- Scripts can be written as a reusable component and for that the datas can be stored / retrieved in XML - Data XML
- User-friendly Text Editor with syntax highlighting for generating and grouping test data Howto use LDTP Editor
- Objects are identified both statically and dynamically
Enhancements:
- Now automation scripts can be written without using time.sleep.
- A particular object and its child can be remapped in a window.
- Memory leaks were fixed.

Logical Desktop is a desktop environment. A "desktop environment" is a program that allows you to do many different things with your computer, but in a consistent way. Desktop environments can be seen as a "dogma" of how things should be done, and how they should look and feel.

Examples of desktop environments are KDE, Gnome, the Windows interface, etc.

In Logical Desktop, like in all desktop environments, you work by composing actions made of one verb and one or more objects (e.g. "Print" is the verb, and the objects are the printer, the files to print, and the program used for printing).

Logical Desktop is how you specify those things: 1) in any order 2) with automatic hiding of the things that dont make sense.

1. In any order: Logical Desktop enables you to specify your action with many possible styles of interaction (file-oriented, task-oriented, program-oriented, device-oriented). Logical Desktop can do that because it treats verbs and objects with complete symmetry and uniformity: you can select both verbs and objects, and in any order.

2. With automatic hiding: Logical Desktop is more intelligent than traditional systems because it hides the unnecessary things while you are composing the action. More precisely, Logical Desktop hides those verbs/files/devices/programs that make no sense with the current selection.
Combining this with the previous point (that you can select anything in any order), we obtain a very powerful mechanism: if you select a verb first, the objects that dont make sense with it are hidden; if you select an object first, the verbs that dont make sense with it are hidden.

NetMAX Desktop is a live-CD distribution of Linux upon which NetMAX Server products are based. It includes best of breed applications: Secure Linux (kernel 2.6.11.5), OpenOffice.org, Blender, GAIM, Gnome 2.8, Dia, gtkam, Azureus bittorrent client, Firefox 1.0, Thunderbird 1.0, Totem multimedia player, XINE multimedia player, Wine compatibility layer, hotplug hardware detection and OpenVPN SSL VPN.
This distribution seeks to fill the role of a fully-functional enterprise class desktop system without licensing fees. In contrast to many of the other live-CD distributions out there, it has been designed to be intuitive enough for non-computer savvy folks to use -- including integrated Windows application support.
Power users will find that this distribution puts security first, adheres to published standards, and thus behaves in the way they expect it to. Unlike previous attempts to simplify Linux for the desktop, the power and customizability that has gained the hearts of the open-source community has not been removed.
Main features:
Cutting Edge Features:
- Complete desktop functionality (network files, presentations, spreadsheet, word processors, browser, art generation, digital camera support, etc.)
- Automatic detection of disks and mountable partitions, as well as automatic mounting of USB storage devices and network (NFS) shares
- Built-in NetMAX network file systems, permissions, authentication and provisioning
- Windows application compatibility
- NetMAX Desktop can be run without permanent installation
- NetMAX Desktop can create NIST-certified disk dumps for forensic analysis
- NetMAX Desktop includes a comprehensive suite of Linux-based multi-file system format disk discovery and recovery utilities
NetMAX Desktop is built for security:
- NetMAX Desktop is based on Secure Linux, and meets or exceeds most government security requirements
- NetMAX Desktop has integrated iptables firewall capabilities and SSL-based OpenVPN
Easy to Use and Install:
- Choose to run the NetMAX Desktop direct from CD, without modifying anything on your hard drive
- Or, choose to install the NetMAX Desktop to your hard drive as your default operating system

Linux Mints purpose is to produce an elegant, up to date and comfortable GNU/Linux desktop distribution.
Is Linux Mint suitable for companies?
Yes. Linux Mint offers paid commercial support to companies and individuals. Free community support is also available from the forums and the IRC channel. The main purpose of Linux Mint is to innovate and constantly bring the best desktop solutions to its users. For this reason, the release cycle is fast and a new version of Linux Mint can be released every month or every two months. All released versions of Linux Mint are actively supported and some of the releases (possibly Bianca or Cassandra) will come with a Long Term Support guarantee (a guarantee that our Support Center will support these releases for the years to come).
Is Linux Mint suitable for individuals?
Yes, definitely. We believe Linux is the best operating system on the market. There are more than 300 active Linux distributions and were working hard at becoming the best alternative for your desktop. This is a tough competition as there are other great desktop operating systems and distributions out there. We have faith in the quality of our desktop and a lot of great ideas. If your computer is a PC and you have more than 512MB RAM you should try Linux Mint and see what you think about it. If youre running a 5 years old non-free operating system such as Microsoft Windows XP you should definitely be impressed. We like hearing about your experience and taking your suggestions onboard so please give us your feedback.
Why is there a Light Edition and a Full Edition?
Linux Mint respects the GPL and it also respects the copyrights and licenses of the proprietary software it distributes. However it uses technologies that have been patented in some parts of the World. Most countries do not recognize the legitimacy of software patents so for most of our users this is not a problem. But if youre unlucky and you live in a country where software patents are legally enforcable, you need a version of Linux Mint which is free of patented technologies, and this is what the Light Edition is about.
Why does Linux Mint include proprietary drivers?
It doesnt. If it did, it would be legally wrong (because it would violate the GPL) or ethically wrong (if some dirty trick was used for the user to link the code to the kernel for instance).
What about proprietary software?
We believe in open source and release all our work with the corresponding source code. We owe a lot to the Free Software movement and to the GPL but we also owe a lot to all the developers who contributed ideas and tools and who made software better and better throughout the years. Some of them released their source code as well and thus granted us more freedom and more flexibility. Others released their software with proprietary licenses and although this didnt give us the freedom we would have liked it still contributed to make software better. We like Software in general, Free Software even more, but we do not believe in boycotting Proprietary Software.
Enhancements:
- The brand new "mintInstall" and the "Linux Mint Software Portal": http://www.linuxmint.com/software
- Gnome 2.18 (speed improvements)
- Kernel 2.6.20 (better hardware support)
- Ubuntu Feisty innovations (restricted-manager, desktop-effects, windows migration assistant, avahi)
- OpenOffice 2.2 (complete suite)
- Thunderbird replaces Evolution as the default email reader
- Pidgin replaces Gaim as the default messenger
- Sunbird is now installed by default
- The Gimp is installed by default
- Gnome-control-center replaces mintConfig as the default control center application
- Both mintDisk (for internal drives) and NTFS-Config (for external drives) are present for NTFS support
- Support for Gnome Templates in mintDesktop
- mintInstall replaces gnome-app-install and the upcoming Clickn Run.
- Drag & Drop support in mintMenu with many other improvements
- Sun Java 6 replaces Sun Java 5
- Compiz, Beryl and Emerald installed by default
- New artwork

Linux Commander is a powerful file manager for the X Window System.

It is partially modelled after Window Commander for Windows.

PCLinuxOS is one of the world�s up and coming providers of a Linux Desktop Solution. With a small but dedicated development team, PClinuxOS delivers Desktop Ready Software that harnesses the power of the Open Source Community.

PCLinuxOS Preview 81a is an English only self-booting live cd that runs entirely from a bootable CD without installing anything on your computer.

Data on the CD is uncompressed on the fly allowing up to 2 GB of programs on one CD including a complete Xserver, KDE 3.3.2 Desktop, Open Office 1.1.4, Thunderbird 1.0, Firefox 1.0, p2p filesharing and much more, all preconfigured and ready to use!

In addition to the livecd mode, you can also install PCLinuxOS to your hard drive using our easy to use livecd installer, assuming you like PCLinuxOS and it runs well on your computer.

PCLinuxOS is currently under heavy development and should be considered beta software. PCLinuxOS should work on most modern hardware and comes with advanced hardware detection. PCLinuxOS runs best on computers with at least 256 megabytes of memory.

PCLinuxOS is FREE and its released under the GPL license.

Wazobia Linux is a complete Linux-based operating system designed and developed by Leapsoft.

Wazobia Linux distribution delivers quality desktop computing solutions that combine the best of open source technologies with a corporate attention to completeness, usability, and support.

It represents the next step in the evolution of the desktop computing in Africa and the rest of the developing world.

Wazobia Linux provides everything todays computer user needs for home and office desktop computing, including a stabilized, secure, stable and reliable, user-friendly Linux based operating system plus a complete set of desktop applications--office suite, Web browser, instant messaging client, multimedia viewers, and graphical software.

It also offers the latest open source applications for developing applications, setting up a home network, running a Web server, and more. Wazobia Linux includes more than 16,000 pieces of software, but the core desktop installation fits on a single CD.

The OS is accessible in Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo, to make users feel more at home in their computing environment. Leapsoft provides professional support for Wazobia Linux.