To Do List After Installing Linux Mint 17 OS

To Do List After installing Linux Mint 17OS

To Do List After installing Linux Mint 17OS

Supported until April 2019.Tutorial updated on Fri. Jan. 2nd., 2015.Linux Mint is a Linux distribution for desktop computers, based on Ubuntu or Debian. Linux Mint is aimed at being a modern, elegant and comfortable operating system which is both powerful and easy to use. Mint provides full out-of-the-box multimedia support by including some proprietary software such as Java and Adobe Flash. Mints motto is from freedom came elegance. No more viruses, no more spyware/malware, and Ubuntu-based Linux Mint OS is free. Netflix now works out of the box via the latest Google Chrome stable and Steam is available for gaming enthusiasts.While at the core Linux Mint is mostly based on Ubuntu, the design of the desktop and User interface are very different. These differences include a very unique desktop theme, a custom Linux Mint menu and the MintTools, a collection of system tools designed to make managing the computer easier for users. A new version of Linux Mint is released every 6 months with new features and improvements. Each Linux Mint release comes with bug fixes and new security updates for about 18 months. If these bug fixes and security updates are crucial to you, then you should keep upgrading your system to latest released.Most differences are on the desktop. Ubuntu and Linux Mint both focus on usability, but Linux Mint offers a different user experience, and it includes a number of applications that are not available in Ubuntu (see aforementioned Mint Tools). Many popular multimedia codecs are installed by default in Linux Mint. Ubuntu, and many other gratis GNU/Linux distributions, do not distribute these codecs with the initial install media due to patent issues. Ubuntu has a vastly larger support community than Linux Mint. However, the majority of Ubuntu help and advice is also applicable to Linux Mint.Special Note: Here at debianhelp.wordpress.com we are trying to raise critical revenue so that it can remain freely available to users around the world. We are a non-profit organization that operates this web site. We are working towards bringing free Linux support to everyone. The ads on this page are from the gracious free hosting provided by WordPress.com and so without donations we dont actually generate funds from commercials or ads or page visits. This page is updated daily with new information and always kept as current as possible. If you would please consider making a donation, if you find anything on this web site useful, that would help us to keep this available for everyone else that needs this support in the future. Should you have any problems donating, or other questions, please use our contact page. Your feedback is always welcome. Thank you.What are the differences between Linux Mint and Ubuntu OS?www.howtogeek.com/115041/For more specific information (recommended):www.linuxmint.comwiki.ubuntu.com/TrustyTahr/help.ubuntu.com/communitylinuxcommand.org/tlcl.phpubuntuguide.orgwww.psychocats.net/ubuntu/index.phpow.ly/rymzESystem Hardware Requirements:Minimum384 MB of RAM700 MHz processor (about Intel Celeron or better)5 GB of hard-drive spaceVGA capable of 1024768 screen resolutionEither a CD/DVD drive or a USB port for the installer mediaRecommended1 GB of RAMDual Core processor10 GB of hard-drive space or SSD (the more hard disk capacity, the better)Any graphics card with OpenGL 1.4 support (All GPUs released today by either NVidia, AMD or Intel; GPUs released by NVidia and AMD over the last 5 years; GPUs released by Intel after the GMA 950). If you are building a system avoid NVidia cards.Either a CD/DVD drive or a USB port for the installer mediaInternet access is helpfulHere is a really nice overview video for Mint Mate (use the little gear icon to change to HD quality):Here is a really nice overview video for Mint Cinnamon (use the little gear icon to change to HD quality):Download Mint OS 17 based on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and supported until April 2019:http://www.linuxmint.com/download.phpLinux Mint Free Technical Support Forums:forums.linuxmint.com/Existing Linux Mint and Ubuntu users can install Unetbootin (or use Startup Disc Creator in Ubuntu or USB Stick Formatter/Image Writer in Mint), and use any of those applications to migrate the above downloaded image to a USB Flash Drive or USB Thumb Drive. Afterwards you can boot from your USB drive, or you can burn it to a disc with Brasero, or K3b, and boot from your CD/DVD drive instead. USB is much faster than CDs or DVDs when it comes to installation time, and less chance of data corruption.Note: If you are using an older version of Linux Mint or Ubuntu you might need to download and install Unetbootin from their website to support the latest ISO downloaded image files.www.ubuntu.com/download/help/create-a-usb-stick-on-ubuntuwww.ubuntu.com/download/help/burn-a-dvd-on-ubuntuExisting Windows users can use these instructions on how to install Linux Mint for the first time if you are new to Linux Mint and Ubuntu. You can figure out if you are running 32-bit or 64-bit hardware too. I recommend using a USB Flash Thumb Drive to install Linux Mint. (Recommended):windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/32-bit-and-64-bit-windows#1TC=windows-7www.ubuntu.com/download/help/create-a-usb-stick-on-windowshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nB_3mW2CnUwww.ubuntu.com/download/help/burn-a-dvd-on-windowsIf you are currently running Windows: Format your USB flash drive thumb drive device using a FAT32 partition. Download win32imagewriter from here. Extract the ZIP archive to the directory of your choice, preferably the download directory the Linux Mint ISO is stored. Run the Win32ImageWriter program, and click the folder icon in the Image File section. In the window to Select a disk image, navigate to your download directory the ISO is in, and type *.iso without the quotes. The image should appear. Click the Save button. Select your USB device from the list under Device. Click the Write button to write the image to the USB drive.Tutorial on how-to disable Windows UEFI Secure Boot if you have a newer Windows PC:help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFIWhen you have Linux Mint downloaded, and installed onto a USB Flash Thumb Drive, you will need to boot your computer from the USB Flash Drive. When you turn on your computer there should be an option at the bottom of your screen to allow you to change the boot order temporarily or you may need to select BIOS settings, and then reconfigure your BIOS settings to boot from your USB port first, instead of your HDD. You can change it back to the default when you are done installing Linux Mint. You will need to have your newly created Linux Mint installation USB inserted in your USB port when the computer is booting up. If this is your first time using Linux Mint on your computer, please make sure that you thoroughly test everything with your Live Linux Mint USB drive and to make sure all of your hardware is supported on your computer before installing it to your hard drive.Special Notes about wiping your personal data before installing Linux OS: If you have a hard drive that you need to have magnetically shredded because you are giving your computer to someone else for example, Dban will overwrite everything, even sectors marked as bad. Formatting a hard drive is not the same as shredding. If you have an SSD drive, instead of an ordinary old-fashioned hard drive, that you need to have shredded, make sure to try to use the disc that came from the factory since SSD drives are usually encrypted and for other reasons as will be explained here. Check with the manufacturer of your computer or the company that created your internal SSD drive device to see if they have a disc image they would recommend for wiping your particular SSD drive clean.Now the following method of wiping your hard drive is completely fine for SATA and Ultra IDE old-fashioned hard drives that have spinning platters. SSD drives dont spin because they are solid state and without moving parts. Here is where you can download dban to burn onto a blank cd-r/dvd-r disc to use for traditional hard drive data shredding:http://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/http://www.dban.org/Here is a brief explanation, traditional hard drives store files in physical locations on a magnetic platter, which is then indexed in the file system and accessed using a mechanical arm. This is a very linear way of doing things.While SSD also uses file systems to communicate data storage locations to the host system, and they independently reshuffle data for wear leveling. Those changes are recorded on a separate map. In other words, SSDs do not use any physically indexable locations, and software cannot specifically target sectors on the disk.Okay, if you are using a traditional non-SSD hard drive device here is how you can use your existing live installation flash drive you have previously created with this tutorial to do this task, but only if you trust yourself enough to do this manually (intermediate to advanced users only and please read all the instructions first before issuing them in Terminal):In Terminal copy and paste:sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/XdY

Before issuing that command in Terminal, where XdY is the drive, (i.e. sda, sdb, or hda, hdb) you will need to figure out exactly what /dev/XdY is on your computer and then change the above command to suit your hardware.Here is how you identify XdY above: sudo sfdisk -l

Special note: DD will zero-out your hard drive, it is irreversible, and may take over an hour to perform. When you hit enter after using the command there will be no process indicator, you will have no idea how far along DD is during the shedding process, and you will just have to be patient. If you want something that has a process indicator or multiple sweeps for even greater security then you should try using free Dban instead or use a commercial HDD shredder like Partition Magic ISO. If you have to do this on a regular basis for work then I would probably recommend creating a dedicated Partition Magic live USB drive for this task. Too bad they dont have this built-in with Linux Mint OS installers like they do with the OSX installer, and maybe eventually they will add this useful feature in the Linux Mint installer.On the other hand, if your computer has a solid state drive, the other more newer kind of hard drive, they can only be written a limited number of times. This presents some interesting challenges, particularly when it comes to erasing and shredding data (and doing so securely). Tools like Dariks Boot and Nuke are not only ineffective, their write-intensive nature can vastly reduce performance and shorten your SSD devices lifespan. Generally speaking, you should never have to perform any maintenance on your solid state drive. Such storage media has been designed with self-sufficiency in mind, using a series of algorithms and failsafes put in place to both maximize drive life and ensure data is properly discarded. Protection comes in the form of wear leveling, designed to evenly distribute stored data between SSD blocks.Fortunately, it is possible to erase most SSDs, though this is closer to a reset than a wipe. The ATA Secure Erase command instructs the drive to flush all stored electrons, forcing the drive to forget all stored data. This command essentially resets all available blocks to the erase state.Here is how you perform a SSD hard drive ATA Secure Erase if you intend to donate or sell your computer with a fresh installation of Linux OS to someone else and you dont want them to have the ability to do a data recovery on your personal, sensitive data, and information on your computer.Make sure the SSD drive Security is not frozen. If it is, it may help to suspend and resume the computer and then completely reboot your computer before running the ATA Erase command.First boot into your newly created Linux OS live bootable USB drive.Here is how you can find out the current state of your SSD hard drive before performing a reset:sudo hdparm -I /dev/XdY

Here is what the output should look like:Security:

Master password revision code = 65534

supported

not enabled

not locked

not frozen > Administration >> PrintersNow check to make sure your printer is on and connected to your computer.Click forward and wait.It should automatically detect your printer driver and you can print a test page. If the driver for your printer that is automatically installed doesnt function correctly then you will need to go into Printer Properties like this:

And with each driver you test make sure to use the new PPD as is and do not try to copy the option settings over the old PPD option. Now if for some reason you still cannot find the right driver for your printer contact Mint support for more specific guidance. Tell them your make and model printer to find out if they know of a better way. Linux Mint Free Technical Support Forums for Printer Help:

Here is where you find all the alternative printer drivers you can test. For example, my printer is a Brother Laserjet printer and the printer driver that is installed by default is the Foomatic/Postscript [en] printer driver. However, this printer driver just spits-out a bunch of blank pages so I have to select the Foomatic/hl1240 instead. I wish Mint used the same automatic printer support like Ubuntu OS, but at least I was finally able to get it to work properly. Select an alternative driver and click Forward and then wait..

And change Make and Model printer driver by clicking Change.

HYPERLINK "https://debianhelp.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/screenshot-printer-properties-brother-hl-2140-series-on-localhost.png" forums.linuxmint.com/Special Note: This is simply a process of trial-and-error to find the right printer driver that works correctly, but at least Mint OS provides most of the different kinds of drivers to choose from in a nice list. If you are in a big hurry I also suggest trying Ubuntu instead to see if your printer driver is found using their OS. You can boot from a live USB stick to see which system might be more functional by detecting all of your hardware automatically for you and save you a big headache that way.Improve battery life and reduce overheating (Recommended): Are you running a latop and feeling the heat? Overheating and reduced battery life is common phenomenon in Linux Mint. Jupiter was the best tool to reduce overheating in Linux desktop but since its development has stopped, you can use TLP or CPUFREQ instead of Jupiter. Install TLP using the following command:sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linrunner/tlp

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install tlp tlp-rdw

sudo tlp start

No configuration required for using TLP. Install it and forget about it.

Samba file sharing is no longer installed by default so if you need to share files over your local network LAN you will need to install a few packages. Afterwards lookup Personal File Sharing and it should be ready to configure and run. And dont forget to leave the proper port open when you configure GUFW/UFW firewall settings. After you install the packages listed here you will need to also power cycle/reboot your system.sudo apt-get install samba system-config-samba cifs-utils winbind

Auto Mount Windows NTFS Partition(s):sudo apt-get install ntfs-config

sudo mkdir -p /etc/hal/fdi/policy

Now, launch ntfs-config from Menu. Click Advanced Configuration and check the partitions you want to auto-mount at start-up. This is useful if you have a second hard drive installed and you want it to auto-mount each time you restart your system.Uncomplicated Firewall (ufw) is a firewall that is designed to be easy to use. It uses a command line interface consisting of a small number of simple commands, and uses iptables for configuration. Gufw is intended to be an easy, intuitive, way to manage a Linux Mint firewall. It supports common tasks such as allowing or blocking pre-configured, common P2P, or individual ports. Gufw is powered by UFW, runs on debian, and anywhere else Python, GTK, and UFW are available.

Open your Terminal, copy and paste:sudo apt-get install gufw

gufw

To check your current settings:sudo ufw status verbose

To add basic firewall rules:sudo ufw deny 5353/udp

sudo ufw deny 5900/tcp

sudo ufw deny 22


sudo ufw deny 135,139,445/tcp

sudo ufw deny 137,138/udp

sudo ufw deny 110

sudo ufw deny 2049

sudo ufw deny 143


sudo ufw deny ssh

To block Outgoing Ports Except Those Needed (This configuration will allow the following outbound ports: 20-21, 53, 80, 123, 443 which is all that is required for many users, unless you plan on running a server):sudo ufw deny out 1:19/tcp

sudo ufw deny out 1:19/udp

sudo ufw deny out 22:52/tcp










Re-check your changes:sudo ufw status verbose

Re-check enable (required):sudo ufw enable

It will automatically load these settings from now on. If you need to access one of those ports temporarily, then you can open up gufw GUI and disable your firewall momentarily, or the individual ports and services. Just dont forget to re-enable when you are done. Always power-cycle your firewall if you make changes.If you want to tighten-up your security even further:http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1893751http://www.frozentux.net/documents/iptables-tutorial/How to setup and install your VPN connection:VPN as a client hereSetting up an OpenVPN server hereVPN setup in Mint General introduction hereHow to set up an SSH VPN. hereHow to set up a VPN server on Mint hereHow to Join to Active directory using Realmd (Optional):http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-join-ubuntu-14-04-to-active-directory-using-realmd.htmlSpecial Note: You will need to adjust your firewall settings above in order to get this is to work properly.rkhunter (Rootkit Hunter) (Optional) is a Unix-based tool that scans for rootkits, backdoors and possible local exploits. It does this by comparing SHA-1 hashes of important files with known good ones in online database, searching for default directories (of rootkits), wrong permissions, hidden files, suspicious strings in kernel modules, and special tests for Linux and FreeBSD.Open a Terminal and enter the following :sudo apt-get install rkhunter chkrootkit

To run chkrootkit open a terminal window and enter :sudo chkrootkit

To update and run RKHunter. Open a Terminal and enter the following :sudo rkhunter --update

sudo rkhunter --propupd

sudo rkhunter --check

You may receive a couple of false positives when you first run rkhunter but that is normal on a fresh installation.And if you are interested in further hardening your Linux Mint security (optional):http://www.thefanclub.co.za/how-to/how-secure-ubuntu-1204-lts-server-part-1-basicsAnti-Virus (Very Optional)Interestingly, according to Ubuntu Wiki, you should NOT install anti-virus, unless you share files with Windows.Check the #2 point in this wiki article: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BasicSecurityWindows equivalent : AVG AntiVirus, NAV, TrendMicro, F-Prot, Kaspersky, Linux Mint equivalent : ClamAV, BitDefenderClamAV is a free, cross-platform anti-virus software tool-kit able to detect many types of malicious software, including viruses. One of its main uses is on mail servers as a server-side email virus scanner. ClamAV is currently tested daily in comparative tests against other antivirus products on Shadowserver. In 2011, Shadowserver tested over 25 million samples against ClamAV and numerous other antivirus products. Out of the 25 million samples tested, ClamAV scored 76.60% ranking 12 out of 19, a higher rating than some much more established competitors.Open your Terminal, copy and paste:sudo apt-get install clamav clamtk

BitDefender is an anti-virus software suite developed by Romania-based software company Softwin. It was launched in November 2001, and is currently in its thirteenth version. The 2011 version was launched in August 2010, and it includes several protection and performance enhancements as Search Advisor and Performance Optimizer. The thing I love about BitDefender is that it will run in the taskbar after start-up and has a resident shield that is always monitoring your system for any potential threats, not that viruses normally target Linux operating systems however.First you need to get a free scanner key here via email. It should be good for one year.

Bookmark this page then copy and paste in Terminal one line at a time:sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://download.bitdefender.com/repos/deb/ bitdefender non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bitdefender.list'

wget http://download.bitdefender.com/repos/deb/bd.key.asc

sudo apt-key add bd.key.asc

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install bitdefender-scanner-gui

Once completely installed then you will need to reboot your system. And you will need to enter in the free scanner key you received via email by running Bitdefender.Dont forget to bookmark this page!When you are ready to reboot just copy and paste:sudo reboot

Before using the scanner its probably best to install the latest virus/malware signatures by clicking on the Update button.

Special Note: Troubleshooting BitDefender Scanner Engine CrashingSome users are reporting that BitDefender crashes right after the scanning engine is initialized. In order to fix this error you will need to copy and paste this into terminal:sudo touch /opt/BitDefender-scanner/var/lib/scan/bdcore.so.linux-x86_64

sudo ln -fs /opt/BitDefender-scanner/var/lib/scan/bdcore.so.linux-x86_64 /opt/BitDefender-scanner/var/lib/scan/bdcore.so

sudo bdscan --update

As of April 2012 they still do not have this fixed in BitDefender for Linux yet. Hopefully someone will let them know by posting a message to their support forum? Thanks.For further BitDefender support please visit:http://forum.bitdefender.comEssential tools for compiling from sources (Required)There are times when you need to compile software from sources, maybe because you need to compile the package with some specific option that is not enabled in the default package, or maybe the software application you wish to install isnt available in any of your repositories. When you begin the installation process you will come to a window that will require you to accept the EULA to install, and you will need to click on your key to select and press enter. (Here is a guide on how to compile software from source) and here are the required packages you need in order to compile sources in Linux Mint:sudo apt-get install build-essential checkinstall cdbs devscripts dh-make fakeroot libxml-parser-perl check

Multimedia (Required)Windows equivalent : windows media player, real player, vlc, mplayer, media codecsUbuntu equivalent : vlc, mplayer, fluendo media codecsUnfortunately, many audio and video formats wont work out of the box with Ubuntu, or most Linux distros.MPlayer is a movie player that plays most MPEG, VOB, AVI, OGG/OGM, VIVO, ASF/WMA/WMV, QT/MOV/MP4, FLI, RM, NuppelVideo, yuv4mpeg, FILM, RoQ, and PVA files. You can also use it to watch VCDs, SVCDs, DVDs, 3ivx, RealMedia, and DivX movies. It supports a wide range of output drivers including X11, XVideo, DGA, OpenGL, SVGAlib, fbdev, AAlib, DirectFB etc. There are also nice antialiased shaded subtitles and OSD.VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player and multimedia framework capable of reading most audio and video formats as well as DVDs, Audio CDs VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a media converter or a server to stream in uni-cast or multi-cast in IPv4 or IPv6 on networks.Open your Terminal, copy and paste:sudo add-apt-repository ppa:n-muench/vlc

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install vlc mplayer2

SMPlayer intends to be a complete front-end for MPlayer, from basic features like playing videos, DVDs, and VCDs to more advanced features like support for MPlayer filters and more. One of the most interesting features of SMPlayer: it remembers the settings of all files you play. So you start to watch a movie but you have to leave. Dont worry, when you open that movie again it will resume at the same point you left it, and with the same settings: audio track, subtitles, and volume. This is really great for watching DVD movies.sudo apt-get install smplayer

FFMpeg is a complete and free Internet live audio and video broadcasting solution for Linux/Unix. It also includes a digital VCR. It can encode in real time in many formats including MPEG1 audio and video, MPEG4, h263, ac3, asf, avi, real, mjpeg, and flash.Open your Terminal, copy and paste:sudo apt-get install libav-tools flac faac faad hal sox ffmpeg2theora libmpeg2-4 uudeview mpeg3-utils mpegdemux liba52-dev mpeg2dec vorbis-tools id3v2 mpg321 mpg123 libflac++6 totem-mozilla icedax lame libmad0 libjpeg-progs ubuntu-restricted-extras gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gxine libdvdread4 totem-mozilla icedax tagtool easytag id3tool lame nautilus-script-audio-convert libmad0 mpg321 libavcodec-extra

Special Note: The FFmpeg plugin for GStreamer 0.10 is not available in the official Ubuntu 14.04 repositories (because FFMpeg is not available either libav is used instead) and because of this, Firefox doesnt support the H.264 codec, which is unfortunate because it is something general users will probably need at some point. Furthermore, without the FFmpeg plugin for GStreamer 0.10 package, KDE apps cant play H.264 videos in Kubuntu 14.04 if they use the GStreamer backend. Another issue with this is that Amarok cant play WMA files. There might also be other affected applications.Here is how you can fix this issue (Required):sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mc3man/trusty-media

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg

GStreamer is a pipeline-based multimedia framework written in the C programming language with the type system based on GObject. GStreamer allows a programmer to create a variety of media-handling components, including simple audio playback, audio and video playback, recording, streaming and editing. The pipeline design serves as a base to create many types of multimedia applications such as video editors, streaming media broadcasters and media players.Open your Terminal, copy and paste (when prompted use the Tab key, and also TAB over to select YES when prompted):sudo apt-get install gstreamer1.0-fluendo-mp3 gstreamer1.0-gnonlin gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly totem-plugins-extra gstreamer-tools ubuntu-restricted-extras ttf-mscorefonts-installer

Check and see if you can now view DVD movie discs on your computer. If not you may need to set the region key and you are usually allowed to do this only 5 times (only use if needed, and very optional):sudo apt-get install regionset

sudo regionset

Get encrypted Blu-ray discs to work with VLC in Linux Mint:http://www.webupd8.org/2012/08/how-to-get-encrypted-blu-rays-working.htmlAdding Medibuntu Package Repository (Discontinued) (Optional Alternative):The only thing this does is provide you with DVD codecs to playback DVD movies. If you dont have a DVD drive, or you dont watch DVD movies on your computer you can ignore these packages.Special Note: w32codecs and w64codecs are no longer available.To disable the Medibuntu repository and/or enable the new libdvdcss repository, use these commands:sudo apt-get install curl

curl ftp://ftp.videolan.org/pub/debian/videolan-apt.asc | sudo apt-key add -

echo "deb ftp://ftp.videolan.org/pub/debian/stable ./" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/libdvdcss.list

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2

They are currently looking for new maintainer(s) for Medibuntu, if interested please visit:https://launchpad.net/medibuntu/+announcement/11219

Here are some highly recommended and thoroughly tested add-ons for Firefox:Adblock Plus (plugin) (Highly Recommended)Adblock Plus (ABP) is a content-filtering extension for Mozilla Firefox (including Firefox for mobile) and Google Chrome web browsers. ABP, a forked version of Adblock, allows users to prevent page elements, such as advertisements, from being downloaded and displayed. Very popular, and almost what I would consider to be a necessity, if you surf the Internet on a daily basis. Works great with sites like youtube.com and other similar web sites that bombard you with constant commercials. It will also allow you to import preconfigured blocklists to stop tracker web sites from monitoring your browser presence.Password Exporter (plugin)This extension allows you to export your saved passwords and disabled login hosts using XML or CSV files that can be imported later. Very helpful when needing to re-install Linux Mint onto a new system or migrating your data and personal information. This works on any OS with Firefox browser and you can migrate passwords from other browsers with Firefox preferences.NetVideoHunter (plugin)NetVideoHunter is a Firefox add-on (extension), and you can easily download videos and audio from almost all audio and video streaming web pages with two clicks. Tested and considered to be probably the best plugin out of all the other similar plugins available for this kind of task.HTTPS Everywhere (plugin) (Recommended)HTTPS Everywhere is a Firefox and Chrome extension that encrypts your communications with many major websites, making your browsing more secure.Tor Browser BundleThe Tor software protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location, and it lets you access sites which are blocked. The simplified explanation is that you can think of Tor like using three VPNs in a row. The goal is to hide your IP address, giving you complete anonymity online. Tor routes Internet traffic through three relays: an entry node, a middle node, and an exit. Each relay has its own layer of encryption and the exit node is the one that contacts the web server, fetches the web page, and gives it back to you yet doesnt know your actual IP address.This page explains things pretty well:https://www.torproject.org/about/overview.html.enAlternatively, you can use this PPA to install Tor Browser Bundle:http://www.webupd8.org/2013/12/tor-browser-bundle-ubuntu-ppa.htmlNoScript (plugin) (Recommended, but can be very intrusive at times)NoScript (plugin) is a free and open-source extension for Mozilla Firefox, SeaMonkey, and other Mozilla-based web browsers, created and actively maintained by Giorgio Maone, an Italian software developer and member of the Mozilla Security Group. NoScript allows executable web content such as JavaScript, Java, Flash, Silverlight, and other plugins only if the site hosting it is considered trusted by its user and has been previously added to a whitelist. NoScript also offers specific countermeasures against security exploits. There have been reports of Java viruses/malware infecting Mac systems (Unices-based systems), so NoScript will stop that kind of problem before it becomes a serious issue on your Linux Mint OS.YesScript (plugin)A very simple JavaScript blacklist. Lately, Ive noticed scripts not responsing on certain web sites (like abs.twimg.com and others) when browsing on twitter. If you recieve an error that says a script isnt responding (would you like to continue etc etc), causing your browser to hang/crash your browser -and- you dont want to use the above NoScript plugin because it can be too intrusive most of the time, simply cut and paste the offending web site address into YesScript Firefox plug-in, and you can surf without further problems of this kind.Dictionaries & Language Packs (plugin) (Required) Spell-checking plugin for Mozilla Firefox browser.Default Google searchbox dropdown in Firefox (Recommended) I kept catching myself typing a search in and wondering why it wasnt working right. Just a few clicks and Firefox works correctly again. Linux Mint has branded the Firefox Browser to help generate banner-ad revenue, and this adds Google searchbox in the dropdown menu (upper-righthand corner) to Firefox, for those of you who prefer using Google instead of the default yahoo search dropdown option. Currently, Linux Mint Firefox branding only effects direct Yahoo searches, so as long as you are using something other than Yahoo, your search results should look relatively the same as on any other operating system using Firefox web browser.

Additional Miscellaneous Add-ons for Firefox:BCExplorer for Firefox BrightCloud category and reputation info as you browse!Beef Taco Sets permanent opt-out cookies to stop behavioral advertising by 102 different advertising networksBetterPrivacy BetterPrivacy is a safeguard which protects from usually not deletable LSOs on Google, YouTube, EbayBitDefender TrafficLight for Firefox Adds a strong and non-intrusive layer of security to your browsing experienceBrowserProtect Protect your browser configuration against homepage and search hijacksCipherFox Displays the current SSL/TLS cipher and certificate chain in the status bar.CS Lite This extension will allow you to easily control cookie permissions.Ghostery Protect your privacy. See whos tracking your web browsing and block them with Ghostery.GoogleSharing GoogleSharing ultimately aims to provide a level of anonymity that will prevent google from tracking your searches, movements, and what websites you visit.Keylogger Beater Use it to keep your username or password from being stolen by a keylogger.LinkExtend Provides meta-site-ratings for computer safety, child safety, company ethics, and popularity.Master Password+ Various enhancements for master passwordNetcraft Toolbar Blocks phishing sites, helping to protect users from online fraudanonymoX Firefox add-on to achieve anonymity in surfing, using web-based proxyPrivacySuite One place to protect your privacy when you go online.RefControl Control what gets sent as the HTTP Referer on a per-site basis.RequestPolicy Be in control of which cross-site requests are allowed.ShowIP Show the IP address(es) of the current page in the status bar. It also allows querying custom information services by IP (right click) and hostname (left click), like whois, netcraft, etc. Additionally you can copy the IP address to the clipboard.Certificate Patrol Verifies SSL certificatesTrackMeNot Protects users against search data profilingPriv3 Practical Third-Party Privacy for the Social WebWOT The WOT add-on is a safe surfing tool for your browser.For Human Eyes Only converts messages into imagesUser Agent Switcher To switch the user agent of a browser and OS reportingChange IP Address How to easily change your Internet IP address via creating new router MAC address, quickly and reliably.

Your Linux Mint comes standard with the default Thunderbird email client pre-installed. Here are some handy Calendar add-ons:sudo apt-get install xul-ext-calendar-timezones xul-ext-lightning

Data Migration Tip: To convert/import your MS Outlook PST files in Thunderbird:sudo apt-get install readpst

readpst -r nameofyourPSTfilehere

ExQuilla is an add-on for Mozillas Thunderbird email client that allows access to both messages and contacts stored on Exchange Server 2007, 2010, or 2013. ExQuilla uses EWS (Exchange Web Services) for access to the server. This particular add-on is not free OSS and you need to purchase a license. It does have a trial period for testing.https://exquilla.zendesk.com/homeAlternative Graphical Web BrowsersWindows equivalent : Internet explorer, opera, google chromeLinux Mint equivalent : Opera, Chromium, Google Chrome, Google Chrome Beta

Opera is a web browser and Internet suite developed by Opera Software. The browser handles common Internet-related tasks such as displaying web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, chatting on IRC, downloading files via BitTorrent, and reading web feeds.sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://deb.opera.com/opera/ stable non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/opera.list'

sudo sh -c 'wget -O - http://deb.opera.com/archive.key | apt-key add -'

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install opera

Google Chrome is a freeware web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine. It was released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and as a stable public release on December 11, 2008. As of February 2013, according to StatCounter, Google Chrome has a 37% worldwide usage share of web browsers making it the most widely used web browser in the world. Net Applications, however, indicates that Chrome is only third when it comes to the size of its user base, behind Internet Explorer and Firefox. This comes with its own updated independent adobe flash plugin, unlike all other browsers, so flash playback should be improved if you are having issues with flash content in Firefox or Chromium. I really wish they had a PPA we could use instead to receive updates, but this is the only way for now. It supports Netflix streaming media.To install the Stable Chrome browser repository:wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list'

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install google-chrome-stable

Or here is a script to get the latest current version:if [[ $(getconf LONG_BIT) = "64" ]]

then

echo "64bit Detected" &&

echo "Installing Google Chrome" &&

wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb &&

sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb &&

rm -f google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

else

echo "32bit Detected" &&

echo "Installing Google Chrome" &&

wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb &&

sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb &&

rm -f google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb

fi

or if you want the latest developmental version:sudo apt-get install google-chrome-beta

Chrome Plugins:Adblock Plus (plugin) (Recommended) Adblock Plus (ABP) is a content-filtering extension for Google Chrome web browsers. ABP, a forked version of Adblock, allows users to prevent page elements, such as advertisements, from being downloaded and displayed. Very popular, and almost what I would consider to be a necessity, if you surf the Internet on a daily basis. Works great with sites like youtube.com and other similar web sites that bombard you with constant commercials. It will also allow you to import preconfigured blocklists to stop tracker web sites from monitoring your browser presence.Remote Desktop (plugin) Access other computers or allow another user to access your computer securely over the Internet.HTTPS Everywhere (plugin) HTTPS Everywhere is a Firefox and Chrome extension that encrypts your communications with many major websites, making your browsing more secure.Reditr is to Reddit what Tweetdeck is to Twitter. And now you can experience it under any GNU/Linux based system thanks to Google Chrome.Tip: How to watch Netflix natively on Chrome in Mint 17:http://www.webupd8.org/2014/08/how-to-enable-html5-playback-for.htmlAdditional Miscellaneous Add-ons for Chrome and Chromium:A Little Privacy Prevents passing referrer to third parties, removes redirect trackers, resolves short URLs, and more.Abine TACO Opt-out of advertising networksBlock Mixed Content This extension blocks loading of insecure active content in secure (HTTPS) pages.Chromeblock Stop secret tracking of your web browsingDisconnect Stop major third parties and search engines from tracking the webpages you go to and searches you do.Ghostery Protect your privacy. See whos tracking your web browsing with Ghostery.KB SSL Enforcer Automatic security, browse encrypted.Keep My Opt-Outs Permanently opts your browser out of online ad personalization via cookies.NOREF Suppress Referrer (referer) for HyperlinksSafeBrowser Sends the url of the currently selected tab to Google Safe Browsing to retrieve some malware results of that domainSaferChrome SaferChrome makes browsing safer by identifying and preventing security and privacy breaches.Signature Check Allows users to check a certificate thumbprintTrafficLight (BETA) Adds a strong and non-intrusive layer of security to your browsing experienceUnencrypted Password Warning Helps to prevent you from sending unencrypted passwords or credit card numbers.Vanilla Cookie Manager A Cookie Whitelist Manager that helps protect your privacy. Automatically removes unwanted cookies.WOT The WOT add-on is a safe surfing tool for your browser.

Google Talk is a browser plugin that lets you voice and video chat with friends and family from your browser. Install this plugin and logon to Gmail with your webcam and microphone attached to your computer, then initiate a chat with a friend or family member. It will try to connect to your webcam and enable video chat.wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/talkplugin/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list'

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install google-talkplugin

Trim Startup Application Manager settings on Linux Mint (Recommended)There are many applications running in the background by default and it only makes sense to disable the ones you dont really need to have running all the time. To make the hidden applications visible in the manager, follow these steps:Copy and paste the following command into Terminal:sudo sed -i 's/NoDisplay=true/NoDisplay=false/g' /etc/xdg/autostart/*.desktop

Do a search for Startup Applications to add or remove/disable features at startup. There are probably several apps that are running at startup that you can safely remove if you know what you are doing, and will save you time during bootup.

Compiz eye-candy (optional) has been updated, introducing a handy plugin, Workspace Naming, that, as its name clearly suggests, allows users to name workspaces with desired names, names that feature a high usability potential and numerous usecases, like for instance, naming a workspace text-only if in that workspace the user deals only with text files, and/or coding-only specific to a coding-oriented desktop. Its usage is as simple as navigating to CompizConfig Settings Manager>Window Management>check Workspace Naming and tweaking the provided functionalities (names, Display Time, Font Size, etc).Copy and paste the following command into Terminal:sudo apt-get install compiz compizconfig-settings-manager compiz-plugins

You can add it to your DNS entries in your hardware WiFi router configuration (you can try calling the tech support company that made your router to help guide you through the process for updating your routers LAN DNS settings. Just tell them you want to add a public DNS 67.138.54.100 and 207.225.209.66 to be used by all the computers on your network) or if you arent using a router on your individual Linux Mint system, you can update your DNS like this:sudo gedit /etc/resolv.conf

Write down your existing ISP nameserver IP addresses in case you want to change it back later on. And then modify those ISP nameserver entries as to the pubic DNS ScrubIt entries:nameserver 67.138.54.100

nameserver 207.225.209.66

Click on Save, and reboot your system.The best way to update your DNS nameserver is to change your wifi router configuration. Just call tech support for your make and model router (the manufacturers tech support phone number) and ask them to walk you through the process to update your DNS nameserver configuration for your router box. It should normally be free of charge to call for support for your make and model router box. Make sure you put a good password on your router box when you are done. And never let your kids have administrative accounts on Linux Mint. Always create new users without superuser rights too. Only you, the superuser should be able to change any of the system network settings from within Linux Mint OS.Here is an alternative to set up the same kind of parental blocking service but with OpenDNS instead:https://www.opendns.com/parental-controlsArchiver/ Packing software (Highly Recommended)Windows equivalent : winrar, zip, 7zipLinux Mint equivalent : tar, unrar, p7zip, arj, unaceAn archive format is the file format of an archive file. The archive format is determined by the file archiver. Some archive formats are well-defined by their authors and have become conventions supported by multiple vendors and/or open-source communities.File Archiving:sudo apt-get install unace rar unrar p7zip-rar p7zip zip unzip sharutils uudeview mpack arj cabextract file-roller

Webcam and VOIPWindows equivalent : SkypeLinux Mint equivalent : Skype, Jitsi, Brosix

guvcview project aims at providing a simple GTK interface for capturing and viewing video from devices supported by the linux UVC driver, although it should also work with any v4l2 compatible device:sudo apt-get install guvcview

Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chats over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system. Skype has also become popular for its additional features which include instant messaging, file transfer, and video conferencing.

sudo apt-get install skype

Or if you want the very latest version use:http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/get-skype/on-your-computer/linux/Hardware acceleration and WebGL also feature in this release but are not turned on by default. Head into opera:config to enable it.Other new features include:Webcam supportSupport for the Do Not Track headerCSS3 Animations and TransitionsCross-Origin Resource Sharing (Cors) SupportImproved language supportIf you experience any kind of technical problems using Skype on Linux Mint OS make sure to check with the Skype forums over here:http://community.skype.com/t5/Linux/bd-p/Linux

Steam is a digital distribution, digital rights management, multiplayer and communications platform developed by Valve Corporation. It is used to distribute games and related media online, from small independent developers to larger software houses; in October 2012, Valve expanded the service to include non-gaming software. Steam provides the user with installation and automatic management of software across multiple computers, community features such as friends lists and groups, cloud saving, and in-game voice and chat functionality. The software provides a freely available application programming interface, Steamworks, that developers can take advantage of to integrate many of Steams functions within their software products, including copy protection, networking and matchmaking, in-game achievements and micro-transactions, and support for user-created content through Steam Workshop. Though initially developed for use on Microsoft Windows, the client has expanded to include a Mac OS X version and a pending port to Linux, and clients with limited functionality on the PlayStation 3 console and for both iOS and Android mobile devices. And now we dont have to listen to people say they cant play their favourite video games on linux anymore either.wget -c media.steampowered.com/client/installer/steam.deb

sudo dpkg -i steam.deb

sudo apt-get install -fFor more information:http://blog.coolaj86.com/articles/how-to-install-steam-on-ubuntu.html

Google Earth allows you to travel the world through a virtual globe and view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, and much more. With Google Earths rich, geographical content, you are able to experience a more realistic view of the world. Starting with the version 4 beta Google Earth functions under Linux, as a native port using the Qt toolkit. It is proprietary software specifically in order to impose Digital Rights Management; the Free Software Foundation consider the development of a free compatible client for Google Earth to be a High Priority Free Software Project.Special Note: Download the Google Earth 32bit version and install using gdebi for Linux Mint until Google decides to repackage Google Earth. Or just downgrade to a previous version of Linux Mint OS for now. The real reason for this problem is the non-existent meta package in Linux Mint called (ia32-lbs). Pure debian systems probably still use it though.Geany is a lightweight cross-platform GTK+ text editor based on Scintilla and including basic Integrated Development Environment (IDE) features. Among the supported programming languages are C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, PHP, HTML, LaTeX, CSS, Python, Perl, Ruby, Pascal, Haskell, Erlang, Vala and many others.

It was developed to provide a small and fast IDE, which has only a few dependencies from other packages. It supports many filetypes and has some nice features.sudo apt-get install geany geany-plugins

LibreOffice (Recommended)Windows equivalent : Microsoft Office SuiteLinux Mint equivalent : LibreOffice Suite

LibreOffice is a free software office suite developed by The Document Foundation as a fork of OpenOffice.org. It is compatible with other major office suites, including Microsoft Office, and available on a variety of platforms. Its developers goal is to produce a vendor-independent office suite with ODF support and without any copyright assignment requirements. The name is a hybrid word with the first part Libre, which means free (as in freedom) in French and Spanish, and the English word Office.LibreOffice comes preinstalled by default in Linux Mint usually, but you still want to double-check at this point that you have everything else installed that you probably will need, and that you have the latest updated version from the developers.To install LibreOffice PPA:sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/libreoffice-4-3

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get -y dist-upgrade

sudo apt-get install libreoffice libreoffice-math libreoffice-gnome

How to install Grammar checking Plug-in for LibreOffice Writer:https://debianhelp.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/how-to-install-grammar-checker-in-libreoffice-in-ubuntu/

HYPERLINK "http://extensions.libreoffice.org/extension-center" \t "/home/dorin/Documente\\x/_blank" http://extensions.libreoffice.org/extension-centerSpecial Note: If you would like the MS Windows OS or Apple Mac OS version of LibreOffice Suite for another computer you have at work or school here is where you can find the link. And I definitely recommend using the torrent because the direct link doesnt usually completely download for some unknown reason.https://www.libreoffice.org/download/Graphical FTP clientsWindows equivalent : CuteFTP, SmartFTP, CoreFTPLinux Mint equivalent : FileZillaFileZilla is free, open source, cross-platform FTP/SFTP software, consisting of FileZilla Client and FileZilla Server. Binaries are available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. It supports FTP, SFTP, and FTPS (FTP over SSL/TLS). As of 18 April 2011, FileZilla Client was the 7th most popular download of all time from SourceForge.net.

sudo apt-get install filezilla filezilla-common

Access it through Applications Internet FileZilla FTP Client.Development IDELinux Mint equivalent : Kompozer, Bluefish, Komodo Edit

Komodo Edit is a free text editor for dynamic programming languages. It was introduced in January 2007 to complement Active States commercial Komodo IDE product. With the release of version 4.3, Komodo Edit is built on top of the Open Komodo project. Many of Komodos features are derived from an embedded Python interpreter. Open Komodo uses the Mozilla code base, along with Scintilla, and the two products share many features and support the same languages (including Python, Perl, PHP, Ruby, Tcl, SQL, Smarty, CSS, HTML and XML) and computer platforms (Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows). The editor component is implemented using the NPAPI, with the Scintilla view embedded in the XUL interface in the same manner as a web browser plugin. Both Komodo Edit and Komodo IDE support user customization through plugins and macros. Komodo plug-ins are based on Mozilla Add-ons and extensions can be searched for, downloaded, configured, installed and updated from within the application. Available extensions include a functions list, pipe features, additional language support and user interface enhancements.Windows: Notepad++In 32-bit Linux Mint:wget http://downloads.activestate.com/Komodo/releases/8.5.1/Komodo-Edit-8.5.1-13781-linux-x86.tar.gz

tar xzvf Komodo-Edit-8.5.1-13781-linux-x86.tar.gz

cd Komodo-Edit-8.5.1-13781-linux-x86/

sudo ./install.sh

in 64-bit Linux Mint:wget http://downloads.activestate.com/Komodo/releases/8.5.1/Komodo-Edit-8.5.1-13781-linux-x86_64.tar.gz

tar xzvf Komodo-Edit-8.5.1-13781-linux-x86_64.tar.gz

cd Komodo-Edit-8.5.1-13781-linux-x86_64/

sudo ./install.sh

When prompted to specify the directory or folder to install into, type this command:/opt/Komodo-Edit-8/

After installing, run this command in your terminal to complete the process.export PATH="/opt/Komodo-Edit-8/bin:$PATH"

KompoZer is an open source WYSIWYG HTML editor based on a rewritten version of the now-discontinued Nvu editor. KompoZer is maintained as a community-driven fork and is a project on Sourceforge.

KompoZers WYSIWYG editing capabilities are one of the main attractions of the software. In addition, KompoZer allows direct code editing as well as a split code-graphic view (you have to install it twice to download all the dependences):http://ubuntuguide.net/install-kompozer-in-ubuntu-13-04-12-10

Bluefish is a free and open source advanced text editor with a variety of tools for programming in general and the development of dynamic websites. Bluefish supports development in (among others) HTML, XHTML, CSS, XML, PHP, C, C++, JavaScript, Java, Google Go, Vala, Ada, D, SQL, Perl, ColdFusion, JSP, Python, Ruby and shell. Bluefish is available for many platforms, including Linux, Solaris and Mac OS X, and Windows. Bluefish is developed in C/GTK+ and can be used integrated in GNOME or run independently. Bluefish fills the niche market between the plain text editors and the full swing IDE: Bluefish is relatively lightweight and easy to learn, while still providing many features of an integrated development environment to support both programming and the development of websites.sudo apt-get install bluefish

Image EditorsWindows equivalent : Adobe PhotoshopLinux Mint equivalent : GIMPGIMPGIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free software raster graphics editor. It is primarily employed as an image retouching and editing tool and is freely available in versions tailored for most popular operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, and GNU/Linux. It has layering abilities like Photoshop.In addition to detailed image retouching and free-form drawing, GIMP can accomplish essential image editing tasks such as resizing, editing, and cropping photos, photomontages combining multiple images, and converting between different image formats. GIMP can also be used to create basic animated images in the GIF format.New additions in Gimp 2.8 are single window mode, on-canvas text editing, layers group, and to apply all changes to a layer grouping.

GIMPs product vision is that GIMP is, or will become, a free software high-end graphics application for the editing and creation of original images, icons, graphical elements of web pages and art for user interface elements.sudo add-apt-repository ppa:otto-kesselgulasch/gimp

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install gimp gimp-data gimp-data-extras

Access it through Applications Graphics GIMP Image Editor.Download additional Script-Fu filters and tweaks:

Instructions on how to install Scripts that work in Gimp 2.8:http://www.gimphelp.org/script28.shtmlTo install additional helpful plugins for Gimp try:

http://registry.gimp.org/popular

GMIC is an open and full-featured framework for image processing, providing several different user interfaces to convert/manipulate/filter/visualize generic image datasets, from 1d scalar signals to 3d+t sequences of multi-spectral volumetric images. GMIC provides a serious tool for image processing along with flexibility for creative applications. It has a very lightweight core that is mature code and comes with a complete set of manipulation and filter commands which operate on a stack of images.sudo add-apt-repository ppa:otto-kesselgulasch/gimp

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install gmic gimp-gmic

Photo ManagementWindows equivalent: Aftershot Pro, Lightroom, Bridge, Photoshop OrganizerRAW file viewers/editors/plugins for SLR Digital PhotographyNot the most intuitive program to use at first, Raw Therapee is a fairly feature rich and comprehensive RAW editor thats compatible with Linux. At the time of writing, the team are working on a stable release of version 3.0, which is a major release for the project. Unidentified Flying RAW (or UFRaw for short) is a dedicated RAW image editor based on GTK+. It can be used as an application on its own or as a plugin for GIMP (simply open a RAW image in GIMP to be presented with the UFRaw editor window).sudo apt-get install libraw-bin ufraw ufraw-batch and gimp-ufraw rawtherapee

For more raw file utilities visit: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-great-tools-editing-raw-photos-linux/

Darktable is an open source photography workflow application and RAW developer. A virtual lighttable and darkroom for photographers. It manages your digital negatives in a database, lets you view them through a zoomable lighttable and enables you to develop raw images and enhance them. It focuses on the workflow to make it easier for the photographer to quickly handle the thousands of images a day of shooting can produce. Its also one of the very few FOSS projects able to do tethered shooting.sudo apt-get install darktable

Shotwell can import photos and videos from a digital camera directly. Shotwell automatically groups photos and videos by date, and supports tagging. Its image editing features allow users to rotate, crop, eliminate red eye, and adjust levels and color balance. It also features an auto enhance option that will attempt to guess appropriate levels for the image. Shotwell allows users to publish their images and videos to Facebook, Flickr, Picasa Web Albums, Piwigo, and YouTube.sudo apt-get install shotwell

PhotoFilmStrip creates movies out of your pictures in just 3 steps. Great if you need to create video presentations. First select your photos, customize the motion path and render the video. There are several output possibilities for VCD, SVCD, DVD up to FULL-HD. Creates animated slideshows. You can add audio with Avidemux when you are done creating your slideshow with PhotoFilmStrip.sudo apt-get install photofilmstrip

3D Graphics ApplicationsWindows equivalent : 3D Studio MAX, Google SketchLinux Mint equivalent : BlenderBlenderBlenders features include 3D modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, rigging, water and smoke simulations, skinning, animating, rendering, particle and other simulations, video editing software, compositing, and the ability to create interactive 3D applications, video games, animated film, or visual effects.

More advanced tools include rigid, realistic body, fluid, cloth and softbody dynamics simulation, modifier-based modeling, character animation, a node-based material and compositing system, and embedded scripting in Python.sudo add-apt-repository ppa:irie/blender

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install blender

Access it through Applications Graphics Blender (windowed).Calibre is a free and open source e-book computer software that organizes, saves and manages e-books, supporting a variety of formats. It also supports e-book syncing with a variety of popular e-book readers. calibre is cross-platform (programmed in Python and C) and is intended for the three main operating systems, Linux, Mac OS X and Windows.Windows: Kindle for PC software

Calibre was originally called libprs500, but was renamed calibre (lower case C) in mid-2008. calibre is primarily an e-book cataloging program. It is designed around the concept of the logical book, where a single database entry corresponds with the same book in a variety of formats. calibre supports the following formats for cataloging: AZW, AZW1, CBR, CBZ, CHM, EPUB, FB2, HTML, IMP, LIT, LRF, LRX, MOBI, ODT, OEBZIP, OPF, PDB, PDF, PML, PMLZ, PRC, RAR, RB, RTF, SNB, TPZ, TXT and ZIP.

sudo apt-get install calibre

Also make sure to install better smaller fonts:http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/957788-installing-calibri-font/P2P Clients & Servers, File SharingWindows equivalent : Limewire, Azureus, Emule, PeerGuardianLinux Mint equivalent : Frostwire, Deluge, Azureus, Amule, Moblock/MobloquerBitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol used for distributing large amounts of data over the Internet. BitTorrent is one of the most common protocols for transferring large files, and it has been estimated that it accounted for roughly 43% to 70% of all Internet traffic (depending on geographical location) as of February 2009.FrostwireWindows equivalent: LimewireFrostWire is a free, open source BitTorrent client, first released in September, 2004, as a fork of LimeWire. It was initially very similar to LimeWire in appearance and functionality, but developers added more features, such as BitTorrent support. In version Five, Gnutella support was dropped entirely, and now FrostWire only uses the BitTorrent network. Development of the program has been active since the program was first released in September 2004.

Download Frostwire: http://www.frostwire.com/download/?os=ubuntu&Bittorrent Add-ons for Linux Mint:Windows Equivalent: PeerGuardian (highly recommended for Bittorent users)Linux Mint equivalent : PGL and PGLGUIPeerGuardian Linux (pgl) is a privacy oriented firewall application. It blocks connections to and from hosts specified in huge blocklists (thousands or millions of IP ranges). Its origins lie in targeting aggressive IPs while you use P2P.While you are installing PGL just accept the default settings for now. You can change them with PGLGUI after you are done installing everything.To install PGL and PGLGUI in terminal (select the default settings by using the TAB key and pressing enter there will be several prompts just accept default settings and afterwards you can configure the blocklists):sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jre-phoenix/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install pgld pglcmd pglgui

Make sure to enable your blocklists you want and update PGLGUI after you get it completely installed:

The first thing most users will notice after installing PGL and have it running is that their Pidgin/Empathy/IMclientOfChoice/WebBrowser stops working. PGLGUI log will list the IPs and info about the IPs, so just whitelist them if need be with one mouse click.

It is a really strong utility and will block pretty much everything until you tell it to do otherwise. But you only need to run this when you are seeding or downloading torrent files.Deluge Client is a full-featured BitTorrent client for Linux, OS X, Unix and Windows. It uses libtorrent in its backend and features multiple user-interfaces including: GTK+, web and console. It has been designed using the client server model with a daemon process that handles all the bittorrent activity.

The Deluge daemon is able to run on headless machines with the user-interfaces being able to connect remotely from any platform.sudo apt-get install deluge-torrent

Access it through Applications Internet Deluge Torrent.Azureus Client: Uses Java to run, very complete but a bit heavy. And has a wide variety of add-ons to choose from too.

Vuze (formerly Azureus) is a P2P file sharing client using the bittorrent protocol. Search and download torrent files. Play, convert and transcode videos and music for playing on many devices such as PSP, TiVo, XBox, PS3, iTunes (iPhone, iPod, Apple TV).sudo apt-get install azureus

Access it through Applications Internet Azureus.Music / MP3 / OGG PlayersWindows equivalent : iTunes, WinampLinux Mint equivalent : Amarok, Nuvola Player, SpotifyAmarok 2.5 Earth Moving was released on December 2011.New features:GPodder.net podcast synchronization.Re-written USB Mass Storage support.The Windows version of Amarok is now officially declared stable.Many bugfixes to the iPod plugin, thanks to Matj Laitl.An integrated Amazon MP3 store. This major feature is the work of our web-entrepreneurs Sven and Justus.sudo apt-get install amarok

Nuvola Player is an application that integrates cloud music services like Google Music, Grooveshark, Hype Machine, 8tracks, Pandora, Rdio and Amazon Cloud Player with your desktop. Using it, youll get desktop notifications, multimedia keys support, Mpris v2 (integration with Linux Mint Sound Menu or GNOME Shell Media Player extension) integration, Unity quicklists and more.sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nuvola-player-builders/stable

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install nuvolaplayer

Great Little Radio Player is a robust internet radio station streamer for various Linux distributions. It connects to web sites offering radio streaming and lets you play radio stations directly from that locations. With Great Little Radio Player, you will have collection of more then 500 radio stations worldwide. Best part, its free of charge.You can download it here:sites.google.com/site/glrpgreatlittleradioplayer/Spotify is a Swedish-founded, UK-headquartered DRM-based music streaming service offering streaming of selected music from a range of major and independent record labels, including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal.

Launched in October 2008 by Swedish startup Spotify AB, the service had approximately ten million users as of 15 September 2010; about 2.5 million of whom were paying members.The service is, as of November 2011, available in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 94558F59

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list'

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install spotify-client-qt

TV-MAXE is an application which provides the ability to watch TV stations and listen radio via different streams, like SopCast. Currently it has a large number of channels. I tested this in 13.10 and it is working great with about 50-70 percent of the channels functional, but that also depends on where you live. Similar to iPlayer:sudo add-apt-repository ppa:venerix/pkg

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install tv-maxe

Channel lists: https://code.google.com/p/tv-maxe/wiki/ChannelListsAudacity is a cross-platform multitrack audio editor. It allows you to record sounds directly or to import files in various formats and convert audio files into many different audio file formats too. It features a few simple effects, all of the editing features you should need, and unlimited undo. This is the first and last GUI audio editor you will ever need on Linux Mint.

The GUI was built with wxWidgets and the audio I/O supports PulseAudio, OSS and ALSA under Linux.sudo add-apt-repository ppa:audacity-team/daily

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install audacity lame libmp3lame0

Jack Audio Connection Kit (Recommended if you do audio editing)For more specific information: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/What%20is%20JACKsudo apt-get install jack jackd jackeq

Mixxx is a DJ tool that allows for the playback and mixing of digital music (MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC and Wave). Mixxx will run on the Linux, Mac OS X and Windows operating systems.

Mixxx has the ability to provide comprehensive support for any MIDI controller due to its scripting engine, and it ships with mappings for a number of popular controllers, a complete list of which can be found on the Hardware Compatibility page.sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mixxx/mixxx

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install mixxx libportaudio2

Airtime an award-winning open source radio management software, has reached version 2.1, getting real-time show editing and live stream rebroadcasting.Airtime 2.1 allows connecting remotely via tools such as Mixxx or Virtual DJ and the application will rebroadcast the stream either at a time you set or in the middle of the broadcast, using a nice transition.Download Airtime (officially supports Linux Mint and Debian, but works on other Linux distributions too)

Ardour is a hard disk recorder and digital audio workstation application. It runs on Linux, Mac OS X and FreeBSD. Its primary author is Paul Davis, who is also responsible for the JACK Audio Connection Kit. Ardours intention is to provide digital audio workstation software suitable for professional use.sudo apt-get install ardour

Traverso DAW (digital audio workstation) is an easy to use, open source multitrack audio recording and editing suite with a great user interface. Youll find yourself doing more work in half the time thanks to the unique interface geared toward both the home user and profession musician; instead of endless menus and submenus, Traverso uses both the mouse and the keyboard together for precision and speed.sudo apt-get install traverso

Linux Multimedia Studio (LMMS) is a free DAW (digital audio workstation) created for Linux & Windows. Although it has a rather steep learning curve, there are many tutorials and it includes several sample songs that you can learn from. Users learn the functions pretty quickly once they go through a few of the examples. LMMS come equipped with four different synthesizers. There is one that allows manipulation of samples by adding filters and a BitInvader plugin that is a wavetable synthesizer, allowing you to create a waveform for your sound. There is a guitar synthesizer and one with three oscillators.sudo apt-get install lmms

Jokosher is a multi-track music editor. The interface uses familiar concepts to musicians rather than relying on their knowledge of multi-track recorders. Guitarists and other players who dont want to spend the funds or the time to learn the ins and outs of multi-tracking will appreciate this software. The idea of Jokosher is to be able to ignore the software and be able to concentrate on your music.sudo apt-get install jokosher

bristol is a vintage synthesiser software emulator suite. The application consists of an engine itself called bristol and a graphical user interface called brighton. The graphical interface is a bitmap manipulation library to present the diverse synth devices such as potentiometers, buttons, sliders, patch cables and which generates the messages to configure the synth emulator.

The engine is an infrastructure that hosts the emulator code that couples together the different audio operators required to generate the audio. The engine and GUI are started together with the start Bristol script which sets up the required environment for the two to connect together. It is not generally envisaged that bristol and brighton be started outside of the script however there are options to the script to only start one or the other. Bristol also has a command line interface that can be used rather than the GUI. Audio drivers are PCM/PCM plug or Jack. Midi drivers are either OSS/ALSA rawmidi interface, or ALSA SEQ. Multple GUIs can connect to the single audio engine, which then operates multitimbrally.Currently the following synthesizers are emulated:http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/precise/man1/bristol.1.html

In Terminal copy and paste to install the GUI:sudo apt-get install bristol monobristol

Special Note: You may need to type monobristol in terminal to start the GUI or you may need to create a launcher for it manually. Sometimes it is better to run it entirely from the command line too.AmarokAmaroks tagline is Rediscover Your Music, and its development is based around this ideology. Amaroks core features such as the unique context browser, integrated Wikipedia lookup and lyrics download help users to find new music, and to learn more about the music they have.Windows equivalent : iTunes

Amarok also features integration with last.fm, giving users suggestions about what to listen to next and which artists may fit their mood, as well as with Magnatune integration, allowing no-cost full listening of all the music in their catalog, and DRM-free purchasing.sudo apt-get install amarok amarok-common

Access it through Applications Sound & Video Amarok.gtkpodgtkpod is a graphical user interface for the Apple iPod for Unix-like systems, written using the GTK+ toolkit.Windows equivalent : iTunes

This application allow you to connect to your ipod, shuffle, idohickeythingamabob so you can access your music, mp4s, and tranfer them, copy them, rename them, with Linux Mint or Debian systems. Its all kinds of good stuff for apple media users.sudo apt-get install gtkpod

OpenShot Video Editor is a free, open-source video editor for Linux licensed under the GPL version 3.0.OpenShot can take your videos, photos, and music files and help you create the film you have always dreamed of. Easily add sub-titles, transitions, and effects, and then export your film to DVD, YouTube, Vimeo, Xbox 360, and many other common formats.OpenShot provides extensive editing and compositing features, and has been designed as a practical tool for working with high-definition video including HDV and AVCHD.Copy and paste in Terminal:sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openshot.developers/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install openshot frei0r-plugins

Kazam is a simple screen recording program that will capture the content of your screen and record a video file that can be played by any video player that supports VP8/WebM video format. You are able to have a mic enabled and background soundtrack too.Optionally you can record sound from any sound input device that is supported and visible by PulseAudio.sudo apt-get install kazam

recordMyDesktop is a free and open source desktop screencasting software application written for GNU/Linux. The program is separated into two parts; a command line tool that performs the tasks of capturing and encoding, and an interface that exposes the program functionality graphically. There are two front-ends written in python with pyGtk (gtk-recordMyDesktop) and pyQt4 (qt-recordMyDesktop). RecordMyDesktop also offers the ability to record audio through ALSA, OSS or the JACK audio server. RecordMyDesktop only outputs to Ogg using Theora for video and Vorbis for audio. It has plenty of options when it comes to video quallity, brightness, and gamma correction.sudo apt-get install gtk-recordmydesktop

PlayOnLinux is Linux software which allows you to easily install and use numerous games and applications designed to run with Microsoft Windows OS. PlayOnLinux brings a cost-free, accessible and efficient solution to running Windows software in Linux Mint. It is recommend that new users check with the Wine App Database first to see if whatever Windows application or Windows program has been tested to work and perform well with Wine on Linux before attempting to use Wine to run whatever Windows software you are interested in running.

And be aware that the installation of PlayOnLinux can take some time because there is a problem with the font installation and eventually it will kickout a font error and then you can start using PlayOnLinux at that point. It is always recommended that you try to locate a native Linux application in the Ubuntu Software Center that is the equivalent to whatever Windows App or Windows program you need to run. And only use PlayOnLinux if no Linux equivalent exists already in the Linux Mint software repositories for free.To install Wine in Linux Mint copy and paste into Terminal:sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install wine1.5

To install PlayOnLinux in Linux Mint copy and paste into Terminal:sudo wget http://deb.playonlinux.com/playonlinux_precise.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/playonlinux.list

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys E0F72778C4676186

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install playonlinux

TeamViewer is a free for non-commercial use, software application for remote control, desktop sharing, and file transfer between computers, great for meetings, presentations, tech support and more. It runs on Windows, Mac OSX, Linux (even though it comes in a .deb or .rpm, it uses Wine which comes bundled with it) as well as Android or iPhone. You will need to modify GUFW firewall settings in order to connect if you have it enabled.Windows: LogMeIn, GoToMeeting, MS RDChttp://www.teamviewer.com/en/download/linux.aspx

Citrix Systems Receiver ICAClient (w/Firefox Plug-in): Citrix Receiver is a lightweight software client that allows access to virtual desktops and apps including Windows, Web or SaaS apps on any PC, Mac, netbook, tablet or smartphone. Works for both 32-bit and 64-bit version of Ubuntu. You need to download two deb packages to have it working correctly. You need the installation package for either 32-bit or 64-bit, and the supporting usb deb package, and then you will need to also install the USB support deb package as well, and everything you need is here. Make sure you select DEB packages to install and not RPM packages. RPM is Fedora, and DEB is Ubuntu.https://www.citrix.com/downloads/citrix-receiver/linux/receiver-for-linux-131.htmlAnd then copy the certificates to the proper directory:sudo cp /usr/share/ca-certificates/mozilla/* /opt/Citrix/ICAClient/keystore/cacerts

Hard Disk Partition ManagerWindows equivalent : Norton Partition MagicLinux Mint equivalent : GPartedGParted is a GTK+ front-end to GNU Parted and the official GNOME Partition Editor application.

It is used for creating, deleting, resizing, moving, checking and copying partitions, and the file systems on them. This is useful for creating space for new operating systems (works with Vista / Windows 7 System & Data partitions), reorganizing disk usage, copying data residing on hard disks and mirroring one partition with another (disk imaging). It is useful for tasks such as: creating space for new operating systems, restructuring disk space to separate user and operating system data, and copying partitions to enable upgrading to a larger hard disk drive. Your hard disk drive or USB flash drive can be subdivided into one or more partitions. GParted enables you to reorganize your disk partitions while preserving the contents of these partitions.sudo apt-get install gparted

Oracle VM VirtualBox (formerly Sun VirtualBox, Sun xVM VirtualBox and innotek VirtualBox) is an x86 virtualization software package, created by software company Innotek GmbH, purchased in 2008 by Sun Microsystems, and now developed by Oracle Corporation as part of its family of virtualization products. Oracle VM VirtualBox is installed on Linux Mint as an application; this host application allows additional guest operating systems, each known as a Guest OS, to be loaded and run, each with its own virtual environment. For example, here we have installed Andriod 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS virtually inside of Virtualbox for App development purposes.

To install Oracle VM VirtualBox copy and paste into Terminal:sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian $(lsb_release -sc) contrib" >> /etc/apt/sources.list'

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian $(lsb_release -sc) contrib" >> /etc/apt/sources.list'

wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install virtualbox-4.3

Redo Backup and Recovery is so simple that anyone can use it. It is the easiest, most complete disaster recovery solution available. It allows bare-metal restore. Bare metal restore is not only the best solution for hardware failure, it is also the ultimate antivirus: Even if your hard drive melts or gets completely erased by a virus, you can have a completely-functional system back up and running in as little as 10 minutes.http://redobackup.org/Clonezilla is a free disaster recovery, disk cloning, disk imaging and deployment solution. Clonezilla is designed by Steven Shiau and developed by the NCHC Free Software Labs in Taiwan. Clonezilla SE provides multicast support similar to Norton Ghost Corporate Edition.http://clonezilla.org/downloads.php

MultiSystem is for creating a multiboot live USB flash drives or thumb-drives. Instead of carrying around a bunch of different flash drives for all of your different live operating systems, and restoration images, now can move them all onto one large USB flash drive. Simply drag and drop your .iso files. It is very similar to Xboot in WinOS.sudo apt-add-repository 'deb http://liveusb.info/multisystem/depot all main'

wget -q http://liveusb.info/multisystem/depot/multisystem.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install multisystem

BleachBit (recommended) quickly frees disk space and tirelessly guards your privacy. Free cache, delete cookies, clear Internet history, shred temporary files, delete logs, and discard junk you didnt know was there. Designed for Linux and Windows systems, it wipes clean 90 applications including Firefox, Internet Explorer, Adobe Flash, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari, and more. I highly recommend installing this on your system at some point, and making sure to have it automatically run at system login as a reminder. Even though Linux Mint doesnt have issues with Viruses and Spyware, however your system can become slowly bogged down with tmp cache files in Mozilla Firefox and Chrome with heavy use, so it makes sense to run bleachbit periodically to speed up your system.Windows equivalent : CCleaner

Beyond simply deleting files, BleachBit includes advanced features such as shredding files to prevent recovery, wiping free disk space to hide traces of files deleted by other applications, and vacuuming Firefox to make it faster. Better than free, BleachBit is open source. If you have a system that seems to be running slower than normal, its always a good idea to try running Bleachbit to see if it may resolve your performance issues that you may be experiencing. I personally recommend that heavy internet users run this at least once or twice a month.sudo apt-get install bleachbit

sudo bleachbit

Bleachbit Tutorial:This is the end of the tutorial and now it is time to tidy up, and the first command here makes sure we have everything we want. Second, we get rid of any old dependencies, then remove all the packages weve downloaded and installed, as we likely wont use those again.echo "Cleaning Up" &&

sudo apt-get -f install &&

sudo apt-get autoremove &&

sudo apt-get -y autoclean &&

sudo apt-get -y clean

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To Do List After Installing Linux Mint 17 OS

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