Linux似乎每年都变得越来越流行。由于Ubuntu等得到良好支持、用户友好的发行版，许多人开始尝试并意识到这个免费的开源(Open Source)操作系统是Windows和macOS的可行替代品。
但是，如果没有任何实际应用程序来完成您的工作，任何计算机都不会有用。这对于Linux(Linux)新用户来说可能是个问题，因为许多熟悉的应用程序根本无法以Linux形式提供。
我们为常见用例类别编译了最佳Linux应用程序示例，以帮助您入门。(Linux)在可能的情况下，我们尝试支持开源(Open Source)软件，但这里的一些应用程序是专有的。
最佳照片编辑应用程序：(Best Photo Editing App: )GIMP
在照片编辑方面， Adobe Photoshop(Adobe Photoshop)被广泛认为是行业标准。毕竟，人们将任何照片处理都称为“photoshopping”。Photoshop可在Windows和Mac上使用。事实上，现在甚至还有原生 iPad 版本(even a native iPad version now)。
但是，这个流行的应用程序没有本地Linux版本。虽然可以通过虚拟机或 WINE使用(or WINE)Photoshop，但这不会以最佳方式运行。更糟糕的是，您需要注册 12 个月的订阅才能使用该应用程序。
幸运的是Linux有GIMP。Photoshop的强大、免费和开源替代品。GIMP已经存在了几十年，尽管学习曲线与Photoshop不同，但它提供了您从Adob(Adobe) e 获得的大部分最重要的功能。熟练的GIMP用户可以获得与了解Photoshop的人相同的结果，但没有来自专有的、基于订阅的应用程序的所有包袱。
最佳数字艺术应用：(Best Digital Art App: )Inkscape
矢量(Vector)图形绘图软件可能非常昂贵，但如果您愿意忍受一些粗糙的边缘，那么Inkscape将为您提供所需的所有工具，而无需花费一分钱。
当然，等式中的艺术天赋部分取决于您，但如果您有绘图能力，Inkscape可以帮助您实现愿景。在文件格式支持方面确实有一些限制，但总的来说，与客户和其他艺术家分享您的作品应该没有问题。
Linux 上的游戏(Gaming on Linux)一直是平淡无奇的事情。即使AAA游戏有Linux版本，安装和配置它们也是有趣的反面。Ubuntu和其他桌面Linux版本中的(Linux)现代(Modern)应用程序前端可以提供帮助，但它仍然没有应有的流畅。
这将我们带到了Steam。这是Valve Corporation的客户端应用程序，该公司拥有并经营着世界上最大的 PC 数字商店。
您不仅可以通过Steam购买原生(Steam)Linux游戏，还可以畅玩大量已通过WINE特殊实现认证可运行的(WINE)Windows游戏。这被称为“ Steam Play”，它已经彻底改变了(Steam)Linux机器上的游戏规则。
最佳办公套件：(Best Office Suite: )LibreOffice
LibreOffice深受全世界节俭的学生、工人和开源(Open Source)软件爱好者的喜爱，是Microsoft Office的权威替代品。它包括文字处理器、电子表格应用程序、演示应用程序和数据库解决方案。
(Libreoffice)在激进的界面重新设计之前，那些在 2000 年代使用Microsoft Office 的人会觉得(Microsoft)Libreoffice非常熟悉。从功能上讲，大多数用户会在Libreoffice中找到他们需要的一切，尽管这些功能可能出现在您意想不到的地方。
当然，Microsoft Office有很多很棒的替代品，您可以在这里查看我们对最佳(the best ones here)替代品的总结。
最佳桌面出版应用：(Best Desktop Publishing App: )Scribus
桌面(Desktop)排版 ( DTP ) 在过去几年中略有复苏。随着电子书、电子阅读器、平板电脑和其他纸质数字替代品的日益普及，智能页面布局和漂亮的书籍内饰再次变得非常重要。
自助出版也比以往任何时候都容易，如果您可以访问专门的桌面出版程序，那么您可以在自己的计算机上舒适地让它看起来像真正的交易。
这就是Scribus出现的地方。这个精彩的程序从一个简单的Python程序开始，现在已经发展成为一个严肃的DTP程序。如果您想知道Scribus能做什么，只需看看这份“由 Scribus 制造(Made by Scribus)”出版物列表。这是真正的交易，本文的作者实际上已经使用这个程序设计并发布了一份技术计算机指南。
考虑到专业DTP(DTP)软件的成本， Scribus无疑是有史以来最好的Linux应用程序之一。
最佳电子邮件客户端：(Best Email Client: )Thunderbird
随着基于网络的电子邮件服务（例如Gmail ）的流行，没有多少主流用户真正需要桌面电子邮件客户端。尽管如此，如果您需要使用工作电子邮件帐户或私人电子邮件服务器，拥有客户端软件仍然很有意义。
如果您需要使用高级自定义或必须离线存储所有电子邮件，情况也是如此。无论您需要电子邮件客户端的原因是什么，Linux用户都应该给Mozilla Thunderbird一个机会。它在Windows和Mac上也受支持，如果您需要使用多个平台并希望保持一定的一致性，这可能会很有帮助。
Thunderbird的时间有点长，但在 2019 年初，Mozilla致力于通过Gmail支持、界面改造和用户友好的加密来实现 Thunderbird 的现代化。(modernizing Thunderbird)即便如此，它仍然是最受支持且功能最齐全的邮件客户端Linux应用程序之一。
录制屏幕(record your screen)的原因有很多。您想创建教程、记录错误或向观众直播某些内容。多年来，开放广播软件(Broadcast Software)一直是跨多个平台的这些用例的首选软件包。
界面有点简陋，有一点学习曲线，但是一旦你知道如何操作， OBS就很容易使用。它还提供了一些简洁的高级功能，其中最主要的是能够轻松创建将多个视频源混合在一起的录音。例如，您可以同时录制桌面和网络摄像头源。轻松安排最终产品中的元素。
由于OBS如此受欢迎，所有重要的流媒体服务都支持它，并且它也得到了真正的行业重量级人物的开发赞助，因此加入OBS潮流是一个非常安全的选择，而不必担心你必须切换到任何东西否则在未来。
最佳媒体播放器：(Best Media Player: )VLC
如今，大多数人只是通过YouTube(YouTube)、Netflix和Apple TV+等流媒体服务来消费他们的视频媒体。然而，在宽带如此普及之前，我们经常不得不将我们的数字媒体作为来自各种来源的离散文件。
编码器和格式的范围使给定视频是否会在您的计算机上播放成为一场艰难的赌博。然后我们有幸拥有VLC播放器，面对您扔给它的任何媒体格式，它似乎几乎完全镇定自若。
如果您仍然拥有自己的数字或物理媒体并想在Linux计算机上播放它，那么VLC是最好的Linux应用程序之一。
令人难以置信的是，您可以免费获得像DaVinci Resolve这样的好莱坞级视频编辑器，但这是真的！与 300 美元的DaVinci Resolve Studio(DaVinci Resolve Studio)相比，免费版本确实有一些小的限制，但对于 99% 的用户来说，这将是一款出色的视频编辑器，默认情况下还包括一个强大的合成器和音频处理包。
如果您拥有正确版本的Linux（例如CentOS），您还可以构建一个绝对可怕的多核、多 GPU 视频渲染工作站。DaVinci还出售一个目录，里面装满了与(DaVinci)Resolve完美配合的出色视频编辑硬件和相机设备，因此，如果您想进入视频制作大联盟，DaVinci可以一直陪伴您。
如果这个专业级的解决方案有点吓人，你也应该看看OpenShot。
最佳工作消息应用程序：(Best Work Messaging App: )Slack for Linux
尽管有这个名字， Slack却是世界上最受欢迎的消息传递应用程序之一，供一群人一起进行富有成效的工作。有整个组织使用Slack作为将它们绑定在一起的粘合剂，并且由于有如此多的开发人员在Linux环境中工作，您可以确定那里也有一个强大的应用程序版本。
Slack不是一个开源(Source)应用程序，它依赖于在线服务来工作，但除非你独自工作，否则它几乎肯定会成为任何Linux工作站的重要组成部分。
许多人当然会说，Transmission是他们选择的 Torrent 客户端，但 uTorrent 成为任何平台上Bittorrent软件的事实标准是有原因的。它速度快，非常轻巧，而且使用起来非常简单。
是的，如今它可能被认为是“普通”选择，但很容易忘记 uTorrent 是衡量其他人的标准。使用它就像穿上一双深受喜爱的袜子。只是感觉很好。Ubuntu商店中的版本使用WINE运行，但仍然可以正常工作。
虽然Chrome已经成为大多数人的首选浏览器，但Mozilla Firefox在Linux上具有一些明显的优势(a few distinct advantages)。一方面，它实际上是一个开源(Open Source)应用程序。Chrome所基于的Chromium也是(Chromium)开源(Open Source)的，但Google Chrome不是。
(FireFox)在现代浏览功能方面，FireFox已经超越了Chrome ，而且隐私问题也少得多。如果您不喜欢Google让您在网上做的所有事情都受到影响，那么远离Chrome是确保您的在线活动安全的重要的第一步。
最佳音频应用：(Best Audio App: )Audacity
如果您在音频工程领域工作过一段时间，那么您很有可能之前已经听说过Audacity。它是一个功能强大的多轨录音应用程序，具有一组强大的插件和工具，可以在录制后操纵该音频。
Audacity对于简单的录音来说足够简单，任何人都可以使用它，但它也可以用于专业的内容创作。您可以使用多轨功能录制音乐，或创建带有背景音乐和清晰编辑对话(crisply edited dialogue)的流畅播客。
Audacity也有一套很棒的修饰工具，所以你可以去除不需要的噪音(remove unwanted noise)，改变剪辑的声音属性，并让所有其他常见的魔法音频工程师都在做。当然，您需要知道一切的作用以及它是如何工作的，但是观看YouTube教程并不能解决问题，这没什么大不了的。
最佳音乐播放器：(Best Music Player: )Clementine
VLC作为音乐播放器会做得不错，但如果你认真对待Linux机器上本地存储的音乐库，那么Clementine是城里唯一的游戏。
它轻巧，快速且非常用户友好。您将很快整理好您的音乐库，并且花更多的时间在外面玩，而不是眯着眼看一个巨大的随机播放列表。
最佳虚拟机应用：(Best Virtual Machine App: )VirtualBox
虚拟机(Virtual machine)技术在过去几年中突飞猛进。大多数现代CPU(CPUs)可以在几乎没有性能损失的情况下运行虚拟机，它允许您在同一台机器上访问多个操作系统，而无需对驱动器进行分区或重新启动系统。
虚拟机对于隐私和网络安全目的也非常方便，当然，还可以让您运行不是为主机操作系统设计的应用程序。
幸运的是，Linux用户可以访问任何平台上最好的虚拟机应用程序之一。VirtualBox易于使用，并且作为主机与许多不同的操作系统广泛兼容。这意味着您可以在Linux桌面的一个窗口中运行Windows、其他Linux发行版等等。
最佳备份应用程序：(Best Backup App: )Timeshift
用户友好的备份解决方案在Linux上非常少见，但如果您有 Debian 系统（例如Ubuntu），则可以使用名为Timeshift的(Timeshift)Linux应用程序进行增量备份，这与macOS 上的 Time Machine(Time Machine on macOS)所做的非常相似。
它是免费和开源的，尽管它确实需要手动安装。一旦你在你的系统上安装它，它就有一个友好的图形界面，而且设置起来很容易。万一您的Linux系统发生灾难性故障，您会很感激拥有 Timeshift。
最佳分区应用：(Best Partition App: )Gparted
硬盘(Hard)分区管理是 Windows 用户几乎不用担心的事情，但Linux用户经常不得不调整其硬盘的分区结构(tweak the partition structures of their hard drives)。如果这是您最终不得不做的事情，那么最好的应用程序就是 Gparted。
最新版本的Gparted具有清晰简单的图形界面，因此您可以轻松理解驱动器的当前布局。您可以轻松删除、调整大小和创建分区，但对系统造成不可挽回的损害的可能性很小。它肯定比命令行更容易使用。
关于DropBox(DropBox) for Linux没什么好说的。它与您在其他平台上获得的DropBox服务的基本客户端相同。也就是说(Which)，它可以很好地与您的本地文件系统集成，并且可以正常工作。
您可以注册一个包含几 GB 存储空间的免费帐户，因此没有理由不尝试一下。
最佳即时通讯应用：(Best Instant Messaging App: )Pidgin
Pidgin 是一款超级通用的即时消息应用程序，可让您插入一长串自定义项并使用许多不同的 IM 服务。它完全免费，下载量小，不会占用大量系统资源。
遗憾的是，它没有Skype或适当的VOIP支持，但如果你想通过文本愉快地聊天，它是必不可少的下载。
最佳 Linux 防病毒应用程序：(Best Linux Antivirus App: )带有( With )ClamTk前端的( Frontend)ClamAV
与 macOS 一样，Linux没有太多病毒问题。这主要是因为它的用户群相对较小，所以编写恶意软件的顽皮人没有太多动力去瞄准这些小众系统。
然而，这并不意味着没有Linux病毒，正如一些人错误地认为的那样。但是，当谈到可供Linux用户使用的防病毒软件时，选择范围相当有限。
ClamAV是一个开源 Linux(Source Linux)防病毒应用程序，可以处理少量的Linux病毒。ClamAV本身仅提供基于文本的命令行界面。因此，您需要添加ClamTk图形前端以获得更可口的体验。
对于绝大多数Linux用户来说，它不是必不可少的应用程序，但如果您运行的是易受攻击的关键任务机器，请看一看。
Linux Has the Best Apps!
永远不要说Linux没有适合任何用例的应用程序。我们甚至还没有接触到这些常见类型的软件的表面。操作系统有大量的科学、创造性和相对小众的软件包，通常是零和的王子。
The 20 Best Linux Apps Ever
Linux seems to be getting more popular every year. Thanks to well-supported, user friendly distros such as Ubuntu, many people are taking the plunge and realizing that this free and Open Source operating system is a viable alternative to both Windows and macOS.
However, no computer is useful without any actual applications to get your work done. This can be a problem for new Linux users, because many familiar applications simply aren’t available in Linux form.
We’ve compiled examples of the best Linux apps for common-use case categories to get you started. Where possible, we’ve tried to favor Open Source software, but some of the apps here are proprietary.
Best Photo Editing App: GIMP
Adobe Photoshop is widely considered to be the industry standard when it comes to photo editing. After all, people refer to any photo manipulation as “photoshopping”. Photoshop is available on both Windows and Mac. In fact, there’s even a native iPad version now.
However, there’s no native Linux version of this popular application. While it is possible to use Photoshop through a virtual machine or WINE, but that’s not going to run optimally. Even worse, you need to sign up for a 12-month subscription in order to use the app.
Luckily Linux has the GIMP. A robust, free and open source alternative to Photoshop. GIMP has been around for decades and, despite a different learning curve to Photoshop, offers most of the most important features you’d get from Adobe. A skilled GIMP user can achieve the same results as someone who knows Photoshop, but without all of the baggage that comes from a proprietary, subscription-based application.
Best Digital Art App: Inkscape
Vector graphics drawing software can be pretty expensive, but if you’re willing to put up with a few rough edges, then Inkscape will give you all the tools you need without costing a cent.
Of course, the artistic talent part of the equation is up to you, but if you’ve got the drawing chops, Inkscape can help make your vision a reality. It does have some limits when it comes to file format support, but overall you should have no problem sharing your creations with clients and other artists.
Gaming on Linux has always been a lackluster affair. Even when AAA titles have Linux versions, installing and configuring them is the opposite of fun. Modern app frontends in Ubuntu and other desktop Linux versions can help, but it’s still not as smooth as it should be.
Which brings us to Steam. This is the client application from Valve Corporation, who own and operate the largest PC digital store in the world.
Not only can you buy native Linux games through Steam, you can also play a wealth of Windows games that have been certified to work through a special implementation of WINE. Known as “Steam Play”, this has been a literal game changer for gaming on a Linux machine.
Beloved by frugal students, workers and lovers of Open Source software the world over, LibreOffice is the definitive alternative to the juggernaut that is Microsoft Office. It includes a word processor, spreadsheet app, presentation app and a database solution.
Libreoffice will feel pretty familiar to those who worked with Microsoft office in the 2000s, before the radical interface redesign. Functionally most users will find everything they need in Libreoffice, although those functions might be in places you don’t expect.
There are of course many great alternatives to Microsoft Office, you can see our roundup of the best ones here.
Best Desktop Publishing App: Scribus
Desktop publishing (DTP) has had a bit of a resurgence over the last few years. With the rising popularity of eBooks, eReaders, tablet computers and other digital stand-ins for paper, it’s become pretty relevant again to do smart page layouts and beautiful book interiors.
It’s also easier than ever to self-publish and if you have access to a specialized desktop publishing program, then you can make it look like the real deal from the comfort of your own computer.
Which is where Scribus comes into the picture. This wonderful program started out as a simple Python program and has now developed into a serious DTP program. If you want to know what Scribus can do, just have a look at this list of “Made by Scribus” publications. It’s the real deal and the author of this article has actually designed and published a technical computer guide using this very program.
Given the cost of professional DTP software, Scribus certainly counts as one of the best Linux apps of all time.
With the popularity of web-based email services, such as Gmail, not many mainstream users have a real need for a desktop email client. Still, if you need to use a work email account or a private email server, it still makes sense to have client software.
The same is true if you need to make use of advanced customization or have to store all your email offline. Whatever your reason for needing an email client, Linux users should definitely give Mozilla Thunderbird a chance. It’s supported on Windows and Mac as well, which can be beneficial if you need to use several platforms and want some consistency.
Thunderbird has been getting a little long in the tooth, but early in 2019 Mozilla committed to modernizing Thunderbird with Gmail support, an interface revamp and user-friendly encryption. Even as it stands, this is still the best-supported and one of the most feature complete mail client Linux apps.
There’s a long list of reasons to record your screen. You want to create a tutorial, document a bug or livestream something to an audience. Open Broadcast Software has been the package of choice for these use cases across multiple platforms for years.
The interface is a little spartan and there is a bit of a learning curve, but OBS is easy to use once you know how. It also offers some neat advanced features, chief of which is the ability to easily create a recording that mixes together multiple video sources. For example, you can record your desktop and your webcam feed at the same time. Easily arranging the elements that will end up in the final product.
Since OBS is so popular, it’s supported by every streaming service that matters and it has development sponsorship from real industry heavyweights as well, so it’s a pretty safe bet to jump on the OBS bandwagon, without worrying that you’ll have to switch to anything else in the future.
Best Media Player: VLC
These days most people simply consume their video media via streaming services such as YouTube, Netflix and Apple TV+. However, before broadband was so widespread, we often had to get our digital media as discrete files from various sources.
The range of encoders and formats made it a hard gamble whether a given video would even play on your computer. Then we were blessed with VLC player, which seems almost entirely unflappable in the face of whatever media format you throw at it.
If you still have your own digital or physical media and want to play it on a Linux computer, VLC is one of the best Linux apps to have installed.
It’s mind-boggling that you can get a Hollywood-grade video editor like DaVinci Resolve for free, but it’s true! The free version does have some minor limitations compared to the $300 DaVinci Resolve Studio, but for 99% of users this is going to be a fantastic video editor, that also includes a robust compositor and audio processing package by default.
If you have the right version of Linux (such as CentOS) you can also build an absolutely monstrous multi-core, multi-GPU video rendering workstation. DaVinci also sells a catalogue full of amazing video editing hardware and camera equipment that work perfectly with Resolve, so if you have an eye on moving into the video production big leagues, DaVinci can stay with you all the way.
If this pro-grade solution is a little intimidating, you should also give OpenShot a look.
Slack is, despite the name, one of the most popular messaging apps in the world for groups of people to do productive work together. There are entire organizations that run off Slack as the glue that binds them together and since so many developers work in a Linux environment, you can be sure there’s a robust version of the app there as well.
Slack is not an Open Source application and relies on an online service to work, but unless you work alone, it’s almost certainly going to be an essential part of any Linux workstation.
Many people will of course say that Transmission is their Torrent client of choice, but there’s a reason uTorrent has become the de facto standard when it comes to Bittorrent software on any platform. It’s fast, very lightweight and incredibly simple to use.
Yes, it may be considered the “vanilla” choice these days, but it’s easy to forget that uTorrent is the standard by which others are measured. Using it is like putting on a well-loved pair of socks. It just feels good. The version in the Ubuntu store runs using WINE, but still works just fine.
While Chrome has certainly become the browser of choice for most people, Mozilla Firefox has a few distinct advantages on Linux. For one thing, it’s actually an Open Source application. Chromium, which Chrome is based on, is also Open Source, but Google Chrome is not.
FireFox has more than kept up with Chrome when it comes to modern browsing features and comes with far fewer privacy concerns. If you don’t like the idea of Google having their fingers in everything you do online, moving away from Chrome is an important first step in keeping your online activity safe.
If you’ve worked in audio engineering for any length of time, there’s a good chance you’ve already heard of Audacity before. It’s a powerful multi-track audio recording applications with a robust set of plugins and tools to manipulate that audio once recorded.
Audacity is simple enough for anyone to use when it comes to simple recordings, but it can be used for professional content creation as well. You can record music using the multi-track feature or create a slick podcast, with background music and crisply edited dialogue.
Audacity also has a great set of touchup tools, so you can remove unwanted noise, change the sound properties of a clip and work all the other common magic audio engineers get up to. Of course, you need to know what everything does and how it works, but that’s nothing serious time watching YouTube tutorials won’t fix.
VLC will do a decent job as a music player, but if you’re serious about your locally-stored library of music on a Linux machine, then Clementine is the only game in town.
It’s lightweight, fast and very user-friendly. You’ll have your music library organized in no time flat and spend more time jamming out than squinting at a giant random playlist.
Best Virtual Machine App: VirtualBox
Virtual machine technology has come along in leaps and bounds over the last few years. Most modern CPUs can run virtual machines with little performance penalty and it allows you to access multiple operating systems on the same machine without the need to partition the drive or reboot the system.
Virtual machines are also pretty handy for privacy and cybersecurity purposes and, of course, to let you run applications not designed for the host operating system.
Luckily, Linux users have access to one of the best virtual machine applications on any platform. VirtualBox is simple to use and widely compatible with many different operating systems as a host. Which means you can run Windows, other Linux distributions, and much more, within a window on your Linux desktop.
User-friendly backup solutions are pretty rare on Linux, but if you have a Debian system (such as Ubuntu), you can use a Linux app called Timeshift to make incremental backups much the same as Time Machine on macOS does.
It’s free and open source, although it does require a manual install. Once you get it on your system, it has a friendly graphical interface and is a doddle to set up. In the unlikely event that your Linux system suffers a catastrophic failure, you’ll be grateful that you have Timeshift.
Best Partition App: Gparted
Hard drive partition management is something that Windows users hardly ever have to worry about, but Linux users often have to tweak the partition structures of their hard drives. If that’s something you end up having to do, the best app with which to do it is Gparted.
The latest version of Gparted has a clear and simple graphical interface, so you have no trouble understanding the current layout of your drives. You can easily delete, resize and create partitions, with only a small chance you’ll do irrevocable damage to your system. It’s certainly much easier to use than the command line.
There’s not too much to say about DropBox for Linux. It’s the same basic client for the DropBox service you get on other platforms. Which is to say it integrates nicely with your local file system and just works.
You can sign up for a free account that includes a few gigabytes of storage, so there’s no reason not to give this one a go.
Best Instant Messaging App: Pidgin
Pidgin is a super-versatile instant messaging app that lets you plug in a long list of customizations and use many different IM services. It’s completely free, small to download and doesn’t use up a noticeable amount of system resources.
Sadly, it doesn’t have Skype or proper VOIP support, but if you want to happily chat via text, it’s an essential download.
Best Linux Antivirus App: ClamAV With ClamTk Frontend
Like macOS, Linux doesn’t have much of a virus problem. This is largely because it has such a relatively small user base, so the naughty people who write malware don’t have much incentive to target these niche systems.
That doesn’t mean however that there are no Linux viruses, as some people wrongly believe. But when it comes to available antivirus choices for Linux users, the selection is rather limited.
ClamAV is an Open Source Linux antivirus application which can deal with the small number of Linux viruses that are out in the wild. By itself, ClamAV only offers a text-based command line interface. So you need to add the ClamTk graphical frontend for a more palatable experience.
It’s not an essential application for the vast majority of Linux users, but if you run a mission-critical machine that’s vulnerable, give it a look.
Linux Has the Best Apps!
Never let it be said that Linux doesn’t have the right applications for just about any use case. We haven’t even scraped the surface with these common types of software. There’s a wealth of scientific, creative and relatively niche software packages for the operating system, often for the princely sum of zero.
