Do the new

This is about some new(may be old to you) and cool softwares one need to switch to in ubuntu.

Shotwell

Shotwell is the default image viewer in Ubuntu10.10 . It is damn fast unlike the conventional eye-of-gnome(image viewer) which is the default one upto 10.04. In addition Shotwell has a photo-organiser and basic image editor built in it.

If you are using ubuntu 10.04 "sudo-apt get install shotwell " will do the work as it is included in Lucid Lynx repos.

If not one needs to add the repository "ppa:yorba/ppa" (sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yorba/ppa) and then install the package(sudo apt-get install)

FreeDc++/eiskaltdc++

These emerged as best alternatives to linuxdcpp which is a bit buggy and slow at times. FreeDc++ is all the same as linuxdcpp in looks except for the logos ,color schemes and images. Eiskaltdc++ has a very pleasing appearance and is pretty fast,

To install FreeDc++/eisklatdc++ add the repository "ppa:tehnick/tehnick" as mentioned above.

Then update the sources ("sudo apt-get update") and install it(sudo apt-get install freedcpp) .

Htop

Htop is an interactive process viewer like top with more functionality. I does everything what Gnome-system-monitor will do. Htop's interface is built in terminal and is good for terminal geeks.

It can be directly installed using "sudo apt-get install htop"

Kupfer/Gnome-do

Inspired by quick silver of mac . They(kupfer or gnome-do) can be used to open an application/file quickly by typing the first few words of the application/file.

They can be installed directly using sudo-apt

note: kupfer and gnome-do are 2 separate packages with similar functionality.

acroread

Its not very fast but it is better that the conventional evince in all aspects. I personally feel it is the best pdf reader for linux. It is owned by Adobe(needless to say). It supports multi tabs(it does not do that in MS windows).

ubuntu-tweak

It makes ubuntu more easy to beginners . I cant describe it any more . For more details visit www.ubuntu-tweak.com .

Crebs

It is a simple application which is used to create background slideshow. For more details visit this link .

Recently I've heard about Libre-office as an alternative to open-office. But I did not use it.I have no rights to comment about it or give a complement.

update:
Recently I came to know that there is a linux version of foxit reader. Though it has some issues it is far better than acroread and evince in terms of speed.
You can download the .deb file from this link . For more details visit this article in ubuntu geek. Note that the command for opening foxit reader(once you install it :P) is "FoxitReader"(without quotes and F,R are uppercase)

proxy in apt.conf

Proxy server can be set up for ubuntu's apt-get through one of the below methods
1) Modifying the apt.conf file
open /etc/apt/apt/.conf file with root permissions by using the following command

sudo vim /etc/apt/apt.conf  (i use vim text editor . If you use gedit replace vim with gedit) add the following line to the file.

acquire::http::Proxy "http://username:password@proxyserver:port"

ex: acquire::http::Proxy "http://pratap:mypassword@netmon.iitb.ac.in:80"

2) setting proxy via terminal
The other method is directly using command line. The command is as follows
export http_proxy=http://username:password@host:port/

Many users think that once they have their proxy settings in main menu's
system->preferences right , they are done. But the apt-get needs the settings to be done through apt.conf file.

@/other special characters in password
One more think to note is that if your password contains '@' it needs to be replaced with %40.I struggled a lot to find this out. This is a bug in ubuntu( for details about the bug refer http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=500560 ) . This link might be of help if there are problems with other special characters. But as far my knowledge is concerned the problem arises only with @.