Trisquel 7 operating system and Windows based viruses

You can get ClamAV for windows but it is done by 3rd parties.

> once I download Trisquel 7 on my notebook, should I copy all my files once again on the Trisquel 7 Documents folder?

That's fine. Any viruses there won't work on GNU/Linux, but if you're concerned about what might happen to Windows users, you can scan with ClamAV (the ClamTK package, found in Add/Remove Applications, gives you a nice graphical interface for this).

> I currently use LibreOffice 5.4, which is compatible either for Windows 7 and for Trisquel 7; once I use Trisquel 7 as
> only operating system, do I have to install LibreOffice 5.4 once again?

Windows and GNU/Linux are not binary-compatible, so each system has to have its own software installed on it. You can't run a program compiled for Windows on GNU/Linux, or vice-versa. In the case of LibreOffice, though, Trisquel already comes with that by default, and of course it can read and write the same document files (since it's the same program).

Remember that any new software should be installed through the software repository, and this is easily your greatest protection on a system like Trisquel from malware. Trojan horses can't get in because the only place you're downloading software from has been put together and verified by a trusted party. If you need something and can't find it in the repo (Add/Remove Applications), come ask on the forum; there are a lot of knowledgeable users here who can help. :)

> Where is it possible to find the list of Trisquel software that
> comes by default like i.e. LibreOffice?

Most graphical applications will appear under Add/Remove Applications, with some exceptions. If an application does not appear there, search for it in Synaptic Package Manager. Synaptic displays everything in the repository, so it is more complete than Add/Remove Applications but is harder to navigate because in addition to applications like LibreOffice it contains other packages like libraries. You can also search the repository from a terminal via

$ apt-cache search [list of substrings to filter by]

All package manager frontends, including Add/Remove Applications, show whether or not any given program is installed. Even if you use the command-line to request the installation of a program you already have installed, it will see that it's already installed and tell you that. So no worries. :)

> Where is it possible to find the list of Trisquel
> software that comes by default like i.e. LibreOffice?

> This to avoid to install LibreOffice twice, when this
> software is already provided on Trisquel by default.

I am not a Trisquel user so I cannot give you the list you are asking for. But you will see them all (i.e. extra programs installed by default) in the applications menu, once you finish the installation.

Just browse through the applications menu and try them out one by one. I guess you will find additional applications there, alternative to what you are currently using in Windows (e.g. various media players, pdf viewer, calendar, archiver, CD/DVD burner, etc.).

For those applications that are not installed by default, though available in the applications repository, you could search for them and install via "Add/Remove Applications (or Synaptic package manager) as others have pointed out.

BTW I don't know whether Synaptic itself is installed by default. If you can't locate Synaptic in the applications menu, then you should install it first via "Add/Remove Applications" to use it. When you install it (or any other GUI program), it should automatically appear somewhere in the applications menu.

As for the needed programs list you have given in the next message, I don't know about Stacer but the others are available for Linux (and Stacer may either be available in another name, or you should find a substitute program).

These are the results from "apt-cache search xxxxx" (a command line repository search and digging tool):

translate-shell - Google Translate to serve as a command line tool
bleachbit - delete unnecessary files from the system
brasero - CD/DVD burning application for GNOME

~$ apt-cache search marble
marble - globe and map widget
marble-data - data files for Marble
marble-maps - globe and map widget for mobile form factors
marble-plugins - plugins for Marble
marble-qt - globe and map widget (no KDE dependencies)

~$ apt-cache search evince
clamassassin - email virus filter wrapper for ClamAV
clamav - anti-virus utility for Unix - command-line interface
clamav-daemon - anti-virus utility for Unix - scanner daemon
clamav-docs - anti-virus utility for Unix - documentation
clamav-freshclam - anti-virus utility for Unix - virus database update utility
clamav-milter - anti-virus utility for Unix - sendmail integration
clamdscan - anti-virus utility for Unix - scanner client

~$ apt-cache search evince
evince - Document (PostScript, PDF) viewer
(there are many PDF/PS viewers for Linux. If you're not specifically attached to evince, I would suggest using whichever PDF/PS reader comes in default installation)

~$ apt-cache search kindle
calibre - powerful and easy to use e-book manager
kindleclip - User interface for managing Amazon Kindle's "My Clippings" file

and so on...

PS: Wine may need some tinkering to run certain Windows applications. It was so, some years ago. Don't know the current situation though.

About known malware in the Kindle Swindle: https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/malware-amazon.html#swindle

> I don't want to go to the local computer shop and say "Please install
> Trisquel and the above software", when these software are already available
> on the Trisquel operating system Add/Remove Applications list by default.

You shouldn't have to pay someone to help you with basic usage of your computer. When possible, I believe you should learn to understand your computer and take control of your own computing. If you can't find your own answer to something, ask for help online (here for instance). We should avoid paying for people to do basic computing that we can do ourselves, because if people can profit from the computer illiteracy of others there is a profit incentive to try to keep others in ignorance, which is antihuman. I'm going to walk you through how I find the information you are asking for so that in the future you can do it independently. I'm going to use the terminal when possible because its faster, but much of this could be done in Synaptic too if you prefer. Synaptic should be installed by default in Trisquel. Also note that I am using Trisquel 8, so some of my results may not apply to T7, but by the end you should know how to find any missing information yourself.

------------- begin walkthough -----------------

I'll bet a lot of these packages are in the repo. Let's check.

$ apt-cache search bleachbit

Huh. No results.

$ apt-cache search bleach bit

Nope, that didn't work either. I'll come back to that one.

$ apt-cache search brasero
brasero - CD/DVD burning application for GNOME
brasero-cdrkit - cdrkit extensions for the Brasero burning application
brasero-common - Common files for the Brasero CD burning application and library
gir1.2-brasero-3.0 - CD/DVD burning library for GNOME - GObject introspection data
libbrasero-media3-1 - CD/DVD burning library for GNOME - runtime
libbrasero-media3-dev - CD/DVD burning library for GNOME - development
rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder - burning plugin for rhythmbox music player

Nice. Let's install it.

$ sudo apt install brasero

I repeat this process for all of the applications you list and find that Brasero, ClamAV, Evince, LibreOffice, Marble, and Wine are in the repo. I can install them all at once with

$ sudo apt install brasero clamav evince libreoffice marble

Note that it is fine if some of these are installed already. If so, they will be upgraded if updates are available and left alone if no updates are available.

Now lets deal with the rest.

BleachBit isn't in the repo. This could mean that it is proprietary or that it simply hasn't been packaged for Trisquel. Either way, it's safest to get our software from the repo so unless an application is free software and I have a specific need for it I will try to find a replacement that is in the repo.

Here is a good resource for finding replacements for applications. [https://alternativeto.net]

I must make two disclaimers about this site. First, it uses proprietary JavaScript, so I suggest that you use the site with JavaScript disabled. With JavaScript disabled you will not be able to filter by license within the site, but you may do so make performing your search and then appending '?license=opensource' to the URL. Second, you should not blindly trust the results. 'Open source' is not the same as 'free' (as in speech), [https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html] and because the results of this site are crowdsourced there is no guarantee that they are accurate. The site is useful for finding options, but you should try to pick an option that is available in the repo. If no options are in the repo and you want to investigate for yourself whether it is free software (if you are uncertain ask here) before installing (more on that later).

https://alternativeto.net/software/bleachbit/?license=opensource

localepurge looks promising. Is it in the repo?

$ apt-cache search localepurge
localepurge - reclaim disk space by removing unneeded localizations

Cool. Let's install it.

$ sudo apt install localepurge

https://alternativeto.net/software/stacer/?license=opensource

GNOME System Monitor? GNOME is the desktop environment Trisquel 7 uses, so I probably have this installed already (you do), but if not I'll see if it's in the repo

$ apt-cache search gnome system monitor
gnome-system-monitor - Process viewer and system resource monitor for GNOME

$ sudo apt install gnome-system-monitor

Why isn't Translate Shell in the repo. Is it proprietary? It seems not, but it does rely on Google Translate. That sucks, because Google Translate is an example of Service as a Software Substitute [https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html]. Let's look for an alternative in the repo. I'm not even going to check online because I bet it's going to be easy to search for.

$ apt-cache search translate
abcm2ps - Translates ABC music description files to PostScript
apertium-br-fr - Apertium linguistic data to translate between Breton and French
bibtex2html - filters BibTeX files and translates them to HTML
coala - translates action languages into answer set programs
enjarify - translate Dalvik bytecode to equivalent Java bytecode
gnome-translate - GNOME interface to libtranslate
hevea - translates from LaTeX to HTML, info, or text
joy2key - Translate joystick movements into equivalent keystrokes
libcanberra-gtk-module - translates GTK+ widgets signals to event sounds
libcanberra-gtk3-module - translates GTK3 widgets signals to event sounds
libjs-i18next - easy way to translate a website on clientside
libjs-languages4translatewiki - Javascript globalization and localization for browser use
libmoosex-meta-typeconstraint-mooish-perl - module to translate Moo-style constraints to Moose-style
libmoox-late-perl - easily translate Moose code to Moo
libtext-wikiformat-perl - translates Wiki formatted text into other formats
libtranslate-bin - command line translator
libtranslate-dev - Development files for libtranslate
libtranslate0 - library for translating text and web pages
libxml-compile-perl - Perl module to translate between XML and Perl based on XML schemas
midicsv - translate MIDI file to CSV
node-languages4translatewiki - Javascript globalization and localization for Node.js
nowhere - Translates programs from an extended Standard ML to Standard ML
python-cssselect - cssselect parses CSS3 Selectors and translates them to XPath 1.0
python3-cssselect - cssselect parses CSS3 Selectors and translates them to XPath 1.0
ruby-gyoku - translates Ruby hashes to XML
trac-translatedpages - Show translated versions of wiki page in the Trac web application
translate - translates words from English into German or viceversa
translate-docformat - any-to-any document translation system
translate-toolkit - Toolkit assisting in the localization of software

gnome-translate sounds like it's part of GNOME, so it will probably work nicely with my desktop environment. If it isn't installed already...

$ sudo apt install gnome-translate

Hm. A Kindle reader for *GNU*/Linux [https://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html]? Well, it's wise to avoid Amazon [https://stallman.org/amazon.html], but there's nothing wrong with ebooks in general.

$ apt-cache search ebook
account-plugin-facebook - GNOME Control Center account plugin for single signon - facebook
ebook-speaker - eBook reader that reads aloud in a synthetic voice
ebook-speaker-dbg - ebook-speaker debugging symbols
ebook-tools-dbg - library and tools to work with the EPUB file format - debug symbols
ebook2cw - convert ebooks to Morse MP3s/OGGs
...
...
...

Yikes. That yielded an overwhelming number of results, and I don't see what I'm looking for. I better refine my search. Even though I would do well to avoid the Amazon Swindle, I figure that an application that could read Kindle books can also read other ebooks.

$ apt-cache search kindle
kindleclip - User interface for managing Amazon Kindle's "My Clippings" file
python-ebooklib - Python 2 E-book library for handling EPUB2/EPUB3/Kindle formats
python3-ebooklib - Python 3 E-book library for handling EPUB2/EPUB3/Kindle formats

Hm. I'm stuck. Better do a web search (using something like Startpage or DuckDuckGo, not yucky Google) for "ebook reader linux" (I know the difference between the Linux kernel and the GNU/Linux operating system, but many people don't so this will yield better search results). First result: [https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-of-the-best-ebook-readers-for-linux-users] Crap, this page is unreadable with JavaScript disabled. Let's try a different search result.: [http://sourcedigit.com/22361-install-calibre-3-0-ebook-reader-on-ubuntu-linux] Oh! If Calibre is in Ubuntu and is not proprietary, it's probably in Trisquel. I'm not even going to bother with 'apt-cache search'. Let's just try to install it and see if it works.

$ sudo apt install calibre

Awesome. Moving on.

I don't want to have to figure out what driver my printer needs. Maybe there's a metapackage of free printer drivers, one of which I can hope works.

$ apt-cache search printer driver
(the number of results is managable, but large enough that I'm not going to paste it here.)

Alright, printer-driver-all looks like what I want, and by now Mason doesn't have to tell me how to install it.

Waterfox is not in the repo. Plenty of browsers are, but say I really want to use Waterfox and I have verified that it is free software.. Since I can't get it from the repo, the next safest place is from the developer. Looks like the developer distributes an archive that I can extract and use to launch the application from without even installing. I'll download it, extract it (easiest way placing the .tar.bz2 file where I want it, right clicking, and selecting 'Extract here') in a logical place (I have a directory in my home folder called Applications for things like this) and running the launcher. (I did not actually do this so I'm not sure exactly where it will be, but it will probably be called 'waterfox').

I don't want to have to navigate to this folder every time I use Waterfox. Luckily Mason recalls a recent thread in which Magic Banana explained how to do this with Tor Browser, which is similarly extracted from an archive and started with a launcher, so I can just read that thread. [https://trisquel.info/en/forum/how-install-packages-downloaded-web-icecat#comment-124837]

------------- end walkthough -----------------

Most applications can't be extracted and launched like Waterfox and Tor Browser, but this is enough information for one post and should be more than enough to get started. Good luck!