Things to do on Linux

Tasks you can do and applications that can run on Linux.

Honestly, there appear to be hundreds of thousands of applications that can run on Linux, so this probably deserves its own web site much bigger than this Linux adovcacy one.

See the Wine appdb for a list of Windows programs and how well they run on Linux.

DOS, Commodore, Amiga, Info-zip and ScummVM programs all tend to work well on Linux, with the appropriate software. (Also see this list of emulators for Linux.) (I haven't included hundreds of thousands of Android or BlackBerry 10 apps that will run with their respective simulators.)

Things you can do on Linux
These are examples from an end user or desktop perspective. (Server programs not here.)

All the items below except a few are completely free and actually [free software].

E-mail

 * Alpine
 * MH
 * Thunderbird
 * PYNE
 * BSD Mailx
 * Heirloom Mailx
 * SeaMonkey
 * Mutt
 * PINE
 * Fetchmail
 * Getmail

World Wide Web

 * Firefox
 * SeaMonkey
 * Chrome (proprietary)
 * Chromium
 * Opera (proprietary)
 * ELinks
 * W3M
 * Lynx
 * Mosaic
 * Amaya
 * Chimera

Internet Relay Chat

 * ircII
 * EPIC4 or EPIC5
 * BitchX
 * LostIRC
 * X-Chat or HexChat

Instant Messaging

 * amsn - MSN Messenger
 * ayttm
 * Pork - AOL Instant Messenger
 * Cabber - Jabber
 * Gabber - Jabber
 * Psi
 * micq (ICQ)
 * Pidgin - AOL Instant Messenger, Google Talk/Facebook/Jabber, IRC
 * kmses - MSN Messenger
 * emesene
 * licq - ICQ, MSN Messenger with extension

Office

 * OpenOffice/LibreOffice office suite
 * OpenOffice/LibreOffice Write, word processor
 * OpenOffice/LibreOffice Calc, spreadsheet editor
 * OpenOffice/LibreOffice Impress, presentation editor
 * OpenOffice/LibreOffice Draw, graphical software
 * OpenOffice/LibreOffice Math, math editor
 * OpenOffice/LibreOffice Base, database software

Audio

 * Audacity, audio editor
 * Ardour, digital audio workstation (DAW)
 * Sox, audio transformation

Graphics

 * The GIMP, image editor
 * XFig, image creator
 * Inkscape, image creator
 * Blender, 3D graphics creator/editor

First person shooter

 * QuakeForge, Quake and QuakeWorld, including the following mods
 * Capture the Flag
 * Team Fortress
 * CustomTF
 * MegaTF
 * SpamTF
 * DOOM, including mods
 * SDLDoom
 * GZDoom
 * Chocolate Doom
 * Brutal Doom

Empire/civilization strategy games

 * Empire
 * FreeCraft
 * Craft
 * Freeciv
 * Classic Empire (DOS emulator required)
 * Empire: Wargame of the Century (legal copy, more, and Amiga emulator required)

War game strategy games

 * LGeneral, clone of Panzer General
 * Battle for Wesnoth, fantasy war game

Arcade games

 * viruskiller

Scrolling shooters

 * Chromium B.S.U.
 * PowerManga
 * XGalaga
 * XSoldier

Interactive fiction games

 * Adventure (historical note, the first computer game ever made)
 * Battlestar
 * Gumshoe
 * Beneath a Steel Sky
 * Flight of the Amazon Queen
 * Drascula
 * Lure of the Temptress
 * Full Throttle, including demo (with DOSBox)
 * Kings Quest I.II/III/IV/V/VI/VII
 * Maniac Mansion
 * Just above everything else listed at the ScummVM.org wiki Supported Games category (212 games)

Management games

 * Endgame: Singularity

Wine
Wine, which is Windows emulator software for Linux, also has a database of Windows programs that run on Linux and how well they run on the emulator. Here it is here

Here are the top ten Windows applications for Wine:
 * Final Fantasy XI
 * EVE Online
 * World of Warcraft
 * StarCraft I
 * Guild Wars
 * StarCraft II
 * Team Fortress 2
 * Watchtower Library
 * Left 4 Dead Full
 * Warcraft III The Frozen Throne