| Task | Program | URL | Remarks |
| Video cutting | Openshot | | |
| Graphical desktop | Cinnamon or LXDE | | Cinnamon on desktop, LXDE on servers or slow machines |
| IDE | vim+plugins | | |
| Image manimpulation | gimp | | |
| Mail client | thunderbird, mutt | | |
| Manage Foto Database | shotwell | | |
| Office programs | libreoffice | | |
| Operating system | Debian GNU/Linux | | Moved away from Ubuntu when they started with Unity |
| Screen multiplexer | tmux/screen | | |
| Text editing | vim | | Plugins and .vimrc:  |
| USV | apc | | |
| backup | backuppc, hardlink rsync | | |
| cloud software | owncloud | | |
| commandline programs | vim+gnu C | | |
| compressing videos | handbrake | | |
| computer algebra | wxmaxima | | |
| fixed drive encryption | lvm+luks | | |
| game platform | steam | | |
| geometry/algebra | geogebra | | |
| home theater | plex | | |
| keyboard/mouse sharing | synergy | | |
| local system monitor | conky | | |
| locate memory leaks | valgrind | | |
| mailserver | postfix+dovecot+amavis+policyd | | |
| manage work breaks | workrave | | |
| media player | vlc | | |
| microcontroller programming | arduino | | |
| password db | gnupg, keepassx | | |
| pdf editing | pdfxchange, xournal | | |
| pdf viewer | mupdf, evince | | |
| pdf rearranging | pdfshuffle | | |
| plotting | gnuplot, matplotlib | | |
| presentations | pandoc+LaTeX Beamer, libreoffice | | |
| removable drive encryption | veracrypt | | |
| ripping DVD/BLURAY | makemkv | | |
| scanning | EPSON GT2500, scanimage | | |
| scientific texts | vim+TeXlive/pandoc | | |
| shell | bash | | |
| system monitor | conky | | |
| system monitoring | nagios | | |
| text compare/merge | meld | | |
| usb protection | usbguard | | |
| virtualisation | vmware workstation | | |
| visual programming | processing | | excellent for graphics and videos, easy to teach to students |
| webmail | roundcube | | |
| webserver | apache | | |
| windows on linux | crossover | | |