UNIX Resources (emphasis on items used in ASD)

Perl Items

• Comprehensive Perl Archive Network: CPAN (CPAN Search page)
• Perl Home Page

Python items

• Pypi, Python Package Index (for finding 3rd party
• Python (Canonical site)
• Matplotlib, python's plotting library
• Anaconda the premier scientific python distribution
• Astroconda, Space Telescope Science Institute package, with special emphasis on Hubble tools and IRAF support (IRAF is python 2.x and 32-bit only)

Other Languages

• Expect, a tool for automating interactive command-line executables, by Don Libes/NIST (Gaitherburg).
  
  • Expect home page (NIST)
  • Expect (original Tcl/Tk)| Perl Expect (Expect.pm)| Python Expect (pexpect)
• Ghostscript Home Page (open source PostScript interpreter)
• Comprehensive TeX Archive Network (CTAN)
• php (useful for automating web pages)

E-Mail clients & software

In an era when one's choices seem to be between Outlook and Outlook, this section may seem quaint. (Being limited to Outlook is largely an issue of OATH2 authentication. Apple Mail as of macOS 10.14 supports OATH2, but NASA has disallowed its use.

• DavMail is Java glue allowing OAUTH2 frontend, so that, say, Thunderbird or mutt can work with the Outlook 365 server.
• The Mutt E-Mail Client
• Alpine (follow-on to pine)
• Thunderbird (and Add-ons)
• SpamAssassin
• Fetchmail

Imaging & Mathematical Packages

• HEASARC packages (FTOOLS, XANADU, fv, FITSIO)
• IDL from Harris Geospatial
• IDLAstro, Wayne Landsman (GSFC)'s Astronomy User's Library
• Coyote Graphics for IDL, from David Fanning.
• Mathematica (Wolfram)
• AIPS (Classic Variety)
• CASA, the Common Astronomy Software Applications package (follow-on to AIPS)
• SAOimage ds9 Image Display Utility
• PGPLOT Graphics Subroutine Library
• Numerical Recipes Home Page

Graphics Tools

• Image Magick (command line set of invaluable utilities (e.g., convert, mogrify, identify, and more)
• The Gimp (GNU Image Manipulation Program)
• Exiftool Command line and perl tool for reading photo EXIF data.

Text Editors

• XEmacs -- Emacs: The Next Generation
• VIM: vi improved

Windowing Environment for Linux

• GNOME
• KDE ("K" Desktop Environment)

Sysadmin Tools

• Remy Evard's Request System (1994 LISA paper)
• Sudo Home Page
• CUPS, the Common UNIX Printing System
• MX Toolbox SuperTool (tool for checking SPF, DKIM, DMARC setting for mail servers)
• SSL Certificate Tools (checking certificates and sites)

Some other useful utilities

• renameutils (useful tools like qmv for editing a set of filemnames to rename)
• inetutils (There are times you need plaintext commands for testing: ftp, telnet, etc)
• pstree (small utility to show entire parent and child processs)
• htop (a much more powerful process viewer than top.)
• Disk usage tools article (nice summary of tools to show you disk usage, rather like Grand Perspective and Daisy Disk on Macs.)

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David Friedlander
29 March 2002, April 2020