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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Linux has plenty of software for students.
- There’s a wide range of apps for all types of needs.
- Each of these apps can be installed and used for free.
Oh, how I loved being a student. Yeah, I was one of those people. Education was so important to me, and I couldn’t get enough of it. I enjoyed it so much that I went on to serve as a teacher at three different universities.
Of course, I went to school before Linux was created. OK, I went to high school before the personal computer was even a thing, so my apps were a pad of paper, a pencil, and a calculator.
I’m old.
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Today is a different beast, with numerous software tools to help students become more efficient and organized with their studies. You might be surprised, but Linux offers a wide range of software designed to meet the diverse needs of students.
Let’s dive in and explore some of them. I’ll start with the more obvious and work my way toward the lesser-known.
LibreOffice
You had to know LibreOffice would be on this list. After all, students have to write papers, and what better way to do so than by using the open-source powerhouse office suite LibreOffice.
This popular office suite handles documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, formulas — it even includes a database. LibreOffice is installed locally, so you don’t have to worry about a third-party cloud host scraping your papers to train its LLMs.
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Keep in mind that you’ll probably want to configure LibreOffice to default to saving in MS Office formats, so if you submit your papers electronically, they’ll be accepted. LibreOffice can be installed and used for free on any Linux distribution.
Ollama/Msty
We live in an era where AI is virtually everywhere and in everything. This gets tricky because you do not want to use AI to write your papers (or do any of your work for you). However, AI can be useful for research (as long as you verify the accuracy of query results).
I’m a big fan of using AI locally (so a third party doesn’t have access to my queries). To that end, I suggest using the Ollama/Msty combo because it’s easy to install and use. Even better, you get to select which LLMs to add, and you can easily switch between them as needed.
Also: My two favorite AI apps on Linux – and how I use them to get more done
These days, I use Ollama/Msty before any other AI app or service, ensuring my privacy and the privacy of my data. Ollama and Msty can both be installed and used for free on Linux.
Kalzium
If you’re in a chemistry class, you know the Periodic Table of Elements is a rather important tool. With the Kalzium app, you can search for information about individual elements and even all sorts of facts about the periodic table. You get easy access to information such as melting points, electron affinity, electronegativity, electron configuration, radii, mass, ionization energy, and more.
Kalzium is easy to use, has a well-designed UI (although it does look a bit dated), and will come in very handy during chemistry class. Kalzium is free to install and use, but do note that it is a KDE Plasma app. On a non-KDE Plasma desktop, Kalzium can be installed as a Flatpak app.
Stellarium
If you’re taking an astronomy class, Stellarium will be a must-have. Stellarium is a free planetarium for your computer and presents a realistic sky in 3D, showing a catalog of over 600,000 stars (with an extra catalog that includes over 200 million), as well as over 80,000 deep sky objects (with an extra catalog of over 1 million), asterisms and illustrations of constellations, constellations for 40+ cultures, images of nebulae, a realistic Milky Way, and much more.
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Stellarium can be installed for free from source, Snap, or with an AppImage.
KAlegbra
At some point, you’re going to be studying algebra, so why not have an app that can help you with that? One such app is KAlgebra, which includes numerical, logical, symbolic, and analysis features for mathematical expressions and graphic (2D/3D) plots. KAlgebra uses the Mathematical Markup Language (MathML), but you do not have to be well-versed in MathML to use KAlgebra. KAlgebra also includes value tables, variables, a built-in dictionary, script support, exports, and logs. KAlgebra is free to install and use.
Anki
If you need flashcards, you need Anki. With this app, you can access your flashcards across devices (PC, mobile, and Web), get media support (for audio, images, videos, and scientific markup), customization, and add-ons.
Anki can handle decks of over 100,000 cards without a problem. Anki supports complex workflows and even allows you to share your decks.
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The only drawback to Anki is that you have to install it on Linux via source. That’s not too challenging, because the download includes an install script, so all you have to do is download the file, unpack it, and run sudo ./install.sh from within the anki directory. Anki is free to install and use.
Standard Notes
You’ll likely need a note-taking app, so why not opt for one of the best? Standard Notes allows you to create traditional notes, but it also makes it easy to add tags, pin/password-protect notes, pin and star notes, export/duplicate/archive notes, and even sync them across devices. There’s also a built-in spell checker, themes, a focus mode, two-factor authentication, a passcode lock, and end-to-end encryption.
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If you’re looking for a note-taking app that is secure and offers just the right mixture of features, Standard Notes is it. You can install and use Standard Notes for free, but paid accounts offer additional features. Check out the Standard Notes pricing matrix for more information.
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