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Qalculate! - Put a Better Calculator on Your Ubuntu Desktop
Looking for a better desktop calculator? sudo apt-get install qalculate
The Ubuntu desktop includes a very basic calculator. But it's exactly that - basic.
In contrast, Kubuntu comes with KCalc, a definite step up from Gnome's default 1+1=2 calculator.
From Qalculate!'s homepage:
Qalculate! - The Ultimate Desktop Calculator.
Qalculate! is a multi-purpose desktop calculator for GNU/Linux. It is small and simple to use but with much power and versatility underneath. Features include customizable functions, units, arbitrary precision, plotting, and a user-friendly interface. (KDE and GTK+).
Now that's a rowlin' calculator. Need to convert a decimal to a fraction? No problem. Qalculate!'s somewhat unique user-interface allows it to display a variety of formats. It's another one of those little applications that one should switch out immediately after installing Ubuntu.
Qalculate! is feature packed. There's really not much it can't do when it comes to scientific calculations, though it might take a while to figure out all the functions beyond your regular arithmetic and conversions. I like it for its ability to convert a decimal to a fraction and to display fractions. No more trying to figure out what decimal one-sixth comes to.
Other alternatives are SpeedCrunch, a cross-platform calculator, and KCalc, both of which are available through Synaptic.
When I installed KCalc, no launcher was created, so I made my own by right-clicking the top panel, selecting "Add to Panel", then "Custom Application Launcher", filling out the pop-up menu with the name, the launch command, (/usr/bin/kcalc), and adding a brief description. KCalc is a powerful and easy to use calculator that'll handle most of your math needs, and it integrates nicely with the Gnome environment - KCalc beats Gnome's GCalcTool hands-down and it's also a little lighter on resources if you happen to be working on a slightly less than state-of-the-art machine.
Know of some other good desktop calculators? Leave a comment and tell us about it.
