Programs
Putty the SSH windows client (port available)
Mozilla Firefox cross platform webbrowser
Pan Cross platform newsreader
XChat Cross platform IRC client
Evolution Gnome mail client (outlook workalike)
VIM Cross platform text editor. Thousands of features
Open Office Don't use Microsoft! This is an MS office workalike.
Programming:
SuperParr Image Class Library-An image library I wrote. I like it.
Image Magick-Image Processing and Display Package
Knowledge Repositories:
Informit - good free book archive
Netlibrary -HUGE free book archive.
IEEE LibraryIEEE's journals and conference proceedings(must be a member)
Shopping:
Pricewatch Computer stuff
Outpost Computer stuff
TigerDirect Computer stuff.
Retrobox Old computer hardware for cheap
Computer Shopper
Froogle Google's ad search engine.
Ebay If you don't know what this is by now...go look
Internet News
Slashdot - News for nerds. Stuff that Matters
Software Repositories
Freshmeat -The Authoritative Open Source Software Archive
Tucows -Huge site for internet related software
Comprehensive Perl Archive Network Source for lots and lots of perl libraries
Recommended Linux Distributions
Mandrake Linux probably still the best distribution for new users.
Gentoo Linux probably best for experienced users