top best Linux tools collection for electronic systems engineering

These tools are a selection of the best free tools for electronic engineering desktops on Linux. Especially they are working on Red Hat Fedora but might also be compatible with other Linux versions :  Ubuntu / Mint / Suse / Arch Linux / CentOS. ...etc

SELECTION FROM AUGUST 2014 

LabPlot	LabPlot is for scientific 2D and 3D data and function plotting. The various display and analysis functions are explained in the handbook (KDE help center). LabPlot also provides a component for easily viewing the project files in Konqueror.
alliance	Alliance is a complete set of free CAD tools and portable libraries for VLSI design. It includes a VHDL compiler and simulator, logic synthesis tools, and automatic place and route tools. A complete set of portable CMOS libraries is provided, including a RAM generator, a ROM generator and a data-path compiler. Alliance is the result of more than ten years effort spent at ASIM department of LIP6 laboratory of the Pierre et Marie Curie University (Paris VI, France). Alliance has been used for research projects such as the 875 000 transistors StaCS superscalar microprocessor and 400 000 transistors IEEE Gigabit HSL Router. You are kindly requested to mention " Designed with alliance (c) LIP6, Université Pierre et Marie Curie" so as to spread the word about "alliance CAD system" and its development team. Alliance provides CAD tools covering most of all the digital design flow: VHDL Compilation and Simulation Model checking and formal proof RTL and Logic synthesis Data-Path compilation Macro-cells generation Place and route Layout edition Netlist extraction and verification Design rules checking alliance is listed among Fedora Electronic Lab (FEL) packages.
electric	Electric is a sophisticated electrical CAD system that can handle many forms of circuit design, including custom IC layout (ASICs), schematic drawing, hardware description language specifications, and electro-mechanical hybrid layout.
fped	fped is an editor that allows the interactive creation of footprints of electronic components. Footprint definitions are stored in a text format that resembles a programming language. The language is constrained such that anything that can be expressed in the textual definition also has a straightforward equivalent operation that can be performed through the GUI.
freehdl	A project to develop a free, open source, GPL'ed VHDL simulator for Linux.
geda-docs geda-examples geda-gschem geda-symbols geda-utils	gEDA project. full GPL'd suite and toolkit of Electronic Design Automation tools. These tools are used for electrical circuit design, schematic capture, simulation, prototyping, and production. Currently, the gEDA project offers a mature suite of free software applications for electronics design, including schematic capture, attribute management, bill of materials (BOM) generation, netlisting into over 20 netlist formats, analog and digital simulation, and printed circuit board (PCB) layout.
gerbv	Gerber Viewer (gerbv) is a viewer for Gerber files. Gerber files are generated from PCB CAD system and sent to PCB manufacturers as basis for the manufacturing process. The standard supported by gerbv is RS-274X. gerbv also supports drill files. The format supported are known under names as NC-drill or Excellon. The format is a bit undefined and different EDA-vendors implement it different. gerbv is listed among Fedora Electronic Lab (FEL) packages.
ghdl	GHDL is a VHDL simulator, using the GCC technology. VHDL is a language standardized by the IEEE, intended for developing electronic systems. GHDL implements the VHDL language according to the IEEE 1076-1987 or the IEEE 1076-1993 standard. It compiles VHDL files and creates a binary that simulates (or executes) your design. GHDL does not do synthesis: it cannot translate your design into a netlist. Since GHDL is a compiler (i.e., it generates object files), you can call functions or procedures written in a foreign language, such as C, C++, or Ada95.
gnuradio	GNU Radio is a collection of software that when combined with minimal hardware, allows the construction of radios where the actual waveforms transmitted and received are defined by software. What this means is that it turns the digital modulation schemes used in today's high performance wireless devices into software problems.
kicad	Kicad is an EDA software to design electronic schematic diagrams and printed circuit board artwork up to 16 layers. Kicad is a set of four softwares and a project manager: - Eeschema: schematic entry - Pcbnew: board editor - Gerbview: GERBER viewer (photoplotter documents) - Cvpcb: footprint selector for components used in the circuit design - Kicad: project manager
rfdump	RFDump is a tool to detect RFID-Tags and show their meta information: Tag ID, Tag Type, manufacturer etc. The user data memory of a tag can be displayed and modified using either a Hex or an ASCII editor. Tag contents can be stored and loaded using a specific XML fomrat. This effectively allows to copy data from one tag to another. In addition, the integrated cookie feature demonstrates how easy it is for a company to abuse RFID technology to spy on their customers. RFDump works with the ACG Multi-Tag Reader or similar card reader hardware.
tetex-IEEEtran	The IEEEtran class is the official LaTeX class for authors of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) transactions journals and conferences.
xcircuit	Xcircuit is a general-purpose drawing program and also a specific-purpose CAD program for circuit schematic drawing and schematic capture.