I don't have any GNOME and KDE software installed. Here are some of the very good software I've installed that don't require GNOME and KDE support.
The software under X:
Window Manager: Xfce4 (also can install ICEWM, but I still think Xfce4 easy to use some)
Desktop + File Manager: Rox-filer
Chinese input: Scim-chinese
Browser: Firefox
E-mail: Sylpheed
Chat Tool: Gaim
Text editors: Mousepad, Gvim
FTP client: gftp
Terminal: xfce-terminal
Svg:librsvg2
Image view: Gqview
Picture editor: GIMP
Calculator: Galculator
Download: d4x
Grab Bag Analysis: Ethereal
PDF reading: Acrobat Reader 7.0 Chinese version
Package Management: Synaptic
Remote Desktop: Rdesktop
System monitoring: GKRELLM
Music Video: Not installed (because there is no sound card, to be installed, with XMMS and MPlayer on it.) )
Software under the console:
File Manager: MC
Chinese display input: Zhcon
Browser: w3m + w3m-img
Text Editor: VI, Cooledit (MC)
FTP client: lftp
Download: wget