One of the most tedious challenges that I had to face on my RepRap journey was understanding how each of the different software options worked and what was best for me. Reading through the forum, I find that this is one of the most common questions asked by newcomers to RepRap "what do I install and whats best for my RepRap?"
I decided to create a comprehensive map, or overview briefly describing each of the options for each step of the toolchain. This is not meant as an indepth look at every option there is, instead I tried to keep the descriptions brief and only included options that are widely supported by the community. There are a couple of spelling errors that I couldn't fix as my computer was stolen and with it my original Photoshop file. Luckily, I had uploaded a copy of the picture online that will have to suffice.
