Thread: Open Source Thread

I've been wanting to do this for a while. There are some great open source products out there that I use on a daily basis, and wanted to make sure people knew existed. There are a bunch of us on here that have a nice collection of free and open source software. I'd like to sticky a list at the top of this forum, so we'll have a reference for people to find good open source projects.

Lets stick to desktop software for now, and we'll do another thread for Open Source server software.

Here are a few off the top of my head. I'll add more later, and list a comparable software if I can think of one. Maybe I'll even be nice and add some links at some point. You have google, use it.

OpenOffice - Office
GIMP - Photoshop/Illustrator
Audacity - Audio/Sound
Pidgin - Instant Messenging
Combined Community Codec Pack (CCCP) - Audio/Video Player
uTorrent - BitTorrent client
ClamWin - Antivirus

OpenOffice is, in my opinion, every bit as good as Microsoft Office. I've run docs back and forth between the two (have Office on the desktop and OpenOffice on the laptop) and haven't had any issues.

This is going to be a great thread and I will contribute as much as I can to this to help people realize just how many programs there are out there that are free and just as good as the software we pay for.

Originally Posted by Creeping Death

I've been wanting to do this for a while. There are some great open source products out there that I use on a daily basis, and wanted to make sure people knew existed. There are a bunch of us on here that have a nice collection of free and open source software. I'd like to sticky a list at the top of this forum, so we'll have a reference for people to find good open source projects.

Lets stick to desktop software for now, and we'll do another thread for Open Source server software.

Here are a few off the top of my head. I'll add more later, and list a comparable software if I can think of one. Maybe I'll even be nice and add some links at some point. You have google, use it.

OpenOffice - Office
GIMP - Photoshop/Illustrator
Audacity - Audio/Sound
Pidgin - Instant Messenging
Combined Community Codec Pack (CCCP) - Audio/Video Player
uTorrent - BitTorrent client
ClamWin - Antivirus

FYI Audacity is not just for Audio Sound but for recording and editing music
Also another good program that can be installed in Windows is Amarok by installing the KDE runtime environment.

The KDE on Windows Project - Welcome to The KDE on Windows Project

Linux Ubuntu 9.10 Operating System!! New life in an old PC!!!

I have been having major issues with an old PC. Everything from registry issues, malware, spyware, ect. Basically accumulated junk from using a pc over 6 years. After many attempts to clean, fix, and upgrade, a complete system format was necessary. I installed a new XP operating system, and my old key wouldn't work! I could go on about why, and why windows genuine advantage sucks, and microsofts telephone support is lame, but every solution resulted in me spending money on tech support or a new key. Microsoft can f*off.

Linux Ubuntu is 100% free! Open source is excellent!

This is my first experience with linux. I must say, the GUI is great! Just as good as any windows OpSys or even OSX (linux based kernal?) The software suite INCLUDES MOST of the programs mentioned above and an installer for many many more. The biggest drawback so far is setting up hardware (like Logitech) items that only offer Windows support and network configuring with windows based machines. Most issues can be resolved by reverting back to a command prompt outside of the GUI and placing some pretty tricky codes in appropriate places. THere is PLENTY of online support for this though. All in all I'm a happy guy!

Posting this running Ubuntu with Firefox.

Anybody familiar with Linux? Issues, drawbacks, positives?

GoKingsGo

Is there an ubuntu I can install on an ancient celeron 800 that was running Windows ME ?

Originally Posted by SuperCalo2000

Is there an ubuntu I can install on an ancient celeron 800 that was running Windows ME ?

Yes! the x86 32 bit version will work fine.

Originally Posted by KingThomas

Linux Ubuntu 9.10 Operating System!! New life in an old PC!!!

I have been having major issues with an old PC. Everything from registry issues, malware, spyware, ect. Basically accumulated junk from using a pc over 6 years. After many attempts to clean, fix, and upgrade, a complete system format was necessary. I installed a new XP operating system, and my old key wouldn't work! I could go on about why, and why windows genuine advantage sucks, and microsofts telephone support is lame, but every solution resulted in me spending money on tech support or a new key. Microsoft can f*off.

Linux Ubuntu is 100% free! Open source is excellent!

This is my first experience with linux. I must say, the GUI is great! Just as good as any windows OpSys or even OSX (linux based kernal?) The software suite INCLUDES MOST of the programs mentioned above and an installer for many many more. The biggest drawback so far is setting up hardware (like Logitech) items that only offer Windows support and network configuring with windows based machines. Most issues can be resolved by reverting back to a command prompt outside of the GUI and placing some pretty tricky codes in appropriate places. THere is PLENTY of online support for this though. All in all I'm a happy guy!

Posting this running Ubuntu with Firefox.

Anybody familiar with Linux? Issues, drawbacks, positives?

GoKingsGo

I have been running Ubuntu on all my home machines for the past 2 years. There are a lot of great things about the OS and a few issues but most of the issues will never show up in the system if you are using it for daily use.
Hardware support is getting better and thanks to Google Hardware drivers will be getting better for Linux.
The only issue I have ran into was the new EXT4 file system and working with Large files 512MB+ in size where the system hangs and you have to reboot it. but if you are not manipulating large files then all is well.
Now if you are using the EXT3 file system you can do anything without problems.

Linux is a lot faster on boot and shutdown than both Mac and Win. Data transfers are on par with Mac OS and above Win. Linux will run Windows Programs and with the correct emulator Mac programs can be run although it is still very early to get this part running solid. but it is going to happen.

Mac is good for what it does
Windows is good for what it does.
Linux is good at doing both what Mac and Windows does and more.

btw Mac OS is a BSD UNIX base similar to Linux but not Linux. BSD is a rock solid OS hence why Apple choose to use this OS to build OSX on top of. The only problem with OSX is Apple closed off BSD so you can't make changes to the OS like you can with BSD/Linux.

Knoppix 5.1 is also great I use it as a live CD, it has helped me find viruses on a Windows machine as well as virus infected USB's and I've also been able to recover files from a corrupted Windows hard drive, great tool to use