Topic: Freely available and legal software.

[Nemesis]

BRL-CAD

The BRL-CAD package is a powerful Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) solid modeling system with over 20 years development and production use by the U.S. military. BRL-CAD includes an interactive geometry editor, parallel ray-tracing support for rendering and geometric analysis, path-tracing for realistic image synthesis, network distributed framebuffer support, image-processing and signal-processing tools. The entire package is distributed in source code form.

[Sirgod]

Thanks for the Cad Proggy. Been looking for something like that.

here's 101 free games and Mods.

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3148013

Stephen

[Nemesis]

Thanks for the Cad Proggy. Been looking for something like that.

Stephen

There is a lot of stuff out there.  If anyone can't find a program for a given function just ask and I (and likely others) will see what we can find.  Many eyes sometimes can find what one pair would miss.

That CAD program was referenced in a discussion in a discussion on Groklaw .

[Bonk]

BRL-CAD

The BRL-CAD package is a powerful Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) solid modeling system with over 20 years development and production use by the U.S. military. BRL-CAD includes an interactive geometry editor, parallel ray-tracing support for rendering and geometric analysis, path-tracing for realistic image synthesis, network distributed framebuffer support, image-processing and signal-processing tools. The entire package is distributed in source code form.

  Must check that out when I get a chance...

[Nemesis]

VideoLan

VLC is a free cross-platform media player.

    * It supports a large number of multimedia formats, without the need for additional codecs
    * It is available for almost every OS
    * It needs little CPU power

Among the things it can do (apparently) is play DVDs on a variety of OSs.  It does need a library (on Linux libdvdcss) that if I am interpretting things right needs to be obtained separately.

Supported OSs:
Windows Windows    
Mac OS X
BeOS BeOS
Debian GNU/Linux    
Mandrake Linux
Fedora Core
Familiar Linux    
YOPY/Linupy    
Zaurus
SuSE Linux    
Red Hat Linux    
WinCE / PocketPC    

Unsupported but source available for OSs:
NetBSD    
OpenBSD    
FreeBSD
Solaris    
QNX    
Gentoo Linux
Crux Linux    

EDIT Note:  Just noticed that this was already on the list courtesy of Mr_Tricorder.

[Mr_Tricorder]

VideoLan

VLC is a free cross-platform media player.

    * It supports a large number of multimedia formats, without the need for additional codecs
    * It is available for almost every OS
    * It needs little CPU power

Among the things it can do (apparently) is play DVDs on a variety of OSs.  It does need a library (on Linux libdvdcss) that if I am interpretting things right needs to be obtained separately.

Supported OSs:
Windows Windows    
Mac OS X
BeOS BeOS
Debian GNU/Linux    
Mandrake Linux
Fedora Core
Familiar Linux    
YOPY/Linupy    
Zaurus
SuSE Linux    
Red Hat Linux    
WinCE / PocketPC    

Unsupported but source available for OSs:
NetBSD    
OpenBSD    
FreeBSD
Solaris    
QNX    
Gentoo Linux
Crux Linux    

EDIT Note:  Just noticed that this was already on the list courtesy of Mr_Tricorder.

Umm...  I already posted that one.  Here's my post from page three.

I just recently found a very good open source media player called VideoLAN (or VLC) here http://www.videolan.org/.  It seems to work very well and doesn't have any pop-up ads like RealPlayer and doesn't screw with your computer like Windows Media Player and Quicktime do.

[Nemesis]

Umm...  I already posted that one.  Here's my post from page three.

I noticed that earlier today when I went to edit the master list which is why I edited my post to include the line below crediting you with the original posting of the link.

EDIT Note:  Just noticed that this was already on the list courtesy of Mr_Tricorder.
« Last Edit: Today at 11:37:22 AM by IKV Nemesis »

I left my post because it did have some additional information such as that it can play DVDs (see quoted line below) and the list of OSs that it supports.

Among the things it can do (apparently) is play DVDs on a variety of OSs.

I expect to try it on Linux next weekend as a DVD player. 

[Bonk]

StarDownloader free 1.45 has been released, new url at download.com:
http://www.download.com/Star-Downloader-Free/3000-2071_4-10346402.html

[Nemesis]

Two free alternative Operating Systems:

Haiku

What is the Haiku project?   
It's an open source effort to first recreate and then extend a most excellent, once-commercially-supported, closed-source, media-oriented desktop computer operating system called the Be operating system (BeOS). The last officially released version of BeOS was revision 5 (R5). The goal of Haiku R1 is to be source- and binary-compatible with BeOS R5. Improvements to Haiku will follow only after R1 is completed. Also see our project overview.

Syllable

The goal of Syllable is to create a reliable and easy-to-use open source operating system for the home and small office user. We also want to encourage developers to create an operating system that is intuitive, easy to use, and powerful.

Syllable is still being developed, but it is already stable and relatively mature, including the following features:

    * Booting usually takes less than ten seconds
    * A full GUI is built into the OS
    * Support for a wide range of common hardware devices, including video, network, and sound cards from manufacturers such as Intel, AMD, 3Com, nVidia, and Creative (see Azaka for a complete list)
    * Internet access through an Ethernet network (though PPP and PPPoE are not yet supported)
    * A graphical web browser (ABrowse) and e-mail client (Whisper), and hundreds of other native applications (see Kamidake for a complete list)
    * A journalled file system, modelled on the BeOS file system
    * An application launcher (like the Windows Start button)
    * 99% POSIX compliance
    * GUI-based preferences tools for networking, display preferences, user administration, etc.
    * The entire source is available via the GPL
    * An object-oriented programming API

[KBFLordKrueg]

Got a list of Software for the WIN XP pro 64 bit OS?
I've noticed many are incompatable as they are for the WIN XP 32 bit OS. 

[Nemesis]

Got a list of Software for the WIN XP pro 64 bit OS?
I've noticed many are incompatable as they are for the WIN XP 32 bit OS. 

The software on the list is for a variety of differnent Operating Systems, it even includes some operating systems.  As someone who avoids XP due to its activation issues (among other things) I can't say offhand if any of these programs have 64-bit XP versions though I would expect some to.

Any particular program that you are looking for a 64-bit equivalent of?  If so let us know and someone may be able to help.  Given the time I'd even do a search myself just to satisfy my curiousity.

[KBFLordKrueg]

None in real particular at this time. Took a few hours of searching, but I got all the basics covered; AV, FW, Java, Torrent...
Just wondered what else was out there since I've encountered so many issues with trying to install programs from my old system onto the new one. Had to download drivers for my printer, camera, keyboard and mouse...
Could use some kind of photoshop/Paintshop. Had PaintShop Pro, but...of course, it wasn't compatable...But, it's not something I use a lot, hence why I had a freeware version on the old one.
I can spend the time looking if I really need one, thanks for the offer, tho. 
I was just hoping you had something handy...

[Bonk]

So WOW64 is not working for your old apps?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WOW64
http://blogs.msdn.com/craigmcmurtry/archive/2004/12/14/301155.aspx

there's a short list here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows_64-bit_applications

An informative description at HP:
http://devresource.hp.com/drc/STK/docs/refs/64what.jsp?jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

[KBFLordKrueg]

So WOW64 is not working for your old apps?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WOW64
http://blogs.msdn.com/craigmcmurtry/archive/2004/12/14/301155.aspx

there's a short list here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows_64-bit_applications

An informative description at HP:
http://devresource.hp.com/drc/STK/docs/refs/64what.jsp?jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

LOL...I guess not. Got incompatibility/driver notices with several applications, but all the games installed (and play) without a hitch. 
Some wouldn't even install, others would install, but not run...the first couple days were a little frustrating.
But, I've got everything straightened out now.
Thanks for that  listing there!

[Bonk]

Here's one for the audio tools section I just came across:

Switch sound file conversion software is an audio file format converter for windows. It can convert audio files from many different file formats into mp3 or wav files, including wav to mp3, au to mp3, aiff to mp3 and much more.

http://www.nch.com.au/switch/
http://www.audiochannel.net/software/switch.zip

[Bonk]

Another one... should have posted it ages ago.

Vim: http://www.vim.org/

Vim is a highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing. It is an improved version of the vi editor distributed with most UNIX systems.

http://www.vim.org/6k/features.en.txt

[Bonk]

Another one for the list, a little esoteric, but I've found it handy recently:

UPX is a free, portable, extendable, high-performance executable packer for several different executable formats. It achieves an excellent compression ratio and offers very fast decompression. Your executables suffer no memory overhead or other drawbacks because of in-place decompression.

http://upx.sourceforge.net/

[Bonk]

Came across this one in my travels today:

Starport: Galactic Empires is a winnable massively multiplayer action strategy game for Windows PCs. You can compete against other players to achieve top standing as the best captain. During each two week game, you can watch your ranking improve against those of your opponents. Winners are chosen from the top. Persistent servers are available too, which do not end after 2 weeks.

http://www.starportgame.com/



Also this one, found it a while back, don't think it made it onto the list:

Allegiance is a team-oriented online multiplayer space combat simulation with real-time strategy (RTS) elements. It could be described as a much-improved "X-Wing vs. Tie-Fighter." Whereas most multiplayer online games have a very simplistic concept of teamwork, if any, Allegiance distinguishes itself by having a strategy interface that demands teamwork in order to accomplish anything. Despite all these advancements, Allegiance still works great on a Pentium 2 computer with a 56k modem.

http://www.freeallegiance.org/
http://research.microsoft.com/allegiance/

[Nemesis]

Just performed a much over due update of the Master List.  I've been very busy since mid December.

[Nemesis]

FreeBASIC - as the name suggests - is a completely free, open-source, 32-bit BASIC compiler, with the syntax the most compatible possible with MS-QuickBASIC, that adds new features such as pointers, unsigned data types, inline-assembly and many others.

    *  A large number of variable types available
    * Arrays
    * BASIC Compatibility
    * Built-in gfx library
    * Clean Syntax
    * Completely *FREE*
    * Create OBJ's, LIB's, DLL's, and console or GUI EXE's
    * Debugging support
    * Enumerations (ENUM's)
    * Escape characters inside literal strings
    * Function overloading
    * Inline Assembly
    * Most of the known C libraries can be used directly, without wrappers
    * Multi-platform
    * Multi-threading
    * Name spaces
    * Optimized code generation
    * Optional function arguments
    * Pointers
    * Preprocessor
    * Typedefs
    * Unicode support
    * Unlimited number of symbols
    * User-defined Types (UDT's)
    * Variable initializers (including arrays and UDT's)

Available for Windows, DOS and Linux.  Version 0.16b.