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Tuesday December 19, 2006

I Want A Freeware Utility To ...

Here's something else I've been meaning to do for a while. Back in July, I discovered a website that gave pointers to 450+ Windows freeware utilities for solving problems.

I've no real interest in the Windows utilities (I'm slowly trying to purge Windows machines from our house), but I did like the list of common problems.

What I want to do now is to try to find freely available Linux or Unix versions of the ones that interest me. Cross-platform solutions score higher. If they are open source as well, then so much the better.

As a first step, I've trimmed their list to just the problems that I think will be useful to me, removing their suggested Windows solutions. Duplicate entries in different categories have also (hopefully) been pruned out. Some like "protect my computer against viruses" are kind of Windows specific, so I don't care about them. Some of them are there automatically on Linux or Unix (ssh, telnet), so they are sort of redundant. I've left some of them in though, as there might be better solutions. For the "bleedin' obvious" ones, I've just removed them.

Where there is a similar mechanism on Linux/Unix, I'll adjust the entries accordingly (Windows Registry will become gconf resources for me).

Even now, some of the ones I've selected I've still tagged with "maybe" as I haven't had to do that task yet.

Over the next few months, I plan to try to find out what the potential solutions are for all of these problems. Some I already know how to do in one way, but there might be other better alternatives. Where there are multiple choices, I'll be soliciting feedback on which of the choices you think is best and why.

I will try keep a webpage of the solutions I've found so far. Over time, hopefully it'll be an extensive resource.

Of course, if anybody knows of such a resource already compiled, then just point me in the right direction.

Here's my task list.

A. Anti-Spyware/Anti-Virus/Anti-Rootkit Freeware Utilities :
None.
B. Audio/Music/MP3/Real/Wav Freeware Utilities :
1. burn a CD :
2. burn an audio CD :
3. organize the mp3 collection :
4. play all mp3 files in a folder :
5. play an audio CD :
6. play an audio file :
7. play real audio (.ra, .rm) files without the real software :
8. record/save streaming music :
9. rip music from a CD :
10. show song lyrics for the song playing :
11. tag/fix mp3/audio file tags : (maybe)
C. Business/Office Freeware Utilities :
1. capture the screen :
2. change the date/time on multiple files :
3. convert a document into a different format :
4. convert a document into pdf :
5. create a small database :
6. create pdf file :
7. create/edit css lists :
8. create/edit html color codes : (maybe)
9. show all the fonts installed :
D. Communication Freeware Utilities :
1. chat on IRC :
2. chat with different messenger clients :
3. check multiple email accounts with 1 utility :
4. phone free using the internet :
5. talk to skype and google-talk clients :
6. telnet/ssh to a site :
7. video conference with others : (maybe)
E. Desktop Freeware Utilities :
1. add useful widgets :
2. change desktop wallpaper automatically :
3. display a calendar :
4. display weather information :
5. hide/bring back all the icons on the desktop :
6. launch applications :
7. launch applications quickly (icons) :
8. launch applications with shortcut names :
9. make application windows transparent : (maybe)
10. multiple desktops and switch between them :
11. synch computer clock to exact time :
12. write sticky (post-it) notes on the desktop :
F. Editors/Notepad Replacements Freeware Utilities :
1. edit programming source code :
2. edit text :
G. Files and Folders Freeware Utilities :
1. access files remotely :
2. archive (zip) files :
3. backup/mirror a folder on another drive :
4. change file-date on multiple files :
5. compare two text files and find difference or merge them :
6. create a self-extracting compressed files archive for a list of files :
7. display size/space of folders on a drive :
8. encrypt a file :
9. find/delete duplicate files :
10. keep various versions of a file :
11. list all files in a directory/folder in a text/html file :
12. locate a file on the hard drive :
13. perform muliple operations on files/folders :
14. rename multiple files :
15. search file/text on the computer :
16. search and replace text in multiple files :
17. upload/download using FTP :
18. upload/download using TFTP :
19. use GMail to store some files :
20. view all text files in a folder :
H. Financial Freeware Utilities :
1. manage personal finances :
I. Graphics/Images/Photographs Freeware Utilities :
1. convert images into various formats :
2. create a flash-based animated how-to/tutorial : (maybe)
3. create a web photo album and slideshow from my photographs. :
4. create icons :
5. create thumbnails of images :
6. draw charts/graphs in 2D/3D from data :
7. draw diagrams :
8. edit an image :
9. find the color of any pixel :
10. magnify image to pixel level :
11. manage galleries of photographs :
12. paint creatively :
13. paint creatively (for kids) :
14. pick a color from a pallette :
15. remove unnecessary information from a jpeg file :
16. stitch together multiple photographs :
17. view images in an album folder :
J. Information/Fun/Misc Freeware Utilities :
1. convert units of measures :
2. find word meanings and synonymns :
3. see 3d space simulation :
4. solve a scientific calculation :
5. solve equations and plot graphs :
6. zoom onto the Earth from space :
K. Internet Freeware Utilities :
1. backup mozilla (firefox/thunderbird) browser profile :
2. blog from the desktop :
3. create a single page html of all firefox bookmarks :
4. create/edit html files / website :
5. create/edit xml files :
6. download a file via a torrent / p2p site :
7. download an entire website :
8. download manager for internet downloads :
9. encrypt email messages :
10. ftp multiple sites simultaeously :
11. ftp files securely :
12. log into an internet-connected computer from another :
13. manage passwords :
14. manage/resume file downloads :
15. monitor bandwidth usage :
16. read my RSS feeds :
17. remove all html tags from a file to make a into text file :
18. remove dead (404) bookmarks :
19. safely browse the web :
20. search the web from the browser :
21. tune-up firefox browser :
L. Keyboard Freeware Utilities :
1. automatically send defined keystrokes :
2. easily enter unicode characters :
3. remap the keyboard :
M. Performance/Recovery/System Freeware Utilities :
1. backup/restore the gconf database :
2. burn/create CD/DVD iso image files :
3. capture all text written to screen :
4. completely wipe/delete a file :
5. completely wipe/delete a hard disk :
6. defrag the hard drive :
7. display CPU information :
8. display TCP/UDP endpoints and applications using them :
9. display all file activity in real-time :
10. display all processes running :
11. display hard drive status information :
12. display system information :
13. display/edit gconf entries neatly :
14. find which program has a particular file or directory open :
15. monitor bandwidth usage :
16. optimize TCP/IP settings :
17. remotely control another computer :
18. scan IP/ open ports :
19. tweak security settings :
20. view/kill running tasks :
N. Productivity Freeware Utilities :
1. connect two/more internet-connected-computers into a virtual network :
2. keep more than 1 text snippet in the clipboard :
3. organize calendar, contacts, to-do :
4. organize schedules and tasks :
5. read the text file to me :
6. spell check in an application that doesn't have that feature : (maybe)
O. Programming Freeware Utilities :
1. create installation programs :
P. Uninstaller Freeware Utilities :
1. cleanly uninstall applications :
Q. Video/DVDs Freeware Utilities :
1. backup a DVD :
2. capture screen activity into a movie :
3. copy a DVD :
4. copy/shrink a DVD to the hard drive :
R. Windows Explorer Replacements/Shell Extensions Freeware Utilities :
None.
S. Corrections :
1. edit PDF files :
2. print 2 pages on 1 side of the paper :

[Technorati Tag: Freeware]

[Technorati Tag: Unix]

[Technorati Tag: Linux]

( Dec 19 2006, 07:33:36 AM PST ) [Listen] Permalink Comments [24]

Comments:

About rootkit detection, here is a link: http://it.slashdot.org/it/06/12/18/1957241.shtml Even for antivirus, sooner or later, it will become also mandatory for Linux. But I don't think there is any for Linux-specific viruses yet.

Posted by François on December 19, 2006 at 07:56 AM PST #

G9: http://www.pixelbeat.org/fslint/

Posted by Pádraig Brady on December 19, 2006 at 08:09 AM PST #

Not really the same, but in case you don't know about this, there is a neat web page with a "table of equivalents / replacements / analogs of Windows software in Linux." here: http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html. It has a task description so you should be able to check what you want quickly, and use it as the windows freeware software page.

Posted by Luis Gomes on December 19, 2006 at 08:29 AM PST #

I could answer many, but what fun would that be? Your 'own' answer is the correct one.

However, one always seems overlooked: J1 - convert units of measure.

Google!

Time well spend is learning Google's more advanced functions.

Posted by Wes W on December 19, 2006 at 08:35 AM PST #

Burn ISOs - http://infrarecorder.sourceforge.net/ , http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9d467a69-57ff-4ae7-96ee-b18c4790cffd&displaylang=en (cdburn), http://www.imgburn.com/ , http://www.cdburnerxp.se/

Posted by 137.44.2.188 on December 19, 2006 at 08:54 AM PST #

You should be able to find most of that on http://freshmeat.net

Posted by Jeff on December 19, 2006 at 09:58 AM PST #

By far the most widely used list of open source (and non-open) software can be found at Freshmeat http://freshmeat.net Every significant open source project posts their release announcements there.

Posted by Daniel P. Berrange on December 19, 2006 at 10:07 AM PST #

http://www.gnomefiles.org/ , maintained by the OS News people, is a fairly comprehensive and well-organized and categorized database of GNOME / GTK+ apps. Since I run GNOME, it's where I look first when I think "I want an app to do $SOMETHING".

Posted by Adam Williamson on December 19, 2006 at 11:38 AM PST #

Istanbul for screencasting. http://live.gnome.org/Istanbul

Posted by John on December 19, 2006 at 11:59 AM PST #

Thanks everybody. I'll start putting my list together in the new year.

Posted by Rich Burridge on December 19, 2006 at 12:05 PM PST #

I am an Ubuntu user, and am running 6.10 with Gnome / Edgy Eft. Also, I would to throw a few applications your way, since I am now Linux only, I have had to find my way around things. Some of these things are cross platform. I will note the URL with (XP) for those. First, I would like to give you the link to Automatix. This is an independent installer with many free ware things that will make your life so much easier. Automatix contains many of the applications I am suggesting to you. It also has an easy and effective version of Skype for Linux (few differences between it and its Windows counterpart). Automatix URL: http://getautomatix.com/wiki/index.php?title=Automatix2_for_%28K%2CX%29Ubuntu_6.10_i386 This has many tools that are very useful, especially on the multimedia end of things. I installed their codec pack and installed gxine on my Ubuntu System. I now have not had any trouble playing any media except for Digital Rights Management video. Also, you can download the linux version of DVDShrink for making burnable images out of copied DVD's. It also exists for Windows. (XP) DVDShrink URL: http://www.dvdshrink.org Program mentioned above. (XP) Audacity URL: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ For sound, I have found that Audacity is clean, easy to use, and efficient means of dealing with audio. Its a sequencer but can also do conversion to common formats (supports MP3[Lame], ogg, FLAC, etc.) XMMS URL: http://www.xmms.org I enjoy this audio player since it integrates well into gnome (drag and drop music files, shoutcast stream files, etc). It seems to be the most efficient that I have used so far. Amarok URL: http://amarok.kde.org I know that you are on the Planet Gnome, but I really whowed people and enjoyed using Amarok. It is moderate on the resource usage, has LastFM streaming radio integration, and great Wikipedia linking abilities for lyrics, album art, information, etc. I am trying to get away from KDE for personal reasons, although I have to admit, I like this one. (XP) SongBird URL: http://www.songbirdnest.com This is the other multimedia player I found that I do like. It doesn't seem to be nearly as efficient on my system as Amarok or XMMS, but its has a great look, and looks as if it has some serious potential. The more common applications I use what many people use. I use Open Office 2, Evolution for my email needs. For communication, I use a myriad of tools to get what I need. I use GAIM 2 for general messenging since it can talk to most major messengers. For Voice chatting, I generally use Skype. Gyachi URL: http://gyachi.sourceforge.net I have found this open source Yahoo client that seems to handle all of the Yahoo functionality also. I haven't had the chance to test out the webcam part of it, but it claims to be virtually the same things as the windows client. GTK-Gnutella URL: http://gtk-gnutella.sourceforge.net This is a P2P client that does the same thing as Limewire and the like. It's not very pretty, but its trim, efficient, and gets more hits than I have seen the other ones. (XP) Frostwire URL: http://www.frostwire.com Limewire with an icy theme. Pretty much the same thing. It is also written in Java and very pretty, although it does seem to drag on the system rather badly, and not provide as good results as GTK-Gnutella. (XP) Azureus URL: http://azureus.sourceforge.net I use this torrent client due to how easy I figured out how to maximize torrent download speed, and manage the other aspects of torrenting. The problem I found with it was that it tended to drag on the system a bit and on some desktops, the error messages pop in the corner, and won't go away until you shut it down. Thats most all of what I use regularly. I know of other applications for doing 2D and 3D animation, game emulation, sound composition, and more. Those were more specific and I will send you another list if you find my information useful. Good luck with everything!

Posted by Amos Erskine on December 19, 2006 at 01:14 PM PST #

I tried to post a massive list of applications, but the site marked it as spam. I have it saved in a text file locally and will be glad to send it to you and anyone else interested. Just drop me a line at the gmail Ecobear email address.

Posted by Amos Erksine on December 19, 2006 at 01:16 PM PST #

I have a list that would help you find the solutions you are looking for. This thing keeps flagging my posts as spam, so just email me at the listed address and I will send you a text file with my suggestions. Take care.

Posted by Amos Erksine on December 19, 2006 at 01:18 PM PST #

I have a list of possible applications for you. Its rather long with comments about them. I welcome all email's inquiring about this list. Take care!

Posted by Amos Erksine on December 19, 2006 at 01:30 PM PST #

I like very much your classification. In fact, I've done same kind of classification on Linux package. The goal was to build a database where you can request in natural language. Then answers will extract with some information about the context. Example: Question: i want to read email Language analysis: Read Email Environment: GTK + Big system Solution => evolution, sylpheed (with a preference with the one installed) I call this project ELSI and I made a preview database on http://deverne.free.fr/elsi Unfortunately, few time and lake of feedback of other people to go further... If anyone is motivated?

Posted by Denis on December 19, 2006 at 02:23 PM PST #

I just pulled this list off the top of my head. So it's what I would use, but I dont' know if there is better. # A. Anti-Spyware/Anti-Virus/Anti-Rootkit Freeware Utilities : For Anti-virus: ClamAV For Anti-Rootk: NONE NONE NONE!!!! This is realy starting to piss me off. People now have the misinformation that they can hope to detect and remove rootkits with a simple program like chkrootkit or whatnot. THIS IS NOT HOW IT WORKS!! If your rooted the ONLY safe thing to do is reformat and reinstall. THAT IS IT. I am deadly serious about it. This is how it works, this is reality. NO you don't run checksums using RPM. NO you don't reinstall a bunch of deb files. That is not reliable. The only solution is a reliable and safe solution and that is to reformat and reinstall. You fucked up and you've been rooted. The only reliable way to check to see if you've been rootkit'd is to use a checksuming program like Tripwire. What you do is you boot up in a livecdrom or on a different computer or whatnot. Then you run a program to store all the checksums of your system files. Then you store these checksums in a safe read-only media. You have to redo it when you install a lot of programs or you run a system update. Then when you suspect something you boot up into that live cdrom or put your disk in another computer and run the Tripewire again to check the system file against modification. This is the only reliable way to detect root kits. Seriously. This is fairly basic computer security stuff. And it's the same for windows. If you have a worm or a rootkit installed on that then the only reliable way to remove it is to reformat and reinstall. The whole anti-virus, anti-rootkit, anti-spyware industry is more or less a big scam. # B. Audio/Music/MP3/Real/Wav Freeware Utilities : 1. burn a CD : K3b 2. burn an audio CD : K3b 3. organize the mp3 collection : Stick it all in one folder and have your application index it. Rhythmbox can do it, as can Amorak and a few other ones. 4. play all mp3 files in a folder : mplayer * totem * etc. etc. :-) 5. play an audio CD : I just let the Gnome handle that. Usually I prefer to rip mine and store the cdrom. 6. play an audio file : See above 7. play real audio (.ra, .rm) files without the real software : You need the codecs from RealPlayer on your machine. Copy them to /usr/lib/codecs and then mplayer and vlc should be able to play those. 8. record/save streaming music : The easiest is to use mplayer.. mplayer -dumpstream -dumpfile output.xxx http://some.stream.thing/steaming/something 9. rip music from a CD : Kaudiocreator 10. show song lyrics for the song playing : Amarok 11. tag/fix mp3/audio file tags : (maybe) ??? (I know they exist, but I forget) # C. Business/Office Freeware Utilities : 1. capture the screen : gnome screen capture. default bindings work the same as they do in windows. 2. change the date/time on multiple files : use shell script 3. convert a document into a different format : OpenOffice.org 4. convert a document into pdf : OpenOffice.org 5. create a small database : OpenOffice.org has built in SQL database and front end tools to attempt to compete with Access, but I don't know much about it. 6. create pdf file : OpenOffice.org, Ghostscript utilities. 7. create/edit css lists : ??? 8. create/edit html color codes : (maybe) ??? 9. show all the fonts installed : gnome-font-properties (a bit awkward just for that) # D. Communication Freeware Utilities : 1. chat on IRC : Xchat 2. chat with different messenger clients : gaim 3. check multiple email accounts with 1 utility : evolution, thunderbird 4. phone free using the internet : ???, maybe Ekiga. 5. talk to skype and google-talk clients : ??? 6. telnet/ssh to a site : Use the shell, Putty. 7. video conference with others : (maybe) Ekiga # E. Desktop Freeware Utilities : 1. add useful widgets : Drag and drop, right click, etc Add applets, application launchers. 2. change desktop wallpaper automatically : RotateBG for nautilus, maybe. 3. display a calendar : Evolution 4. display weather information : gnome weather applet 5. hide/bring back all the icons on the desktop : ??? 6. launch applications : alt-f2 for application dialog in gnome. deskbar applet 7. launch applications quickly (icons) : drag and drop icons out of your menu. 8. launch applications with shortcut names : ??? 9. make application windows transparent : (maybe) Beryl or Compiz can do this. 10. multiple desktops and switch between them : Any decent window manager does this automaticly in Linux. 11. synch computer clock to exact time : ntpdate 12. write sticky (post-it) notes on the desktop : tomboy # F. Editors/Notepad Replacements Freeware Utilities : 1. edit programming source code : vim, emacs Ecplisp, Kdevelop, etc 2. edit text : vim, emacs, gedit # G. Files and Folders Freeware Utilities : 1. access files remotely : FUSE + SSHFS. Mounts shares over ssh, very slick. Stability is dependant on ssh server your connected to. Openssh is superior to all others. 2. archive (zip) files : gnome fileroller 3. backup/mirror a folder on another drive : rsync, unison 4. change file-date on multiple files : shell script 5. compare two text files and find difference or merge them : diff, patch, shell scripting 6. create a self-extracting compressed files archive for a list of files : ??? 7. display size/space of folders on a drive : df shell command. Filelight (best gui app I've ever seen) 8. encrypt a file : ??? 9. find/delete duplicate files : shell scripting 10. keep various versions of a file : svn, cvs, etc 11. list all files in a directory/folder in a text/html file : ls > filename ? Not sure what you want. shell scripting 12. locate a file on the hard drive : locate filename 13. perform muliple operations on files/folders : shell scripting 14. rename multiple files : shell scripting 15. search file/text on the computer : shell scripting 16. search and replace text in multiple files : shell scripting 17. upload/download using FTP : ftp 18. upload/download using TFTP : tftp 19. use GMail to store some files : FUSE Gmailfs 20. view all text files in a folder : shell scripting # H. Financial Freeware Utilities : 1. manage personal finances : Gnumeric, Gnucash # I. Graphics/Images/Photographs Freeware Utilities : 1. convert images into various formats : Gimp, imagemagick 2. create a flash-based animated how-to/tutorial : (maybe) vnc2swf ? 3. create a web photo album and slideshow from my photographs. : ??? 4. create icons : Gimp 5. create thumbnails of images : Nautilus just to view. Gimp to do a few, scripting imagemagick or gimp-fu to do a lot. 6. draw charts/graphs in 2D/3D from data : OpenOffice.org 7. draw diagrams : Dia? 8. edit an image : Gimp 9. find the color of any pixel : Color selector in gnome or gimp 10. magnify image to pixel level : xmag 11. manage galleries of photographs : f-spot? 12. paint creatively : krita 13. paint creatively (for kids) : Kolorpaint? 14. pick a color from a pallette : any graphics application? 15. remove unnecessary information from a jpeg file : ??? 16. stitch together multiple photographs : scripts for gimp will do it. 17. view images in an album folder : f-spot? not sure. # J. Information/Fun/Misc Freeware Utilities : 1. convert units of measures : Google calculator 2. find word meanings and synonymns : online thesuorus 3. see 3d space simulation : celestia 4. solve a scientific calculation : python 5. solve equations and plot graphs : ??? 6. zoom onto the Earth from space : celestia # K. Internet Freeware Utilities : 1. backup mozilla (firefox/thunderbird) browser profile : cp ~/.mozilla/ ~/save/mozilla.backup 2. blog from the desktop : ??? 3. create a single page html of all firefox bookmarks : find ~/.mozilla/ |grep bookmarks.html 4. create/edit html files / website : vim, emacs, nvu, bluefish, etc 5. create/edit xml files : ??? 6. download a file via a torrent / p2p site : Azureus, btdownloadcurses 7. download an entire website : httrack 8. download manager for internet downloads : I use default epiphany 9. encrypt email messages : ??? 10. ftp multiple sites simultaeously : ftp from the command line then tar 11. ftp files securely : no such thing. Use sftp and ssh 12. log into an internet-connected computer from another : ssh 13. manage passwords : gpass ? 14. manage/resume file downloads : ??? 15. monitor bandwidth usage : ??? 16. read my RSS feeds : Liferea 17. remove all html tags from a file to make a into text file : Openoffice.org ??? 18. remove dead (404) bookmarks : ??? 19. safely browse the web : firefox. Even safer vmplayer + 'web appliance'. 20. search the web from the browser : google 21. tune-up firefox browser : ??? # L. Keyboard Freeware Utilities : 1. automatically send defined keystrokes : xbindkeys-gui 2. easily enter unicode characters : ??? 3. remap the keyboard : xmodmap, xkeycaps, or gnome-keyboard-properties for common mods. # M. Performance/Recovery/System Freeware Utilities : 1. backup/restore the gconf database : cp 2. burn/create CD/DVD iso image files : built in gnome burner, k3b 3. capture all text written to screen : ??? 4. completely wipe/delete a file : rm 5. completely wipe/delete a hard disk : for i in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7; do dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/hda dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda done 6. defrag the hard drive : ??? 7. display CPU information : gnome system monitor applet 8. display TCP/UDP endpoints and applications using them : netstat -ap | less 9. display all file activity in real-time : ??? 10. display all processes running : ps aux 11. display hard drive status information : smartmontools 12. display system information : /proc ? 13. display/edit gconf entries neatly : gconf-editor 14. find which program has a particular file or directory open : fuser 15. monitor bandwidth usage : ??? 16. optimize TCP/IP settings : ??? 17. remotely control another computer : ssh, vnc, X 18. scan IP/ open ports : nmap 19. tweak security settings : bastille? 20. view/kill running tasks : gnome-system-monitor # N. Productivity Freeware Utilities : 1. connect two/more internet-connected-computers into a virtual network : OpenVPN. SSh tunnel 2. keep more than 1 text snippet in the clipboard : ??? 3. organize calendar, contacts, to-do : Evolution 4. organize schedules and tasks : ??? 5. read the text file to me : ??? 6. spell check in an application that doesn't have that feature : (maybe) ??? # O. Programming Freeware Utilities : 1. create installation programs : checkinstall for deb ? # P. Uninstaller Freeware Utilities : 1. cleanly uninstall applications : apt-get remove --purge proggy # Q. Video/DVDs Freeware Utilities : 1. backup a DVD : dd, mencoder 2. capture screen activity into a movie : ??? 3. copy a DVD : dd, cdrecord, k3b 4. copy/shrink a DVD to the hard drive : mencoder # R. Windows Explorer Replacements/Shell Extensions Freeware Utilities : None. # S. Corrections : 1. edit PDF files : ??? 2. print 2 pages on 1 side of the paper : Attempt to print on 2 sides of paper in any gnome application.

Posted by nate on December 19, 2006 at 03:41 PM PST #

Wow! Thanks again everybody.

Roller has some "smarts" in it where if there are above a certain number of links in a comment, it flags it as SPAM. Then it's up to the blog owner to decide what to do with it.

I've removed the SPAM tags. All comments should be showing up now.

If they are not, then just let me know at the email address attached to this comment.

Posted by Rich Burridge on December 19, 2006 at 03:59 PM PST #

Sorry about not sticking breaks in the comment. Hope you can read it.

Posted by nate on December 19, 2006 at 04:21 PM PST #

No problem Nate. Thanks for taking the time to do this (and you too Amos). It's really appreciated.

Posted by Rich Burridge on December 19, 2006 at 05:42 PM PST #

Similar to what you're talking about, but also useful: http://www.linuxeq.com/

Posted by Adam Israel on December 19, 2006 at 06:21 PM PST #

[Trackback] I’ve been browsing around for some free software that can handle some MP3 tasks on a Linux box. I ran across a posting where someone is planning to document several things that may be of interest. The post I found talks about some Linux/Unix Fr...

Posted by MP3 Players on December 20, 2006 at 12:05 AM PST #

As a starting point, look at the package manager/installer for the distribution you have installed. I am largely using Ubuntu these days, though I have used the Mandrake distributions before they changed their name. I have not used SUSE or varients, so I don't know what the features of it's installer look like.

Both mandriva's rpm installer, and the package managers in the debian trees (synaptic, dselect aptitude) have search features built in that you can use the list you have generated to see what tools might apply. You can also use urpmi under mandriva, and 'apt-cache search' under ubuntu (and other debian based distributions) so search for packages that might provide the features you are looking for. Both are command line tools, and should function from most shells.

As an example, considering you have marked 'none' under anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-rootkit, I did an apt-cache search anti-virus and this is the response:

rusty@cruela:~$ apt-cache search anti-virus
clamav - antivirus scanner for Unix
clamav-base - base package for clamav, an anti-virus utility for Unix
clamav-daemon - antivirus scanner daemon
clamav-docs - documentation package for clamav, an anti-virus utility for Unix
clamav-freshclam - downloads clamav virus databases from the Internet
clamav-milter - antivirus scanner for sendmail
clamav-testfiles - use these files to test that your Antivirus program works
clamsmtp - virus-scanning SMTP proxy
havp - HTTP Anti Virus Proxy
libclamav-dev - clam Antivirus library development files
libclamav1 - virus scanner library
mailscanner - email virus scanner and spam tagger
picalib - Set of PICA helper scripts and configuration files

While most virus implementations out there will not run on Linux, it is always a good idea to check your inbound e-mail to make sure it is virus free. Especially if you have any tendency towards forwarding on messages to friends. If someone has attached a virus, the fact that it doesn't affect you, doesn't mean that it won't affect others.

Once you have exhausted the package manager, then I would start looking at freshmeat and the other open source project management sites to see if there is a tool in development that fits your needs. I have found at times that such a tool exists, and subsequently found that the tool is in my package management system, but the key words I was searching for didn't match up with the key-words the package mantainer was using.

Also from going through your list lightly, a significant number of the tools you are indicating an interest in finding are installed by default in many Gnome distributions. As an example nautalis currently includes CD and DVD burning capaiblities, that very well may fit your needs for audio and data disk creation.

One of the things that you will find is that some subjects will have dozens or even hundreds of projects that can do something close to what you want to do. In some cases, say for example ID3 tag manipulation, there may be thousands of tools that can do what you want, becuase that sort of a task is often included in books teaching some languages. Perl and Python both have libraries dedicated to performing those types of manipulations, and lots of poeple have made use of those libraries either in single shot tools (batch change all 'genra' tags for mp3 files in this folder to 'rock'. Others are included in tools that will rip or generate the mp3 files in the first place. (Likewise for ogg files)

Hope this helps.

-Rusty

Posted by Rusty on December 20, 2006 at 02:16 PM PST #

I have been using free software only for years now, I can see no item on your list that I do not have a free software tool for. Best of luck finding tools you are comfortable with.

Posted by Knox Harrington on December 21, 2006 at 03:57 AM PST #

using free soft is not recommended. Generally all free soft in use for infecting user's computer. Sometimes even chargeable soft (like WinFixer) can be used for the same purpose.

Posted by jeff on December 22, 2006 at 05:28 AM PST #