Free Wiz

Top 10 Open Source File Sharing Programs

2008-07-14T09:19:00.001-07:00

Below is a list of top 10 most popular open source file sharing programs.

Ares is a free open source file sharing program that enables users to share any digital file including images, audio, video, software, documents, etc.It includes plenty of jazzy features. Most notably: a built-in directshow media player and a robust library manager. You can also use Ares Galaxy’s shoutcast radio support to host p2p chatrooms.
OS Support: Windows

2) eMule

A filesharing client based on the eDonkey2000 network (hence the name “eMule”), this client enables advanced functionality. With the built-in IRC client, you can talk with other downloaders. To help this process, it’s translated into many, many languages, from Hungarian to Latvian.
OS Support: Windows

3) Vuze

A java bases file sharing application, formerly called Azureus. It supports a lot of plugins that can be used to enhance your file sharing experience.
OS Support: Windows, Linux, Mac

4) DC++

This P2P filesharing client is used by whole lot of people to connect
to the Direct Connect network. If you’re not a geek, this might be the
program for you: Despite its odd name, DC++ boasts an easy-to-use
interface, without a pixel of adware.
OS Support: Windows

5) Shareaza

Shareaza is a free file sharing application which also supports parental controls. It also guarantees to protect children's privacy. It supports the eDonkey2000, Gnutella, Gnutella2, BitTorrent and FTP protocols and comes in 27 different languages.
OS Support: Windows

6) Burst!

A BitTorrent client that prides itself on hoggling less memory than BitTorrent itself, Burst actually has an exclamation point in its name. Check it out: Burst! Doesn’t that get you excited? Yes!! Plus: it includes super seed mode, which reduces the amount of data it needs to upload.
OS Support: Windows

7) ABC

ABC is an improved client for the Bittorrent peer-to-peer file distribution solution. ABC is based on BitTornado which extended from from Original Bittorrent Core System.It includes a customizable queue system, support for advanced settings
from BitTornado, and the ability to manually add torrents from both
file and URL.
OS Support: Windows

8) Freenet

In an ideal world, all Freenet users would only connect to people they
trust (see your Friends page once your node is installed). In practice, if
you don't know anyone already on Freenet you will have to enable promiscuous
mode so your node automatically connects to other nodes (this is less
secure). It may take several minutes for your node to connect to enough
nodes for Freenet to be usable, and performance will likely improve over
time after that.
OS Support: Windows

9) MLDonkey

It is a multi-network file sharing client that supports various other file sharing networks like eDonkey, Overnet, BitTorrent, Kad and others.
OS Support: Linux, Mac and Windows

10) Kceasy

KCeasy is a windows front end for the giFT filesharing system.
Plugins allow giFT to support different kinds of filesharing networks like Gnutell, Ares and OpenFT.

10 Best Free Chart APIs

2008-07-10T09:07:00.001-07:00

Below is a list of some of the best free APIs for generating charts.

1) Google Chart

The Google Chart API lets you dynamically generate charts. Google chart API is an online service and needs an internet connection. It works by sending an URL to google which will return the chart image. It is very simple to use and if you need abstraction from writing url's you can use any freely available libraries like gchartrb or javagooglechart

2) Flot

Flot is a pure Javascript plotting library for jQuery. It produces graphical plots of arbitrary datasets on-the-fly client-side.
The focus is on simple usage (all settings are optional), attractive looks and interactive features like zooming.Although Flot is easy to use, it is also advanced enough to be suitable for Web 2.0 data mining/business intelligence purposes which is its original application.

3) Open Flash Chart

Open Flash Chart is a Flash charting component. It is fairly easy to setup and has classes written in PHP, Perl, Python, Java, Ruby on Rails, and .Net to connect to the Chart. You can create some really nice looking Bar Charts, Pie Charts, Area Charts and etc…

4) AmCharts

AmCharts is a set of Flash charts for your websites and Web-based products. AmCharts can extract data from simple CSV or XML files, or they can read dynamic data generated with PHP, .NET, Java, Ruby on Rails, Perl, ColdFusion, and many other programming languages.

5) PlotKit

PlotKit is a Chart and Graph Plotting Library for Javascript. It has support for HTML Canvas and also SVG via Adobe SVG Viewer and native browser support.
PlotKit is fully documented and there is a quick tutorial to get you started.
PlotKit is a complete rewrite of CanvasGraph. It is better structured and supported.

6) Flotr

Flotr is a javascript plotting library based on the Prototype Framework version 1.6.0.2. Flotr lets you create graphs in modern browsers with features like legend support, negative value support, mouse tracking, selection support, zoom support, event hooks, CSS styling support and much more.

7) PHP/SWF

PHP/SWF Charts is a simple, yet powerful PHP tool to create attractive web charts and graphs from dynamic data.
You can use PHP scripts to generate or gather the data from databases, then pass it to this tool to generate Flash (swf) charts and graphs. Any other scripting language (ASP, CFML, Perl, etc.) can be used with XML/SWF Charts (the XML version of the same tool.)PHP/SWF Charts makes the best of both the PHP and SWF worlds. PHP scripts provide integration, and Flash provides the best graphic quality.

8) Visifire

Visifire is a set of open source data visualization components - powered by Microsoft® Silverlight™. With Visifire you can create and embed visually stunning animated Silverlight Charts within minutes. Visifire is easy to use and independent of the server side technology. It can be used with ASP, ASP.Net, PHP, JSP, ColdFusion, Ruby on Rails or just simple HTML.

9) FusionCharts

FusionCharts Free is a cross-browser and cross-platform flash charting component that can be used to render data-driven & animated charts for your web applications and presentations.

10) JFreeChart

JFreeChart is a free 100% Java chart library that makes it easy for
developers to display professional quality charts in their applications.It has a flexible design that is easy to extend, and targets both server-side and client-side applications. It also supports many output types, including Swing components, image files
(including PNG and JPEG), and vector graphics file formats (including
PDF, EPS and SVG)

10 Must Have Tab Enhancement Plugins For Firefox 3

2008-07-09T10:00:00.001-07:00

Tabbed browsing is one prominent feature of firefox which helps prevent having ,multiple windows open and cluttering of the taskbar. The basic tabbed browsing functionality of firefox can be further improved with the below listed extensions.

1) Ctrl-Tab

Ctrl+Tab navigation for Firefox tabs, similar to Alt+Tab on various operating systems. It also gives you a preview of all the tabs and allows you to switch tabs using Ctrl+Tab shortcut.

2) Tab Scope

Shows a popup on tabs and enables you to preview and navigate tab contents through popup. The best thing is that you can navigate withing the preview also.

3) Tabs Open Relative

Tabs Open Relative makes all new tabs open to the right of the current tab like in IE, rather than at the far right of the tab bar.

4) Taboo

Taboo lets you save a tab for later. It takes a snapshot of the web page, including session state information (such as how far you've scrolled on the page and information in forms).
Later you can reload the tab by searching/browsing through all your saved tabs. A single click and you're back to the same place in the article.

5) Tab Catalog

Shows thumbnail-style catalog of tabs. It also provides a button for activating the tab catalog, or altervnatively you can use the F8 shortcut key.

6) IE Tab

Allows you to open IE withing a tab. This is useful not only for web developers for testing their site but also for normal users when opening links that can be opened only in IE like "File://", IE tab opens them automatically in an IE Tab.

7) Multiple Tab Handler

Provides features to handle multiple tabs at once, for example, close them, reload them, and so on. When you press the mouse button and drag over tabs, they are selected. After you release the button, the popup to choose command will be shown.

8) PageStyle2Tab

Sets the current page style to the page tab. You can also set the style to the entire browser using the option panel to configure the extension. However, for certain pages it makes the tab look ugly, which can be correct by changing the preference.

9) FishEyeTabs

An alternative to scrolling when there are many open tabs, and they become too small to be seen. User can zoom tab labels by moving the mouse cursor over them. Fisheye zoom is activated only when tabs occupy the whole width of the window. However it removes the close button from the tabs, which is little inconvenient in the beginning. Later you get used to closing the tab by clicking your middle mouse button over the tab.

10) Aging Tabs

Makes unused tabs fade with age and highlights the selected tab. Its very useful when you have opened lot of tabs but are currently working with only a few tabs.

Top 13 Free Email Programs for Windows

2008-07-08T11:11:00.001-07:00

Below is a list of free e-mail client programs.

1) Mozilla Thunderbird

Mozilla Thunderbird is a fully featured, secure and very functional email client and RSS feed reader. It lets you handle mail efficiently and with style, and Mozilla Thunderbird filters away junk mail too

2) Windows Mail

Windows Mail is a fun and functional email program that keeps you relatively safe with spam and phishing filters while offering fast search and enough room for creativity, maybe based on ready-made stationery. Advanced filters or sophisticated tools that help you manage — and reply to — lots of mail are missing from Windows Mail, though.

3) Eudora (Sponsored Mode)

Eudora is a classic, powerful, flexible and efficient email client that cans spam precisely, too, and shows nary a weakness. Leveraging the statistical spam filter to organize good mail would be nice, though.

4) Opera

The Opera email client is a slick and flexible interface that will satisfy almost all your email needs, and Opera integrates RSS feeds in this experience as well. Some may find the message editor lacking a bit in power, and the absence of support for encrypted email is unfortunate.

5) Mulberry

Mulberry is a powerful and incredibly versatile email client available for all the popular platforms. If there is something Mulberry lacks, it is simplicity.

6) Pegasus Mail

Pegasus Mail is one of the most powerful, secure and generally best email programs available for Windows, but the interface could need some polishing to make its features more accessible.

7) IncrediMail

IncrediMail is a fun and easy to use email client that adds spice to the messages you send while protecting you from spam, phishing and fraud attempts in a convenient manner. Unfortunately, IncrediMail lacks some productivity features if you have to deal with large amounts of mail.

8) Foxmail

Foxmail is a nice email client with lots of great features that make email easy and fun. Unfortunately, it doesn't support IMAP accounts and its message editor lacks basic text (re-)formatting tools.

9) DreamMail

DreamMail manages email and RSS feeds handily and handsomely with stationery, labels and related message search. Unfortunately, international language support is limited, DreamMail's spam filter seems ineffective, and IMAP accounts are not supported.

10) Alpine

Alpine is powerful console email program that makes you use email productively with automation aplenty and nary a distraction.

11) Sylpheed

Sylpheed is a surprisingly versatile email client. 'Surprisingly' because it has a friendly, easy to use interface to its many useful features.

12) i.Scribe

InScribe and its free version, i.Scribe, are true little email program gems. They're small, fast, efficient and very usable. Unfortunately, they lack secure messaging, and the IMAP support in Scribe is not perfect.

13) Windows Live Mail

Microsoft's free e-mail program, with the familiar features of Outlook Express, plus more. It also provides spam protection and can be used with other service providers as well.

Free FTP Client Tools

2008-07-08T09:44:00.001-07:00

Below is the list of free ftp client tools that I have compiled. These have been mentioned in alphabetical order.

ALFTP -ALFTP is an FTP client and personal FTP server utility from ESTsoft for Microsoft Windows. It is one in the ALTools product family

Amitradecenter-Amitradecenter is a free FTP client with ADT support. It supports several features like parsing of FTP url's, changing directory and file permissions etc..

cURL-cURL is a command line tool for transferring files with URL syntax. The strong point of cURL is the number of data transfer protocols it supports.

CurlFtpFS -CurlFtpFS is a filesystem for accessing FTP hosts based on FUSE and libcurl, which offers the following features amongst others SSLv3 and TLSv1 support;the ability to connect through tunneling HTTP proxies;automatic reconnection upon FTP server time-out.

Cyberduck -Cyberduck is a graphical open source FTP and SFTP client for Mac OS X licensed under the GPL. It supports FTP/TLS (FTP secured over SSL/TLS), using AUTH TLS as well as uploading and downloading by drag and drop and is able to synchronise files and directories. In addition, it is also able to open some files in external text editors.

F->IT-F->IT is an easy to use FTP client that resembles Windows Explorer. It supports drag-drop, editing files and uploading multiple files.

FileZilla Client-FileZilla Client (also referred to as FileZilla) is a free, open source, cross-platform FTP client. It is the most popular free FTP client

Fling-Fling is an FTP Client for Windows and is part of an FTP Client software project by NCH Software. It utilises Windows explorer instead of a typical FTP Client interface with transfers made from the right mouse click menu. It allows you to set a Windows folder as a Fling Folder so that if a file within the folder is changed it will automatically upload the file once it detects a files has been modified and saved.

FtpCube-FtpCube is a multi-platform, graphical (S)FTP client written in Python, using the wxPython graphical tookit. FtpCube's interface is based on LeechFTP which is described below.

Fugu-Fugu is an SFTP client for Mac OS X developed by the University of Michigan's Research Systems Unix Group (RSUG). It is a graphical shell for OpenSSH tools that provides a simple interface to all their features.

gFTP-gFTP is a free/open source multithreaded FTP client. It is most used on Unix-like systems, such as Linux and Mac OS X. It includes both a GUI (which utilizes the GTK+) and a command-line interface.

Kasablanca-Kasablanca is an ftp client, written in c++, using the kde libraries. among its features are currently encryption (auth tls) support, fxp, site bookmarks, and queued transfers.

KFTPgrabber-KFTPgrabber is a graphical FTP client for the K Desktop Environment. It implements many features required for usable FTP interaction. It has amny features like displaying traffic graph and setting upload/download limit. It also supports TSL and SSL.

LeechFTP-LeechFTP was a multi-threaded freeware FTP client with a download failure recovery queue feature. The product was originally written in Delphi 3. The last release, version 1.3 build 207, was made public in April 1999. Afterwards, the project was ended and the author moved on to develop a commercial trialware FTP client called BitBeamer, with more features and browser download integration.

lftp-lftp is a command-line file transfer program (FTP client) for UNIX and Unix-like systems. It was written by Alexander Lukyanov, and is made available under the GNU General Public License.

MacFusion-MacFusion is a file manager for the mac operating system. It also supports secure FTP letting users modify files over FTP as if they were on their own computer.

Mosaic-Mosaic is the browser which popularised the World Wide Web. It also supports FTP operations.

MOVEit Freely-MOVEit Freely is a free command line FTP/secure FTP SSL (FTPS) client for Windows Vista Business Edition, 2003, XP, 2000, ME and NT 4.0 systems.

NcFTP-NcFTP was the first alternative FTP client program, which debuted in 1990. It was created as an alternative to the standard UNIX ftp program, and offers a number of additional features and greater ease of use.
NcFTP is a command-line user interface program, and runs on a large number of platforms.

net2ftp-net2ftp is a web based FTP client, written in PHP.As well as offering standard FTP functions, net2ftp also offers a variety of features including archiving and extracting files and directories, downloading a selected group of files and/or directories as an archive. It can also be set to restrict connections via an access list and can log user actions.

WinSCP-WinSCP (Windows Secure copy) is an open source SFTP and FTP client for Microsoft Windows. Its main function is secure file transfer between a local and a remote computer. Beyond this, WinSCP offers basic file manager functionality. For secure transfers, it uses Secure Shell (SSH) and supports the legacy SCP protocol in addition to SFTP.

Free Photo Editing Web Developer Tools For Linux

2008-07-07T11:28:00.001-07:00

If you are a Linux user looking for free video authoring tools, you have several tools at your disposal that are as good as commercial ones.

1) GIMP
GIMP is a versatile graphics manipulation package. It can be considered as an open source alternative to Adobe Photoshop.GIMP is ideal for advanced photo retouching techniques. Get rid of unneeded details using the clone tool, or touch up minor details easily with the new healing tool. With the perspective clone tool, it's not difficult to clone objects with perspective in mind just as easily as with the orthogonal clone.

2) Inkscape
Inkscape is an Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format.
Inkscape supports many advanced SVG features (markers, clones, alpha blending, etc.) and great care is taken in designing a streamlined interface. It is very easy to edit nodes, perform complex path perations, trace bitmaps and much more. We also aim to maintain a thriving user and developer community by using open, community-oriented development.

3) CinePaint
CinePaint is used to retouch feature films and in pro photography.CinePaint opens high fidelity image file formats such as DPX, 16-bit TIFF, and OpenEXR, and conventional formats like JPEG and PNG. It has a flipbook for movie playback of image sequences in RAM. It supports 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit color channels, HDR and CMS. CinePaint is used for motion picture frame-by-frame retouching, dirt removal, wire rig removal, render repair, background plates, and painting 3D model textures. It's been used on many feature films, including The Last Samurai where it was used to add flying arrows. For still photography, CinePaint can import bracketed HDR exposures. It has gallery-quality 16-bit per channel color printing with GutenPrint. CinePaint's high dynamic range is crucial with B&W still photography, where images only have a single channel.

4) ImageMagick
ImageMagick® is a software suite to create, edit, and compose bitmap images. It can read, convert and write images in a variety of formats (over 100) including DPX, EXR, GIF, JPEG, JPEG-2000, PDF, PhotoCD, PNG, Postscript, SVG, and TIFF. Use ImageMagick to translate, flip, mirror, rotate, scale, shear and transform images, adjust image colors, apply various special effects, or draw text, lines, polygons, ellipses and Bézier curves.

5) Skencil
Skencil is a Free Software interactive vector drawing appliction. It is a flexible and powerful tool for illustrations, diagrams and other purposes.
A somewhat unique (for a drawing program) feature of Skencil is that it is implemented almost completely in a very high-level, interpreted language, Python. Python is powerful, object-oriented and yet easy to use.

6) F-Spot
F-Spot is a full-featured personal photo management application for the GNOME Desktop. Editing photos in F-Spot is a breeze. Easily rotate, crop, resize, and adjust red eye and other color settings with a few simple clicks.F-Spot allows for quick and precise color adjustments, including brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, and temperature.

7) Scribus
Scribus is an open-source program that brings award-winning professional page layout to Linux/Unix, MacOS X, OS/2 and Windows desktops with a combination of "press-ready" output and new approaches
to page layout. Underneath the modern and user friendly interface, Scribus supports professional publishing features, such as CMYK color, separations, ICC color management and versatile PDF creation.

20 Most Popular Free Linix Distributions

2008-07-07T11:07:00.001-07:00

Originally developed by Linus Torvalds in 1991, the UNIX®-like Linux operating system now benefits from the contributions of millions of users and developers around the world. The linux operating system is getting popular day by day as more and more companies and individuals migrate to linux. In this post I will list down 30 most popular free linux distros.

1) Ubuntu Linux

Ubuntu is a community developed, Linux-based operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. It contains all the applications you need - a web browser, presentation, document and spreadsheet software, instant messaging and much more.

2) openSUSE

The openSUSE project is a community program sponsored by Novell.Promoting the use of Linux everywhere, this program provides free, easy access to openSUSE, a complete Linux distribution. The openSUSE project

has three main goals: make openSUSE the easiest Linux for anyone to obtain and the most widely used Linux distribution; leverage open source collaboration to make openSUSE the world's most usable Linux
distribution and desktop environment for new and experienced Linux users; dramatically simplify and open the development and packaging processes to make openSUSE the platform of choice for Linux developers
and software vendors.

3) Fedora

Fedora is a Linux-based operating system that provides users with access to the latest free and open source software, in a stable, secure and easy to manage form. We strongly believe in the bedrock principles that created all the components of our operating system, and because of this we guarantee that Fedora will always be free for anybody, anywhere, to use, modify and distribute.

4) Linux Mint

Linux Mint is an Ubuntu-based distribution whose goal is to provide a more complete out-of-the-box experience by including browser plugins, media codecs, support for DVD playback, Java and other components. It also adds a custom desktop and menus, several unique configuration

tools, and a web-based package installation interface. Linux Mint is compatible with Ubuntu software repositories.

5) PCLinuxOS

PCLinuxOS is distributed as a LiveCD, and can also be installed to a local hard drive. LiveCD mode lets you try it without making any changes to your computer. If you like it, you can install it to your hard drive. Locally installed versions of PCLinuxOS utilize the Advanced Packaging Tool (or APT), a package management system (originally from the Debian distribution), together with Synaptic, a GUI frontend to APT.

PCLinuxOS has a script called mklivecd, which allows the user to take a 'snapshot' of their current hard drive installation (all settings, applications, documents, etc.) and compress it into an ISO CD/DVD image. This allows easy backup of a user's data and also makes it easy to create your own custom live CD/DVD.

6) Mandravia

Mandriva Linux (formerly Mandrakelinux) was created in 1998 with the goal of making Linux easier to use for everyone. At that time, Linux was already well-known as a powerful and stable operating system that

demanded strong technical knowledge and extensive use of the "command line"; MandrakeSoft saw this as an opportunity to integrate the best graphical desktop environments and contribute its own graphical
configuration utilities and quickly became famous for setting the standard in ease-of-use and functionality. With this innovative approach, Mandriva Linux offers all the power and stability of Linux to
both individuals and professional users in an easy-to-use and pleasant environment. Thousands of new users are discovering Linux each and every day and finding it a complete replacement for their previous
operating system. Linux as a server or workstation has no reason to be jealous of any other more established operating systems.

7) Debian GNU/Linux

The Debian Project is an association of individuals who have made common cause to create a free operating system. This operating system is called Debian GNU/Linux, or simply Debian for short. Debian systems currently use the Linux kernel. Linux is a completely free piece of software started by Linus Torvalds and supported by thousands of programmers worldwide. Of course, the thing that people want is application software: programs to help them get what they want to do done, from editing documents to running a business to playing games to writing more software. Debian comes with over 20,000 packages (precompiled software that is bundled up in a nice format for easy installation on your machine) - all of it free. It's a bit like a tower. At the base is the kernel. On top of that are all the basic tools. Next is all the software that you run on the computer. At the top of the tower is Debian -- carefully organizing and fitting everything so it all works together.

8) Dreamlinux
If you're searching for an operating system that allows you to: be free, communicate with the whole world, read, write, produce art, music, drawings, images, etc., as well as use the same kind of stuff produced by a worldwide community and, better yet, fastly, simply and safely share them all, you now have no excuses not to give Dreamlinux 3.0 Desktop Edition.
Dreamlinux Desktop Edition 3.0 is a complete redesign of the distro, now supporting a totally independent architecture named Flexiboost *, based on overlaid modules.Packaging the best office, image, design and multimedia OpenSource Software ( OSS ), Dreamlinux 3.0 Desktop Edition Edition
allows you to produce professional-quality contents

9) Sabayon Linux

Sabayon Linux is a live DVD designed to transform a computer into a powerful Gentoo Linux system in less than 5 minutes. Gentoo Linux is a Linux distribution powered by a software install manager engine called "Portage". Besides functioning as a live DVD, Sabayon Linux can also be installed on a hard disk, acting effectively as an easy-to-use Gentoo installation disk. The live DVD includes a large range of desktop environments and open source software applications, such as KDE, GNOME, XFce, Fluxbox, KOffice, OpenOffice.org, FreeNX, amaroK, Kaffeine, etc.

10) Damn Small Linux
Damn Small Linux is a business card size (50MB) live CD Linux distribution. Despite its minuscule size it strives to have a functional and easy to use desktop. Damn Small Linux has a nearly complete desktop, including XMMS (MP3, and MPEG), FTP client, links-hacked web browser, spreadsheet, email, spellcheck (US English), a word-processor, three editors (Nedit, nVi, Zile [emacs clone]), Xpdf, Worker (file manager), Naim (AIM, ICQ, IRC), VNCviwer, SSH/SCP server and client, DHCP client, PPP, PPPoE, a web server, calculator, Fluxbox window manager, system monitoring apps, USB support, and soon it will
have PCMCIA support as well. If you like Damn Small Linux you can install it on your hard drive. Because all the applications are small and light it makes a very good choice for older hardware.

11) FreeBSD

FreeBSD® is an advanced operating system for x86 compatible (including Pentium® and Athlon™), amd64 compatible (including Opteron™, Athlon™64, and EM64T), UltraSPARC®, IA-64, PC-98 and ARM architectures. It is derived from BSD, the version of UNIX® developed at the University of California, Berkeley. It is developed and maintained by a large team of individuals. Additional platforms are in various stages of development.

12) CentOS
CentOS is an Enterprise-class Linux Distribution derived from sources freely provided to the public by a prominent North American Enterprise Linux vendor. CentOS conforms fully with the upstream vendors
redistribution policy and aims to be 100% binary compatible. CentOS is developed by a small but growing team of core developers. In turn the core developers are supported by an active user community
including system administrators, network administrators, enterprise users, managers, core Linux contributors and Linux enthusiasts from around the world.

13) Slackware Linux
Slackware Linux is an
advanced Linux operating system, designed with the twin goals of ease of use and stability as top priorities. Including the latest popular software while retaining a sense of tradition, providing simplicity and ease of use alongside flexibility and power, Slackware brings the best of all worlds to the table.

14) Kubuntu Linux
Kubuntu is one the variants available from the Ubuntu project. Our Kubuntu CDs are made up of Ubuntu's base plus KDE. You can get exactly the same effect by installing Ubuntu Desktop and adding the KDE
packages (and removing the Gnome packages) from the Ubuntu archives.

15) MEPIS Linux
SimplyMEPIS as a Live CD or DVD allows you to run the Linux operating system and all the programs from your CD or DVD drive before you install. There is no need to backup all your data, delete the whole
hard disk and install the system, just to find it doesn't meet your needs and expectations. It is pre-configured for simplicity and ease of use, and you will be productive in a matter of minutes, even if this is your first try with Linux. It features unique hardware detection and configuration superior to any other Linux versions.

16) Puppy Linux
Puppy really is small, the live-CD typically being 85MB, yet therereally is a complete set of GUI applications. Being so small, Puppy usually loads completely into RAM, which accounts for the incredible
speed.

17) Gentoo Linux
Gentoo is a free operating system based on either Linux or FreeBSD that can be automatically optimized and customized for just about any application or need. Extreme configurability, performance and a top-notch user and developer community are all hallmarks of the Gentoo experience. Thanks to a technology called Portage, Gentoo can become an ideal secure server, development workstation, professional desktop, gaming system, embedded solution or something else -- whatever you need it to be. Because of its near-unlimited adaptability, we call Gentoo a meta distribution.

18) Arch Linux
Arch Linux is an independently developed, i686-optimised Linux distribution targeted at competent Linux users. It uses 'pacman', its home-grown package manager, to provide updates to the latest software
applications with full dependency tracking. Operating on a rolling release system, Arch can be installed from a CD image or via an FTP server. The default install provides a solid base that enables users to
create a custom installation. In addition, the Arch Build System (ABS) provides a way to easily build new packages, modify the configuration of stock packages, and share these packages with other users via the
Arch Linux User Repository.

19) Zenwalk Linux
Zenwalk Linux (formerly Minislack) is a Slackware-based GNU/Linux operating system with a goal of being slim and fast by using only one application per task and with focus on graphical desktop and multimedia
usage. Zenwalk features the latest Linux technology along with a complete programming environment and libraries to provide an ideal platform for application programmers. Zenwalk's modular approach also
provides a simple way to convert Zenwalk Linux into a finely-tuned modern server (e.g. LAMP, messaging, file sharing).

20) KNOPPIX Linux
Knoppix is a bootable CD with a collection of GNU/Linux software,automatic hardware detection, and support for many graphics cards,sound cards, SCSI and USB devices and other peripherals. Knoppix can be
used as a Linux demo, educational CD, rescue system, or adapted and used as a platform for commercial software product demos. It is not necessary to install anything on a hard disk. Due to on-the-fly decompression, the CD can have up to 2 GB of executable software installed on it.

Best Free Video Editing Applications for Linux

2008-07-06T10:53:00.001-07:00

Generally people consider Mac as the best platform for multimedia developers, that true. But Mac and the multimedia applications for mac are very expensive. For those who are looking for free alternatives, open source multimedia applications that run on Linux is the best choice.
Below is the list of free Video Editing Tools for Linux.

KINO

Kino is a non-linear DV editor for GNU/Linux. It features excellent integration with IEEE-1394 for capture, VTR control, and recording back to the camera. It captures video to disk in Raw DV and AVI format, in both type-1 DV and type-2 DV (separate audio stream) encodings.

You can load multiple video clips, cut and paste portions of video/audio, and save it to an edit decision list (SMIL XML format). Most edit and navigation commands are mapped to equivalent vi key commands. Also, Kino can export the composite movie in a number of formats: DV over IEEE 1394, Raw DV, DV AVI, still frames, WAV, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4. Still frame import and export uses gdk-pixbuf, which has support for BMG, GIF, JPEG, PNG, PPM, SVG, Targa, TIFF, and XPM. MP3 requires lame. Ogg Vorbis requires oggenc. MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 require mjpegtools or ffmpeg. MPEG-4 requires ffmpeg.

Cinelerra

Cinelerra is an advanced content creation system for Linux. Cinelerra takes what normally is a boring server - studied in computer science classrooms, hidden in back offices - and turns it into a 50,000 watt flamethrower of multimedia editing. That's right kids. Unlike most of the Linux solutions out there, Cinelerra requires no emulation of proprietary operating systems, no commercial add-ons, no banner advertizements, no corporate dependancies, no terrorists, just a boring old Linux box.Cinelerra does primarily 3 main things: capturing, compositing, and editing audio and video with sample level accuracy. It's a seamless integration of audio, video, and still photos rarely experienced on a web server.

FFmpeg

FFmpeg is a complete solution to record, convert and stream audio and video. It includes libavcodec, the leading audio/video codec library. FFmpeg is developed under Linux, but it can compiled under most operating systems, including Windows.

Stopmotion

Stopmotion is a free application for creating stop-motion animation movies. The users will be able to create stop-motions from pictures imported from a camera or from the harddrive, add sound effects and export the animation to different video formats such as mpeg or avi.

Stopmotion is a program for creating stop motion animation movies from pictures you already have on your harddrive and from pictures you import live from a webcamera. A stop motion animation is an animation which is built by taking many pictures of some object while moving it a little between each picture. When these pictures are run you get an animation.

Best 6 Free Audio Editing Applications For Linux

2008-07-06T10:22:00.001-07:00

Ardour is a digital audio workstation. You can use it to record, edit and mix multi-track audio. You can produce your own CDs, mix video soundtracks, or just experiment with new ideas about music and sound.

Ardour capabilities include: multichannel recording, non-destructive editing with unlimited undo/redo, full automation support, a powerful mixer, unlimited tracks/busses/plugins, timecode synchronization, and hardware control from surfaces like the Mackie Control Universal. If you've been looking for a tool similar to ProTools, Nuendo, Pyramix, or Sequoia, you might have found it.

Above all, Ardour strives to meet the needs of professional users. This means implementing all the "hard stuff" that other DAWs ( even some leading commercial apps ) handle incorrectly or not at all. Ardour has a completely flexible "anything to anywhere" routing system, and will allow as many physical I/O ports as your system allows. Ardour supports a wide range of audio-for-video features such as video-synced playback and pullup/pulldown sample rates. You will also find powerful features such as "persistent undo", multi-language support, and destructive track punching modes that aren't available on other platforms.

LMMS Linux Multimedia Studio

LMMS aims to be a free alternative to popular (but commercial and closed- source) programs like FruityLoops/FL Studio, Cubase and Logic allowing you to produce music with your computer. This includes creation of loops, synthesizing and mixing sounds, arranging samples, having fun with your MIDI-keyboard and much more...

LMMS combines the features of a tracker-/sequencer-program and those of powerful synthesizers, samplers, effects etc. in a modern, user-friendly and easy to use graphical user-interface.

LMMS in action

Features

Song-Editor for arranging the song
creating beats and basslines using the Beat-/Bassline-Editor
easy-to-use piano-roll for editing patterns and melodies
instrument- and effect-plugins
support for hosting VST(i)- and LADSPA-plugins (instruments/effects)
automation-editor
MIDI-support

Audacity

Audacity is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. You can use Audacity to:

Record live audio.
Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs.
Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files.
Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together.
Change the speed or pitch of a recording.
And more!

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is an advanced drum machine for GNU/Linux. It's main goal is to bring professional yet simple and intuitive pattern-based drum programming.

Features

Very user-friendly, modular, fast and intuitive graphical interface based on QT 3.
Sample-based stereo audio engine, with import of sound samples in .wav, .au and .aiff formats.
Support of samples in compressed FLAC file.
Pattern-based sequencer, with unlimited number of patterns and ability to chain patterns into a song.
Up to 64 ticks per pattern with individual level per event and variable pattern length.
32 instrument tracks with volume, mute, solo, pan capabilities.
Multi layer support for instruments (up to 16 samples for each instrument).
Ability to import/export song files.
Unique human velocity, human time, pitch and swing functions.
Multiple patterns playing at once.
JACK, ALSA, PortAudio and OSS audio drivers.
ALSA MIDI and PortMidi input with assignable midi-in channel (1..16, ALL).
Import/export of drumkits.
Export song to wav file.
Export song to midi file.

Mixxx - Digital DJ

Mixxx is an open source DJ tool designed for both professional and amateur DJs alike. Mixxx allows DJs to mix music live with a clean, simple interface. Futhermore, Mixxx has a number of key features to help DJs in the mix: Beat estimation, parallel visual displays, and support for various DJ hardware controllers.

ReZound

ReZound is a open source, and graphical audio file editor primarily for but not limited to the Linux operating system.

The applications have been listed down in no particular order.