Download Squad

SMPlayer open source media player goes portable

Brad Linder — 2008-08-20T12:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Audio, Video, Windows, Linux, Open Source

SMPlayer is a frontend for the open source MPlayer, which means the media player can handle pretty much any media file you can throw at it, as long as it isn't wrapped up in DRM. SMPlayer is available for Windows and Linux. And now there's a portable version for Windows, which means you can run the media player without installing it. Just download, unzip, and click the executable file.

SMPlayer Portable supports all the same media formats as the classic version. The major difference is that you can install it to a USB flash drive for use on any computer. The portable application is based on SMPlayer 0.6.2, which is the latest version. It lacks the icon themes included in the full version, and it won't write anything to your Windows Registry. You can find a complete list of differences between SMPlayer and SMPlayer Portable in the user forums.

[via The Portable Freeware Collection]

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Theft is Bad Karma: Stop Pirating Photoshop!

Lee Mathews — 2008-08-19T11:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Photo, Adobe, Commercial, Freeware, Open Source

I understand that Photoshop is a great program. I'm willing to concede that there's really no comparable software for the professional user. What I just don't get is why the average user thinks 1) they need Photoshop and 2) they need to pirate it.

A few years ago, no one came in and asked me "Can you put Photoshop on my computer?" Most users hadn't even heard of the program. Now the perception from the public seems to be that if you want to edit photos at all, you've got to have Photoshop to do it - and that you might as well just steal it.

But why? Most users don't need even half of the functionality in Photoshop, and there are plenty of great editors that are easy to use, less hard on computer resources, and completely free.

Clear your conscience and try one of these alternatives!

Continue reading Theft is Bad Karma: Stop Pirating Photoshop!

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Flipping the Linux switch: Countdown to the dual boot

Kristin Shoemaker — 2008-08-19T10:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Features, Windows, Linux, Open Source

I have been a Linux user for quite some time -- about eight years. My husband and I have known each other since we were twelve, when our school's only computer was an Apple IIe attached to a dot matrix printer. We grew up together, bought our first computer together, and built our first home-grown computers together.

He has never used Linux. Sure, he's played Frozen Bubble a few times. He's shut down my computer during thunderstorms. That's it.

His desktop Windows machine is older, and truth be told, he uses it for games and web surfing. He just bought an MSI Wind for work and school, and plans on keeping most of the "work stuff" on there.

He is a Windows user, but Windows irritates him on regular basis. He has said (for years) he'd be happy to use Linux for internet and document creation, but he can't part with a couple of games.

Now, the time has come. He is ready. He has asked that his computer be set up as a dual boot machine. How did he reach this conclusion, and what needs to be done to get his computer ready for the Linux invasion? And if you find yourself in this same position, what do you need to do?

Continue reading Flipping the Linux switch: Countdown to the dual boot

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Circle Dock: Stop going out of your way to launch apps

Brad Linder — 2008-08-15T17:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Open Source

There are plenty of dock-style applications launchers for Windows. But most have one thing in common: You anchor them to the top, bottom, or side of the screen and then scroll your mouse over that portion of the screen to bring up a list of applications. Circle Dock is different, because this free application launcher it appears where your mouse already is instead of making you move your mouse.

Like most application launches, Circle Dock comes with a list of icons for frequently used programs, like the Control Panel, your default browser, and the recycling bin. You can add shortcuts by dragging them from your desktop or quick launch bar and customize to your heart's content.

Circle Dock has a ton of visual customization options as well. You can either display your icons in concentric circles, or as a spiral. You can add a rotating animation effect to the spiral to make yourself dizzy. There are a more than 30 skins to choose from. And you can decide whether the dock is always visible or if it disappears when the program loses focus or when you click an application icon. One other feature which I wish every application launcher had (and which many, but not all, do have) is the ability to select from a handful of keyboard shortcuts to show or hide the dock.

[via CyberNet]

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Chandler wants to set you free from Outlook, takes 6 years to do it

Brad Linder — 2008-08-14T13:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Productivity, Open Source, Social Software

About six years ago Mitch Kapor, the guy behind Lotus 1-2-3, started a new open source project called Chandler. The goal was simple enough: Create an personal information management tool that would allow users to store, share, and collaborate. It would have things like a calendar, address book, and to do list.

In other words, Chandler is a lot like Microsoft Outlook. But there are a few major differences:

Chandler is open source
Chandler works with Windows, Mac, and Linux and has a web interface
You can sync your Chandler tasks with an online server and share them with others

Overall the interface of the desktop and web clients is pretty, but not necessarily intuitive. For example, there's a nice big text entry box at the top of the application that you would think would be for searching. But it's primary use is for entering new tasks. Type something into that box and a new task is created. If you want to use the text area as a search box, you need to type "/f" before entering your query.
Is Chandler kind of useful? Sure. Is it an Outlook killer? Maybe. Was it worth a six year wait? Maybe not. But now that it's here, Kapor says it's up to the open source community to continue developing the project. And I've learned never to understimate the open source community. If there's a will, there's a way, and this application could be the future of collaborative task management. On the other hand, it's not entirely clear if there's a will at the moment.

What do you think? Is Chandler the wave of the future, or should Kapor have given up on it years ago?

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US Court rules in favor of "open source" copyright

Brad Linder — 2008-08-14T10:30:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Open Source

Over the past few years, we've seen a number of artists, software developers and others release their work under non-traditional copyright licenses. Historically, copyright laws have been used to prevent others from redistributing your work. But Creative Commons and the GNU General Public License allow content makers to distribute their work for free -- while insisting upon certain conditions.

For example, there are Creative Commons licenses that would let you write a poem and allow anyone to publish that poem on their web site as long as they provide proper attribution. Or you can use the GNU GPL to release a piece of software that others can distribute for free, or even charge a fee for -- as long as they continue to make the source code available for free.

Up until now, the validity of these licenses hasn't really been put to the test. But on Wednesday, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned a San Francisco court ruling dealing with just these issues. Basically, a software developer who published model train software was using code that had been released for free. But he did not give credit to the developers of the original software, despite the fact that the license required him to do so.

When the guy who developed the open original application filed suit, the San Fransisco court ruled that the terms of the license were too broad to be enforceable. But this week's ruling overturns that decision which means that software developers, musicians, artists, and others who release their work under an "open source" license have a reasonable expectation that the terms of the license will be enforceable -- at least until some schmuck comes along and takes the case to the Supreme Court.

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Coccinella - the whiteboard thrill just doesn't last

Dolores Parker — 2008-08-11T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Open Source, Social Software

Despite its seriously flawed name, Coccinella, the open source IM client, has some interesting features that might make you do a double take. The idea of chatting and having the ability to draw on a whiteboard, as well as play chess during a chat session sounds like fun, so I decided to give it a spin.

I learned from the process that Coccinella is the Latin name for ladybug. It is not, as I had thought originally, a bacteria found in pond scum. I continued my pursuit, preferring to focus on the cute little ladybug in the logo and ignore the unfortunate "ella" associations with the name.

Coccinella is a free download for Windows, Linux and Mac. After downloading the application, the set up assistant leads you to select from a list of servers to open a new account on. Although Coccinella can connect to any Jabber/XMPP instant messaging server including Google Talk, AOL, MSN and ICQ, you have to dig for information to find out how. The set up assistant leads you to select from various servers and so I created an account with Jabber.org. I was happy I did.

Continue reading Coccinella - the whiteboard thrill just doesn't last

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The Kids Open Dictionary Builder: Do they define better than they punctuate?

Kristin Shoemaker — 2008-08-07T18:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Internet, Kids, Open Source

Lower your geek radar detector. You got me. I am a tech blogger. I also have a degree in library science. Guilty as charged, just put me on a cell block with wireless and a supply of graphic novels.

I am a librarian who is really okay with wikis. Would I accept every entry in one as gospel? No, but questioning is good in print, too. I believe wikis are, by and large, a decent starting point for further research, like any encyclopedia. If you're writing your doctoral thesis using only wikis, we seriously need to talk. Now.

Wikis, online open encyclopedias, I can deal with. The Kids Open Dictionary Builder makes me fear the future, and not because of all the talking monkeys and flying robots, either. Yes, I said The Kids Open Dictionary Builder, and I typed it just as the name appears on the Creative Commons blog. The blogger there typed it as it appears on the project's home page. Grammatical structure is not the writing skill that comes to me most naturally, but, guys, when you're educators pushing an open dictionary, it is comforting to see the name punctuated correctly.

Continue reading The Kids Open Dictionary Builder: Do they define better than they punctuate?

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Flipping the Linux switch: ZOMG! ffmpeg!

Kristin Shoemaker — 2008-08-07T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Audio, Video, Features, Linux, Open Source

The plain truth is I don't like working with media files. Watching them, or listening to them, sure, I'm just as into that as the next girl. When it comes to actually converting them from something captured off an external device or my screen, though, my stomach turns. It's not an aversion that's peculiar to Linux. I hate using the Windows for those same tasks. Since I don't have access to a Mac, I can't vouch for the ease of media conversion on them, but I can safely say that as ubiquitous as Quicktime is, I have very little luck working with (or viewing) Quicktime files on any machine with any operating system in my possession.

Linux presents special challenges with media file conversions. The good news is that though some of the tools might be a little tricky to decipher, they do a great job with conversions and tend to encompass a wide range of file types. Some tools can be used with GUI front-ends, and some I've found are just a lot faster and easier to bang out a command in a terminal window. Many of these tools are either installed by default in a number of Linux distributions, or can be added with a few clicks through the distro's repositories.

So I admit it was with a whole lot of fear and loathing that I decided to include screencasts in a recent post on KDE. My video grab software was working wonderfully, but it saved my files as .ogv. That wouldn't be a problem if I weren't hosting it elsewhere, and if the conversion software on that site didn't require it be in a format other than .ogv. And Ogg files, being funny beasts, aren't always the easiest things to convert.

And certainly, they aren't the only things you'd want to convert in Linux. So let's shake down how it's done.

Continue reading Flipping the Linux switch: ZOMG! ffmpeg!

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babysmash! lets you let your little one beat on your computer

Jason Clarke — 2008-08-05T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Fun, Games, Kids, Windows, Microsoft, Freeware, Open Source

Kids get computers. It seems like they take to them almost immediately, once they are big enough to be able to control a mouse. But what about kids that aren't yet big enough? I know both of my boys wanted to bang away on the keyboard from a very young age.

Rather than opening a Word document and setting the font to a huge size, why not run a program that is specifically created for young children? Well, that's what Scot Hanselman must have thought when he decided to create Baby Smash.

Baby Smash is a simple Windows program that will lock out the special keys on the keyboard so that baby can't accidentally exit the program, and will then show colorful shapes with fun sound effects in response to baby's key presses, or more likely key mashes (and slams, and bangs, and mashes, etc.).

Scott is a well-known Windows development blogger who recently went to work for Microsoft. He's using the development of Baby Smash to teach Windows development concepts on his popular blog, ComputerZen.

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Songbird 0.7 RC1 is out: Mozilla-based music player is growing up

Brad Linder — 2008-08-04T12:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Audio, Internet, Mozilla, Open Source

Songbird, the music player built on Mozilla is inching a bit closer towards a 1.0 release. Last night the developers pushed Songbird 0.7 Release Candidate 1 out of the nest, and it includes a whole slew of updates including improved memory usage, UI refinements, and a new setup assistant that makes it easy to import media libraries and configure Songbird to work with an iPod or other portable media player.

Here are a few more of the changes:

Support for iTunes-like smart playlists
Optional concert calendar displays upcoming shows in your area based on the artists in your music library
Last.fm support allows you to scrobble tracks
Now uses GStreamer as the media core
Faster metadata scanning

If you haven't used Songbird before, here are a few others reasons you might want to check it out. First, it's kind of like having a cross-platform version of iTunes that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux but also supports multiple tabs. Second, you can use Songbird as a web browser and when you visit pages with links to MP3 files like The Hype Machine, Songbird will automatically detect the music files and bring up links for you to play those tracks.

The latest version seems much faster and more stable than earlier versions.

[via gHacks]

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Clean Notifications - WordPress plugin

Jason Clarke — 2008-08-03T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Blogging, Freeware, Open Source

Without a doubt, WordPress is one of the most popular blogging platforms currently available for people who want to install and maintain their content management system on their own server. I mean, what's not to love? Free, powerful, and easy to use - it's the whole package.

But for all of its positive attributes, WordPress certainly doesn't get everything right. Take, for example, the email notifications that the blogging platform generates. They're ugly, right? Full URLs make for a muddy reading experience.

To be honest, I really wasn't aware how ugly those emails were until I saw what a difference the Clean Notifications plugin makes. It tidies up and re-arranges the information in notification emails to make them much easier on the eyes. Give it a try, and let us know what you think.

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Does software piracy hurt the open source community?

Danny Mendez — 2008-07-30T11:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Business, Developer, Internet, Security, Commercial, Open Source

Louis Suarez-Potts, the community manager for the open-source Open Office project, says software piracy also hurts the open-source community, and though it can be argued that open-source is bad for innovation, most of us love the open source community. So does the occasional pirated piece of software really hurt our beloved open source projects?

Suarez-Potts thinks it's bad for everyone including the open source community since pirated software theoretically takes "customers" away from open source projects. For example, a college student may never end up downloading Open Office since he copied Microsoft Office from a friend, but that's not to say it hurts the money-makers like Microsoft at all. A little bit of piracy helps to establish big company's products as "the standard", hurting open source projects even more and making it harder for them to get their foot into a user's door.

Now we'd like to pose a question: Like the college student used in the example above, does pirating software generally prevent you from trying Open Source software or would you have put the cash down anyway even if you couldn't get it for free?

View Poll

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With KDE 4.1, KDE4 starts to show its colors

Kristin Shoemaker — 2008-07-30T09:00:00+00:00

Filed under: OS Updates, Features, Linux, Open Source, Beta

When KDE 4.0 was released that fateful day in January, it unleashed an unholy boatload of controversy. Was it a final release? Was it really a final release? And just because the developers say it is a final release, but that it isn't, it's just numbered as such, and we shouldn't worry if things don't seem finished -- does that mean we shouldn't be concerned if things don't work?

We stand by the statements we made originally. KDE 4.0 is pretty and showed a lot of potential. We knew it would get better, but what would the cost be to the desktop environment? Would they be able to get the desktop environment to a stable, workable condition in time to keep alive the interest of those who opted to stay with KDE 3.5 at the time, or even moved to GNOME or Xfce?

The KDE 4.1 final release has become what many hoped the January release would. It is as stable on our OpenSUSE 11.0 system as our GNOME desktop. It is much faster and less weighty than a KDE 3.5 install. It is, of course, still really pretty. But better than that, it is functional. It can be configured to work the way you work, and even make your work easier. We can finally set our default desktop to KDE4 on login, and use it on a daily basis.

And yes, it is very different. And where we might not understand the reasoning behind every change (and some may even puzzle us a bit) we are really excited about the way things are shaping up.

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Flipping the Linux switch: Linux web tools - Pt. 6

Kristin Shoemaker — 2008-07-18T18:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Design, Developer, Internet, Features, Linux, Open Source

Have you ever looked in a real DIYers toolbox? Or maybe even the toolbox of someone who's pretty handy, but who has a messy streak? So all the hammers might be together, or all the screwdrivers will be together, maybe even with some sort of arrangement as to Phillips or Torx heads... but there is almost inevitably, in some corner compartment of the toolbox, or some drawer (and maybe several of them, even) an area set aside for what amounts to a whole lot of miscellaneous "everything" bits. These pieces might logically be found with hammers, or dry wall tools, or about a million other things... But they aren't quite the same, and they aren't always used in the same manner. So they end up in a big pile, that you hope stays manageable enough you can find them again.

This week's Linux switch, the last of the web development stuff for a bit, is like that compartment. These are all nifty little tools, and great when you need them. But they are mostly small, and have a strange distinction of not always being associated with any one particular type of task.

Some, like FTP programs and plugins, are associated with other programs. But what if you love your editor and hate the uploading functions it has? Image maps can be a nuisance to set up, and we think that's probably part of the reason why you don't see a lot of them. But sometimes, they just fit the project at hand.

And you know how we said we'd go easy on the editors? Seriously, we meant it. However, there's one more editing tool we want to mention that's probably beyond most casual users, but will make Linux users who want to develop SWF9 applications pretty happy. We are not covering it in any great depth, because we are not any sort of whizzes with Flash development -- but we have to point it out. It's been a long time coming!

So welcome to our odds and ends compartment of web tools!

Continue reading Flipping the Linux switch: Linux web tools - Pt. 6

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Record books are for browsers, tattoos are for operating systems

Kristin Shoemaker — 2008-07-17T19:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Fun, Linux, Novell, Open Source

Hey, we know some people really did care very much about the Mozilla world record for Firefox 3 downloads on Download Day. And hey, yeah, we'll concede mad props to the Mozilla team for getting out there and getting those downloads.

But OpenSUSE just upped the "let's get lots of new users" ante. Record books are all well and good, but what about stakes that are a little higher, a bit more exotic? For instance, what would happen if OpenSUSE hit a million installs of the OpenSUSE 11.0 release by the SourceForge Community Choice Awards at OSCON next week?

If OpenSUSE 11.0 hits the million registered installs mark by July 24, OpenSUSE Community Manager Joe ("Zonker") Brockmeier is putting his skin on the line. No, really, his skin. If this lofty goal is reached, by the end of OSCON Zonker will be sporting a nifty new tattoo of the deliriously happy OpenSUSE mascot, the "geeko."

Now, a million installs is a lot. You can't really blame Zonker though, as a tattoo is a pretty big deal, depending not only on one's pain tolerance, but the idea that one day you will have to explain to your grandkids why any given image is on your back (or arm... or...). We suppose he had to set the bar pretty high so that even the jaded future generations would be duly impressed. Zonker is still willing to amuse us, though, and has said that a more attainable 300,000 registered installs would get him to leave OSCON with green hair.

But c'mon, a tattoo is so much cooler. If you were thinking you'd like to try OpenSUSE 11.0, but needed just that little kickstart to try it, this is a pretty fine reason to at least give the LiveCD a whirl. If you like it enough to install it, you will have to register (no cost or spam involved) the install in order for it to count towards Zonker's new tattoo.

And no, no word yet on prospective placement of the geeko.

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VLC media player 0.9.0 pre-release adds Last.fm support and more

Danny Mendez — 2008-07-17T18:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Web services, Open Source, Social Software, Beta

The newest version of the VLC media player isn't ready for the streets yet, but if you're they type who doesn't mind risking your precious computer for the sake of satisfying a primal curiosity for experimental software, the pre-release of VLC 0.9.0 is now available for both Windows and Mac. Unfortunately, anybody with a Windows 98/ME or OS X 10.3.9 machine is out luck ~~since such technology is no longer socially acceptable~~ as those operating systems are no longer supported.

It now supports Last.fm (AKA Audioscrobbler) straight out of the ~~box~~ disk image, so it'll update your Last.fm account as you play music through VLC. To enable Last.fm support in the 0.9.0 release, enter your username in the preferences pane under Audioscrobber, but don't forget to visit Control interfaces to check the box labeled "Submission of played songs to Last.fm."

Other changes also include better tag support, more subtitle support, improved mouse gestures, album art support, Shoutcast TV listings, and a lot more that we don't want to bore you with, but you're more than welcome to check out the whole list on the VLC forums.

[via CyberNet]

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wattOS: Light weight, Ubuntu-based Linux distro

Brad Linder — 2008-07-12T10:00:00+00:00

Filed under: OS Updates, Linux, Open Source

WattOS is a new Linux distribution that's based on Ubuntu, but designed for low-power machines. It has low system requirements, which means you can run it on older hardware. But the developers are also hoping to build advanced power management features into the OS so that you'll have a full Linux desktop experience without consuming much power (by today's computer standards).

The operating system comes in four flavors:

wattOS: The core operating system which features a Gnome desktop
mWattOS: Uses the Xfce interface
µWattOS: Features a command line interface and a light-weight GUI
Substation: A server edition

WattOS is currently available as a public alpha, which means there's still a lot of work to do, but the operating system is perfectly usable, if a little rough around the edges. It comes with a stripped down set of applications. For examle, instead of OpenOffice.org you get AbiWord and Gnumeric. But WattOS supports apt-get and the Synaptic Package Manager, which makes it easy to add additional applications.

[via Sizlopedia]

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Flipping the Linux switch: Linux web tools, Pt. 5 - Readers love editing

Kristin Shoemaker — 2008-07-11T18:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Design, Developer, Features, Linux, Open Source

Seriously guys, we love you. Okay, fine, maybe not in the way your mom loves you, or your dog loves you, or your significant other loves you. But we definitely love you in that totally uncomfortable, care-free, "Hey, let us buy you a Red Bull and Pop Rocks next time we're at the convenience store" sort of way.

We don't just love you for your looks, or your superior intelligence, or because you can totally creep out little kids with that thing you do with your left eye. We will even go so far as to say the fact that you use Linux doesn't play into it one bit.

We love you because your suggestions rock. We scour the web ourselves daily, but you know, it's a big place, and we just can't know every single bit of software or tech goodness out there. We think it's way cool when we get suggestions from readers about applications for Linux (or Windows, or Mac, or Palm...) because you aren't only cluing us in on applications we may not be familiar with, but a lot of you are avid users, and can vouch that the application you are suggesting really works for every day use.

This week, we think it's only appropriate to wrap up the editors section of our Linux web tools discussion with a couple of reader suggested gems. So a big thanks to Tim for suggesting we look at Komodo Edit and kingkool68 for pointing us towards Aptana.

Gallery: FtLS Komodo and Aptana

Continue reading Flipping the Linux switch: Linux web tools, Pt. 5 - Readers love editing

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Media Player Classic Home Cinema Edition: All in one media player

Brad Linder — 2008-07-11T17:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Video, Windows, Open Source

Media Player Classic is an audio and video player for Windows that looks like Windows Media Player 6.4, but works a bit more like all-in-one media application VLC. Each application is open source, and each can handle almost any audio or video file you throw at it. But that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement.

Media Player Classic Home Cinema Edition takes the basic version of MPC and adds a few extra features, including:

Support for additional decoders, including H.264 and VC-1 with DXVA support
Improved support for Windows Vista, including a 64 bit release
Translation into additional languages

The media player takes up just a few megabytes and doesn't require installation, so you can throw it on a USB flash drive and carry it around with you.

[via gHacks]

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