So, I was set a challenge – find some Open Source software that most people won’t have come across.

Ok, that was the plan. Now, the limitations (self set). Nothing too technical, nor niche. No games (otherwise I could just easily provide a vast list of them). Oh, and they have to be Windows applications – no Linux, Mac, PHP scripts, etc.

I thought plunging into my Firefox bookmarks would yeald many but, sadly, most were either games or too technical for this list. Or I’ve covered them elsewhere in my blog. So, a number I’ve had to scourer SourceForge for (oh, I wish their search facility was better). And some goodies I’ve come up with too – here’s my 40 (in no particular order)…

TV-Browser
A desktop based EPG. It’s German in origin but includes UK channels. I’ve only had a brief play with it so far, but I’ve been impressed.

MP3Gain
This is something I’ve been using for years. Now, adding gain to MP3s (i.e. bringing them all up to a similar volume) is something built into many media players and burning products. However, MP3Gain is a standalone product designed to do this one task. And well.

DVDStyler
DVDStyler is a DVD authoring program for the creation of professional-looking DVDs. It allows not only burning of video files on DVD that can be played practically on any standalone DVD player, but also creation of own-designed DVD menus.

Arora
Yes, it’s another browser! Based on WebKit (like Chrome and Safari), it’s fast and available on a number of platforms. However, the fact that is has recently “elbowed out” Konqueror as the browser of choice in Kubuntu, has made news.

MuseScore
An excellent WYSIWYG musical score editor. It’s packed full of features, including importing of data and has a built in sequencer and synth.

SmillaEnlarger
Another simple idea, done well. SmillaEnlarger will magnify images in high quality. Useful for “blowing up” part of a photo. And it will go on a USB key as well.

AxCrypt
A file encryption tool that integrates directly into Windows Explorer. Simply right click on a file and you can quickly and easily encrypt it, with password protection (or without, for simple sending via email).

WindowsPager
If you’ve used Linux any time recently, you’ll probably have come across its virtual desktop environment, where you can easily switch between multiple desktops via an icon in the toolbar. Well, WindowsPager provides a similar facility. It’s not perfect, however, and I spotted a problem with Command Prompt windows, but it’s worth a try – as with most of these products, it’s still being worked on.

Synkron
Synkron is a relatively powerful folder synchronisation tool. How you use it, well, is up to you – for something as simple as synchronising a USB key to your PC, or as a quick backup tool.

Hugin
I said I’ve avoid anything too technical and, well, this isn’t. It’s just powerful. But if you’re a keen photographer, you’ll love this. It’s a photo stitcher (which can allow you, for example, to make panoramic images) which is a bit more manual that many (but, hence, it’s power).

PeaZip
PeaZip is an excellent compression program, like WinZip and 7-Zip. It also has file encrytion facilities and a portable version is available. Of course, 7-Zip is also Open Source, but PeaZip does, at least, offer an alternative.

Scribus
Scribus is a desktop publishing tool, similar to Microsoft Publisher. It has an easy to use interface but Scribus also supports professional publishing features, such as CMYK color, separations, Spot Colors, ICC color management and versatile PDF creation.

Appetizer
This is an application launcher which allows organizing your shortcuts and folders into a convenient dock. It supports plugins and skins, so is completely configurable to your own taste.

Storybook
Storybook is novel writing software for novelists, authors and creative writers. It will help you to keep an overview of multiple plot-lines, records characters and locations and will generally assist you in structuring your book.

InfraRecorder
InfraRecorder is free CD/DVD burning software. It offers a wide range of powerful features, all through an easy to use  interface and Windows Explorer integration. A portable version is also available.

BonkEnc
BonkEnc is a free audio converter and CD ripper which integrates various popular formats and encoders. It currently supports MP3, MP4/M4A, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, AAC and Bonk files.

RedNotebook
RedNotebook is a graphical diary and journal helping you keep track of notes and thoughts. It includes a calendar navigation, customizable templates, export functionality and word clouds. You can also format, tag and search your entries.

Gminder
Gminder is a simple, but effective, desktop version of Google Calendar. It waits in your system tray and alerts you when you have an upcoming Google Calendar event. GMinder supports multiple calendars and allows you to configure how you want to be alerted. Since it downloads your events, it works offline and enables you to preview your agenda of events. New events can be added to your Google Calendars using a Quick Add feature.

Fwink
This is an excellent webcam application that takes still images from your camera at timed intervals and puts them on your web site with FTP. You can add effects like text messages, time stamps and an overlay image.

PopTray
PopTray is a full-featured, customizable, e-mail notifier which works with POP3 accounts but also has plugins for Hotmail, Gmail, etc. It includes spam management and will handle multiple accounts.

calibre
Got an eBook? calibre includes library management, format conversion, news feeds to eBook conversion, as well as an eBook reader sync feature and an integrated eBook viewer.

Process Hacker
Process Hacker is a feature-packed tool for manipulating processes and services on your computer. Think of it as being like the Task Manager that appears when you press CTRL/ALT/DEL but a lot more detailed.

JavaRa
JavaRa is a simple tool that does a simple job: it removes old and redundant versions of Java.

TweetMyPC
Make use of Twitter in other ways – send commands to your PC, allowing you to shutdown, log off, transfer files, etc.

Xmind
Xmind is brainstorming and mind mapping software. You can even embed results in your blog.

MonitorES
A fabulous idea – when your lock your desktop, MonitorES will automatically put your monitor into standby and, optionally, pause any media players, mute sound and change your Instant Messaging status’.

Sweet Home 3D
This is a free interior design application that helps you place your furniture on a house 2D plan, with a 3D preview

iColorFolder
Bored of your folders? With a quick right click, iColorFolder will allow you to change their colour – useful for grouping together. You can also change your default folder icons with a selection of “skins”.

Data Crow
Weird name, but useful application. Data Crow is media cataloguing software – audio, software, book, film and photo collections.

winsupermaximise
This is another “simple but handy” utility. It adds a system tray icon which, once clicked (or you can press a hotkey combination), will “super maximise” the current window – that is, it will resize so the title bar is actually above the screen boundaries, thus saving those extra pixels that you don’t want to waste. A great utility for Netbook owners, in particular.

PhotoGrabber
This application makes it easy to download tagged pictures from Facebook. It only takes a few clicks!

Cache My Work
CacheMyWork is a handy utility that enables you to reboot Windows without losing your place in your work. It builds a checklist of currently open applications, and will restart the apps you’ve selected the next time you logon to the computer.

SheepDog
SheepDog is useful whenever you have an application or window that you can’t access because it is located off your visible screen – when activated, SheepDog will re-position the offscreen windows back onto your main screen.

Vanity Remover
This application removes all sub-folders (and the folder itself) where vanity is found. In other words: Recursively checks for and deletes empty folders. Simple as that.

HKTunes
HKTunes (formerly iHK) allows you to control iTunes using global hotkeys. For example, you could change the track and music volume while playing a game. It has a tray menu and a GUI to let you select hotkeys.

Synergy+
Synergy+ lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems, without special hardware. All you need is a LAN connection. It’s intended for users with multiple computers, where each system uses its own display. It’s a little like having a 2nd or a 3rd desktop…

Desktop Google Reader
Desktop Google Reader is a desktop client to Google’s popular RSS aggregator services. It is focused on on the most important things you do with Google Reader – read, mark as read and star items. In addition and in combination with the notification system Snarl it gives you nice popup notifications on your newly arriving news feed items.

ZScreen
ZScreen is a screen capture program that allows you to upload screenshots, pictures, text & files and put the URL in your clipboard in a single keystroke.

Rainmeter
Rainmeter is a desktop customization platform. Through Rainmeter, you can enhance your Windows computer at home or work with skins: handy, compact applets which float freely on your desktop, much like Windows Sidebar gagdgets, or dashboard widgets for the Mac.

ClipMan
Clipman is an extension of the standard clipboard shipped with Windows. You can store all the items copied in a list or send them back at the clipboard. If you want, you can also edit the images in the list.

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I use Kubuntu, not as my main OS, but for web development testing, which means I need a broad cross-section of Linux browsers. Therefore I run Kubuntu for it’s KDE interface (and, hence, Konqueror). I do this under VirtualBox – the virtual machine that I’ve found to be the best.

So, here’s my def. guide to creating a web development build of Kubuntu (for the layman, but assuming you can find your way around an OS and VirtualBox a bit). Ok, here goes…

Installing Kubuntu

1. Download the Kubuntu ISO (I’m using the 32-bit addition) and save on your computer.
2. If you’ve not already creating a guest machine on VirtualBox, do so. I find an 8GB hard drive, 256MB base memory and 12MB graphics memory is sufficient. I also enable the 3D acceleration and VT-x/AMD-v options.
3. Attach the previously saved ISO as a mounted CD and boot. This will run through the installation – install this onto the previous created virtual hard drive.
4. Reboot after the install.

Ok, now you have Kubuntu. Start it up again and we’ll configure it.

Automatic Login

1. Go into System Settings.
2. Click on the Advanced Tab and select “Login Manager”
3. Click on the Convenience tab.
4. Click on Enable Auto-login and select the user from the drop-down list.
5. Apply these changes

This has set Kubuntu to automatically log you in each time – a handy time-saver.

Switch off Screen Saver

1. Go into System Settings
2. Click on Desktop
3. Click on the Screen Saver option
4. Untick “Start automatically”
5. Apply these changes

Update Build

The next thing I do is to go into the Adept Manager and install any pending updates. This ensures your build is as up-to-date as possible.

Now restart the system.

Installing Linux Additions

Linux Additions is software which improves the interactivity between your host machine and your guest machine – in my case, between Windows XP and Kubuntu.

1. Start Kubuntu. At the top of the VirtualBox window, select Devices and then click on “Install Guest Additions”
2. Open up Konsole and run the following…
   sudo aptitude install build-essential linux headers-`uname -r`
3. Once complete, run the following commands…
   cd /media/cdrom
sudo sh ./VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run
4. Once complete you’ll be prompted to restart the system, which you should do.

Once the system has restarted you’ll notice that you’ll be able to cleanly interact with the Kubuntu system via your mouse, without having to click in the window and use a “hot key” to return back to Windows. It will also give you extra video facilities which leads onto…

Improving Screen Size

I don’t know if it’s the same with your build but up until the point I installed the Linux Additions, Kubuntu was displaying in a 800×600 pixel window. However, now it’s gone to 1152×864, which is a lot better. Personally, I’m going to change it, so here’s how to do it…

1. Go into System Settings
2. Click on Display
3. By default the Size and Orientation option should be selected
4. You should see an option to set the size – change this via the drop-down
5. Apply these changes

The screen then proceeded to corrupt and I had to reboot the Kubuntu session to get it back – this worked however and my resolution is as I set it.

Installing Browsers

Kubuntu comes with Konqueror. The two further browsers I wish to install are Firefox and Opera.

First of all, Firefox…

1. Go into Adept Installer
2. Search for & install Firefox

A simple one that! Now for Opera…

1. Browse to http://www.opera.com/download/ and download the latest version to your desktop (it should be a .deb file)
2. Right click and select “Open With” followed by “GDebi Package Installer”

And that should be it. All done. However, each update to Kubuntu normally brings along changes to the above (e.g. with 8.10 I lost the ability to easily specify my monitor and video card hardware).

The plan now is to keep this post up-to-date (I’ll add appropriate comments to highlight where changes are made). In time I’m going to add a selection of FAQ pages to the site, and I’m sure this will become one of them.

Good luck and if you have any problems, please drop me a comment.

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Now, in the past when I’ve tried to do updates of the OS it’s failed. This time it worked. Until I rebooted. Then the GUI failed and everything was command line <sigh>

Rather than try and fix this I thought it best simply to do another install. I downloaded the latest 8.10 ISO, but grabbed the 64-bit version instead. The latest version of VirtualBox will allow you to run 64-bit guests on a 32-bit host.

However, I do seem to keep getting a “Incomplete language support” error box. Running the requested installation doesn’t seem to fix it. Or generally do anything. On top of that I seem to have got in an infinite loop of installing updates – they appear to download and install but are then pending again. Hmmm. I also built the 32-bit version at the same time (as you do) and that too had the same issues.

On the plus side, KDE is looking nice, with desktop gadgets (which I turned off) and lots of neat graphical touches. Although I am, for one, not a fan of “style over substance”, whether it’s Linux or the latest Apple product. If Linux is going to make it to the populace, it’s going to have to do better than this.

In fact, in the end I stopped using the 64-bit version and moved over to the 32-bit copy I had. I’m not going to blame Kubuntu in this case – it was slow and buggy, but I suspect this is down to the Beta nature of the 64-bit support in VirtualBox. Oh well, it was definately worth a try.

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Anyway, I have just the one “guest” machine, Kubuntu, so it seems a bit tedious to have to start VirtualBox each time. Naturally, there is another way – a command line shortcut.

Cutting to the chase, I’m assuming you know how to create a shortcut. I’ll also assume you’re using the latest version of VirtualBox. Right, here’s the shortcut…

"C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe" startvm xxx

Where xxx is the name of your virtual guest.

And that’s it really. Oh, and if you want to make it pretty, I even found a Kubuntu icon to make that shortcut look even more appropriate.

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However, I’ve struggled to get it work until I came across an article in PcPro (October 2007) about how to do just that. It’s for Ubuntu but works just as well for Kubuntu.

First of all mount the Guest Additions disk. Now run the following…

sudo aptitude install build-essential linux headers-`uname -r`

When that’s done you’re supposed to change to the CD rom and run the following…

sudo sh ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run

For some reason I can’t get to the CD Rom via the terminal program (well I could, but it said there was nothing on it). Instead I found, by more luck than judgement, that I was able to install it at root via clicking on the CD Rom icon.

Anyway it worked. Amongst other things I can now resize my Kubuntu window up to the full 1280×1024 of my monitor. I’ve also got seamless mouse use – no more using a special key to move in and out of the virtual window, back to the host. All very handy.

Lastly, the same article gave details of a useful command line program provided with VirtualBox for making clones of your virtual hard drives. The command iis in the VirtualBox folder and is…

VBoxManage clonevdi {source disk} {output file}

The source disk is the full path to where you have the virtual drive stored.

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Now, the install is a breeze but, as before, I had 3 browsers to re-install. However, since my original instructions I’ve got it down to a more fine art. And, as before, Konqueror comes as standard with Kubuntu (hence me choosing the KDE interface).

So here are the rest…

Firefox
Go into Add/remove programs
Search for & install Firefox

Opera
Browse to http://www.opera.com/download/ and download the latest version to your desktop (it should be a .deb file)
Right click and select “Open With” followed by “Gdebi Package Installer”

SeaMonkey
This is the tougher one.
Download and install (as with Opera) the automated script.
Open up a command window and change to root
Now run the following command…

ubuntuzilla.py -a install -p seamonkey

1. It’s slow (this is apparently on purpose to get you to buy the commercial version. Allegedly)
2. The network bridging that it uses causes my network connection to not start for about 5 minutes after a reboot. Frustrating and nobody on the VMWare forums seems to want to suggest an answer to it.

The other free alternative is Virtual PC from Microsoft but, having tried it, it’s a typical Microsoft product that doesn’t seem to want to know anything about any possible rival. Hence you can set up various flavours of Windows OS’, but everything else is clumped into a big generic “other” pile.

PCPro has recommended VirtualBox so I gave that a go.

Again it was easy to use and, yes, quick. Again I installed Kubuntu, but every time I tried to change the resolution (from 1024×768 to my screens native 1280×1024) or specify the monitor or graphics card model, it refused to boot up.

I also had a frustrating time – my own fault for not reading instructions – with the Snapshot facility.

In the end I gave up with trying to change the graphics properties and just created a clean install of Kubuntu with Opera, Firefox and SeaMonkey browsers added to the existing Konqueror.

I uninstalled VMware and now can get an internet connection immediately my PC has booted. It’s also, as previously mentioned, quick. I’m limited to having it in a window on my Windows desktop in the aforementioned limited resolution, but I can live with that.

I should also take the chance to update my own instructions on updating the above browsers…

Firefox & SeaMonkey. These can be installed in one go using the automated script. For some reason I found I had files missing that caused this script to fail. I simply looked these files up in the Adept Manager.

Opera. Download from their site in .rpm file format, right click on the resultant file and select the option to install it.

And so I don’t have to keep going back to my original post to remember how to request root access – you put sudo at the beginning of the command line.

And you know what? It actually is easy!

My intention was to install Linux so I could run browsers for testing websites on. Of course that doesn’t cover them all – but I’ll probably need a Mac to collect the set!

I’d not used Linux before so this was an education in more than one.

Anyway, I installed Ubuntu at first as that appears to be the flavour of the month. That came with Firefox as standard. But what I was really after was Konqueror. After the briefest of investigations I found that this only comes with KDE environment – Kubuntu was therefore the better option (essentially it’s just Ubuntu with the KDE interface on it). I’ve since found that simply apt-get kde would have sorted it.

So, then I had Konqueror. The built in package manager knew about Firefox so I could install that simply from that.

Now I needed two more… Opera and SeaMonkey. Oh my.

Opera – I downloaded this from their site. It was in .deb format. Next I came across instructions which showed how to convert it into .rpm format. Once it’s in that you can simply click on the file and install it.

It was also during this that I found that the equivalent of root password (or super user password) in Ubuntu is to append sudo at the beginning of your command line.

SeaMonkey was tricky – the instructions on the site look a nightmare. Thankfully, I was pointed in the right direction – an automated script.

So now I have all 4 browsers installed that I needed. I kicked off the BMTG website and immediately found a problem. Linux does not come with the Arial font as standard – it would appear that this is Windows only. However, Helvetica is similar so I’ve added that into the Stylesheets as a “fall back” font. The site in the Linux browsers now looks better but the fonts aren’t quite the same in size… I suspect it’s not the font but rather the browsers. That’s something to look at in future.

What I did come across was various websites recommending Arial as a “web safe” font. That doesn’t make sense to me – Microsoft apparently allow you to use Arial elsewhere but not to distribute it. Hence why it’s not in Linux.

Now I have all my browsers, but I still need to get VMtools working.

So what do I think of Linux? Well, it’s not for the feint hearted – just getting software installed is a bit of a nightmare. I’m not quite sure how people think this is worthy of replacing Windows.

But VMware is definitely worth a punt – get that and, say, Ubuntu and have a play!

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