System Recovery Tools: a possible cross-platform approach through open source and proprietary solutions February 28, 2011
Posted by galigio in apple, Computers & Internet, free software, free software download, Free Software Magazine, Freeware, freeware blog, Freeware Reviews, freeware tip, freeware tips, GNU/Linux, Linux, Linux & OpenSource, Mac OS X, repair, Rescue CD, security, Seguridad, Software, Software News, solve boot problem, Tech, Technology, Technology and Software, Technology News, Tecnologia, windows.Tags: cross-platform, data recovery, file recovery, G4L, Ghost for Linux, Hard disk drive, Knoppix, Live CD, Norton Ghost, O&O Disk Rwcovery, recovery tool, SuperDuper, System recovery, UBCD, Ultimate Boot CD, USB flash drive
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The following system recovery tools will be useful to you if you are facing problem of data loss or if your system is simply crashing. It is advisable to burn copies of these tools much before any disaster strikes.
Open Source and Free approach:
G4L aka Ghost for Linux is one of the system recovery tools that is mainly a cloning and hard disk and partition imaging tool. This tool is similar to “Norton Ghost”. The images created are compressed optionally and transferred to a FTP server instead of opting for cloning locally. Ideally, of the several tools described above it is advisable to use the most suitable tool for your needs. The tool that will be most useful during a crisis like a crash or server failure will be a better tool.
The Ultimate Boot CD is one of the system recovery tools which will be very helpful when you want to run CDRom-based diagnostic tools thereby consolidating as many diagnostic tools into one bootable CD as possible. Since you can now boot from USB memory devices a script you can run “Ultimate Boot CD” from USB memory stick and a script on the script on the CD will enable you to boot newer systems from your USB sticks. This is many steps ahead than many of the other recovery tools. Moreover it gives you the flexibility of booting your system with a USB memory stick.
Knoppix is one of the system recovery tools which is essentially a bootable CD with GNU/Linux software. It ensures automatic detection of hardware and supports a wide range of devices like sound cards, most of the graphic cards, USB and SCSI devices and other peripherals. It can be used as an educational CD, a Linux demo or for system recovery purposes. Alternatively it can be used as a commercial platform for software demos. There is no need to install anything on the hard-disk as the CD is capable of storing 2GB of software installed in it. Thus this tool is a truly multi-purpose recovery tool.
Proprietary solutions:
O&O Disk recovery: This software tool scans every portion of your hard-disk, digital camera or memory card for lost files. It is so effective and reliable that it is possible to reconstruct data even when files systems have been destroyed or formatted. More than 350 types of files like music formats, word documents, movie, graphics, Excel workbooks, photo and access databases can be recognized, reconstructed and restored.
SuperDuper is one of the system recovery tools makes recovery effortless as it creates a completely bootable backup effortlessly. The strengths of this software are that it is user-friendly, easy to use with a built-in scheduler that it makes backup automatically. Moreover it performs well independent of the processor that is both on Power PC Macs as well as Intel PCs. It is particularly useful when your software application with the latest update is not working or when your hard drive begins to make noise. It is also very handy when you want to restore a stable copy of your system though you do not want t lose your existing system files or cases like this.

Open Source tools and applications for web developers January 24, 2011
Posted by galigio in Computers & Internet, Technology and Software, Freeware Reviews, Free Software Magazine, freeware blog, freeware tip, freeware tips, Linux, GNU/Linux, Linux & OpenSource, Freeware, Technology News, free software, Ubuntu, free software download, Technology, Tech, Tecnologia.Tags: Aptana, Eclipse, Freeware Reviews, html, Java, JavaScript, JEdit, NVU, open source, Programming, Quanta Plus, Software, web develop
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Several open source tools have evolved in the past and have become popular with the developers too. These tools have gained popularity not only because they come free but because of the ease to work with and the features. First let us see some code editors:
- Aptana: It is a free, JavaScript focused development environment, cross-platform and open source for building Ajax applications. It supports HTML, JavaScript, CSS languages, FTP/SFTP and has a powerful JavaScript debugger that can help in troubleshooting your code.
- Eclipse : It is an open source software framework written mainly in Java. It is an integrated development environment consisting Java development toolkit (JDK) and compiler (ECJ) for developing applications in Java. Developers can extend its capabilities by installing plug-ins such as development toolkits for other programming languages written specifically for eclipse software framework. Language packs for over a dozen languages are available.
- JEdit : It is a programmer’s text editor which has many hundreds of man-hours of development behind it. It is a java-based solution and a cross-platform product which can work on many operating systems like Windows, VMS, UNIX, OX/2 and Mac OS X.
- NVU : It is a web authoring system for Linux desktop users, Macintosh users as well as for Microsoft windows and is a competitor for similar products like Dreamweaver and Frontpage. Nvu actually means new view and makes managing a website very easy. Now even people without knowledge of HTML or technical expertise can create web pages and manage a website.
- Quanta Plus : It is a web development environment with a lot of features and is highly stable. Quanta has a vision of achieving maximal user extensibility through the best architectural foundations, best, efficient design and natural use of code.
Get Kindle for PC to Ubuntu (if you really don’t like Calibre) January 10, 2011
Posted by galigio in Computers & Internet, Technology and Software, Freeware Reviews, Free Software Magazine, freeware blog, windows, freeware tip, freeware tips, Linux, GNU/Linux, Linux & OpenSource, Freeware, Technology News, free software, Wine, wine linux, Technology, Tech, Tecnologia.Tags: Amazon Kindle, Calibre, E-book, Gnome, Linux, Microsoft Windows, Ubuntu, wine, Wine HQ
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Amazon’s Kindle a popular portable e-book reader device, lately made Kindle for PC application that allows you to download and have books on your computer rather than having a portable e-book reader device. There’s only Kindle Windows version but the nice thing is you can have this application in Linux.
This is tested in Ubuntu 9 running Gnome. You can use different version of Linux, but first you must have Wine HQ installed to you computer. Then download the EXE file of Kindle for PC application in Amazon.
Install this with Wine HQ software loader and proceed to the normal installation, the same thing that you do in Windows environment.
Note:
- At your first run you won’t see anything at all
- Configure Wine first and add Kindle for PC as an application and make it run in Windows 98 mode
- If it won’t work, change to other mode
- When it opens successfully you have to input you Amazon email add and password to register the software.
But, please, don’t forget that if you prefer open source software, you can directly use Calibre, a powerful free software we posted a while ago. 
Rediscover Prism by Mozilla (Ubuntu, MAC and Windows tips) November 11, 2010
Posted by galigio in Computers & Internet, Firefox, Firefox add-ons, Firefox Extensions, Free Software Magazine, Freeware, freeware blog, Freeware Reviews, freeware tip, freeware tips, GNU/Linux, Linux, Linux & OpenSource, Mac, Mac OS X, Noticias, Noticias sobre Linux, Software, software for Linux, Software News, software newspaper, Tech, Technology, Technology and Software, Technology News, Tecnologia, Ubuntu, Ubuntu 10.04, Ubuntu Documentation, Ubuntu tips, windows.Tags: add-ons, apple, Dialog box, Linux, Mac, Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Prism, Synaptics, Ubuntu, Uniform Resource Locator, windows
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In 2007, when Prism was launched, there were some enthusiastic reviews about this application. Then the widget era began and Prism popularity decreased. Anyway, Prism is still a powerful application for all that people who desire to run their more often used web application saving RAM and CPU resources. Prism, based on XULRunner, is multi platform, easy to use and very flexible. To use it on Ubuntu you can launch the Terminal and type:
sudo apt-get install prism
or using the Synaptics Package Manager (System —> Administration —> Synaptics Package Manager). Then go to Applications —> Internet —> Prism and a small windows appears. Now, fill in all the required information: the web application URL, the name you prefer, settings and do not forget to click on the Desktop shortcut option. At this point you will find a new rough icon on your Desktop with the name you chose. The first time you use it, with the right mouse button click on it and go to Properties —> Permissions and Allow executing file as program. If you want to change the icon you have to click on it (with the right mouse button), go to Properties —> Basic and choose your favorite icon clicking the icon on the upper left corner. If all are steps are annoying for you, it is possible to use Prism as add-on for Firefox. In this case, on Firefox, go to Tools —> Add-ons —> Get Add-ons and type Prism on the search bar. You will install Prism as a simple add-on for Firefox. Now, you can automatically generate a Prism application just clicking on Tools —> Convert Website to Application when you are in the web application page.
On Windows or MAC we suggest to download the standalone package directly from the official web page or install Prism as Firefox add-on following the same steps we described for Ubuntu. If you use the Prism standalone package you have to decompress it in your favorite location. For Windows users: when you set up a new Prism application, try the tray menu option but do not forget to click on the Desktop shortcut or you will not be able to find again the application after you close it.
In my experience, Prism is really useful with all the Google web applications, with Zoho services and Pandora. Try and enjoy it!

A brief but useful video about using yahoo.com (and others) through WebMail on Thunderbird 3.1 (Windows version) November 9, 2010
Posted by galigio in Computers & Internet, Free Software Magazine, Freeware, freeware blog, Freeware Reviews, freeware tip, freeware tips, open source, open source software, Tech, Technology, Technology and Software, Technology News, Tecnologia, Thunderbird, tools, tutorial, windows.Tags: AOL, email client, FreePOPs, Gmail, Hotmail, Microsoft Windows, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, SMTP, Thunderbird, WebMail, Windows XP, Yahoo
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How to read yahoo.com (and many others) email accounts on Thunderbird 3.1 (Ubuntu and Windows tips) November 8, 2010
Posted by galigio in Computers & Internet, Free Software Magazine, Freeware, freeware blog, Freeware Reviews, freeware tip, freeware tips, GNU/Linux, Linux, Linux & OpenSource, open source, open source software, Tech, Technology, Technology and Software, Technology News, Tecnologia, Thunderbird, tools, tutorial, Ubuntu, Ubuntu 10.04, windows, Windows freeware.Tags: AOL, FreePOPs, Gmail, Hotmail, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, SMTP, Thunderbird, Ubuntu, WebMail, Windows XP, Yahoo
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Many on line email providers don’t allow you to use their accounts with POP email clients such as Thunderbird 3.1. To solve this “matter” we have a couple of possible solutions: FreePOPs and WebMail. Today, we will discuss about Webmail that we tested on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS and Windows XP. WebMail is substantially a Thunderbird’s add-ons but it is not featured by Mozilla. Using this add-on you are able to manage Yahoo, Hotmail, mail.com, GMail, Libero, and AOL email accounts. The installation is similar in Ubuntu and Windows; on both, you have to install the core WebMail add-on and restart Thunderbird then you can add all the other components (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc..) you prefer. Then you have to modify the Thunderbird server settings following the instructions provided by WebMail:
POP
Server Type : POP
Incoming Server: localhost
UserName : username@domain
SMTP
Server Name: localhost
UserName : username@domain
Do not forget to set the Connection Security to None.
Only on Ubuntu, you need also to manually modify the incoming and outgoing ports because when you use Thunderbird through WebMail on Ubuntu, you will have a “could not connect to server local host; the connection was refused” message. This problem can be easily solved substituting the default ports on both WebMail add-on and Thunderbird ports:
- Thunderbird —> Edit —> Account Settings. Highlight the account you want to manage and go to Server Settings. There you can modify the POP Server Mail port setting it to a number bigger than 1000 (in my case I put 1250). Then go to Outgoing Servers and Edit the SMTP account you want to modify (I changed the default port to 1025).
- Thunderbird —> Tools —> Add-ons —> WebMail —> Preferences and put the same port numbers you have set on the previous step.
All this because ports below 1024 seems to be blocked on Ubuntu (if you know why, please post a comment).
For security, restart Thunderbird and it will immediately download and send your emails. Last but not least, if your on line email account is not supported by WebMail, do not forget to try FreePOPs.

Dear Readers: Computer Borders is back! September 18, 2010
Posted by galigio in Computers & Internet, Free Software Magazine, Freeware, freeware blog, Freeware Reviews, freeware tip, freeware tips, Linux, Linux & OpenSource, Linux distribution, Linux Distros, windows, Windows freeware.Tags: Computer Borders, Freeware, Galigio, Linux, windows
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We need to apologize to all of you because we promised weekly posts and then we took quite a long hiatus. We didn’t mean to be gone for so long, but life got strange, and so on and so forth. But now we are back, and we would like to apologize with all you.
On a more positive note, though, we just checked our reader’s statistics, only to see that we still have almost 200 daily readers. And, believe us, we are shocked! Thanks for waiting our return, everybody.We decided to change something on our blog. First of all we will not duplicate our posts in the Linux and Freeware pages but we post them just in the homepage. In this way, we will have some posts in English and other in Spanish… it is not orthodox but…. why not? We dare!
We would like to know what you all think of the blog so far. What would you like to read? Leave us plenty of criticism in the comment sections. And, you will see a weekly post, starting Monday!

Best 10 Freeware Sites January 17, 2010
Posted by galigio in Computers & Internet, free software, free software download, Free Software Magazine, Freeware, freeware blog, Freeware Reviews, freeware tip, freeware tips, GNU/Linux, Linux, Linux & OpenSource, Mac, MAC OS, Tech, Technology, Technology and Software, Technology News, Tecnologia, windows.Tags: Community, Development, download software, Downloads, free software, Freeware, open source, open source software, Secure, Source Code
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This week, in our Freeware Page, we would like to share our personal list of the 10 best freeware websites. Of course, this is just our personal opinion but we are 100% curious to learn new website from your comments!
#1 http://sourceforge.net/
In our opinion FileHippo is the #1, a lighthouse for all the other freeware distribution sites. The programs here are open-source and you can find freeware for all the most used OS: Linux, Windows and Mac
#2 http://www.filehippo.com/
Full of real freeware, well structure and it has developed a powerful “update checker” http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/
#3 http://www.techsupportalert.com/
Well organized, contains brief but effective review about each software
#4 http://download.cnet.com/
The software is categorized between Windows, Mac, Mobile and a very interesting Webware category for the online stuff. Use “The Download Software Finder” to be sure to surf between real free programs
#5 http://majorgeeks.com/
Good site, full of stuff and Shareware programs are clearly labeled!
#6 http://www.tucows.com/
An evergreen site; it was one of the first to share freeware, interesting but it does not contain a huge variety of freeware as others site
#7 http://www.nonags.com/
Elementary graphics but it contains a site menu and the proposed software is really freeware so….
#8 http://www.freewarefiles.com/
Interesting site but sometimes you find old version of proprietary software distributed as free…
#9 http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/
Well structured, easy to navigate and updated. Watch the tags (freeware or free trial) before downloading programs!
#10 http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Freeware/
Basic graphics; it has many freeware but you have to dig them from the lists.





















