Tag Archives: free software

Installing YamiPod on Linux: a multi-platform, very versatile iPod Manager

YamiPod is a freeware application to efficiently manage your iPod on Linux. It can be run directly from your iPod and needs no installation. It also has extra features such as rss news and podcast support, remove duplicates, easy notes editor (with multipage support), songs synchronization, playlists export, a built in music player and much more. It has been translated in 12 languages.

On Linux, the installation is really simple:

  • have at least one song on iPod
  • copy the libfmodex audio library to /usr/lib (you need root privileges). You’ll find this file in the package you’ve downloaded
  • mount your iPod somewhere inside /mnt or /media with read/write access
  • make sure you have the df command installed, which is usually part of any standard linux distribution.

To run YamiPod just double-click on YamiPod’s binary.

Using YamiPod is also so simple when you want to Copy  Music to iPod: Drag&drop files into the song listbox. You can even drag and drop folders, YamiPod will add all valid music files found in sub folders.

In the window that will appear you’ll be able to assign song information (title,album name, artist…) for each single file or setting them for every file ticking the All checkboxes.

In Playlist tab you can select:

  • Destination: select a playlist where to add all dragged songs.
  • Lyric filename: how lyric should be named.
  • Create playlist from folder: this will add all songs in a folder to a playlist named as the folder. For example if you dragged a folder called Music with 2 subfolders: 70′s and 80′s containing various files. Files in 70′s will be added to a newly created folder called 70′s. Files in the other folder will be added to a playlist called 80′s.

In Advanced tab you can select:

  • Auto capital first letter: will titlecase all song tags.
  • If duplicated: what to do if song exists on iPod.
  • Get song info by path and filename: if your song tags are missing but you named and placed your song following a particular order, you can tell YamiPod to get song tags out of filename a path.

Tips:
Holding SHIFT while dragging will add songs to currently selected playlist. If you’ve selected multiple songs to add you can quickly edit next (previous) song information by pressing ALT+down (up). AddThis mp3 link

LuckyBackup: Copias de Seguridad Sin Complicaciones

En estos días he estado buscando un programa que permita hacer Copias de Seguridad y que sea de uso practico, sencillo y muy intuitivo. Después de ver varios programas me he decantado sin lugar a duda para LuckyBackup. Para instalarlo es posible directamente desde los repositorios de nuestro sistema (Ubuntu y derivados) o directamente desde su propia Web y bajar la ultima versión 0.4.4 . Yo he instalado esta ultima versión y tengo que confirmar que es el mejor programa de Copias de Seguridad que he encontrado hasta el momento. LuckyBackup es muy fácil de configurar y permite efectuar diferentes sincronizaciones y mantener a salvo nuestros datos y todos los archivos. También he echo diferentes pruebas pasando carpetas a memorias USB, Disco Duro Externo y Disco Duro Interno, todo sin ningún problema (Descarga LuckyBackup).

AddThis mp3 link

I2P a real versatile anonymizing network for Linux and Windows

This week for our Freeware Page, we tested I2P a freeware which let you to surf internet without revealing your IP and encrypt your data. As described on the I2P Homepage, this freeware is a “anonymizing network, offering a simple layer that identity-sensitive applications can use to securely communicate. All data is wrapped with several layers of encryption, and the network is both distributed and dynamic, with no trusted parties”. During out test we used bothXP and Ubuntu because I2P is a java file even is it seems to be a exe file and it could be used on all the Linux OS. On Windows XP it is very simple to use I2P but at the beginning it is really slow and for this reason we suggest to keep it run for about twelve hours because this freeware needs to build its own network and for this it takes some hours. When ready you have to setup all the software you want to filter through it. For this reason, we setted Firefox (Preferences-> Advanced -> Network -> Settings) Manual Proxy Configuration to HTTP Proxy as localhost, port 4444. Then we put a tick on “Use this proxy server for all protocols” and we finished indicating “No proxy for” as localhost, 127.0.0.1. After some seconds we discovered that our IP was now in the northern part of the France (far away from our real location). To setup I2P it is necessary to point Firefox on http://localhost:7657/index.jsp because, by default, I2P tries to launch Internet Explorer also when it works on Linux. After a week of tests we can say that I2P is a little bit slower than TOR but it can easily be integrated on your browser, mail client, chat and others programs. For our (limited) experience I2P is the most complete anonymizing network we know. To conclude, as already discussed also on this post none or nothing can create a perfectly anonymous software but I2P can help to better improve our privacy. Recommended! AddThis mp3 link

Best 10 Freeware Sites

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.

We wait your comments!

AddThis mp3 link

How to easily install programs on your Windows or Ubuntu computers: allmyapps.com

This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish), we have added a brief post about allmyapps.com a useful website which allow you to easily install software on Ubuntu (8.04, 8.10, 9.04, 9.10) and Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7).  After a simple registration you can choose the free software you prefere to install and in few clicks and some minutes you are ready to use your new programs. Allmyapps.com, automatically recognizes the OS you have installed on your PC. On allmyapps we found many useful softwares and every month more programs are submitted by readers and added to the website for the installation. For Windows we also positively tested another website ninite.com where we found many free softwares ready to be dowloaded and automatically installed.  Easy to use and useful! AddThis mp3 link

Lucidor: a good ebook reader for Ubuntu

This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) we have posted a new ebook (in EPUB format) reader for Ubuntu: Lucidor. This software is not a simple ebook reader but it also allows you to search ebooks through an embedded search engine which is able to scan Google Books, epubcatalog.org, Lexcycle, Feedbook and – of course- your personal local library. Unfortunately, the Lucidor search engine does not support the Project Gutenberg that, we believe, at the moment, is the most interesting free project for ebooks. Lucidor is complex, well structured and flexible. To conclude we would also suggest another reader FBReader that has not any search engine but it manage very well the EPUB ebooks and offers very readable texts. Something to try! AddThis mp3 link

Ultamatix: the most powerful software to install new programs, themes and games on Ubuntu

This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) we have added a post about Ultamatix which has been developed to be a valid substitute for Automatix. Ultamatix can be downloaded (in a practical .deb package) from its website and, with just few clicks, installed on  your Ubuntu (now, also the jaunty 9.04 is fully supported). Ultamatix is very useful especially for the Linux beginners who have the possibility to add many programs, themes and icons in just with few clicks. We executed some different tests on Ubuntu 9.04 and the results were positive. Moreover, you can decide to uninstall the software directly from the Ultamatix menu at any time. This project is in continuous development and every new version contains new surprises. Anyway, even if we are not expert gamers but we were really satisfied from some titles we tested. Recommended! AddThis mp3 link

How to share notes and images using thepiratebay.org satellite websites: PasteBay and bayimg

Today, in our Freeware Page, we added a brief review about two, multiplatform free services offered by th piratebay.org. The first one is PasteBay which allows you to quickly create, save and protect (in a basic way) your own notes when browsing on internet. PasteBay is very intuitive, quick to use and effective. The only “trouble” could be the simple http connection (instead of https) and the password you choose that could be weak if you do not choose it in a proper way. The second online service offered by thepiratebay.org is bayimg which allows you to store images for your websites in 140 different formats. Each image could be uploaded till 100MB so it is possible to save online also high resolution images. We have spent five days testing the features offered by these two websites and we have really not found any problem or bug. Recommended! AddThis mp3 link

Open Source Living and Iconlet: two multiplatform open source “mines”!

Open Source LivingToday, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) we have posted a brief review about two interesting websites: OpenSourceLiving.com and Iconlet.com. In particular, OpenSourceLiving contains a library of 130 multiplatform (Windows, Linux, OS X) open source software. The main menu is very intuitive and all the different sections are very simple to explore. Moreover you have the possibility to suggest open source projects which are not included in the website yet. On the otherIconlet hand, Iconlet is a search engine dedicated to icons released under the Gnu, Creative or Eclipse licenses. The “advanced search” option allows you to organize your search preselecting the image resolution, the graphic format and the license. This particular website also offers a useful plug-in for a Iconlet dedicated search field in Firefox. Last but not least, for each icon found, Iconlet provides full information about author, image resolution, graphics format and license type. AddThis mp3 link