Category Archives: free software

How to Install Sopcast for free live TV in Ubuntu

Sopcast represents one of the most popular technologies for live TV streaming, being based on the famous p2p system. However, until recently, there was no version of this software for Ubuntu and Linux in general. But now every single user can enjoy live TV right on their desktop or laptop computer with this absolutely amazing program.

In order to install Sopcast on your machine, here is what you need to do:

1. Open a new terminal. This is a classic step and is used in most of the installation processes you will encounter in Ubuntu.

2. In order to add Sopcast to Synaptic (the package administrator software integrated into Ubuntu) you will need to type the following command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jason-scheunemann/ppa

3. The next step is related to the update of the sources list. This can be done with the following command, which needs to be typed into the same terminal in order to achieve the right effects:
sudo apt-get update

4. Now you will need to run Synaptic in order to finalize the process. This is usually done through the System menu (System -> Administration -> Synaptic). Alternatively, you can use the following simple command:
sudo synaptic

5.  Look for the Sopcast package and install it. A very important step at this point is to not forget about all its dependencies. If you do not install everything, then Sopcast will not run correctly or not at all.

This is basically all you need to know if you want to install Sopcast on your machine. Whenever you need to run the player you can find it in the Application menu -> Multimedia -> Sopcast. You will surely enjoy the great variety of the channels available for every user through this system.

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System Recovery Tools: a possible cross-platform approach through open source and proprietary solutions

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. AddThis mp3 link

Open Source tools and applications for web developers

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.

We shall see other tools in other posts. AddThis mp3 link

Get Kindle for PC to Ubuntu (if you really don’t like Calibre)

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. AddThis

Computer Borders on Facebook

We decided to begin this year publishing our semi-new Facebook Page and to re-stylish, just a few, our right side bar. We hope to meet you on Facebook and, again, Happy New Year! AddThis

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!

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How to keep your Windows PC always updated: FileHippo Update Checker!

This week in our Freeware Page we posted a brief review about FileHippo Update Checker for Windows. This Updater is very light (just 155 Kb) and very fat. This particular checker has uses the large software database contained on FileHippo.com and in just 2-3 seconds is able to detect all the necessary updates and it also find the beta version ready to be installed. During the installation you can decide if FileHippo Update Checker has to run at each start-up or if you prefer to use it only when you prefer. Anyway, FileHippo Update Checker easily shows the results of the available updates on a html page on your browser. Recommended! AddThis mp3 link

Rocketdock 1.3.0: a light but powerful dock for Windows 7, Vista and XP

This week, in our Freeware Page, we posted a brief review about Rocketdock, a terrific “Apple style” dock for Windows. We decided to test Rocketdock on a Windows XP and the results were positive and we did not find bugs. Rocketdock is compatible with Windows 2000, XP, Vista and the brand new Windows 7 using just 10MB of RAM. To add a new icon it is sufficient to drag and drop it into the bar and it will be automatically added. To cut off an icon you have to drag it from the dock to an empty space on the desktop and it is immediately removed. To conclude we suggest this freeware because it is really customizable and easy to add & tune to your existing desktop. Recommended! AddThis Podcast

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

Gmail Tips!

This week, in our Freeware Page, we posted a brief review about Gmail Tips, a terrific pdf printable guide with tons of useful information to better manage your gmail account. You can decide to read online the document at www.gmail.com/tips or download the printable pdf version. As for martial arts the tips you receive are related to your skills and are progressively more difficult. At the “white belt” level, I am sure, you will find some feature you have been using for years but when you become a “black belt” or a “Gmail master” you are able to deeply enjoy all the Gmail’s most useful “secret” features. For example you learn how to remotely sign out your Gmail account when you forget it open at the office or in an internet cafe’. Moreover, properly using the Gmail  filters, you will able to send automatic responses reducing the  time wasted in routine replies. We are sure that everyone will find other useful tips depending on what he/she is looking for. Useful! AddThis mp3 link