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Open-Source Thread

Volcomism

Volcomism

Robocawk
Joined
Dec 19, 2003
Location
Switzerland
Moto(s)
Sold them all. But shopping for a R1250GS
Name
Anthony
This is just a general thread about great Open-Source OS's and Software.

What is Open-Source? What is Free-Software?
Free Software, as used in this web site, refers to software distributed in source form which can be freely modified and redistributed, or freely modifiable and redistributable software. It does not refer to zero-cost software. This usage of the name "Free Software" was common in the Unix world and recently introduced to the general computer community. Free Software is also referred to as Freed Software, Liberated Software (software libre) or FRS (freely redistributable software). "Open Source" is a marketing name for Free Software, coined in Feb 1998 as an attempt to overcome the confusion over the word "free" in the English language. Open Source refers to the fact that the source code of Free Software is open to and for the world to take, to modify and to reuse.

Documentary: Revolution OS
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7707585592627775409#

Open Source Software Repositories:

http://www.sourceforge.net
http://www.freshmeat.net
http://fossfor.us/
http://www.ohloh.net/
http://www.slashdot.org/

Open-Source Applications:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free_and_open_source_software_packages
http://www.apache.org/ (Web Server / Services)
http://www.portableapps.com/ (Take your applications on-the-go)
Audacity (Audio mixing tool)
Firefox (Browser)
Thunderbird (Email client)
GimpShop (Image Editor, like Photoshop)
Openoffice (Office Suite)
Pidgin (Multi-IM Client (windows))
Adium (Multi-IM Client (osx/linux))
Simple Machines - Free PHP/MySQL based web forum
VLC Media Player - Free player that plays almost any audio or video file you throw at it.
XAAMP - Apache webserver with MySQL and php. Portable too. Webserver on a stick anyone?
Joomla - Content management system with a TON of add-ons widgets and applications.

(Feel free to add to the list and I'll update the first post)
 
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I just added Portable Apps.

It lets you run programs off a USB Flash Drive so you can bring your apps and documents wherever you go.
 
apps: eclipse, ffmpeg, apache, wireshark, perl, xwindows, gpg, mysql, openssl, openssh, truecrypt, ... dang, where to start and where to finish. There's lots of open source goodness.

I've heard (right here on BARF) that PS3mediaserver is pretty good. Haven't actually used it yet though.

I've really tried to use open office over the years, but I remain unimpressed. It's only advantage seems to be price. I prefer iWork, google docs, and even <gasp!> MS Office.
 
:thumbup

So.. I'm trying to spread out all the software/communities to basic users like us. When I mention SourceForge or Slashdot people always say.. OHHH I've been there and used it but had no idea what it is. You guys have any ideas on how to get all this software into peoples hands and make websites like : Sourceforge.net and Google Code the places to go for software?
 
Don't know really. I'd say use it. Use it alot and when people go "Oh, what's that?" you tell them. **shrug**
 
OR! Create open source bundles and sell them on eBay.

Like make a video editing bundle. Buy a 8 or 16GB thumb drive and put everything they would need on it. Linux, vid editing software, VLC player, etc..... and step by step instructions on how to install and use it. Then sell on ebay for the cost of the drive plus a little extra for your services.

Could make that, photo editing/sorting. Home office bundle. etc....
 
My two faves:

XAAMP - Apache webserver with MySQL and php. Portable too. Webserver on a stick anyone?
Joomla - Content management system with a TON of add-ons widgets and applications.
 
Volcomism said:
:thumbup

So.. I'm trying to spread out all the software/communities to basic users like us. When I mention SourceForge or Slashdot people always say.. OHHH I've been there and used it but had no idea what it is. You guys have any ideas on how to get all this software into peoples hands and make websites like : Sourceforge.net and Google Code the places to go for software?
Click to expand...

I'd bet that if there was a massive and significant movement from commercial software to free open source alternatives, it would hurt the free open source movement pretty bad. Software developers need to earn a living. A fair bit of open source stuff gets done in the spare time of people who are gainfully employed as software developers.
 
I agree, but I'm not looking at a massive movement ; I'm just targeting communities of users that I'm involved in. Most of my personal friends use open-source and free software that I've recommended, instead of pirating commercial software. (which is my personal goal). This isn't involving any of the companies I work for, this is a ME thing :teeth
 
insyder said:
My two faves:

XAAMP - Apache webserver with MySQL and php. Portable too. Webserver on a stick anyone?
Joomla - Content management system with a TON of add-ons widgets and applications.
Click to expand...

X2. I can't wait for ACLs and ability to set other user groups for the Joomla v.1.6 release.
 
Volcomism said:
I agree, but I'm not looking at a massive movement ; I'm just targeting communities of users that I'm involved in. Most of my personal friends use open-source and free software that I've recommended, instead of pirating commercial software. (which is my personal goal). This isn't involving any of the companies I work for, this is a ME thing :teeth
Click to expand...

IMO pirated commercial software is by far the easiest to use, most user friendly etc. I've used some open source, and i'm a firefox guy, but it always seems less intuitive...or maybe i'm just a dumbass, i don't really know.


you know, i think if software didn't cost 1300+ fucking dollars, maybe we wouldn't have to pirate it.
 
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Duffil said:
IMO pirated commercial software is by far the easiest to use, most user friendly etc. I've used some open source, and i'm a firefox guy, but it always seems less intuitive...or maybe i'm just a dumbass, i don't really know.

you know, i think if software didn't cost 1300+ fucking dollars, maybe we wouldn't have to pirate it.
Click to expand...

Pirating, is pirating. It's never a good thing. I agree that software shouldn't cost $1300, but that's the point of Open-Source software. To give you an option or alternative. It sometimes might not be able to provide the pretty user-interface that these $1300 programs would, but some software can perform the same duties.
 
I had this type of conversation with my IT director. He's all about open-source as well, but he never deploys it in to production.

Reason being: No paid support.
 
JackTheTripper said:
Oh, another.... CentOS. Basically Redhat Linux Enterprise.
Click to expand...

CentOS is very popular among asterisk distributions.

Asterisk is an open-source IP-PBX telephony phone system.
Extremely powerful, and you would be surprised how many of these are actually being used. It's free of course, mainly sponsored by Digium. Asterisk certification is available and It's something I'll likely proceed with.

Open-Source VoIP is all around us. Large scale VOIP is deployed using SIP protocol, and MANY Open-source SIP proxy servers such as Open-SER are deployed by many ITSP (internet telephony service providers).
 
I use open source software that is superior to its commercial equivalents, and I pirate most commercial software that is superior to its open source equivalent. I rationalize the latter along the line that if I didn't have the ability to pirate commercial software, I would usually be willing to live with the free / open source variant even though its functionality is inferior. Thus, whether I pirate or not has little to no economic consequence to the developers of said commercial software.

For example, GIMP is shit compared to Photoshop. That being said, I would never buy photoshop. But I do have the ability to pirate photoshop, so I do it.
 
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under the gnu license this thread may be modified and disributed freely so long as the source code has been made available.
 
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