Free Software article discussion

herecomesbod_2

Convert and print off PDF files for free using the downloadable PDF printer via this link:

http://www.bullzip.com/

brownfrog

runciblespoon wrote: »

I'd be a bit cautious about recommending eFax for two reasons. One is that they like sending you advertising mail once you've signed up. The other is that it emails you faxes in its own proprietary format, so you have to fire up eFax's program to read them. You can't read them on a computer that doesn't have eFax's program installed, and their software only works on Windows.

I agree - I found it a pain to use. The free service also restricts you to 20 pages a month, which isn't very much.

runciblespoon wrote: »

There are lots of other fax providers which will email you faxes as a TIFF or a PDF, which are easy to read on most computers. Most are funded by the revenue from 0844/0845/0870/0871 numbers, so they're free to the recipient but the caller pays a little extra. .

This one's good: http://telecoms.fast2host.com/fax-to-email.cgi

Very easy to use, and although the sender obviously does pay a bit extra, it's not a huge rip-off - 5p/minute for an 0844 number.

brownfrog

womble65 wrote: »

Does anybody know of a free program that will convert PDF files in to Excel. my O/H does work from home and has to print off PDF files and then type all the information in to excel before she can work on them. Please help!! Thanks

There are several towards the bottom of this page: http://www.brothersoft.com/downloads/convert-pdf-to-excel.html

Don't know how well they work, though.

espresso wrote: »

So make use of copy & paste then.

Doesn't generally work very well with tables in PDFs - you tend to end up with rows rather than columns (although it is possible to then re-select the table after you paste it into Excel and paste it into a different sheet using Paste Special and Transpose).

brownfrog

fatbloke2 wrote: »

Certain aspects of Foxit Reader are paid for but the basic reader is free. There is no need to go through all the trial pay nonsense for the basic product. This is enough if all you want to do is read PDFs.

But if that's all you want to do, you can also download Adobe Reader for free without having to do any signing up: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

It would be useful to have recommendations for Acrobat replacements that use the tools available in Acrobat, but I don't think there are any free ones - I'd be happy to be proved wrong, though!

In the meantime, if you work on PDFs sent by someone else who does have the full version of Acrobat Professional (not just Standard), they can save the PDF by using Comments -> Enable Commenting in Acrobat Reader. If you then open it in Reader (the free one), all the Acrobat tools will then be usable for that PDF - the tools are all there in Reader, it's just that in files that aren't saved like this, they're greyed out and unusable.

brownfrog

herecomesbod wrote: »

Convert and print off PDF files for free using the downloadable PDF printer via this link:

http://www.bullzip.com/

PDF995 is another useful one: http://www.pdf995.com

welshmike_2

Thanks :T for a great article on free software..
I tried Wubi and found it a good way to get to grips with GNU/Linux.
Read about it and download it here

jsward60

I've just trawled my machine and here's a list of all the Free software I have installed (Win XP):

7zip
File compression (zip) utility.
http://7-zip.org/

Art Rage 2 (Starter Edition)
Real world painting application - be sure to get the starter edition; but if you like it the full edition is only $25 (£12.50)
http://www.artrage.com/

Audacity
Audio editor. Already mentioned elsewhere.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Blender
3D modelling and animation.
http://www.blender.org/

Bullzip
PDF Printer driver - create PDFs from any software that can print. Also free for commercial use.
http://www.bullzip.com/

BonkEnc Audio Encoder
Converts between may different audio formats.
http://www.bonkenc.org/

Caligari trueSpace 7.6
3D modelling and animation (mentioned in main article).
http://www.caligari.com/

CamStudio
Screen recorder - make videos of what you're doing on your PC.
http://camstudio.org/

Console
A geeky one this - front end for the Command Prompt with better copy/paste usability.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/console/

Cygwin/Cygwin-X
Another techie choice - unix command utilities and an X Server for the PC.
http://www.cygwin.com/

DVD Decrypter/DVDShrink/RipIt4Me
Don't want to start the whole copyright debate, but if you live in a household populated by kids who think the best place to put the last DVD they pulled out of the player is in the sandpit then these are the best solution I've found for making backups or disposable working copies. And what about getting your collection on to that spanky new HD wireless streaming media server, eh?
http://www.dvddecrypter.org.uk/
http://www.softpedia.com/get/CD-DVD-Tools/CD-DVD-Rip-Other-Tools/DVD-Shrink.shtml
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Encoders-Converter-DIVX-Related/RipIt4Me.shtml

Firefox 3
You know...
http://www.getfirefox.com/

FlashGet
Download manager - now completely free; no annoying ad. banners. See also the FlashGot Firefox plug-in.
http://www.flashget.com/

Foxit Reader
Alternative PDF viewer - already well covered in the thread.
http://foxitsoftware.com/

IcoFX
Excellent icon editor.
http://icofx.ro/

ID3-TagIT
MP3 tag editor - slightly niche but has many options for extracting from filenames, renaming files, etc.
http://www.id3-tagit.de/

Inkscape
Vector graphics editor. Mentioned by others.
http://www.inkscape.org/

Innotek VirtualBox
Virtual machine software, similar to VMWare (also free BTW, but VirtualBox seems more flexible in some respects) - create many virtual computers with different OSes on your PC - you'll still need OS licenses where appropriate though .
http://www.virtualbox.org/

MediaCoder
Multi-format audio/video transcoder. I was using it to convert mobile phone MP4s into AVIs. Not for the faint-hearted.
http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net/

NuonSoft Wallpaper Cycler Lite
Automatically changes your Windows Desktop Wallpaper. Trivial but fun and even the Free (Lite) version has plenty of options.
http://www.nuonsoft.com/wallpapercycler/

Paint.NET
Photo/Image editing. Mentioned by others.
http://www.getpaint.net/

PuTTY
Terminal emulator/telnet client. Includes SSH.
http://www.putty.org/

RegSeeker
An excellent utility for exploring the Windows Registry. WARNING: Your computer is at risk if you monkey around in your registry with hob-nailed boots on!
(HoverDesk also have a couple of other cool, free utilities)
http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm

Skype
Internet (Voice Over IP) Phone. Maybe not exactly on topic but it is free. And it's software.
http://www.skype.com/

Taskbar Shuffle
Allows you to drag and drop items in the Windows Task Bar so that they're in the order you want them. Sounds peculiar but I found it was something I wanted to do a lot. I also like the "middle-click to close" functionality
http://www.!!!!!!!!!!!!!/nerdcave/taskbarshuffle.htm
*edit*
Don't know what it doesn't like about "free webs dot com" but here's an alternate link
http://www.download.com/Taskbar-Shuffle/3000-2343_4-10531265.html
*edit*

TeraCopy
Completely excellent utility that overrides Windows file copying routines. Provides more options/flexibility: you know when you multi-select a bunch of files (or a directory) and windows starts copy it, then has a problem with one of the files and just packs in half way through the job? Well TeraCopy will just skip that file and tell you what failed when it's finished. For this reason alone it is worth installing.
http://www.codesector.com/teracopy.php

Thunderbird
Aforementioned Mozilla email client
http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/

Toggler
Allows you to control the delay before various 'Lock' keys work to stop you from accidentally activating them - the most obvious being the CAPS LOCK.
http://members.execulink.com/~pjones/toggler/

Undelete Plus
File undelete utility - for when you didn't really mean it. I've had mixed results (from, "what a relief!" to, "well that's that gone forever then".)
http://undelete-plus.com/

uTorrent
BitTorrent client. Another touchy subject. All I'm saying is, not all torrents are illegal. For example, I downloaded the Solaris 10 CD ISOs in bit torrent format.
http://www.utorrent.com/

WinAmp
Still my favourite media player.
http://www.winammp.com/


Phew! Didn't relise I had so much of it. And that's just what's installed at the minute and doesn't include the usual slew of security software (antivirus, firewall, antispam, etc). I also have a couple of special mentions for stuff that either I don't currently use, but have in the past and have liked, or isn't free but is very cheap for what it is:

Microsoft PowerToys for XP (free)
A collection of utilities provided for free. Of particular note are TweakUI which allows you to change quite a few of the standard behaviours of XP, and SyncToy which lets you set up file synchronisation between two folders.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx

Microsoft Express Editions (free)
There are also free versions of their Development Environments and Database Server.
http://www.microsoft.com/express/product/default.aspx

Solaris 10 (free)
Lots of mentions here of Linux variants, but as of Solaris 10 the mighty Sun OS is also free to download.
http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/get.jsp

SmartFTP (free)
Excellent FTP client (I currently use the FireFTP plug-in for Firefox)
http://www.smartftp.com/

Buzz Tracker (free)
Music creation software. It's quirky and can be hard to get into but it's free and can make some amazing sounds.
http://www.buzzmachines.com/getbuzz.php

Reaper (unlimited evaluation/very cheap)
A proper Digital Audio Workbench to rival the likes of Cakewalk Sonar and Propellerhead Reason. Although it's not free, the downloadable "trial" version is completely unrestricted (not by time or functionality). And if you chose to buy it, £25 is a fraction of the cost of the other two which could potentially run in to hundreds.
http://www.reaper.fm/

KVR Audio (free)
And while we're on music, there's a mountain of free VSTi Intruments and Effects. KVR Audio is a good place to look for them as they keep a massive database and you can choose to query only for free ones.
http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php

Project Dogwaffle (free/cheap 'Pro' version)
Another "natural art" type painting program. Excellect effects possible and like Art Rage, the Pro version will only set you back £39, unlike Corel Painter at £270.
http://www.thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/free/

Drive Snapshot (cheap)
A disk imaging tool - backup your entire hard drive. Quick and efficient and at £23 for a workstation license, compares favourably with Norton Ghost at £40.
http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/

PrimoPDF (free)
Another free PDF creator of the Printer Driver variety.
http://www.primopdf.com/

I think that'll do.

Bob63

jsward60 wrote: »

Innotek VirtualBox
Virtual machine software, similar to VMWare (also free BTW, but VirtualBox seems more flexible in some respects) - create many virtual computers with different OSes on your PC - you'll still need OS licenses where appropriate though .
http://www.virtualbox.org/

Innotek have now been bought by Sun Microsystems - the company behind Java, StarOffice and OpenOffice - so expect an increase in the investment and consequently the features/performance/quality of VirtualBox.

Always_On_Top

xNeat Windows Manager (free/cheap 'Pro' version)
xNeat is a very handy windows enhancement utility that gives you full control over your windows and adds functionality to your desktop that you wish that Microsoft had included. It's neat, compact and combines many useful programs into one.

With xNeat you can:
Hide windows, Minimize windows to tray , Place it on top, Click through it, Roll up window, Set a certian transparency level, Assign keyboard shortcuts, Clone file names while saving them, Build your own menu, Organize your files by appending date to them . Arrange taskbar buttons, Change process/windows priority , Change taskbar appearance , Close windows from the taskbar using the mouse middle click

http://www.xneat.com/windows-manager/

dogStar_3

"the problem's that support is often limited as there are no big bucks backing it up."

This really isn't true these days. The open source industry in the UK and continental Europe is well capable of supporting consumers and businesses in there use of open source software.

For example, some very large businesses like Specsavers use companies like RedHat, Xandros and Sirius Corporation to support their extensive use of open source software.

There is even an open source trade body in the UK called the Open Source Consortium that represents businesses that provide commercial support for open source software.