Great Free Software

[Mongolian]

Some odds and ends stuff that I find useful:

Free conversion of any .doc file to a .pdf (online)
https://www.pdfonline.com/convert_pdf.asp

Translate any language into another language. Warning, does not translate perfectly (online)
http://www.freetranslation.com/

For NY/NJ. Live Traffic Report:
http://www.wcbs880.com/topic/traffic.php

[Mongolian]

I could write a long laundry list of free online radio stations, tv stations and places to watch movies in theatres instantly (not sure if pertains to this thread)

[Iane]

http://www.cyd.liu.se/~tompe573/hp/projects.html
musagi - Advanced music editor and synthesizer
CherryBrush - Lightweight and flexible sketch/paint app
sfxr - Simple and fun sound effect generator

[Getharn]

• Sandboxie (Windows only) is a fantastic little utility which lets you run any application (not just IE, as the name implies) in a "sandbox", which prevents it writing to most of your hard disk. This normally makes applications a real pain to use, but this one has various enhancements that make it quite painless. Nothing makes you invulnerable, of course, but relying solely on signature-based antivirus and antispyware software is an increasingly risky proposition these days, as these techniques find it increasingly hard to cope with modern attacks, so generic catch-all protection like this is, I think, very important.
• The PC Decrapifier (Windows only) is a little app which removes all the OEM nonsense that seems to come with pre-built laptops and desktops these days. If you find some annoyanceware, give it a try - it doesn't remove anything without asking first.
• Handbrake (Mac only) is a great DVD ripping tool which I use to transfer my (legally bought) DVDs on to my iPhone.
• Max (Mac only) is a CD ripper and audio transcoder which integrates well into iTunes. I used it to transfer music from my (also legal) CDs and also some OGGs I'd already ripped from CDs now hopelessly scratched into iTunes as MP4, to stick it on the iPhone.
• Gnotime (Linux only) is a time-tracker which I find very handy for filling in my timesheets at the end of the day. A contractor that bills by hours would also find it very handy.

As an aside, someone earlier mentioned the Inform programming language - just to add, if anybody's interested in getting into writing interactive fiction (text adventures), I'd strongly recommend Inform 7. It uses something close to natural language as its source code, which can draw inferences from what you say and save you having to give it redundant information. To take a trivial example, if you say "Hoté is wearing the hat", then it can infer that Hoté is a person, that the hat is an item that can be worn, and that Hoté starts the game wearing the hat. You can override these if you wish (perhaps Hoté is a donkey), but the defaults are usually sensible enough for most cases, and it saves a surprising amount of effort.

It also has a brilliant IDE which allows you to write automated unit tests, automatically draw a map, and other cunning features. I think it's a fantastic way to make interactive fiction more accessible to people who aren't necessarily naturally programmers. For reference, I'm a programmer and I still love it. If anybody gives it a try, I'd be interested to know how you get on!

[Getharn]

Since people seem to be mentioning programming languages as well, I thought I'd add:

Python - a clean, cross-platform, general-purpose, high-level programming language. Very suitable as a first programming language to learn, but convenient enough for day-to-day tasks and potentially even large applications.

I thought of this earlier, whilst testing out a Python script to perform complex transformations on a 10GB text file. Python's built-in dictionary worked fine even up to a memory usage of almost 5GB (on a machine with 8GB RAM), with which I was quite impressed. For the avoidance of doubt, there really was that much data that needed storing, it wasn't due to inefficiency of Python's data structures.

Just goes to show, it's really quite robust.

EDIT - If anybody is learning/using Python (or C/C++ for that matter) and has any questions, feel free to drop me a PM - I like to help out, and it's interesting to have problems to solve. Seems a little unlikely on a board like this, maybe, but you never know.

[Evnissyen]

Does anybody know of any good, free C/C+ software for Mac?

Also, how many people are familiar with the graphics software Compositor, and what do they think of it? It looks decent so I'm considering buying it... but I'm still reviewing other software. For one, I'd like it if it allowed me to invisibilize areas of an image, for web use. But... I can use other software for that.

[Evnissyen]

Argh!

I'm also looking for a front-end program that will play Classic Mac software on Leopard. Sheepshaver doesn't work, and Basilisk II (no relation, heh) doesn't work either. Been searching but haven't found anything. Anybody have any leads?

[IJBall]

Argh!

I'm also looking for a front-end program that will play Classic Mac software on Leopard. Sheepshaver doesn't work, and Basilisk II (no relation, heh) doesn't work either. Been searching but haven't found anything. Anybody have any leads?

Besides Basilisk II, the only other one I knew of was vMac, but it looks like that project hasn't been updated in years, so I wouldn't bet it could run on an Intel Mac.

Sorry.

[Siemova]

One of the first things I install on a fresh copy of Windows is Glary Utilities, a very handy all-in-one solution for repairing the registry, clearing out temporary files, uninstalling programs, managing startup and context menu items, encrypting and decrypting files, retrieving deleted files, and more. It's frequently updated, too - recently they added a feature which allows you to defer loading particular startup items for a specified period of time, which makes startup smoother than it is when everything's trying to load at once!

Here's a link to the "slim" installer, which doesn't offer to install any optional toolbars, etc. like the full installer does.

Also, I saw that BW recommended 7zip, which I used in the past as well... until I discovered PeaZip. Like 7zip, it's an active, open-source project, but it's sleeker, more robust, and works on Linux as well as Windows. In addition, there's a portable version to use from a flash drive, which could come in handy.

I probably sound like a salesman, but I just enjoy a well-designed piece of software. No doubt that's why I appreciate Basilisk's work.

[BasiliskWrangler]

All great stuff, people!

I have updated the top message with our "Basilisk Approved" links (stuff we use here in the office). That certainly does not mean the other suggestions are any less awesome, we just haven't had the time to work with them yet.

Added: CDBurnerXP, PeaZip, and XnView
Removed: Evolution email client (besides being for Linux only, we had far too many problems with it to recommend it.)

[Evnissyen]

Okay, I give up. I feel like an idiot asking this, but...

Both Sheepshaver & Basilisk 2 are looking for a ROM "file" . . . I've tried ROM-Grabber as SheepShaver's FAQ pages suggested, to grab said elusive file off my archive CD... ironically it tells me it only works in a Classic environment.

Given enough time I'm sure I'll figure it out, but I'm impatient.

Somebody tell me how they set up either system? SheepShaver or Basilisk 2? Please? I feel sad.

[IJBall]

Okay, I give up. I feel like an idiot asking this, but...

Both Sheepshaver & Basilisk 2 are looking for a ROM "file" . . . I've tried ROM-Grabber as SheepShaver's FAQ pages suggested, to grab said elusive file off my archive CD... ironically it tells me it only works in a Classic environment.

Given enough time I'm sure I'll figure it out, but I'm impatient.

Somebody tell me how they set up either system? SheepShaver or Basilisk 2? Please? I feel sad.

Unfortunately, I can't.

I have an old SE30, and I used a program like ROM-Grabber (I think it was called CopyROM) to try to grab my ROM, which I did, for the same purposes.

But, using that ROM, every time I try Basilisk 2, it tells me that I have bad ROM or corrupted ROM or something like that.

So I can't use it, even though I have an old Mac, and its ROM!!

There must be something about the way my old SE30 is configured (for example, it has a non-standard 20 MBs of memory, and an ethernet card) that messes up the ROM.

Anyway, very frustrating. I've toyed with idea of buying on old SE just to get the ROM to run Basilisk 2, but I've never pursued that option yet.

Please let us know if you figure it out, though!

[Evnissyen]

Well, I looked really quickly through the E-Maculation forums and... while I think I'll dig a little further, it looks like the only way I'm going to be able to get a hold of a workable ROM file for either Sheepshaver or Basilisk II is if I have a computer that will run System 7-9.04 . . . well, unfortunately those computers all died on me. Next resort maybe I'll go back to the Mac shop next door and see if they have any computers that run OS 9, which they probably do but they're going to charge me up the rectum for the service . . . therefore . . . here's what I'm wondering:

If anybody here has an operable Basilisk II or Sheepshaver setup and therefore a workable ROM file, could you email it to me? You can either PM me and I'll give you one of my emails. Plus you'll have my unending gratitude? Now, how much is that worth?

Okay, nothing. Well, at least do it out of kindness?

I'm guessing IJ will probably be interested in getting a copy, too.

Sucks for me I don't know any Mac users -- all of my friends have PC's. Damn them.

[CrazyBernie]

There must be something about the way my old SE30 is configured (for example, it has a non-standard 20 MBs of memory, and an ethernet card) that messes up the ROM.

"Although sold as a 32-bit computer, the SE/30 ROM, like the IIx ROM, included some 24-bit code, rendering the ROM "dirty". This limited the actual amount of memory that could be accessed to just 16 MB. The solution was to use a program called MODE32 which enabled access to the extra memory (if installed). Alternatively it has been found that replacing the ROM SIMM with one from a Mac IIsi or Mac IIfx makes the SE/30 32-bit "clean" and thereby enables use of up to 128 MB RAM"

Do you know if your machine was altered at all as mention in that quote from wikipedia? Also, how big is the ROM file?

If anybody here has an operable Basilisk II or Sheepshaver setup and therefore a workable ROM file, could you email it to me? You can either PM me and I'll give you one of my emails. Plus you'll have my unending gratitude? Now, how much is that worth?

What's the model of one of the machine's you have that you're trying to emulate?

[IJBall]

There must be something about the way my old SE30 is configured (for example, it has a non-standard 20 MBs of memory, and an ethernet card) that messes up the ROM.

"Although sold as a 32-bit computer, the SE/30 ROM, like the IIx ROM, included some 24-bit code, rendering the ROM "dirty". This limited the actual amount of memory that could be accessed to just 16 MB. The solution was to use a program called MODE32 which enabled access to the extra memory (if installed). Alternatively it has been found that replacing the ROM SIMM with one from a Mac IIsi or Mac IIfx makes the SE/30 32-bit "clean" and thereby enables use of up to 128 MB RAM"

Do you know if your machine was altered at all as mention in that quote from wikipedia? Also, how big is the ROM file?

My SE30 was always run with MODE32 as an extension, but the ROM SIMM would have been the ROM SIMM it came with, not one pulled out of a IIfx or a IIsi.

I believe the ROM file was the size it was supposed to be(?). I'm not sure that I ever checked.

If anybody here has an operable Basilisk II or Sheepshaver setup and therefore a workable ROM file, could you email it to me? You can either PM me and I'll give you one of my emails. Plus you'll have my unending gratitude? Now, how much is that worth?

What's the model of one of the machine's you have that you're trying to emulate?

I don't think it matters, though when I last looked at this issue, Basilisk II bascially implied that you were best off trying to emulate an SE (68000) over the other models (68030, 68020). It's not that it won't work with the latter, but there are sometimes issues... like with my SE30 issue.