open-source software

Post here your recommendations!

A list with software by category:

As a Windows user since 3.1, I've had my ups and downs. I've yelled at Microsoft since "dll hell" and "plug and pray". Since I was a college slacker in the 1990's I've used Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) way back when there was Mosaic as a web browser.

On my HP Victus 16 I am running the following:

1. Windows 11 (of course).

2. - it's a free alternative to Office 365.

3. as my default and as my daily web browser (I like it's UI better). Edge gets limited use by me. and NoScript are a must for the web when using any Firefox based browser.

4. - it's much better than Microsoft's own "Photos" app - I use this and recently uninstalled Photos. There's a .wepb plugin for that crappy format.

5. I use and for small scans. For big scans, NAPS2 just blows it out of the water.

6. I have Winamp, Handbrake and a few other FOSS apps I've found around the web.

7. free version along with Windows Defender has kept me safe.

8. - I run my video and audio through my TV - HDMI connects to . Yes it's $100 USD but it has eleven ports - USB, USB-C, SD (micro and standard) Ethernet, HDMI, Display Port, headphone jack and a VGA port in case I wanna frost my tips and relive the 90's with a large CRT or LCD projector. The last thing I need to so is use scripts, SUDO commands or "hacks" to get it to play nice with my printer or my displays. Under Windows now it just works.

9. I run Quake 3, UT 2004 and Minecraft - few issues under Windows 11. If I wanted to go for older games I can use DosBox.

Under Windows 11 installs are a breeze. I have have few issues with Windows 11 - it updates fast. Crash recovery is lighting fast. There was a problem with printers under Windows 11 - a problem that has been solved for months. (tl;dr - printers had to be plugged into the computer directly and even that was flaky, issue is no more and USB printers now work like a USB device).

I work from home and will be working remotely on my personal computer. I need to do work on my computer as opposed to working on computer.

Linux just isn't ready for that.

Windows 11, for all it's faults just works. I'll be using the company's remote desktop software. Software that's not setup for Linux.

Yes Windows 11 has UI issues (the Start menu and taskbar shouldn't have been messed with) but it works. Took some elbowgrease and but I have some fresh shortcuts on my Start menu.

So I'm not switching.

EDIT: brings up a good point. Given my workflow and my situation, I found the OS and configuration that works for me*. Everyone's computing experience is going to vary.*

If you looking for a simple and easy-to-customize monitoring solution for your servers - please check out this project:

Monitor CPU, RAM, and Disk space periodically. Receive an email when a spike occurs. It's written in pure PHP - so anyone with PHP skills can easily customize it. It's not a feature complete solution but a starting point if you want to run your own monitoring dashboard.

Dashboard updates in near realtime and you can run on as many servers as you like.

WordPress is an open-source project that was never meant to generate revenue. Yet, Matt Mullenweg, the project’s founder, has used it to create a company worth $7.5 billion.

Matt Mullenweg started WordPress to make it easier for people to publish their own sites and blogs - even if they lacked the technical know-how.

Mullenweg was working at CNET during WordPress’s development. He noticed that the company owned tons of domains from their acquisitions, with ‘online.com’ being one of them. Mullenweg thought this domain would be perfect for an even more accessible version of WordPress where users could start a blog in a few clicks, no coding required. CNET just wasn’t on board.

So, after wrapping up his projects with CNET, he quit his job. Alongside a few of his fellow WordPress developers, the young entrepreneur started investing all of his time and energy into his new startup - which he named Automattic.

Working at CNET, Mullenweg saw how the platform battled with spam bots on sites that allowed comments. This gave him an idea for his first commercial product.

He decided to develop ‘Akismet’ - a spam filter that you could use for WordPress and other blogging software.

When Automattic officially launched in 2005, Akismet was its first product. Next came WordPress.com, initially launched to a limited audience.

The difference between the open-source version of WordPress (.org) and this one (.com) was that it fell under the umbrella of Automattic, which meant that the company handled hosting, leaving the users to focus on their content - a big selling point.

Today, Automattic makes most of its money by selling subscriptions that go hand-in-hand with WordPress, such as WooCommerce - an e-commerce plugin, Jetpack - a customization and security plugin, and Enterprise WordPress for businesses.

As of now, WordPress has a market share of 65% when it comes to content management systems.

Because of this dominance over the market, Automattic has managed to raise more than $985 million in funding over 13 rounds, resulting in a valuation of $7.5 billion.

It’s a pretty cool entrepreneurial story, considering the original version of WordPress is open-source.

Video on the story:

I have never played a Skyrim mod but I feel like this is a good place to ask this question.

Is there any connection between the philosophies of video game modding communities and that of Free/ Open Source Software (FOSS)? The Free Software movement values the ability to freely distribute software and allows anyone to use it for any purpose. Do these concepts exist within video game mods? Even if game mods are not open source, the ability to share mods that you downloaded with your friends without permission of the creator displays some of this idea. Even the concept of taking something that someone else made (a game) and changing it to meet your needs (by modding it) aligns with the FOSS philosophy.

For example, in the Starfield community there was a DLSS mod where the creator added DRM and it caused a huge outrage. If a Skyrim mod were to have DRM, would this community be upset?

Obviously I don't think that the average gamer will value these ideas as much as say Richard Stallman, but I feel like the same types of philosophies evolved independently in these two areas and people have not yet seen the similarities.

Take some free OS project, focus on some of its individual features, maybe adapt and modify something a little or integrate few of them, package it a little differently and invest in marketing and then create SaaS on that basis, is that feasible and realistic? Are there any such examples?

Because most of the end users are not technically versioned, nor are they too interested in technical details, if it gets the job done for them. Nor do they mess with some Docker containers and whatnot.

Let's say take something from this list and then start from there:

.

Hi folks

[ TL;DR: Go here: , follow the README, enjoy printing from PrusaSlicer ]

The past couple of months, the Ankermake APIs and protocols have been reverse engineered by enthusiasts in the community, including myself.

Now that we have something that can charitably be described as an "early beta version", I thought I would share it here.

Some of the initial research work can be found here:

After reversing the protocols for a while, we started to build a library to parse the packets, and then a tool to allow remote control of the printer. This too, ankerctl, is currently under heavy development, but can already send print jobs, capture a video stream from the camera, and send custom gcode-commands.

If you want to try it out - and we hope you do - you can find the tool here:

Please keep in mind that this is still very much under development, so expect a few rough edges. We support Linux, Mac and Windows, so there should be something for everybody.

Problems, questions or comments? Feel free to open a github issue, or contact us on #ankermake-mods (as in "modifications", not "moderators") on the official Ankermake discord server.

Please let us know what you think, and we hope you enjoy getting control back of your printer :)

The Plan9 Operating System created by Bell Labs as a successor to Research UNIX and now maintained by the plan9 foundation.

Early BSDs containing Bell/AT&T Unix Code

.

Heirloom Bourne Shell

Illumos/OpenSolaris Contains AT&T System V Unix Code

Common Desktop Environment

Motif

Research Unix

Korn Shell

Portable C Compiler

A 2017 report on piracy by the BSA (Business Software Alliance) puts Lebanon piracy rate at 69%
Despite the decline from 2015, so many Lebanese continue to purchase software on CDs/DVDs for 1000-5000LL or even download for free from illegal sites.
This practice - that seems fair for many people - is very damaging to emerging software companies in Lebanon or even international companies that are losing millions of dollars.
Of course one could not deny the huge cost for buying licensed software especially for students or people with low income. You can easily invest hundreds of dollars just for the basics: Windows, Office...
One alternative for having software at no cost is free open source software. For instance, there are many alternatives to the Microsoft Office suite: LibreOffice and OpenOffice are perfect examples.
Could FOSS be a solution to the high pirary rate in Lebanon?

I discovered that there is a free, open source software that allow you to download all your icloud photos, live photos and movies onto your computer (windows/mac/linux) or on a NAS (docker) in one shot. This is on

This is a good thing because:

- icloud is a sync tool, not a backup, so this software allows you to do a proper backup.

- you can delete then your photos from icloud, to save on storage and avoid having to puchase a larger subscription (my case, I used docker on synology).

- you can also send the photos somewhere else in a different cloud afterwards if you want so (dropbox, google photos, backblaze etc.)

How the program looks like:

Introduction video:

Detailed page about the program:

Render example made by the program

link:

source code:

A bill in New Hampshire would almost require free open-source software for state government. Jon maddog Hall, an NH resident, showed up for the hearing.

With recent improvements to Blender and Gimp, the user interfaces have been VASTLY improved and many previously missing features have been added to every install. It makes me so happy that free open source software is becoming an even more viable alternative to expensive closed source software. I'm personally really excited for Gimp 3.2 which is finally going to add non-destructive features to gimp. This should help to make it an even better alternative to Photoshop and I cant wait to see it. Maybe one day it will even replace Photoshop completely. Anyone else excited for any open source software?

Some of you have used the "Exolve" software for browser-based interactive crosswords that I've written and maintain (it's used in AOTW grids, and some POTDs).

I have recently written and released "Exet," which is free, open source software for constructing crosswords.

It can help with all phases of crossword construction: creating a grid, filling it, and setting clues. For cryptic clues, it provides a few resources by itself (e.g., charade/anagram/container possibilities) and a few resources through links that open within the app, right next to the grid (such as lists of indicators).

It is browser-based, and should work in any modern web browser (though I have mostly tested on my Chrome + Linux set-up). Best to use on a desktop/laptop for now (I'll try to make it mobile/tablet-friendly eventually).

No puzzles are sent to any servers. it saves everything in the browser's local storage. You can download crosswords as HTML files (that use Exolve) as well as .puz files.

Please give it a try and let me know how it goes. Bug reports and feature requests are welcome (and needed)!

You can use it from my site at

You can also access the documentation and source code at . Setting up your own local/serving instance is also straightforward and documented.

Edit: s/For cryptic crosswords/For cryptic clues/