Freeware
Freeware refers to software that costs nothing, but is not necessarily free software.
Categories (alphabetically)
- Creation - Software used to create/edit data in general
- Audio Graphics Office Programming Video
- kids, mathematics, science, typing
- Games - Game and simulation software
- action, adventure, driving&racing, interactive fiction, puzzles, roleplaying, first person shooters, simulation, strategy
- GUI - Software used to alter/generate your graphical computing environment
- desktop environments, screensavers, themes, window managers, windowing systems
- Internet - Software used for serving and consuming information from the internet
- browsers, chat, email, filesharing, servers
- Multimedia - Software used for playing and distributing multimedia
- burning software, media players, ripping software
- linux, bsd
- Utilities - Tools to analyse and configure various devices, networks, etc and to compress data
- bootable discs, compression, security, system
Freeware Wikibook listing (Graphically - under development)
Note: please don't add severe crippleware or nagware
| Name
| Description
| Latest Release
| Operating System
| License
|
| Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/)
| a free audio editor
| 1.2.3 (Nov 2004) (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=6235&package_id=6294&release_id=283923)
|
| Open Source GPL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html)
|
| link to homepage
| link to wikipedia page
| latest release, download link, completion state
| operating system compatibility
| link to license page
|
License color codes:
- Open Source (wikipedia) - Open Source projects often have continuing base of support even if the original project is discontinued (for example the Apache project was started when the original public domain web server project ended and no further improvements were being made. The authors of Apache were able to benefit from the work previously done and Apache is now run on about 70% of all web servers).
- Public Domain (wikipedia) - Public Domain projects are projects that are released free of copyright. Often this means the source code (and therefore use) is not owned by anyone (no copyrights, no licences, etc.), but this can also include distribution of binaries that are not limited by copyrights or licences. Public domain projects can be "closed" later by the maintainers, limiting future use.
- Freeware (wikipedia) - Freeware (as defined here) is software which is available for use at no direct cost, but for which the source code is not available (or is available under a license that is not open source). Many users consider Public Domain and/or Open Source software better to use since the code is shared, particularly when compared with Ad supported software.
- Ad Supported (wikipedia) - Generally Freeware created by companies that seek to make a profit from their Freeware by offering other companies advertising space within their software. In most cases such ads are built right into the software's GUI so that they are constantly viewed by its users. This type of Freeware usually requires some kind of monetary registration in order to remove these ads. It can also feature spyware (although this listing will try to avoid spyware products).
Open Source Licenses:
Free software licenses allow the user to view and edit the source code for the program. Many such licences require that if you edit and redistribute the software you have to release your changes under the same licenses. For a complete discussion see the wikibook on Open Source.
Completion/Usability States:
The Freeware wikibook uses simple marks to indicate how usable the reviewers feel each program is:
- Unstable, buggy, or doesn't support standards
- Outdated or hard to use
- Slightly buggy but feature complete, or lacking documentation
- Usable in a production environment
Determining system hardware
Before you start to search for freeware, you need to know a little about the type of computer that you have. Typically you need to know at least the following information: Operating System (MacOS, Windows, Linux, etc) including version (Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, etc), amount of RAM memory you computer has (often counted in megabytes, although it is becoming common to see memory counted in gigabytes), and processor speed (often counted in gigahertz).
Windows based systems
In most current versions of windows you can get all the information you need about your system by right-clicking on "My Computer" and selecting properties. After a second or two there is generally a list of information about your system. Write this information down so you can refer to it when reviewing the system requirements for any piece of software.
Macintosh systems
In Mac OS X you can determine a great deal about the hardware and software installed in your system by using the "Apple System Profiler" in the Applications:Utilities folder (that's the utilities folder inside the Applications folder). You should write down the information outlined above to reference when reviewing the system requirements. In MacOS 9 and older there is a similar program called "Profiler"
Linux/Unix Systems
Since most Linux and Unix users will already know the information they need, or can determine it quickly, we will not devote space to instructions here.
How to download Freeware
Nearly all Freeware packages have slightly different download instructions, but there are some rules of thumb that you can use to make the process easier. As with many aspects of working with computers the solutions are often frequently different depending on your operating system.
Once you get to the download page its just a matter of choosing the package for your os, which should be clearly marked. If its not available for your os then try googling for the program name and your os together. When this book is finalized, the OS compatibility section should have links to respective download pages for the software, and the description should link to a wikipedia article specifically about the piece of software.
- If you are using a Windows based operating system the file will usually be in the form of: program.zip or program_name.exe
- If you are using an Apple Macintosh the file will usually be in the form of: program.dmg or program.sit
- if you are using a Linux or Unix operating system the file will usually be in the form of: "program.tar.gz or "program.rpm" or "program.deb"
Compression
There are many different types of compression that can be used to make programs smaller so they download faster. Each different type generally has a file extension and they include (but are not limited to):
Compressed files have to be decompressed on your computer in order to run or set them up (on Windows .exe files are generally self-extracting and/or self-installing). Most modern operating systems have decompression utilities built in; there are also many on the freeware list under Utilities → Compression.
Digital Signatures
Many open source software projects use some form of digital signature or hash to ensure that you are downloading the software you think you are. Traditionally this has been done using an MD5 checksum of the final installer, in the last few years projects have been moving to using PGP signatures that are more secure, and can carry more information.
Using MD5 checksums
Most versions of Linux, Unix, and Mac OS X have MD5 programs supplied with them. Packages that supply MD5 checksums will have a file that you can download that ends .md5 (these files should be rather small). Download this file into the same directory as the program itself, then from a command shell run the following command:
md5sum: md5sum -c program.md5
The software should tell you very quickly if the checksum matches. If the check sum does not match, delete the downloaded file immediately and find a different download source, or a different program to use.
External Freeware Collections
Note: Be warned that some freeware sites may have malware/adware infected software (please don't add questionable sites to the list below), so it is always advised to download the latest version from the developers website, unless you are sure its a reputable source. This wikibook links directly to the software mirrors/software download page on the developers site
Opensource
- Cherry Hill User Group (http://www.chlug.org/oss_equiv.php) Open Source Equivalents to commercial software
- FreshMeat (http://freshmeat.net) Web's largest index of Unix and cross-platform software
- FSF/UNESCO Free Software Directory (http://directory.fsf.org/) - 3,742 packages indexed
- GnomeFiles (http://gnomefiles.org/) - A GTK+ Software Repository
- KDE-Apps (http://kde-apps.org/) - Site devoted to open-source KDE applications
- Open Source listing from Wikipedia
- SourceForge (http://sourceforge.net) World's largest repository of open source software
Windows
- Arjan.org's Absolute Freeware Links (http://www.arjan.org/) A big categorized collection of freeware.
- BestWebDownloads.com (http://www.bestwebdownloads.com) - Freeware : A resource of many free programs, listed and reviewd.
- Elgorithms.com (http://www.elgorithms.com/) Free software relating to the web site development
- Free Essential Software list (http://maestro.liquidfree.com/published/2004/12/free-essential-programs.html) - A reviewed list of the best software in every important category
- Freebyte! (http://www.freebyte.com/) - Guide to free stuff on the web
- Freeware Download Box (http://www.freewarebox.com/) - Software archive with freeware only.
- Freeware Directory (http://www.freewaredirectory.net/) - Software downloads of Freeware Applications, Programs, and Utilities
- Freeware Home (http://freewarehome.com/) - Collection of free software and internet services
- Freeware Network (http://www.fwnetwork.com/) - Free software, desktop themes, wallpapers and more
- Freeware World Team (http://www.all4you.dk/FreewareWorld/links.php) - 20117 freeware programs from all around the world.
- freeware4u (http://freeware4u.com) - Freeware
- gimber.co.uk | Freeware List (http://www.gimber.co.uk/content/freeware/) - Categorised list of freeware (defined here as any software you can use indefinitely without being charged), mainly for the Windows platform
- GNUWin II (http://gnuwin.epfl.ch) - Open Source Windows software
- Hippo (http://www.filehippo.com)
- kikizas.net (http://www.kikizas.net/en/usbapps.html) - Freeware and free software that runs from USB keydrives
- NoNags (http://www.nonags.com/nonags/index.html) - Ad free commercial (membership required for special features) freeware site
- Only Freeware (http://freeware.intrastar.net/index.html) - Consistent, up to date
- OSSwin: Open source for Windows (http://osswin.sourceforge.net/) Comprehensive and up to date
- Priceless 2005 (http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/2005/about2005PL.php)Pricelessware 2004 (http://www.pricelessware.org) - participants vote yearly for "the best of the best in freeware" at "alt.comp.freeware (http://groups.google.com/group/alt.comp.freeware)"
- Snapfiles (http://www.snapfiles.com/freeware/freeware.html) - Large freeware collection
- TinyApps (http://www.tinyapps.org) - Small is Beautiful
- USB Portable Freeware (http://www.portablefreeware.com/?p=1)
- OpenSourceList.org - Open source software for Windows (http://www.opensourcelist.org/oss/)
- Mark Taw small Apps (http://www.marktaw.com/reviews/MyFavoriteSmallware.html)
Mac
- MacOSZone.com (http://www.macoszone.com/) - Software for your Macintosh.
- TinyApps (OS X) (http://www.tinyapps.org/osx.html) - Small is Beautiful.
- TheMacOrchard (http://macorchard.com/index.html) - The most complete, most up-to-date collection of Macintosh Internet applications available anywhere on the Internet.
- VersionTracker (http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/lt/freeware) - Mac OS X Freeware, Commercial, Beta and Shareware Products, all tracked by version, categorized and user-reviewed.
- Apple Computer's OS X Download Page (http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/) - Various Freeware, Beta, Shareware and Commercial offerings including thousands of Widgets for Dashboard.
- - Kaboose Kid's Domain (http://www.kidsdomain.com/down/mac/index.html) - Mac Freeware for kids.
Contributors
Started project --Lobster 05:55, 21 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Categorized the software, added logos. --flonejek 03:25, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Edited the main text blocks and layout. --Ahc 03:37, 1 Dec 2004 (UTC)
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