Featuring a great
collection of High Quality Open Source software for Windows
including a word processor,, spreadsheet, email client and utilities,
each with detailed documentation. For each program there is a brief
description and some screen images to help you choose. also included
are three electronic books about Open Source and free software. Feel
free to use the programs on multiple computers, in fact we encourage
you to do this. (Don't try this with any Microsoft programs folks)
Note:
Only some of the fantastic programs on this CD have been described on
this page.
Buy "The Open CD" and try them all out.
Minimise your risk from viruses
"Mozilla" is a full featured Web-Browser, Mail and News Suite with advanced options such as tabbed browsing, pop-up blocking and spam filter. The simple web design lets you create and publish your own web pages as well. With the majority of today's crippling viruses currently being written specifically to exploit the default "Windows" browser and email client, "Internet Explorer" & "Outlook Express", one of the simplest steps that you can take to reduce your exposure to viruses is to switch to an alternative set of applications, such as "Mozilla" or "Firefox" (my favorite)Also included is the stand-alone Firefox browser and Thunderbird email client on this CD, which are derived from the Mozilla suite. Which version you choose is largely a question of taste. There are a number of plug-ins and skins available on the net to enhance the look and extend the functionality of each of these products.
Mozilla in normal browsing mode with the Netscape-like Classic skin.
The web page composer lets you create your own web pages quickly and easily in a graphical environment.
FIREFOX Firefox light-weight web browser based on Mozilla technology. It empowers you to browse faster, more safely, and more efficiently. Key features include: Popup Blocking to stop tose annoying ads popping up. Tabbed Browsing lets you view multiple web pages in a single window. Open links in the background so that they're ready for viewing when you're ready to read them. Text zooming is a quick way of enlarging or decreasing the text of any web page to make it more readable. You can expand this lightweight core by adding plug-ins that do everything from automatic form completion to blocking Flash animations. There is also a range of themes available to let you alter the look of the browser and you can further customise the toolbars and functionality. The Easy Transition system imports all of your settings, including favorites, passwords and other data from Internet Explorer and other browsers, so you can start surfing right away.
But possibly the best reason to start using Firefox is its enhanced security. Built with your Security in mind from the start, Firefox keeps your computer safe from malicious spyware by not loading harmful ActiveX controls. A comprehensive set of privacy tools keep your online activity your business. In this age of rampant virus attacks, security concious web users browse with secure alternative browsers such as Firefox. If you install only one program from this CD (and you browse the web), you should make it Firefox.
Tabs let you open several web sites in the same browser window.
Firefox can be configured to suit your needs and enhance security.The GIMP
The GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP), is a powerful and comprehensive imaging solution, suitable for those wanting to manipulate digital photographs, design and export graphics for the web, convert from one file format to another and even produce complex high-resolution compositions for print. The GIMP features a number of paint tools with sub-pixel sampling for high quality anti-aliased brush strokes, a powerful gradient editor and blend tool, layers and layer masks with over 20 blending modes, support for importing and exporting in a myriad of image formats, unsharp mask, levels and curves tools for enhancement of digital photos and much more!
The GIMP is a feature packed program which you may need some time to get to grips with, to help with this process we provide a handful of tutorials for you to follow, as well as the online book, grokking the GIMP, which, while written for GIMP 1.x, still contains invaluable advice and techniques.
Complex compositions can be achieved through the use of multiple layers, blending modes and layer masks.
The Paths facility lets you manipulate vector-based graphics in the GIMP.
One of the most common uses of the Gimp is to fix digital camera images that for some reason are less than perfect. Maybe the image is overexposed or underexposed; maybe rotated a bit; maybe out of focus: these are all common problems for which Gimp has good tools. The purpose of this chapter is to give you an overview of those tools and the situations in which they are useful. You will not find detailed tutorials here: in most cases it is easier to learn how to use the tools by experimenting with them than by reading about them. (Also, each tool is described more thoroughly in the Help section devoted to it.) You will also not find anything in this chapter about the multitude of "special effects" that you can apply to an image using Gimp. You should be familiar with basic Gimp concepts before reading this chapter, but you certainly don't need to be an expert–if you are, you probably know most of this anyway. And don't hesitate to experiment: Gimp's powerful "undo" system allows you to recover from almost any mistake with a simple Ctrl-Z.
Most commonly the things that you want to do to clean up an imperfect photo are of four types: improving the composition; improving the colours; improving the sharpness; and removing undesirable elements of the image.
Remember with this software you can remove blemishes & wrinkles, repair unsharp pictures, alter brightness, contrast and colour, enhance skin tones, remove items from your photographs that you don't want like posts, add type and special effects, compress images so that they load much faster on the web, fix lighting flaws or other mistakes, create animations and a whole lot more.
Safe On-Line shopping with PayPal.
PDFCreator
Use PDFCreator to generate PDF documents directly from any Windows program. PDF (Portable Document Format) files are the de facto standard in electronic publishing, because the author can be sure that the document will look as intended on all platforms, regardless of local fonts or lack thereof. PDFs can also be generated with commercial packages, but PDFCreator is by far the easiest and cheapest option (free). Once installed, simply select 'Print' from the File menu of your word processor or drawing program, and select 'PDFCreator Printer' from the list of printers. Click 'Save' and enter a name for your PDF output file. That's it!Optionally, you may also enter information to identify the document, such as Title, Creation Date and Author. The Options dialogue lets you control the process in more detail. You can set the resolution and compression levels for the various file types, and control how fonts are included. Use the security feature to protect your document with a password. JPEG, PNG, Postscript (PS) and Encapsulated
OpenOffice.org V2
OpenOffice.org is a full-featured productivity suite including a word processor, spreadsheet, web page editor and presentation program. Notable features in this version are native PDF and Flash export at the click of button and a macro recorder for increased productivity. OpenOffice.org provides you with the ability to create mail merged documents from Outlook or Mozilla address books, spreadsheets, or other data sources and its tightly-integrated modules help to simplify work flow. Documents are stored in a compressed, open-standard XML format to ensure future availability of your data and to reduce file sizes. You can read and write documents in a wide range of formats including Microsoft Office.
The word processor component, Writer, is suitable for the production of professional documents, reports, newsletters, and brochures. A powerful spreadsheet module called Calc contains sophisticated tools for calculation, data analysis and visualisation, its built-in charting tools are able to generate customisable 2D and 3D charts. The presentation utility, Impress, uses effects, animation and drawing tools to help you create effective multimedia slide shows to present your the way you want to. Use the Draw component to produce either simple diagrams or complex 3D illustrations and special effects for use in documents and presentations. The Database User Tools give you all the tools you need for day to day database work in a simple spreadsheet-like form. They support dBASE databases for simple applications, or any ODBC or JDBC compliant database for industrial strength database work.
Due to the high cost of commercial office suites, deciding to use OpenOffice.org will typically represent the single largest source of savings on software for organisations or individuals. OpenOffice.org is increasingly becoming an office suite of choice in education, government, and business. We include several tutorials in Flash and PDF format to help you get quickly up to speed.
Note:
Only some of the fantastic programs on this CD have been described on
this page.
Buy "The Open CD" and try them all out.
To purchase OpenSource CD
NOW
OUR PRODUCTS
Please checkout these great Open Source software CD's
"Free software" is a
matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should
think of "free" as in "free speech," not as in "free beer."
Free software is a matter of the
users' freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve
the software.
The Open CD is
free in both senses mentioned above. Since the software on the CD is
distributed under an open source license, it really is free (as in
speech). Once you receive your CD, you are free to install it on as
many computers as you like. (don't
try this with Microsoft software, folks)
However,
if you are like me, and prefer the convenience of a CD-Rom, this CD is
a great value. When you
insert the CD in your CD-Rom drive, it automatically brings up the
menu, which makes installation as simple as possible. (This menu is not
included with the downloaded version). This CD also includes extra
document templates and additional programs.
However you get your copy, you owe it to yourself to try this great
software.
System Requirements:
Microsoft Windows
(98, Me, 2000 (Service Pack 2 or higher), XP or 2003)
Pentium 100 processor, or faster
(Intel, AMD, or compatible) 128 MB RAM, or
more 250 MB
hard drive space, or more (for full install - partial uses
less)
or Mac OS-X (X11 User) Linux or
Solaris versions also available on request
This software on this CD is for Windows (It is not a time-out or feature limited demo version)The CD also contains documentation (in .pdf format) These programse will run on all modern versions of Windows, including 98, Me, NT 4, 2000, and XP. It requires only a Pentium compatible processor, 32 MB of RAM (64 MB recommended) and 650 MB free hard drive space for a full install (you can get by with less space, if you choose to install only certain programs.
Programs on TheOpenCD 3.1
Productivity
-
AbiWord 2.4.1
-
MoinMoin 1.3.4
-
OpenOffice.org
-
PDFCreator 0.8.1 RC9
Design
-
Blender 2.37a
-
GIMP Photo Editor V2.2.9
-
Nvu Web Editor V 1.0
Internet/Networking
-
Firefox 1.5 RC2
-
Thunderbird 1.5 RC1
-
Gaim 1.5
Multimedia
-
Audacity 1.2.3
-
Celestia 1.3.2
-
Really Slick Screensavers
Utilities
-
7-zip 4.23
-
Notepad2 1.0.12
Games
-
Sokoban 1.253
-
Battle for Wesnoth 1.0.1
UBUNTU Operating System "If you are ready to move beyond Windows"
Please Note: The Open CD Disc also includes a Live Linux Operating system. Ubuntuwill begin when you start your PC with the disc in the drive. It will not install anything on your computer. (You can install Ubuntu if you want to after trying it out.) A Live Operating system runs completely from a CD/DVD allowing you to learn and explore the OS without committing to it. It can be quite fun, so please explore this option. If you have any questions about Ubuntu please visit the creator's website.
