Keyboard Freeware Utilities :

1. automatically send defined keystrokes : keyboard shortcuts
2. easily enter unicode characters : character map
3. remap the keyboard : xkeycaps

This is a list of tools that are available in, at least, Ubuntu 6.10 (Edge Eft).

Internet Freeware Utilities :

1. backup mozilla (firefox/thunderbird) browser profile : *
2. blog from the desktop : blogtk
3. create a single page html of all firefox bookmarks : built-in
4. create/edit html files / website : bluefish
5. create/edit xml files : conglomerate
6. download a file via a torrent / p2p site : built-in / azureus
7. download an entire website : gwget
8. download manager for internet downloads : gwget / d4x
9. encrypt email messages : seahorse
10. ftp multiple sites simultaeously : gftp
11. ftp files securely : gftp
12. log into an internet-connected computer from another : ssh (command line)
13. manage passwords : revelation
14. manage/resume file downloads : gwget
15. monitor bandwidth usage : gdesklets
16. read my RSS feeds : liferea
17. remove all html tags from a file to make a into text file : html2txt (command line)
18. remove dead (404) bookmarks : Bookmarks LinkChecker +
19. safely browse the web : firefox
20. search the web from the browser : built-in firefox
21. tune-up firefox browser : fasterfox +

This is a list of tools that are available in, at least, Ubuntu 6.10 (Edge Eft).

* these can be created easily with shell/perl scripting, but the purpose is to find ready-to-use apps.
+ these can be found on the FireFox Add-ons page

Information/Fun/Misc Freeware Utilities :

1. convert units of measures : units
2. find word meanings and synonymns : gnome dictionary
3. see 3d space simulation : celestia(-gnome)
4. solve a scientific calculation : galculator / rcalc
5. solve equations and plot graphs : euler
6. zoom onto the Earth from space : google earth

This is a list of tools that are available in, at least, Ubuntu 6.10 (Edge Eft).

Graphics/Images/Photographs Freeware Utilities :

1. convert images into various formats : gimp
2. create a flash-based animated how-to/tutorial : istanbul (only to theora ogg)
3. create a web photo album and slideshow from my photographs. : gthumb
4. create icons : gimp / gnome-iconedit
5. create thumbnails of images : gthumb
6. draw charts/graphs in 2D/3D from data : OpenOffice / gnuplot / plotdrop
7. draw diagrams : dia
8. edit an image : gimp
9. find the color of any pixel : gimp
10. magnify image to pixel level : gimp
11. manage galleries of photographs : gthumb / f-spot
12. paint creatively : gimp
13. paint creatively (for kids) : tuxpaint
14. pick a color from a pallette : gimp / agave
15. remove unnecessary information from a jpeg file : exiv2
16. stitch together multiple photographs : gimp
17. view images in an album folder : gthumb

This is a list of tools that are available in, at least, Ubuntu 6.10 (Edge Eft).

Financial Freeware Utilities :

1. manage personal finances : grisbi / gnucash

This is a list of tools that are available in, at least, Ubuntu 6.10 (Edge Eft).

Files and Folders Freeware Utilities :

1. access files remotely : places - connect to server
2. archive (zip) files : archive manager
3. backup/mirror a folder on another drive : nautilus copy
4. change file-date on multiple files : touch (command line)
5. compare two text files and find difference or merge them : meld
6. create a self-extracting compressed files archive for a list of files : upx-ucl (command line)
7. display size/space of folders on a drive : nautilus
8. encrypt a file : seahorse
9. find/delete duplicate files : fdupes (command line)
10. keep various versions of a file : storebackup (command line)
11. list all files in a directory/folder in a text/html file : *
12. locate a file on the hard drive : places - search
13. perform muliple operations on files/folders : *
14. rename multiple files : renamutils (command line)
15. search file/text on the computer : deskbar
16. search and replace text in multiple files : *
17. upload/download using FTP : gftp
18. upload/download using TFTP : gftp
19. use GMail to store some files : gmailfs
20. view all text files in a folder : *

This is a list of tools that are available in, at least, Ubuntu 6.10 (Edge Eft).

* these can be created easily with shell/perl scripting, but the purpose is to find ready-to-use apps.

FOSDEM 2007 the biggest open source event in Belgium, is going on this weekend. Some nice talks were presented as always. After the opening and FOSDEM dance we got Pieter Hintjes talking about the current state of patents in EU and how some big corps are trying everything to get them legalized anyway. He announced a new site called ethipat, which stands for ethical patents.

Next up was Jim Gettys about the OLPC project, he talked about all the hurdles they had to go through to make such an efficient laptop, which is sturdy, usable for children and doesn't suck up much power.


A lot of development and unique features have gone into this piece of hardware. The screen, network controller, getting SUN to open up OpenFirmware, etc.

The morning ended with a presentation from Simon Phipps on the process of releasing the Java source code under GPL. Which is going pretty well, although there are some things that they cannot release, they are in the process of replacing all these bits by other GPL software. We can expect the first release somewhere later this year (that was rather unclear).

Lunch break! Time to eat my sandwiches and donate some money to the event (getting an O'Reilly pocket guide in return). Settle myself in the Chavenne room waiting for Keith Packards speech, this would be the second time I attended a session from him at FOSDEM.


He is a very entertaining speaker, easy to listen to. Not really a tech talk this time, but a chance to meet the whole X.org team. Surprisingly the group is not that large, for this rather gigantic piece of code.



Next topic was hard to pick, but I ended up going to the LinuxBIOS talk of Ronald Minnich. Who explained that no matter what you use as your bios, linux is always faster and as a bonus you have a real shell available to you when things go belly up. However, the project was going fine until kernel 2.6 came along. The kernel got to big and the flash on the MB was getting smaller. The LinuxBIOS was no longer really linux at that time, but luckily the tide turned and flash with sizes of 2MB is no longer an exception and has plenty room for a complete mini linux install.


Yesterday ended with Andrew Morton with a general talk on the linux kernel, where it is going and the different areas of attention. I must say that Andrew is not that good at talks, compared to Alan Cox for example. Ofcourse, that doesn't matter too much. There is a lot in store for the kernel the next couple of years, but one of the most interesting things that got my attention was that almost all kernel developers are now employees of some company, while most of the testing is done by the community. In some way this brings up the question if the linux kernel can even survive without commercial backing.

As a bonus this picture, if you look very hard you can spot the running fried potato slice.