The Open Source Software for Windows thread

[eadz]

The following programs are all Open Source and Free Software applications for Windows.

Firefox Web Browser
Only the best web browser..

OpenOffice
MS Office compatible office suite

Gaim
AIM, ICQ, MSN, Jabber client

7-Zip
Winzip replacement

Gimp
Photo/Image editing software

For Web Development with WAMP ( Windows Apache MySQL PHP )
Apache Web Server
PHP
MySQL - also get the mysql control utilities

DB Designer 4


My Favorite - DB Designer 4. Use this to model relational databases, and export mysql code or connect directly to mysql.

[Harry Kuhman]

The Open CD contains many of the above Open Source Programs, and some others too, including some really great screen savers and a couple of good games. Here's the link: http://theopencd.sunsite.dk/

[gnarvaja]

MySQL is dual license, check their licensing page.

You should also include:

Qt - Multiplatform development environment (also dual license).
gcc - Multiplatform C/C++ compiler

I would also recommend to look into Sourceforge http://www.sourceforge.net and http://directory.fsf.org/

Keep in mind that 'Free Software <> Free Beer' and check the licenses if you plan to distribute your programs.

- GN

[daneel101]

http://osswin.sourceforge.net

[Harry Kuhman]

There are some good "operating system level" utilities, complete with source code available at sysinternals.com. This includes registery monitoring, cache monitoring, TCP monitoring, watching what processes are running and what DLLs thay have loaded, monitoring file activity and lots more. There is also a Linux program that lets you monitor file activity in real time.

[UnderScore]

Cygwin

What is it?
The Cygwin tools are ports of the popular GNU development tools for Microsoft Windows. They run thanks to the Cygwin library which provides the UNIX system calls and environment these programs expect.

With these tools installed, it is possible to write Win32 console or GUI applications that make use of the standard Microsoft Win32 API and/or the Cygwin API. As a result, it is possible to easily port many significant Unix programs without the need for extensive changes to the source code. This includes configuring and building most of the available GNU software (including the packages included with the Cygwin development tools themselves). Even if the development tools are of little to no use to you, you may have interest in the many standard Unix utilities provided with the package. They can be used both from the bash shell (provided) or from the standard Windows command shell.

# Cygwin is a Linux-like environment for Windows. It consists of two parts: A DLL (cygwin1.dll) which acts as a Linux API emulation layer providing substantial Linux API functionality.
# A collection of tools, which provide Linux look and feel.

The Cygwin DLL works with all non-beta, non "release candidate", ix86 32 bit versions of Windows since Windows 95, with the exception of Windows CE.

Review: Improving the Windows Experience with Cygwin (with screenshots) written by Marcel Gagné

Long-time Unix and Linux users realize that sometimes nothing beats the power of the shell, not to mention the bevy of tools that the *nix environment provides. This is where Cygwin shows its power. Cygwin is actually a collection of GNU tools ported to Windows, which is done through the use of a Cygwin runtime library. Using Cygwin, a developer can use Cygwin's runtime (or the Win32 API), the gcc compiler, and accompanying debugging tools, to port Unix and Linux software to Windows.

The reason for Cygwin goes beyond simply porting Linux and Unix code to Windows. Standard bash scripts can be used on your Windows systems, thereby extending the functionality of those machines, particularly those that act as servers. Suddenly, you can have access to all those commands that you desperately miss everytime you find yourself working on a Windows machine. Finally — and this was the feature that captured my curiosity — the ability to run X provides you with the flexibility to run any Linux/Unix application from your Windows desktop, thereby completing the administration puzzle. Intrigued? Then, read on.

Install Cygwin now!

What are the licensing terms?
Most of the tools are covered by the GNU GPL, some are public domain, and others have a X11 style copyright. To cover the GNU GPL requirements, the basic rule is if you give out any binaries, you must also make the source available. For the full details, be sure to read the text of the GNU General Public License (GPL).

The Cygwin API library found in the winsup subdirectory of the source code is also covered by the GNU GPL (with exceptions; see below). By default, all executables link against this library (and in the process include GPL'd Cygwin glue code). This means that unless you modify the tools so that compiled executables do not make use of the Cygwin library, your compiled programs will also have to be free software distributed under the GPL with source code available to all.

[gnarvaja]

... Finally — and this was the feature that captured my curiosity — the ability to run X provides you with the flexibility to run any Linux/Unix application from your Windows desktop, thereby completing the administration puzzle ...

I haven't tried it yet with Knoppix, but it worked great in the past. The problem I always found with Cygwin is that it requires a learning curve even if you are an experienced Liunux/Unix user. If someone already tried it, I'll be willing to share experiences and get my hands dirty with it once again.

My $.02
-GN

[UnderScore]

The problem I always found with Cygwin is that it requires a learning curve even if you are an experienced Liunux/Unix user. If someone already tried it, I'll be willing to share experiences and get my hands dirty with it once again.

<<This is a collection & rewrite of my posts at Slashdot and OSNews.ccom>>

Enter the XLiveCD (grab the torrent here ftp://ftp.ussg.iu.edu/xlivecd/xlivec...01.iso.torrent. XLiveCD is designed to make to is easy connections & interoperability between *nix and Windows OSs. You can also find more info from from a paper published for the SIGUCCS of the ACM titled: "Easy access to remote graphical UNIX applications for windows users". Listed below is the publicly available abstract from that paper:

ABSTRACT
A barrier deters Windows users from evaluating graphical scientific software that runs only on remote UNIX systems. Graphical UNIX applications are based on X Windows. To make use of X applications, Windows users must install an X server, install communications software for connecting to remote UNIX systems, and configure their systems to display graphics from remote systems. This barrier can be removed by making use of an X server and communications software that run live from CD-ROM. This poster presents such a CD-ROM known as XLiveCD.

XLiveCD appears to users as an application that provides a command-prompt that allows them to log in to remote computers. Windows XP/NT/ 2000 users insert the CD into a drive and click twice in response to a wizard. A terminal window appears on the screen and provides a command prompt. From the command prompt users run the secure shell (ssh) to connect to a remote computer and launch applications. X graphics windows are forwarded automatically.

XLiveCD is based entirely on open source software and is available free for download. It is a Cygwin environment (from Red Hat, Inc.), including the X.org X server and openssh installed and modified to be run from CD-ROM. The home page is http://xlivecd.indiana.edu/.

The XLiveCD system does not eat much RAM. I have run it on Pentium3 450MHz with WindowsXPSP2 with 384MB RAM connected to a Celeron 533MHz running Knoppix 3.6. On the Windows PC, from insertion of the CD until the seeing the dialog box was about 15 seconds. Two click of the mouse is all that is needed to confirm the execution of the X server. It took about 1 minute 20 seconds for it to present me an xterm window. My testing on other machines indicate that it is not CPU speed limited. In most cases the CDROM drive will be the leading limiting factor (or startup time chokepoint) and then comes the CPU.

Directions for testing XLiveCD without installing anything anywhere.
Required:
- 2 networked PCs
- One of the PC must be running some form of windows
- This PC should not have the cygwin tools installed on it
- The other PC doesn't matter as it will be running Knoppix.
- One copy of XLiveCD
- One copy of Knoppix. I will use Knoppix 3.6.

Boot PC2 with Knoppix 3.6. I used no bootup cheat codes and it goes into a graphical KDE desktop. I use the knoppix menu icon (the penguin) and start the SSH service. It will create the host keys and then prompt for the knoppix user's passwd. I used the passwd 'knoppix'. Since comes with sshd configured with X11Forwarding enabled (see the /etc/ssh/sshd_config in Knoppix) by default, no other configuration is necessary. CLick on the terminal icon & bring up konsole. Type ifconfig to find the IP address that it was assigned by the DHCP server (in my case 10.100.100.2).

In PC1 put XLiveCD in the drive. The autorun dialog will come up. Select to use 2 or 3 button mouse. click next. Some time later and Xterm appears on the screen. In that Xterm, type the following:

ssh -X -v -C knoppix@10.100.100.2 konsole

(or you can leave konsole off the end of the command to get an interactive ssh session.)

It will spew copious amounts of text across the screen. (This is good). Then it will ask for the knoppix user's password. Type knoppix and hit enter. A couple moments later you will have a KDE konsole on your windows dekstop. You can open up other applications too. Try running gaim, gimp, kicker or konqeror. When you had enough, you can just close all the apps like you normally would. You can close the Xterm or CTRL-C the Xterm and you are done. There you have it, a compressed encrypted X11 session forwarded from 1 PC to another with nothing to install or uninstall for $0.00.
Enjoy.

[UnderScore]

TheOpenCD 2.0 released
From http://theopencd.sunsite.dk/2_0_released.html:

We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of TheOpenCD v2.0. The disc contains old favorites like Mozilla, OpenOffice, AbiWord, Gimp in updated versions, but also has some noteable additions like Firefox, Thunderbird, Blender and Gaim. The CD browser technology is also new this time, and is based on Gecko (see screenshots). This approach should make it simpler to make derivatives, including localized versions, some of which will be out shortly. We have timed the release to be out just before the holidays so you can fill the stockings of friends and family with Free and useful software.

Visit the release notes for a complete list of inlcuded programs. Get a copy from one of our FTP mirrors or on Bittorrent.

About TheOpenCD
TheOpenCD is a small collection of only the highest quality OSS for Windows, easily available on a CD. The programs are carefully selected to ensure stability, ease of use and a clean install and un-install from your computer. The CD is intended as a first introduction to the world of OSS, but it is our hope that you will later go on to explore other projects, and at some stage you may even want to try a whole new operating system, such as Linux (sometimes called GNU/Linux).

NOTE: If you intend to download it, please notice that ithe ISO image is compressed with bzip2 in order to save bandwidth. On windows, you will need to use a decompression utility called 7-Zip to extract the ISO image. On linux, you should be able to use the KDE Ark program or the command line: bunzip2 TOCD2.iso.bz2.

[chris-uk]

http://gnuwin.epfl.ch from Lausanne High School ,Switzerland, where they have infinite supplies of multilingual bright children, have packaged Windows ports of almost everything free that's any good. 2 CDs' worth.