Warez to Freeware Conversion...

Just tossing in stuff that I don't see in the other sticky and this one...



Vector Graphics Drawing (Illustrator) --> Inkscape.

It has finally come to the point that I can use it for stuff to submit in the Digital Art forum. In the past I didn't think it was ready, but now you can finally get some good work done on it. Just be sure to double/quadruple output size and down-sample your images with something like Irfranview set to Lanczos (slowest/highquality) filter. Inkscape still produces strongly aliased images.



Multiplayer Space Combat Game --> Allegiance.

This game is:
1) Made by Microsoft
2) Has source code released by Microsoft
3) Provided free by Microsoft
4) Not something you see everyday from Microsoft

It is a fairly enjoyable game, but it doesn't fit my type of gaming. But hey, it's freely avaliable and has source avaliable by Microsoft, so why complain?



3D Modeler / Animation --> OpenFX.

It might not be as awesome as Blender 3D is, but I enjoyed using this way back in the day. Development is very slow, but I have done some fun things on it to add content for school projects.



Beat Generators / MIDI Sequencing w/ MP3/OGG Output --> BuzzMachines.

This program takes a while to learn. You really need to read up on the docs to have a faint idea of how to use it. Music theory also helps a lot. If you have enough free time, and you have some song you want to sequence, check this out.
 
WinZip --> TUGZip 3

Features (from www.tugzip.com):

* Supports ZIP, 7-ZIP, A, ACE, ARC, ARJ, BZ2, CAB, CPIO, DEB, GCA, GZ, IMP, LHA (LZH), LIB, RAR, RPM, SQX, TAR, TGZ, TBZ, TAZ, YZ1 and ZOO archives.
* Supports BIN, C2D, IMG, ISO and NRG disc-images.
* Support for external plugins.
* Windows® shell integration, e.g. drag & drop, shell context menu and drop handlers.
* Create 7-ZIP, BZ2, CAB, LHA (LZH), SQX, TAR, TGZ, YZ1 and ZIP archives.
* Support for the Zip64 algorithm which allows you to create ZIP archives larger than 4GB.
* Script support which allows you to make automated backups.
* Basic features like: add, extract, delete, rename, run, view, checkout, install, test, comment, SFX, virus-scanning, disk-spanning and much more.
* Repair corrupted ZIP and SQX archives.
* Can extract multiple archives at once using Multi Extract.
* Encrypt archives using 6 different algorithms. Blowfish (128-bit), DES (56-bit), Triple DES (168-bit) and Rijndael (128-bit, 192-bit and 256-bit).
* Create self-extracting encrypted archives.
* Automatic updates using the "Web Update" function.
 
Does anyone know of a decent cd label printing program? I've looked all over and haven't had any luck.
 
DrTacoElf said:
EAC *> :D
Click to expand...

Exact Audio Copy: http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

EAC's a great program for ripping scruffed CD's, but I have had some strange lockup/crashes with it. It also doesnt encode Ogg Vorbis like Audograbber does. Never tried DbPower Amp, need to check that out.

Another freeware favorite
Disasteroids 3D - a tiny little Asteroids clone that fits on a floppy and plays great. I use it to quick test the drivers on every PC I build.
http://www.lmnopc.com/disasteroids3d/
 
Does anyone know of some EASIER to use software that will convert one video/audio stream to another format?

For example, converting a DivX to XVid format (being able to determine size, as well) without haveing to be some sort of genius? I have tried several different ones, including TMPEnc and FlaskMpeg, but I would sure like to find something that is easy to use, (like DVDShrink, for example).

I would think it could be done easily-- I am sure someone, somewhere has done it. All it is is converting one installed audio/video codec to another.

Help?!

-Skystalker
 
Skystalker said:
Does anyone know of some EASIER to use software that will convert one video/audio stream to another format?

For example, converting a DivX to XVid format (being able to determine size, as well) without haveing to be some sort of genius? I have tried several different ones, including TMPEnc and FlaskMpeg, but I would sure like to find something that is easy to use, (like DVDShrink, for example).

I would think it could be done easily-- I am sure someone, somewhere has done it. All it is is converting one installed audio/video codec to another.

Help?!

-Skystalker
Click to expand...
If you wanted to make things REALLY simple, AutoGK's 'File Mode' gets the job done very nicely.

For encoding/transcoding purposes where I felt a little more user interaction was needed though, I find that VirtualDub + Koepi's Binary of the xVid 1.03 codec + LAME-MP3 ACM 3.96 Codec works excellent.

I purchased a Philips DVP642 DVD/MPEG4(divx) player around Christmas and have since been making backups of my DVD collection & archiving old video files using AutoGK, or using VirtualDub when I wanted to to tweak a certain aspect of the audio/video codec to perfection.
 
arkmtech said:
If you wanted to make things REALLY simple, AutoGK's 'File Mode' gets the job done very nicely.

For encoding/transcoding purposes where I felt a little more user interaction was needed though, I find that VirtualDub + Koepi's Binary of the xVid 1.03 codec + LAME-MP3 ACM 3.96 Codec works excellent.

I purchased a Philips DVP642 DVD/MPEG4(divx) player around Christmas and have since been making backups of my DVD collection & archiving old video files using AutoGK, or using VirtualDub when I wanted to to tweak a certain aspect of the audio/video codec to perfection.
Click to expand...

Thank you VERY much, bro... I will play with that and see how it works! Appreciate the help!

-Skystalker
 
Anyone know of any free .pdf editing software (that doesn't come as a demo or put watermarks on the pages)?

Also, I'm looking for a program to go from .asx or .asf to .mp3 or some other music format. Any ideas?
 
even open source ones require some payment for advanced features for the cad software. i tried to look for one before, a free GOOD (can be compared to autocad) is unavailable. most costs some money.
 
Oh yeah, another free antivirus software is ClamAV. Everyone thinks of AVG, but, no one thinks of Clam. ClamAV is ported to just about every major os, but, most importantly, they have linux versions for those who aren't running windows. It's an opensource project, so 100% free (by default.) http://www.clamav.net/ is the main website. There is a major windows GUI being maintained at http://www.clamwin.com/ (it includes a copy of the Cygwin port, so downloading the one file gets you the whole package.)

Also, here's a program I've always loved for encrypting files: ccrypt It's not 100% standard (came before the standard as I understand it even and is based on much of the same stuff the official standards use now) but, it's 256-bit encryption (even when you enter a small key) in an opensource free project, so none too shabby. I'm not really sure about the whole 256-bit encryption outside the US thing with this. It seems like it actually is ok for people outside the US to use it, but, I'd do some looking up first if you don't want to cause a whole stink. EDIT: Looks like the author is writing this in Canada. No problems then.
 
7-Zip: Powerful Zip program, and it's fast and intergrates with the shell.

The main features of 7-Zip: (From www.7-zip.org)

* High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression
* 7-Zip is free software distributed under the GNU LGPL
* Supported formats: 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, Z, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB
* For ZIP and GZIP formats 7-Zip provides compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
* Self-extracting capability for 7z format
* Integration with Windows Shell
* Powerful File Manager
* Powerful command line version
* Plugin for FAR Manager
* Localizations for 51 languages
 
I second everything but that file manager. IMO, it's pretty far behind current standards. A few years ago it would fit right in. That said, I HAVE seen 7-zip compress better than RAR on a few rare occasions. Mind you, RAR is usually better, but, for open source software, this isn't bad at all. It also supports the biggest dictionary sizes I have ever seen. RAR and ACE go up to 4MB (and RAR defaults to 1MB, making inexperienced users think it compresses worse than ACE when it doesn't really.) 7-Zip goes up to 192MB (which would require about 2GB of memory to compress most probably.)

I hope to see support for 7-zip format increase in the future. Unfortunately, things like compressions are slow about spreading among less advanced users. I'm only just now finally seeing RAR start to be used by people instead of that absolutely ancient centuries old (in computer time, over a decade in human time) zip format. Considering that this one is entirely free, I have high hopes. Until the less advanced users switch over though, a compression will never see a proper takeover. IMO, it just sucks to not be able to send someone a compressed file in your favorite format without having to explain to them every little detail of how to decompress it and then them go and uninstall the software as soon as it's done. (Self extracting won't work in most cases since most things won't let you post/submit an executable but recompressing the exe into another archive is just stupid if you ask me, so I'd rather simply make it a rar than explain how to decompress a 7-zip over and over...)

EDIT: Oh, and the things it DOES get better than RAR it gets pretty noticably better. For example, I had a UT2K4 map I wanted to compress. The ZIP was about 13MB, the RAR was about 10MB, and the 7Z was about 8MB. That's one less split and e-mail I'll have to do to give a copy to my friend.
 
Ive converted to linux on my Laptop, the only piece of 'warez' i still run are NeroLinux, and CrossOver Office. Im in the process of switching to gtoaster, and using plain wine for running windows apps.

When I can schedule in some downtime, I'm going to switch my file server over to linux, its currently running windows 2003.

As for my desktop, I'll probobly leave that running windows since thats my powerfull gaming machine and theres not many games that I play that run under linux.
 
I've been trying to find a quality DVD ripper and just can't come up with anything. Does anyone know of freeware that will take DVD and perhaps make it AVI for your computer?

Thanks in advance.
 
LoveTheBass said:
I've been trying to find a quality DVD ripper and just can't come up with anything. Does anyone know of freeware that will take DVD and perhaps make it AVI for your computer?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Gordian Knot is my favorite.
 
BillyG said:
Exact Audio Copy: http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

EAC's a great program for ripping scruffed CD's, but I have had some strange lockup/crashes with it. It also doesnt encode Ogg Vorbis like Audograbber does. Never tried DbPower Amp, need to check that out.

Another freeware favorite
Disasteroids 3D - a tiny little Asteroids clone that fits on a floppy and plays great. I use it to quick test the drivers on every PC I build.
http://www.lmnopc.com/disasteroids3d/
Click to expand...

You will also need: AccurateRip.dll
Search it, it's free too.
 
Terrifyingly bloaty, but just as equally useful (and functionally expansive) IDE: Eclipse

Runs on Java, needs a mean computer to run, requires reading loads of docs to fully implement, but you'll love it once you've got it.
 
Free audio playback tool bassed on BASS: XMPlay

Does everything and has tiny plugins for everything else.
- plays XM's exactly the way FT2 does.
- plays every other module
- plays every lossy and lossless format
- add encoding plugins to automatically rip and encode music
- Built in hotkeys
- list goes forever really...
 
Anyone know of an opensource alternative to PCDJ? Friend of mine runs a DJ service and doesn't like the price of PCDJ.
 
What does it do beyond what Winamp/XMMS with plugins are capable of?

The ads for this PCDJ aren't very clear to me. Seems like it doesn't really do all that much worth paying for.

Anyway, I do remember that there was a program called JukeMP3 which was designed for DJing in some manner or other. It's a DOS based program though, so you have to get the soundcard working in DOS for it (or use emulation.)
 
I don't think that will work...

What PCDJ does (and this is completly from memory so I could be wrong) is it allows you to load up 2 songs so you can fade into, crossover and do all kinds of things with the 2 songs. Just like you had 2 turntables, or 2 cd players and a toggle switch. It also allows you to quickly search your library to find the song you are after.

I think iTunes would really work for him, but it is just lacking some of the functions he needs.
 
I don't know whether you mean into the sound file itself or on the fly, but, if you want to do that on the fly, Winamp probably can do anything it can, only you will have to dig through a bunch of plugins admitedly (it has crossfade built in though.) If you mean to edit the sound files themselves, you'll need a sound editor. I've never been terribly happy with the FREE sound editors though myself. None I've ever seen have ever yet come close to the capabilities of those hugely expensive ones like Soundforge. Still, if you look around you may just find one that does everything you need anyway. Among them, Adacity might be a good start. If that's the kind of thing you're looking for, you'll find it here: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ While I may not like audacity NEARLY as much as soundforge, it is capable of quite a lot, including multitrack editing so you can get that cross fade just exactly right.
 
you can't edit the files... least I don't think so. I don't know alot about the app, just figured I would ask if anyone knew of one, if not guess he is out the $$ to buy the app.
 
not sure if it really qualifies since acrobat reader is already freeware but foxit reader beats the crap out of adobe's POS reader.
 
part of the reason why it's hard to use the open source stuff is you're not used to it. i've used sounforge&audacity extensively and once you get used to it audacity is awesome because it's legally FREE&can do much of the capabilities of SF. the biggest limitation imho is direct-x stuff.
 
MS Office = OpenOffice.org (available for Windows)
Click to expand...

This program works very well if not better than OFFICE. If you don't want to spend a ton of money, this is a great alternative. I was just about to post it and saw it already there :D --but I know its a great program.

If I didn't already have MS office, this is where I would go for my office needs.
 
Nazo said:
What does it do beyond what Winamp/XMMS with plugins are capable of?
Click to expand...

Why must it go beyond? It's an alternative... but in my opinion it is much better.

- Firstly it is perfect for XM module enthusiasts as that was what it was originally created for- playing XM's and other modules.
- Superior sound quality as it is a demo for the BASS sound library.
- Really tiny (filesize, CPU usage).
- An alternative to Winamp and supports winamp plugins.
- Is not owned by AOL.
- Very friendly developers.
 
Anyone got a free utility to make unrecoverable deletions with the ability to select how many passes of random 0s and 1s to use?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top