--- /dev/null
+
+infozip: source for infozip version of zip and unzip.
+found in most modern linux distributions already, like:
+ sudo apt-get install zip unzip
+http://www.info-zip.org/
+
+tar and gzip are of course old favorites and use by many.
+
+on windoze, 7zip proved helpful.
+
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+
+http://azureus.sourceforge.net
+
+this is the best bittorrent client out there.
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+
+
+CurrPorts is a useful utility for windows that tells you the currently active ports.
+ http://www.nirsoft.net
+
+of course on linux, the iftop is the best thing out there for at least just
+seeing the level of activity on the ethernet adapter.
+
--- /dev/null
+
+for snmp mib browsing, a good app for windows is called:
+
+ DwMibBrowser.tar.gz
+
+it is a nice java-based MIB browser for SNMP.
+
--- /dev/null
+
+
+http://pidgin.im
+
+is the place to get updates on the pidgin client. this is a great
+chat client that talks to all of the major chat services.
--- /dev/null
+
+
+the VNC program is great for remote controlling a desktop.
+
+it's available at http://www.realvnc.com/
+
+hmmm, maybe ultravnc is better for windows?
+
+=> make sure you're using the open source and cost-free solution.
--- /dev/null
+
+
+https://sourceforge.net/projects/squirrel-sql/?source=dlp
+
+may want to change the launcher script to be more useful.
--- /dev/null
+
+
+vim, which is an improved version of vi, is our current day-to-day handy
+editor. it's great and is available for every platform. on linux, there
+is a nice gnome version called gvim.
+
+emacs is the powerhouse lisp editor that was the first IDE we used to use.
+it's really extensible and is currently the dark horse contender for best
+editor.
+
+a new combo of the above two can be found in the spacemacs toolset,
+which turns emacs into a user-friendly menued editor, sort of, supposedly.
--- /dev/null
+
+vmware's ovftool can turn vmware virtual machines into OVF format, which
+with some massaging can be used to generate a virtualbox virtual machine.
+
+this package is available from the vmware website and is named something
+like:
+ VMware-ovftool-ver#-lin.x86_64.bundle
+for the amd64 style linux installer.
+
+----
+
+so far the technique for converting a vmware vm into a virtualbox vm using
+the ovftool seems to be:
+
+1) unpack the ovf file into a folder so we can edit the config for it.
+2) throw away any manifest, since we're about to change things that it used
+to know the signatures for (i.e., the ovf file).
+3) remove all sections in the blah.ovf file that mention required:false.
+these are not needed and will generally hose you up.
+4) try to import the file as an appliance in virtualbox. if it complains
+about duplicate IDE devices, remove the cd drive.
+if it still complains for devices on ide controllers, try moving the device
+to the second ide controller.
+if you have more than 2 disk devices, try to get just one per controller to
+import, and then add the third and so forth devices after the fact. go to
+the virtualbox settings for the vm, and add them in the storage menu as hard
+drives from existing vmdks or whatever.
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+
+virtualbox is now our pre-eminent virtualization tool.
+check it out on the web at:
+ https://www.virtualbox.org/
--- /dev/null
+
+xming is great.
+xming gives you the x windowing system on platforms that don't typically have x.
+it lets you run an x-server locally so that you can see the apps launched remotely by
+ssh sessions.
+
+the packages i usually install on windows are:
+
+Xming-ver#-setup.exe
+ gives you the basic xming package with an x-server.
+
+Xming-fonts-ver#-setup.exe
+ provides extra fonts that make the windows look nicer in x.
+
+Xming-portablePuTTY-ver#-setup.exe
+ a version of the putty software for ssh that understands xming.
+
--- /dev/null
+
+
+convmv is a great tool for changing filenames from
+one encoding to another. example commands:
+
+# recursive conversion from windows code page (or close to
+# it) into utf-8 encoding. this just tests to see if all
+# the intended conversions would work.
+convmv -r -f iso8859-1 -t utf-8 *
+
+# convert from wacky utf-7 format into utf-8 format.
+# this assumes a prior test was done and actually does
+# the name conversions.
+convmv --notest -r -f utf-7 -t utf-8 *
--- /dev/null
+
+
+iotop is the "top" for input and output, and can show running stats for disk usage.
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+used rsync to synchronize my music library, with full timestamp replication.
+awesomely useful, very efficient.
+
+examples:
+
+rsync -avz fred@skyborn:/home/archives/musix /home/archives/
+
+rsync -avz /z/musix/* surya:/z/musix/
+
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+
+diagram tool solutions used in the past:
+
+dia
+ available on most linuxes.
+
+yEd
+ pretty good with arrows and keeping things connected.
+
--- /dev/null
+
+
+gimp is great for bitmap editing.
+it's available in any linux repository.
--- /dev/null
+
+
+blender:
+the preeminent tool for 3d modelling, movie making, etc.
+
+wings3d:
+helped me create a new fup gun shape (opensim object) on linux.
+it was kind of tricky but workable.
+
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+
+-----------
+audio tools
+-----------
+
++ k3b is good for ripping+converting cd audio to mp3 or other formats.
+
++ for lossless music compression, the flac and shorten (shn) formats are
+very nice. there are some canonical tools for each platform for these.
+
++ for converting from ogg and such to mp3 and m4a and such, use the
+gnome tool called 'soundconverter'.
+
+
+-------------------------
+burner and player support
+-------------------------
+
++ k3b is a pretty great and versatile cd and dvd burner.
+
++ k3b is good for ripping+converting cd audio to mp3 or other formats.
+
++ for dvd processing, vobcopy is a must.
+
++ for dvd playing and ripping in general, decss is needed.
+it's available in the restricted packages on ubuntu.
+lots of articles describe how to set that up.
+
++ vlc is a good player for dvds.
+
+-------------------------------
+ripping music using a turntable
+-------------------------------
+
+audacity is the go-to tool for ripping music from vinyl records
+and many other audio toaster processes:
+http://www.audacityteam.org/
+
+this article helps a lot to get the music off of vinyl records using a usb turntable:
+https://www.linux.com/news/using-usb-turntable-linux
--- /dev/null
+
+
+dstat looks pretty useful, e.g.
+ dstat -f
+
--- /dev/null
+
+
+used a tool called elex to be able to view windows system events better.
+
+the built in tools were deficient in some ways, even in modern OSes
+like windows 7, and the elex viewer was nicer.
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+
+the unlocker tool is really useful on windows.
+
+it will report who is keeping you from deleting a file,
+which is usually a process.
+
+you can also kill that process if you want.
--- /dev/null
+
+
+virtual clone drive is a great product for mounting
+an ISO image and getting the files off of it or running an installer
+from it.
+
--- /dev/null
+
+this is the remnants of the great walrus utilities, but there's still a lot of good info here.
+it's basically an assembly of all the best of breed apps for different purposes, so that i don't forget how to do things...
+hopefully it will help others as well.
+-fred
--- /dev/null
+
+
+clam anti-virus and clamwin for windows
+are pretty great. it's open source anti-virus.
--- /dev/null
+
+
+portecle is a great app that allows one to open most any type of certificate
+file.
+
+it handles pfx, der format, etc.
+
+it's written in java, so you just download a jar file and run it from that.
--- /dev/null
+
+
+------------------
+rootkit/chkrootkit
+------------------
+
+http://www.chkrootkit.org/
+
+chkrootkit is a great app for detecting various rootkits.
+
+
+
+----------------------
+rootkit/rootkit hunter
+----------------------
+
+http://www.rootkit.nl/
+
+rkhunter is another great rootkit detection tool.
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+
+
+firefox:
+great open source browser.
+
+google chrome:
+upstart browser from google, pretty fast and powerful.
+
+
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+
+we used to use kompozer, but it didn't keep up with the times and is
+missing in newer ubuntus.
+
+so now we use blue griffon, which is a comparable product and which
+seems to work pretty well.