Free High Quality Open Source Software In One Disc – OpenDisc

OpenDisc is a high quality collection of open source software (OSS) for the Microsoft Windows operating system.
The two main goals of the project are:

• To provide a free alternative to costly software, with equal or often better quality equivalents to proprietary, shareware or freeware software for Microsoft Windows.
• To educate users of Linux as an operating system for home, business and educational use.

OpenDisc project gathers some of the best free & open source software out there into one easily downloadable CD image. They also list the programs in the cd image with description and link to the individual software home page if you’d like to get them A la carte.
Here are the list of programs that are included in the OpenDesc project categorized by its function:

Design

• Blender – a 3D graphics modeling program
• Dia – a Visio like drawing program
• The Gimp – Adobe Photoshop alternative
• InkScape - Adobe Illustrator alternative
• Nvu – WYSIWIG Web page editor
• Srcibus – A professional desktop publishing program
• Tux Paint – Free drawing program for young children

Games

• The Battle of Wesnoth – Turn-based strategy game
• Enigma – A puzzle game
• Neverball – A fun game where you tilt the floor to get the ball in a puzzle
• Sokoban YASC – Yet Another Sokoban Clone

Internet

• Azureus – A cool bit-torrent client
• Filezilla – FTP client
• Firefox – An excellent Internet Explorer alternative
• Httrack – Offline web browser utility
• Pidgin – Multi-protocol IM client
• RSSOWL – A Feed reader client
• Seamonkey – Web browser, IRC client, newsgroup client and HTML editor in one
• Thunderbird – A modern email client
• TightVNC – A remote control software
• WinSCP – Full featured SFTP client

Multimedia

• Audacity - Sound editing program
• Celestia – Simulation of entire universe
• Really Slick Screensavers – Collection of some cool screensavers
• Stellarium – Planetarium in your computer
• Sumatra PDF – Lightweight alternative for Adobe Reader
• VLC Player – Media player supporting numerous audio & video formats

Productivity

• GnuCash – QuickBooks alternative
• MoinMoin Wiki Engine – A wiki building software
• NotePad2 – Windows Notepad alternative – with syntax highlighting and other features
• OpenOffice – Full featured alternative for Microsoft Office
• PDFCreator - Generate PDF documents from any Windows program with the Print button

Utilities

• 7-zip – Packing & unpacking archives tool with support for a lot of formats
• Abakt – A backup tool
• ClamWin – Powerful anti-virus program (misses an on-access scanner – so it can’t replace a full time scanner yet)
• GTK+ – Toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces
• HealthMonitor – System monitoring tool
• TrueCrypt – Powerful encryption software to protect your private data
• WorkRave – Protect yourself from Repetitive Strain Injury

Whew.. isn’t that an excellent collection of free software? There are a few in here like InkScape & WorkRave I haven’t tried yet.

Download OpenDisc iso image | bit-torrent

OpenDisc uses a K-Meleon interface in the cd image so far and is experimenting with a Kiwix interface that’s supposed to be leaner and better for the next release.
Also, OpenDisc has a pretty active forum if you have questions about any of these or if you’d like to see something included to this list. I have downloaded OpenDisc and I am going to make copies and give it to friends who have an open mind about trying new things. I am sure some of them are going to chase me away but hey it’s worth a try, isn’t it?

Best Places to Get Free Books – The Ultimate Guide

1. ManyBooks – Free eBooks for your PDA, iPod, or eBook reader – Thanks Tony Bryan & abben
2. BookCrossing – Where real books are released into the wild to be found by others – Thanks Engtech
3. LibraryElf – The perfect companion to a public library system – Thanks Engtech
4. Scribd – Open library to publish and discover documents online – Thanks CincauHangus
5. Word Public Library – 400,000 PDF ebooks for download – Thanks Ellen
6. Free Tech Books – Free computer science and engineering books (+ lecture notes) – Thanks Ellen
7. Bookins – Swap real books with other readers – Thanks Jimbob
8. WellToldTales – Free short story podcasts (like audiobooks, but shorter) – Thanks Kevin C.
9. Wowio – Public domain, free legitimate copyrighted materials & one of the only with a selection of Comic Books – Thanks Jane and Art Dardia
10. BizBooktalk – Free book giveaway contests on Fridays – Thanks Brandon
11. MoochMuch – Organize your book lending with your friends – Thanks Bobby
12. CHMPDF – A collection of general interest and technical ebooks – Thanks Manish Garg & Brian Di Croce
13. Realtime Publishers – free IT eBooks by many of the world’s best authors – Thanks Kevin
14. FrugalReader – Trade Books for free – Thanks Brent
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16. ZunaFish – Trade your old media and books items for new titles you’d rather have – Thanks Brent
17. SwapSimple – Swap your used books here – Thanks Brent
18. SwapThing – Community of users who swap items including books – Thanks Brent
19. BookCart – Internet paperback exchange – Thanks Brent
20. SF-Books – Exchange Sci-Fi Books here – Thanks Brent
21. PaperbackSwap – Swap books for free – Thanks jane dough, IBelieveInFairies, & Lauren
22. PinkMonkey – 450 Study Guides / Booknotes / Online Chapter Summary Notes and Analysis – Thanks Spellchecker
23. eBookWorld – Technical resources – Thanks 5n7p3r
24. Flaxx – IT and computer books – Thanks tejinder
25. Baen Library – Free science fiction and fantasy novels – Thanks lanthus & Glen Davis
26. LibraryThing – Social networking and free books – Thanks Michael
27. Online Books Page – Facilitates access to books that are freely readable over the Internet – Thanks Aman
28. Podiobooks – free audiobooks that you can subscribe to with iTunes or any other podcatcher – Thanks KJToo
29. BookRags – Research material in the form of eBooks – Thanks Henry Delany
30. Technical Books Online – Old tech books from the “vacuum tube age” of electronics- Thanks obiewiz
31. ebookSearchr – Google powered Thanks Rico & Rokker
32. Internet Archive – The Intenet indexed – that includes a vast text library – Thanks jojo
33. BookYards – Books, videos, education materials- Thanks Victor
34. Memoware – Free books for your PDA – Thanks Doug
35. DocStoc – online document sharing website. the “YouTube of documents” – Thanks Sean

1. Gutenberg Project Top 100 – Popular books from the oldest producer of free ebooks on the Internet
2. BookMooch – Community for exchanging used books
3. ebookSpyder – Specializes in technical books ranging anywhere from C# to AJAX
4. Google Book Search – Read the classics online
5. Dwalin – plain text novels
6. Free Computer Books – Technical resources about computers
7. Librivox – Audio works and podcasts of books
8. CliffsNotes – Get the notes to cram for the exam
9. WIkibooks – Free textbooks
10. DailyLit – Receive small parts of books via email

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