Lessfeet » Software

Free Video Editor

Mark — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 04:06:24 +0000

Yes there is a free video editor. Lightworks beta is not just free but it is full featured. It has been used on such films as the Oscar-winning film The King’s Speech and the critically acclaimed Hanna.

At the NAB Show in April 2010 EditShare owner of Lightworks announced they plan to transform Lightworks into Lightworks Open Source and in November 2010 released the a free downloadable version of that software.

The software is currently for Windows only but in late November 2011 will have both Mac and Linux versions. There is no reason to purchase expensive photo editing software like Adobe Premier or Final Cut.

Teamviewer

Mark — Sun, 29 May 2011 22:39:59 +0000

This weekend I tried Teamviewer a free remote access program. There are other remote access programs and some even work better than Teamviewer but the two best things about Teamviewer is it works cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux and many mobile devices) and Teamviewer is free. Like all remote access, controlling the remote computer is a little slow. Teamviewer works like a charm. I thought I had a problem connecting two Linux computers but I adjusted the screen resolution and it worked great. I’ve tried it on Windows 7, Windows XP, Linux Mint, and my Nexus One Android phone and they all worded great. I would say Teamviewer is an awesome free tool but it’s better than that. Teamviewer is an awesome tool!

Simpler Is Better

Mark — Fri, 13 May 2011 20:56:32 +0000

I’ve try the new Ubuntu 11.04 and I think it is an OK OS but for me and my purposes I am going to stick with Linux Mint 10. Linux Mint is like the Energizer bunny, it keeps goin and goin. Ubuntu 11.04 is terrific if you like a flashy user interface.I just need my OS to run my apps and always work, that why I’m sticking with mint. I’ve checked out the Mint 11 RC and when it’s released I will upgrade to 11. If they adopted the new Unity user interface I would have stuck with Linux Mint 10.

Ubuntu 11.04 First Impressions

Mark — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 22:43:42 +0000

Yesterday I downloaded Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal and I installed it on my desktop first. I did not have any time to play with it because I had to go to work. Today I installed it on my laptop. The install is very easy. You might say effortless. Once installed it is very fast. The new Unity interface is very intuitive. It is a great addition to a great operating system. Unity makes Ubuntu very Mac like in that the toolbar changes with the applications. Also the new launcher bar is very much like OS 10. Mac fans will like this a lot.

Unlike previous versions I had to manually install the Broadcom wireless driver instead of Ubuntu finding it for me. This was not a problem for me because I’ve been installing Linux on this laptop for five years but it might be a problem for a beginner.

I’ll know more about it later. The was only my first impressions. There will be more.

Firefox 4 vs Chrome

Mark — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 21:39:46 +0000

I’ve been using Firefox 4 for about a week and I have found it to be fast and reliable not unlike Google’s Chrome browser. What I’ve found is that the plugins for Firefox are much better. I’m not sure what the problem is but Google needs to work very hard with app developers to get quality plugins or FF4 is going to take back it’s market-share. There are some apps that are not rewritten for FF4 but developers always catch up.

Firefox now has browser-sync like Chrome but I think it’s more secure than Chrome’s. The “App Tab’s” feature is a great also. Features

There is a lot to like about Firefox 4.

The Winner Mint 10

Mark — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 06:32:30 +0000

I’ve been using Linux Mint 10 on my laptop for a while now and found it to be completely reliable. I’ve been using some form of Linux on it for about 4 years. I have now installed Mint 10 on my desktop. I don’t find Windows reliable. There is always some issue. Lately there is always some process hogging the CPU, RAM or Internet bandwidth. I never have this sort of problem with Linux. Linux Mint 10 is so easy to install and use. It will be my primary OS. I still use PhotoShop and Lightroom on Windows and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Also I have to support Windows users which requires me to use GoToAssist for Windows and GoToMeeting for Window so I have made my desktop a dual boot system with Windows 7 and Linux Mint 10.

LibreOffice

Mark — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 07:01:06 +0000

LibreOffice is a new free office suite that is much like OpenOffice because it is from the same code-base as OpenOffice 3.3. LibreOffice was started after fears of the possible sale of Sun Microsystems to Oracle Corperation. Sun being the sponsor of OpenOffice. OpenOffice is still available but who knows for how long.

Get LibreOffice!

Diggin On Some Firefox 4

Mark — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 07:31:11 +0000

A few weeks ago I told you I loved the Google Chrome browser. I’ve been testing the Firefox 4 Beta and I’m really happy with it. It’s clean, fast and packed with some great features.

I know a few weeks ago I was all hyped up about Chrome and you think this is just a faze. There are a lot of great things to say about Chrome but the extensions are are to buggy. Google should really help developers build them better. The Firefox extensions almost always work great. I’m sorry this is such a showstopper for me. I’ve been dependent on the extensions for quite some time.

Firefox 4 isn’t even out of Beta and I’m already hooded. They’ve stolen some of the best features of Chrome and added them to the great pluggin platform to create a great browser.

Ninite

Mark — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 13:30:22 +0000

In the previous post “Tips For A New PC” the Tekzilla boys mentioned “Ninite” a web application that collects all of your favorite free software and roles it up in a nice executable package so you can install all of those apps at once in a single install. You go to the “Ninite” website you check all of the programs you want to install like Firefox, Skype, K-Lite CODECs and many more. You click “Get Installer”. It then downloads an executable file that will automatically install all the apps that you selected. How cool is that?

Google Sync Makes Chrome Shine

Mark — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 21:04:38 +0000

I’ve been using Google Chrome for my primary browser for about two weeks and I’ve got to say I’m digging it! The speed is great and it’s very clean but just the past two day days I found where it really shines.

Google Browser Sync extends all of your extensions, bookmarks and settings to all of the Chrome browsers on all of your computers. I was trying a new Linux on my laptop. The default browser for the distro was Chrome (actually the open-source version Chromium). I opened the browser, clicked “customize and control” and Options. I clicked on the “Personal Stuff” tab and “Synchronize”. It ask for a user name and password. I entered them and Wa La the browser is setup just as it is on my desktop.

This and many other features make Chrome my favorite browser for now.