What donation-supported freeware do you use?

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Ichinisan

Ichinisan

Lifer
Oct 9, 2002
28,298
1,235
136
  • ImgBurn
  • mIRC
  • IrfanView

I've used these on countless systems over the years. I just realized that I hadn't donated anything to LightningUK! (ImgBurn author who provides personal support on his forum)...so I just donated $10. It made me wonder if I had overlooked any other freeware products that I have depended on for years. What updated/supported freeware products do you use?

[edit]
Ah...just thought of one:
  • foobar2000
 
lxskllr

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,185
10,653
126
I prefer free software to freeware, but combining the categories, this is what I used on Windows...

LibreOffice
Foobar2000
VLC
Firefox
Thunderbird
Pidgin
7Zip
Evince
Audacity
Handbrake
Infrarecorder
Paint.NET
qBittorrent

Probably a bunch of other things I'm forgetting. I always look for libre software first. Here's the list of non-free software on my Debian machine.It's mostly Nvidia drivers...

Code: 
tuxj@HP-Setup:~$ vrms
              Non-free packages installed on HP-Setup

alien-arena-data                    Game data files for Alien Arena
amd-libopencl1                      AMD OpenCL library
cuneiform                           multi-language OCR system
  Reason: No source code for linguistic data.
cuneiform-common                    multi-language OCR system (common)
  Reason: No source code for linguistic data.
libcuneiform0                       multi-language OCR system (shared library)
  Reason: No source code for linguistic data.
libgl1-nvidia-legacy-304xx-glx      NVIDIA binary OpenGL libraries (304xx legacy version)
libgl1-nvidia-legacy-304xx-glx-i386 NVIDIA binary OpenGL 32-bit libraries (304xx legacy ve
libxvmcnvidia1                      NVIDIA binary XvMC library (304xx legacy version)
nvidia-legacy-304xx-alternative     allows the selection of NVIDIA as GLX provider
nvidia-legacy-304xx-driver          NVIDIA metapackage (304xx legacy version)
nvidia-legacy-304xx-kernel-dkms     NVIDIA binary kernel module DKMS source (304xx legacy
spideroak                           SpiderOak Secure File Backup, Sync, and Sharing Client
teamviewer                          TeamViewer (Remote Control Application)
unrar                               Unarchiver for .rar files (non-free version)
xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-legacy-30 NVIDIA binary Xorg driver (304xx legacy version)

  Non-free packages with status other than installed on HP-Setup

libcuda1                            ( dei)  NVIDIA CUDA runtime library
libgl1-nvidia-alternatives-ia32     ( dei)  simplifies replacing MESA libGL with GPU vendo
libgl1-nvidia-glx                   ( dei)  NVIDIA binary OpenGL libraries
libnvidia-compiler                  ( dei)  NVIDIA runtime compiler library
libnvidia-ml1                       ( dei)  NVIDIA management library (NVML) runtime libra
nvidia-alternative                  ( dei)  allows the selection of NVIDIA as GLX provider
nvidia-opencl-common                ( dei)  NVIDIA OpenCL driver
nvidia-opencl-icd                   ( dei)  NVIDIA OpenCL ICD
teamviewer7                         ( dei)  TeamViewer (Remote Control Application)
xserver-xorg-video-nvidia           ( dei)  NVIDIA binary Xorg driver

              Contrib packages installed on HP-Setup

alien-arena                         Standalone 3D first person online deathmatch shooter
conky-all                           highly configurable system monitor (all features enabl
flashplugin-nonfree                 Adobe Flash Player - browser plugin
glx-alternative-mesa                allows the selection of MESA as GLX provider
glx-alternative-nvidia              allows the selection of NVIDIA as GLX provider
glx-diversions                      prepare for using accelerated GLX implementations from
libxnvctrl0                         NV-CONTROL X extension (runtime library)
nvidia-installer-cleanup            cleanup after driver installation with the nvidia-inst
nvidia-kernel-common                NVIDIA binary kernel module support files
nvidia-settings-legacy-304xx        tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver (304xx
nvidia-support                      NVIDIA binary graphics driver support files
virtualbox                          x86 virtualization solution - base binaries
virtualbox-dkms                     x86 virtualization solution - kernel module sources fo
virtualbox-qt                       x86 virtualization solution - Qt based user interface
winetricks                          package manager for WINE to install software easily

   Contrib packages with status other than installed on HP-Setup

nvidia-settings                     ( dei)  tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics drive
virtualbox-4.1                      ( dei)  Oracle VM VirtualBox

  25 non-free packages, 0.9% of 2882 installed packages.
  17 contrib packages, 0.6% of 2882 installed packages.
tuxj@HP-Setup:~$
 
corkyg

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
27,370
240
106
Irfanview; DVD Shrink; DVD Decrypter
 
smakme7757

smakme7757

Golden Member
Nov 20, 2010
1,487
1
81
lxskllr said:
I prefer free software to freeware, but combining the categories, this is what I used on Windows...

LibreOffice
Foobar2000
VLC
Firefox
Thunderbird
Pidgin
7Zip
Evince
Audacity
Handbrake
Infrarecorder
Paint.NET
qBittorrent

Probably a bunch of other things I'm forgetting. I always look for libre software first. Here's the list of non-free software on my Debian machine.It's mostly Nvidia drivers...

Code: 
tuxj@HP-Setup:~$ vrms
              Non-free packages installed on HP-Setup

alien-arena-data                    Game data files for Alien Arena
amd-libopencl1                      AMD OpenCL library
cuneiform                           multi-language OCR system
  Reason: No source code for linguistic data.
cuneiform-common                    multi-language OCR system (common)
  Reason: No source code for linguistic data.
libcuneiform0                       multi-language OCR system (shared library)
  Reason: No source code for linguistic data.
libgl1-nvidia-legacy-304xx-glx      NVIDIA binary OpenGL libraries (304xx legacy version)
libgl1-nvidia-legacy-304xx-glx-i386 NVIDIA binary OpenGL 32-bit libraries (304xx legacy ve
libxvmcnvidia1                      NVIDIA binary XvMC library (304xx legacy version)
nvidia-legacy-304xx-alternative     allows the selection of NVIDIA as GLX provider
nvidia-legacy-304xx-driver          NVIDIA metapackage (304xx legacy version)
nvidia-legacy-304xx-kernel-dkms     NVIDIA binary kernel module DKMS source (304xx legacy
spideroak                           SpiderOak Secure File Backup, Sync, and Sharing Client
teamviewer                          TeamViewer (Remote Control Application)
unrar                               Unarchiver for .rar files (non-free version)
xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-legacy-30 NVIDIA binary Xorg driver (304xx legacy version)

  Non-free packages with status other than installed on HP-Setup

libcuda1                            ( dei)  NVIDIA CUDA runtime library
libgl1-nvidia-alternatives-ia32     ( dei)  simplifies replacing MESA libGL with GPU vendo
libgl1-nvidia-glx                   ( dei)  NVIDIA binary OpenGL libraries
libnvidia-compiler                  ( dei)  NVIDIA runtime compiler library
libnvidia-ml1                       ( dei)  NVIDIA management library (NVML) runtime libra
nvidia-alternative                  ( dei)  allows the selection of NVIDIA as GLX provider
nvidia-opencl-common                ( dei)  NVIDIA OpenCL driver
nvidia-opencl-icd                   ( dei)  NVIDIA OpenCL ICD
teamviewer7                         ( dei)  TeamViewer (Remote Control Application)
xserver-xorg-video-nvidia           ( dei)  NVIDIA binary Xorg driver

              Contrib packages installed on HP-Setup

alien-arena                         Standalone 3D first person online deathmatch shooter
conky-all                           highly configurable system monitor (all features enabl
flashplugin-nonfree                 Adobe Flash Player - browser plugin
glx-alternative-mesa                allows the selection of MESA as GLX provider
glx-alternative-nvidia              allows the selection of NVIDIA as GLX provider
glx-diversions                      prepare for using accelerated GLX implementations from
libxnvctrl0                         NV-CONTROL X extension (runtime library)
nvidia-installer-cleanup            cleanup after driver installation with the nvidia-inst
nvidia-kernel-common                NVIDIA binary kernel module support files
nvidia-settings-legacy-304xx        tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver (304xx
nvidia-support                      NVIDIA binary graphics driver support files
virtualbox                          x86 virtualization solution - base binaries
virtualbox-dkms                     x86 virtualization solution - kernel module sources fo
virtualbox-qt                       x86 virtualization solution - Qt based user interface
winetricks                          package manager for WINE to install software easily

   Contrib packages with status other than installed on HP-Setup

nvidia-settings                     ( dei)  tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics drive
virtualbox-4.1                      ( dei)  Oracle VM VirtualBox

  25 non-free packages, 0.9% of 2882 installed packages.
  17 contrib packages, 0.6% of 2882 installed packages.
tuxj@HP-Setup:~$
Click to expand...
Do your Virtual TTY terminals work with the Nvidia drivers? (ctrl+alt+f1/f2...ect)

Mine don't work, I've had them working for a short period, but now they don't work anymore :p. I've managed to get everything setup smoothly, but it would be nice with those terminals as backup.

As for the OP:
Firefox
Thunderbird
VLC
Greenshot
 
Last edited:
Ichinisan

Ichinisan

Lifer
Oct 9, 2002
28,298
1,235
136
corkyg said:
Not often, but yes. Oh, and I forgot Audiograbber 1.83. Just used it last week on 3 CDs to MP3 files.
Click to expand...

I stopped using DVD Shrink some time after the author was paid / threatened to stop updating it, and then DVDs started coming with deliberately corrupted structures meant to confuse the final version of DVD Shrink.

...then I think DVD Decrypter stopped working with most movies too (after updates stopped coming). I bought the Slysoft suite and I use that with ImgBurn. I also stopped messing with DVD format and I only mess with Blu-Ray now.

Anyway, I'm really talking about freeware that's still supported and updated by the author.
 
Last edited:
lxskllr

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,185
10,653
126
Ichinisan said:
Difference? You mean "open-source?"
Click to expand...

Open source and free software are very similar, but not exactly the same. The term "open source" is sometimes used in a misleading way, where the code is open to look at, but distribution is forbidden, or other restrictions apply.

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html

Freeware is usually proprietary software that's gratis; no cost. I prefer the terms libre and gratis because they're explicit, unlike the English word "free".
 
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