Gnu's Not Unix
But
Gnew's Not Even Windows

Free Software + Windows. GPLd and non-GPL Free Software for windows.

Warning you should switch to a free operating system as soon as possible. You can't have freedom running any non-free OS, whether it be Windows, Solaris, or ms-dos. If you accept the free software challenge here are the sweet alternatives:

Debian Gnu/Linux
FreeBSD
The Hurd...
Freedos (free software version of dos, really brings back the memories)

And now on with the show!

apt for windows?

Users of Debian, Ubuntu and other awesome GNU/Linux distributions really miss the simplicity of doing a little apt-get install whatever to install whatever on their machines in Windows.

Aside from handling dependencies there must be a better way to install free software on windows than to go to a million different websites and download each piece of software separately.

So I'm going to try and do something about the problem. Eventually this will involve writing some software. At first it will simply involve making a repository of the software (if I can find the necessary disk space and bandwidth) or simply keeping a list of links to where you can download each piece of software.

So first I will follow categories similar to the Debian/Ubuntu package system. Eventually this will be upgraded to a wiki so that other people can add software they like and help me keep the links up to date. For now email me with updates.

• Development
• Editors
• Games
• Graphics
• Mail
• Network
• Perl
• Sound
• TeX
• Utilities
• Web Software

Drop your proprietary microsoft windows applications in favor of free software.

Eventually you will be able to drop entire parts of windows in favour of free alternatives. You will be able to run an alternative graphic user interface. You will be able to use alternate file systems. Maybe even drop your kernel... But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Here's a list of free programs that are currently available for windows:

Compilers/Programming:

MingW (gcc and related tools for windows)
GCC/DJGPP (full compiler collection and everything for 32 bit dos)
Perl (Duct-tape of the internet)

Editors:

Gnu Ed (simple line editor: the standard)
Emacs (The Kitchen Sink, but that's a good thing...)
The latest version of CVS emacs for windows can be downloaded here
Gnu nano (Easy to use editor, if all you want to do is type text...)
Vim (Vi but EVEN better!)

Filesystems and related software:

Explore2fs (read gnu/linux ext2 partitions from windows)
Cdrecord (Record cds from the command line, homepage)

Games:

Fakenes (nes emulator)
Zsnes (Excellent snes emulator, of course the games aren't free. But don't let that stop you from sharing them...)

Internet:

Browsers:
Lynx (text based web browser)
Mozilla (graphical web browser)

Instant Messaging:
Psi (jabber instant messaging, support other protocols such as msn, icq, etc...)

Servers:
Apache (The most popular web server)

Ssh and Scp:
Pscp (scp program from the makers of putty)
Putty (telnet and ssh client, for logging into computers

Multimedia:

Audio:
Audacity (Audio Editing)
Flac (free lossless audio compression)
Lame (Lame is not an mp3 encoder (Right...))
Oggtools (patent-free replacement for mp3)
X-tractor (Cd ripper and ogg encoder)
Zinf (The Player Formerly Known as Freeamp)

Photo Editing:
The Gimp (Gnu Image Manipulation Program)

Video:
VideoLAN (Streaming video + dvd player)

Typesetting:

TeX

Utilities:

Gnu tools (includes all your favourites)
Alternate Gnu Tools (Different version of the above)

Word Processors:

Abiword (Wysywig text editor, like open office but not as big)
OpenOffice (Full office suite)

You can get along with these applications. Although you should really consider switching to a free operating such as Gnu/Linux, running free software on a non-free operating system is better than running non-free software on a non-free operating system.

Since almost all of these applications are available for free operating systems, and since they run better on free operating systems you will be able to make the switch later on.

It is very important to make the switch to a free operating system, because you really can't have freedom without doing so. In windows this is clear because there's really no way to compile a graphical application without microsoft's c compiler, there's no way to fix bugs in the operating system, and finally you are not free to distribute your operating system to others.

If you know of any other free software for windows keep me posted. But please make sure that it is really Free Software. Basically if you can't find source code for it, I can't use it.

P.S. some of the projects accept donations. If you find the software useful be sure to consider contributing some funds. In this way more

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and also. The all-powerful ed has also contributed!.