Open Source and Freeware Resources
Audio Tools
Audacity
Audacity is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems. You can use Audacity to:
* Record live audio
* Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs
* Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, and WAV sound files
* Cut, copy, splice, and mix sounds together
* Change the speed or pitch of a recording
* And more!
Paint, Image Editing and Graphics
Blender
Blender is the Open Source Software for 3D modeling, animation, rendering, post-production, interactive creation, and playback. Blender allows students and teachers to animate 3D computer graphics.
GIMP
GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. GIMP works on many operating systems, in many languages.
See also http://www.inkscape.org or http://www.gimp.org
Photo Story 3
This very cool software falls somewhere between simple graphics program, presentation software and video editor. Once one uses Photo Story 3, it's hard to go back to PowerPoint! Win 2000 and higher
PhotoFiltre
This is a very nice basic graphics editor with a great selection of useful and fun artistic filters. The interface is pretty standard and simple - great for kids.
Diagramming like Visio
Dia
Dia is inspired by the commercial Windows program 'Visio', though more geared towards informal diagrams for casual use. Teachers and students can use it to draw many different kinds of diagrams.
Mind-Mapping
FreeMind
FreeMind is a premier, free mind-mapping software written in Java. Teachers and students can use mind map diagrams to represent words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea. It is used to generate, visualize, structure and classify ideas, and as an aid in planning, organization, problem solving, and decision making.
Utility and Recovery
Knoppix
Knoppix is actually a full operating system with a collection of programs, and is downloadable as a .iso CD image file. KNOPPIX is the technician's best friend, and actually runs as what is known as a "Live CD," meaning that you can boot KNOPPIX from your CD ROM drive and it doesn't affect (or need) the PC's hard drive at all. KNOPPIX gives you an incredible variety of utility and recovery programs for troubleshooting and solving PC issues.
Learning Management Systems
Moodle
Moodle is a course management system, designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities. It can be downloaded and used on any computer (including webhosts), yet it can scale from a single-teacher site to a 50,000-student university. We're calling it a desktop program since you access Moodle using the web browser, but it does need to be installed on a server somewhere.
Productivity Suite
OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org the product is a multi-platform office productivity suite. It includes the key desktop applications, such as a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, and drawing program, with a user interface and feature set similar to other office suites. Sophisticated and flexible, OpenOffice.org also works transparently with a variety
Web Spell Checker
ieSpell
The Blogger's friend! This little gem is an Internet Explorer spell-checker for input text boxes on web pages.
MultiMedia
CamStudio
A really decent screen capture program. CamStudio records activity from your screen and audio from a microphone into AVI video files and can also convert the AVIs into Streaming Flash videos (SWFs) using its built-in SWF Producer.
Publishing
ReadWriteThink Printing Press
This can be used to print layouts for newspapers, brochures, flyers and booklets and you add your own conten.
Celestia
The free space simulation that lets users explore the universe in three dimensions. Celestia comes with a large catalog of stars, galaxies, planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and spacecraft, as well as a catalog of additional downloads. Students and teachers can plot a course and navigate a 3D solar system. See also http://www.stellarium.org
Typing Program
Tux Typing
Tux Typing is an educational typing tutor for children. It features several different types of gameplay, at a variety of difficulty levels.
TypeFaster Typing
This free typing tutor teaches you how to touch-type.