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Home , ReactOS, Windows API, Window Maker

FOSSPICKS

Sparkling gems and new releases from the world of FOSSpicks Free and Software Mike Saunders has spent a decade mining the internet for treasures. Here’s the result of his latest haul…

Image editor LazPaint 6.2 azPaint is an image editor Like Gimp, LazPaint is a bitmap somewhat akin to Paint. image editor with various tools for Lon Windows. Its name stems creating shapes, transformation from the IDE used to build the effects (such as rotation and program – – lets resampling) and multiple-level developers write applications in undo/redo. Extra dialogs for . Unusually, Lazarus managing layers, colours and can build the same program using additional tools are available via the different graphical toolkits, so in the View menu – and from here, you downloads section for LazPaint can also enable a grid that’s (hosted on SourceForge) you can displayed over the image when fi nd pre-compiled binaries using Gtk zoomed in. This is particularly and . This helps the app to fi t in useful if you’re making per-pixel better with your desktop, so it won’t edits to an image, as is common in look ugly in Gnome, or KDE. video game sprite work. We used the Gtk version, and our Also like Gimp, LazPaint has a main gripe with the interface is the bunch of fi lters including blurs, LazPaint can import 3D models, such as this sinister Mario head. tiny buttons and other sharpen, emboss and contour. The controls. On a high-resolution range isn’t as extensive as Gimp’s, and some of them threw up bizarre display, they’re almost comically error messages in our testing small and hard to make out. Still, “Like Gimp, LazPaint is a bitmap (“Access violation” anyone?) but on they all have decent tooltips, so the whole they work well. It’s also after a few minutes of hovering the image editor with various tools possible to render various textures mouse and making mental notes, for creating shapes and effects.” from inside the program, and even the interface becomes usable. import 3D models. Along with its .lzp , LazPaint can also save images to PNG, JPEG, TGA, TIFF, BMP and other formats. In all, LazPaint isn’t as feature- packed as Gimp, which might lead many to ask: what’s the point of it? Well, if you’re happy with Gimp’s interface, fair enough. But we know that a lot of people don’t like how Gimp looks and works, and LazPaint provides a great deal of the same functionality with a simpler (and arguably approachable) design. So we’re glad there’s some more variety in our of The teensy-tiny toolbar is really fi ddly to work image editings. with fi rst, but at least the buttons have PROJECT WEBSITE www.facebook.com/LazPaint tooltips.

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Operating system ReactOS 0.3.16

or all its successes, Free albeit with plenty of rough edges Software is especially good and various missing pieces. Fat cloning existing projects. Most of the standard Windows This doesn’t mean there’s a lack of tools are available though: a imagination – just that it’s often command line prompt, text editor, better to re-use an existing design Paint-like program, Control Panel rather than re-invent the wheel and so forth. And while many of every . Richard Stallman took these have been created from this exact approach when creating scratch for ReactOS, a great deal of GNU, which is famously “not ” code has been taking from the but based very closely on the project, which helps to cut down on design and structure of that OS. duplication of effort. Now, ReactOS is a Free Software In many parts, of Windows, aiming to be In the last couple of years, the How’s your luck? ReactOS’s interface is a compatible with that OS’s So, the big question is: how good is pixel-perfect clone of ReactOS team has tried to boost applications and hardware drivers. the compatibility? It’s a mixed bag, /2000, interest and contribution from the It’s debatable whether Windows is a and programs that don’t run well on which could get wider open source community with sensible design to , but in any Wine (see https://appdb.winehq. grumbling fundraising projects. Ultimately, we case, the goal is that we’ll all have a org) tend to break on ReactOS too, one day. think it would progress more free (as in freedom and beer) OS on in our experience. You’ll have more quickly with some solid commercial which to run legacy Windows luck with early-2000s applications, backing – but we can understand applications. ReactOS has been in as support for the Windows API of that many companies don’t want to development since the late 90s, and that time is more complete – many it with a 50ft barge pole, in we take a peek at it every few years recent programs simply won’t case Microsoft tries to stomp it to see how it’s shaping up. at all. Still, ReactOS isn’t short of down with legal action. Helpfully, the development team software, thanks to an Application Nonetheless, ReactOS is an makes it available in various Manager that downloads (mostly impressive effort and deserves formats: a live image, an open source) Windows programs more fame. Hopefully it will reach a installation CD image, and virtual from the web and installs them. So level of sufficient stability and hard drive images for VMware and you can get , AbiWord, chat completeness to run most older VirtualBox. We took the latter for a clients, various games and other Windows XP programs without spin, which worked fairly well, system tools with just a few clicks. problems, to those who don’t although it booted into a terrible want to “upgrade” to Windows 16-colour mode that looked “ReactOS isn’t short of software, 7/8/10 and can’t switch to Linux for completely pants. A quick tweak in whatever reasons. the Control Panel soon sorted that thanks to Application Manager that out, however. By and large, ReactOS PROJECT WEBSITE downloads programs from the web.” www..com looks and feels like ,

How it works: Adding applications

1 Menu 2 Searching 3 Install ReactOS isn’t supplied with a , Go into the Internet & Network category on the After you’ve selected a version, click Install in so go to Start > Programs > ReactOS Applications left. Various versions of Firefox are available – in our the top-left and the program will be retrieved from Manager to bring up the software exploration tool. experience, the older ones tend to work more reliably. the web. You’ll then it in the .

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Window manager Maker 0.95.6

teve Jobs will be extra graphical fluff including remembered for many themes and gradients. This window Sthings: shiny iGadgets by manager hasn’t seen a great deal of most people, and a purveyor of activity in recent years, but given walled garden “digital prisons” by that it was one of our favourites in some in the Free Software camp. the early 2000s, we’re glad to see But one of Jobs’s lesser known it’s still receiving minor updates. creations is Next, a computer is all about the company he built after being in the top-right corner. Try booted out of Apple. Next sold right-clicking on the desktop to tremendously powerful (and equally bring up a program menu, launch Window Maker is highly expensive at $9,999) something, and then drag its Window Maker is fast, fluid and customisable, and easy machines that never achieved (usually found in the bottom-left of to tweak thanks to the attractive, providing a genuinely widespread popularity, but left their the screen) onto the dock. This will supplied confi g tool. fresh approach to the desktop. It’s mark on the industry. The fi rst ever save it as a launcher for later. You way less demanding on the RAM web browser was written on a Next can slide the dock around by banks than the big desktops such box, for instance. clicking and dragging on the top as KDE and Gnome, but is still more Anyway, the Next operating icon, and change launch settings approachable and easy to system had an attractive and novel for the icons via right-click context customise than the ultra-minimal interface that’s signifi cantly menus. A confi guration tool is window managers. We hope it different to the usual -plus- provided for setting up the window stays around for years to come. program menu approach we’re all manager – so you can customise it familiar with. Window Maker apes without having to manually edit PROJECT WEBSITE www.windowmaker.org this very closely, while providing confi g fi les.

Trimmed-down systemd alternative uselessd 2

espite the fact that Systemd resource limits – but that’s it. Unlike has been adopted by almost Systemd, Uselessd won’t keep Devery major distro, internet growing and taking over other parts debates are still raging about it. of the core system, such as logins Proponents say it simplifi es and and network management. streamlines the Linux boot , There are some other changes providing extra features for process too. Uselessd doesn’t use the isolation and logging. Conversely, controversial Journald system by critics say it violates long-time Unix default, instead logging to plain text principles and it’s swallowing up too fi les in the usual Unix way. , much functionality that should be some Journald supporters say that left in other components. the binary format is actually better, Like much of the project, Uselessd’s logo mocks the original Uselessd, which could be as much more metadata is stored systemd, here implying that the latter includes the kitchen sink. described as “useless” or the and you can perform complex daemon that “uses less” according searches without a zillion grep Uselessd aims to be more portable, to the developer, is a fork of commands and regular working with other libraries than Systemd that aims to bring it back expressions. But many still prefer just Glibc. The goal is to purge to basics. The idea is that Systemd the plain text syslog. In addition, Systemd of “GNUisms” – in other is actually good for some things words, things that lock it deeply into – namely the system, the GNU/Linux ecosystem. starting services, managing “Uselessd is a fork of Systemd that dependencies between them and PROJECT WEBSITE aims to bring it back to basics.” http://uselessd.darknedgy.net making sure they don’t exceed their

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Nintendo Entertainment System emulator Nestopia 1.46.1

here are two types of fanatics, it’s vital for delivering the console emulator user: most realistic emulation. But this Tthose who just like to comes at a cost – Nestopia indulge in nostalgia for a moment, consistently used 30% of our CPU and hardcore players who demand (emulating Super Mario Bros 3), that everything is exactly like the which is a fair chunk on a 2.5GHz original – no exceptions. Nestopia is Core i5 machine. geared towards the latter group of Outside of this focus on users, with an intense focus on accuracy, Nestopia is a fi ne all-round emulating the NES hardware as emulator too. It’s easy to confi gure accurately as possible. You may input devices and video options, have played other NES emulators while save states are also With some tweaks to before, and not noticed anything supported. You can even record Cheats are supported, using the video output odd, but some emulators take gameplay in NSV format, and settings, you can create Game Genie and Pro Action Rocky barely-noticeable shortcuts to convert it to a more mainstream the lovely old fuzzy CRT codes, and there’s an impressive improve performance. format using external tools. This is TV effect. range of options for confi guring the Nestopia, however, strives to be great if you’re rather hot at a certain video output. The defaults are fi ne “cycle accurate”; in other words, game, and want to upload your for regular NES emulation, but you with every emulated 6502 CPU skills to YouTube. can also smooth out jaggedness cycle, it emulates the activity of all between pixels using fi lters – try the other hardware components, to 2xSal or HqX to see how it looks. keep the virtual NES running in “Nestopia aims to provide ‘cycle perfect sync. Most of us wouldn’t PROJECT WEBSITE accurate’ NES emulation.” https://github.com/rdanbrook/nestopia notice this, but for some NES

Vim upgrade Vim-airline ome people are put off from install it manually by copying its learning Vim because of its fi les into .vim in your home Shorrendously steep learning directory. Because we were already curve, which is a shame, because using Pathogen, we just needed it’s a fantastic editor when you’ve to enter: mastered it. Others have tried git clone https://github.com/bling/ battling through Vimtutor but still vim-airline ~/.vim/bundle/vim-airline found the editor horrendously bare After starting Vim, however, we and terse – like it doesn’t even try to saw the new status line but it didn’t make you feel welcome. Yes, Vim have any colour (in Xfce-Terminal). If out-of-the-box isn’t very pleasant, you have a similar problem, add this Various Airline themes but once you’ve added the ruler, to the start of your .vimrc: Airline shows your current mode in action. Solarized status line, syntax highlighting, line set t_Co=256 works well with the Vim (and changes colour depending on numbers, highlighted searches and Now you should see Airline in all colour scheme of the the mode), the fi le you’re editing, its other features, it quickly becomes its glory. The default is rather same name. encoding, along with your position more livable. garish and might not work well with in the fi le (line, column and Vim-airline is a plugin that goes a your colour scheme, so to fi x this, percentage). If you’re using tabs, step further, replacing the stock go into ~/.vim/bundle/vim-airline/ you can also spruce up your bar status line with one that’s much autoload/airline/themes/ and take by adding this to your .vimrc: prettier and more informative. You a look around. To activate the let g:airline#extensions#tabline#enabled = 1 can install it using a variety of Vim theme ‘powerlineish’, for instance, plugin managers – such as add this to your .vimrc: PROJECT WEBSITE https://github.com/bling/vim-airline Pathogen, Vundle and VAM – or let g:airline_theme = ‘powerlineish’

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Diary editor Almanah 0.11.0

ear diary, today I spent After starting the app, you’re several hours trying to presented with an empty entry for Dcompile programs from today. The single in the , frequently coming up top-left provides some basic against missing dependencies, formatting facilities – bold, italic compilation errors and segfaults. and underline – but there’s no undo Just when I thought one program or redo for text editing operations, had built correctly, I started it and annoyingly. Next to the formatting received around 3,000 lines of button is a date; click that and you Python error messages before the can jump to other diary entries (if Don’t want the world to whole thing crashed out you’ve written them). There’s also a text format, with each day stored in see your heart- spectacularly. Why, diary, does it star button that you can use to pourings? Encrypt your a separate fi le (using YYYY-MM-DD have to be this way? Why can’t mark certain diary entries as database using your fi lenames), or print it out. programs be nice and easy to especially important. PGP key. Of course, if your diary contains install, like Almanah? To help organise diary entries, plenty of juicy secrets you’ll want to Yes, this is a diary editing you can apply tags to them, and keep it safe: to help with this, program – essentially a custom even attach links to fi les and web Alamanah can encrypt it using your text editor with journal-keeping- addresses via the cog menu. It’s PGP key. Click the Almanah Diary related features. To build it you possible to export the diary in plain menu and then Preferences to set need libsqlite3-dev, libcryptui-dev it up. and libgpgme11-dev. With those in place, installing it was a cinch with “Almanah can encrypt your diary PROJECT WEBSITE the ./confi gure, make and make https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/ entries using your PGP key.” Almanah_Diary install (as root) procedure.

Web browser QupZilla 1.8.0

upZilla is a Qt-based browser doesn’t try to chase Chrome in every using WebKit as its direction. In terms of memory Qrendering engine, designed consumption, it was on a par with to provide a good out-of-the-box Firefox in our testing, and slightly experience without the need for lighter with many tabs open. extra plugins and extensions. QupZilla is supplied with a gaggle To build it from the source code, of useful extras, such as an advert you’ll need development libraries for blocker. This uses the EasyList from Qt (at least version 4.7) and Adblock Plus – so it’s very effective. OpenSSL installed. Then run qmake There’s also a combined , followed by make, and if it compiles bookmarks and RSS view, which QupZilla is bundled with successfully, run make install as can be brought up with Ctrl+Shift+H, (DNT) header. The latter is a bit a handful of extensions, root to place it in your fi lesystem. and having these things together in including the ever- controversial though: if all browsers Then you can start it by just one place works surprisingly well. useful GreaseMonkey. simply enable DNT by default, many entering qupzilla. Another handy feature is the ability users won’t hear about it and all Interface-wise, it’s pretty standard to take a screenshot of an entire websites will just ignore it. But if fare; there’s nothing especially web , and save it in various users are told about the feature and original that leaps out at you, and formats – useful if you want to turn it on themselves, they’ll expect the speed dial- interface on show a web developer where better conformity from sites. At new tabs has been done before. something is broken. least, that’s the idea… Ex-Firefox users who were miffed by By default, QupZilla uses the Australis UI revamp will be DuckDuckGo for web searches, and PROJECT WEBSITE www.qupzilla.com happy with QupZilla’s layout – it also enables the Do Not Track

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Space shooting/racing larks Galaxy Forces 1.82

alaxy Forces is essentially satisfaction as you cruise gracefully a souped-up version of around a level, avoiding obstacles GThrust, a 1986 classic that with pixel-perfect precision. appeared on pretty much every Galaxy Forces has 50 levels; the 8-bit home computer. And it’s all fi rst bunch are purely for network- about control here: you a based multiplayer combat games, spaceship around by hitting the while the others can also be played cursor keys to rotate it, and up to alone. These latter levels involve blast your rear thruster. racing around a course (trying to However, your ship doesn’t beat the best times, as listed on the simply fly in the direction it’s game’s website) or carrying cargo pointing, due to gravity and in missions. So there’s plenty to do, This might look simple to navigate, but when your craft has so momentum, so you have to and while the game selection much momentum it’s hellishly diffi cult. your movements in advance (or interface is incredibly clunky and perform some nifty rotate-and- the music is annoyingly repetitive, have made available a pre- thrust manoeuvres to slow the gameplay itself has been compiled binary package, with yourself down). It takes a while to well-crafted. executables for both 32-bit and get the hang of, and you’ll fi nd Note that you need to connect to 64-bit machines. yourself crashing into the walls at IP address 127.0.0.1 (ie your local fi rst. But don’t give up – once machine) to start the game, and PROJECT WEBSITE you’ve mastered the controls, then click the New button to choose www.galaxy-forces.com you’ll be wallowing in self- a level. Helpfully, the developers

Chess game Gambit 1.0 unning untrusted scripts You’re thrown straight into a from the internet, game, controlling the white pieces, Respecially when they ask on a diffi culty level of 5 (out of 5). you to enter your user or root We’re not skilled enough in chess to password, is a bad idea. Down judge exactly how challenging this this lie Windows-esque level is, but we’ rather Gambit levels of madness. However, it’s defaulted to something in the the simplest way to get Gambit middle – or at least prompt the up and running: no distro-specifi c player before the game starts. From packages were available at the there, it’s like most other chess time of writing, so the developer games, where you click and drag Gambit’s diffi culty level 1 isn’t hard to beat – even with our pieces to make your move, and the recommends you grab gambit- limited skills, we soon snaffled the CPU’s queen. autobuild.sh from the website, computer thinks and responds. make it executable, and run it. Various colour schemes are And it works – the script grabbed available for the board, along with storing chess matches. You can dependencies, retrieved the animations as the pieces move. even fi nd archives of PGN fi les on source code, built it, and placed Excellently, Gambit supports saving the net for classic battles the resulting program in Gambit and loading games in the Portable between famous players. in the home directory. So to play, Game Notation (PGN) format, you just need to run which has been around for decades PROJECT WEBSITE http://gambitchess.sourceforge.net ./gambitchess inside it. and is the de facto standard for

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