The best new open source software on the planet LXFHotPicks Nick Veitch When compiling HotPicks, Nick makes frequent use of Curses. Tell Ayam Brain Party Clockywock Final Page Fingerprint GUI us your favourite programming KXStitch Omron++ Ping PyInstaller Smb4K Zim language at the usual address. 3D Modeller Ayam 1.17 Version 1.17 Web http://ayam.sourceforge.net s the saying goes: I think, Ayam might be a better bet if you don’t therefore Ayam. Or something have a spare three years to work out A like that. Yet while we’ve the user interface. covered plenty of 3D tools in the past, this most excellent example has not yet Organic shapes appeared. To be honest, though, there With support for a wide range of object are a lot of simple 3D editing tools formats, Ayam is quite capable of around these days, so what makes editing pre-built 3D files, or you can Ayam worthy of note? create your own using the range of tools Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Well, it goes beyond the normal provided. In addition to the usual tools, boundaries of such tools, which usually Ayam offers Nurb (Non-Uniform Ayam also outputs data in Pixar’s stop short at simple primitives and Rational B-spline) objects and patches, RenderMan format, so you can use any meshes. They’re useful for throwing which use a mathematical technique of the existing RenderMan-compatible together a simple model, but lack some that describes smooth curves and rendering engines in conjunction with it. of the advanced features that can make surfaces. They’re useful for creating We particularly recommend the Blue complex modelling easier. Of course, organic-looking, irregularly shaped Moon Rendering Tools software, there’s always the mighty Blender, but objects that render well. although this is hard to find these days. The same is true of its successor: the Nvidia-sponsored Gelato render Exploring the Ayam interface software. However, there are plenty of GPL render engines that fit the bill, and we can heartily recommend Aqsis (www.aqsis.org), which you’ll find available for collection in your friendly Toolbox neighbourhood distro repository. This includes a range of primitives and modelling tools. Rendered useful Once you’ve chosen a back-end renderer, you can make your life easier by editing the application’s preferences Three-pane view to include the path to the executable, so The standard treble-windowed that then you can render images environment is loaded by default, directly from within Ayam itself. but you can adjust all the windows Building the program from source is to suit your needs. possible, but it’s also fraught with difficulties, so for ease of use you might Edit anywhere want to consider just running the pre- compiled binary. This is statically linked Helpfully, manipulating objects or rendering the scene can be done to the required libraries, so although it from whichever view suits the Hierarchy Properties is a fair bit larger, it should just run with current task best. A tree hierarchy helps keep track of Edit an object’s properties no problems on your Linux box. If you complex objects. and materials here. want to build it yourself, make sure you install Aqsis first. 68 LXF133 July 2010 www.linuxformat.com LXF133.hot 68 7/5/10 11:30:21 am LXFHotPicks Document manager Final Page 0.3.90 Version 0.3.90 Web http://finalpage.sourceforge.net he word ‘document’ means sizes and so on should really mean different things to different nothing to us these days, we still think T people. If we were to play some in terms of A4 (non-Europeans, please word association, we imagine you, dear adjust your set now) and everything reader, would think of data files on your being neat and uniform. beloved Linux box, or floating in the ether on some website. Others may call Rank and file to mind R.E.M.’s early attempts at Final Page is a multiformat document music or perhaps, thanks to the hurried processing program that attempts to passing of the Digital Economy Act, you help you make sense of the disparate Ayam 1.17 are expecting some other document to data sources you’ve gathered together arrive in the post telling you your free and assist in the task of organising Wi-Fi service is to be shut down. The them into something more uniform. word ‘document’ actually stems from Although the software originally What do you make of this? A hat? A plane? A pterodactyl? Latin (via French), where the be-togaed dealt exclusively with PDF files, this has teachers of the day would use it to now been extended to include any type thanks to the Caméléon conversion mean an example or a proof. of document that can be easily tool (from the same author), which will Whatever way you slice it up, though, converted to PDF. This is made possible convert OpenOffice.org files, images in spite of the fact that there are and text documents into PDF on the fly probably more documents that exist “Although paper sizes as they are imported. virtually than in reality these days, we This application is still a little rough probably still think of a document as should mean nothing to around the edges, and to be honest, something that could be printed out, took more than a bit of effort to get even if it never is. So although paper us, we still think in A4.” working, but there is potential here. Package creator PyInstaller 1.4 Version 1.4 Web www.pyinstaller.org f you have been following the series of officially maintained or supported of Python tutorials in this illustrious modules isn’t extensive, and is limited I mag, you will know how great it is to some oft-used, usually interface- for putting apps together. Letting other related modules, such as the GUI people use those apps can be fraught toolkits wxPython and PyQt, the with difficulty, though. First, it usually graphics extensions PyOpenGL and PIL, requires them to download third-party and a dozen or so others (head over to modules, and then there’s always cause www.pyinstaller.org/wiki/Supported for concern about the version of the Packages for the full list). language they run, especially if they use For platform compatibility, currently a different platform. (OS X is a prime you have to build your software on the offender, and there are often a few intended deployment platform (Linux minor versions kicking about). apps must be run on Linux, Mac apps There are easier ways to build packages, but when this PyInstaller is the solution to these on OS X), though that’s being looked at. works, it works well. You do need the instructions, though. multifaceted woes. Well, at least in part. Fortunately, there is ample Not only does it take care of bundling documentation available online, which all the standard modules, and many of is necessary. There are only two steps to building a package, but unless your the third-party ones if they are needed, environment is set up right, something it also compresses the whole into a will go wrong, so check here first. There single executable if required, so you can “There’s ample are perhaps more open-source friendly immediately start distributing software documentation online, and pythonic ways of building packages, to all and sundry, even if they are a but for a simple fire-and-forget solution stranger to the PY file extension. The list which is necessary.” this has a lot going for it. www.tuxradar.com July 2010 LXF133 69 LXF133.hot 69 7/5/10 11:30:21 am LXFHotPicks Biometrics Fingerprint GUI 0.13 Version 0.13 Web www.n-view.net/Appliance/fingerprint ry to do anything on a computer whole experience falls down is the these days and you’ll wind up integration of this tech into tasks such T triple-authenticating everything as logging on, or even setting the device and being forced to remember a up in the first place. 12-digit password that includes at least one number, one capital letter, one Touchy feely piece of punctuation and the maiden Fingerprint GUI is a friendly way to name of your favourite pet’s first school. hand your biometric data to a heartless Oh, and you will need a different computer. It’s actually a set of password for absolutely everything. applications that perform different Fingerprint scanners, lifted into reality tasks depending on the situation – for direct from science fiction, promised to example, there’s a helper app for give us a world where poking your unlocking the Gnome screensaver computer would make it submit. For (which otherwise won’t allow windows You might forget a password, but not your hand. various reasons, in spite of enjoying a to pop up), and there’s a GUI for setting brief flurry of popularity, they’ve fallen up the fingerprint data in the first place. test it on a wide range of different out of the mainstream. Maybe because The software is pretty stable, but the hardware, or in the complete gamut of they didn’t have good drivers? author has not had the opportunity to usage scenarios. Give it a go, and if it FingerPrint GUI is an attempt to put doesn’t work for you, contribute to the the proddable back on the map, or at “A friendly way to hand project or at least let the developers least make it easier to integrate into a know of your trials.