Batch Convert and Resize Photos and PDFs With Converseen

Converseen is an open source, simple to use application for Windows & Linux that helps you batch convent more than 100 image formats. It supports popular image formats including DPX, EXR, GIF, JPEG, PDF, PhotoCD, PNG, Postscript, SVG, and TIFF. Moreover, you can also resize images with this tool.

Auto Adjust Computer Display at Day and Night

Spending long hours each day in front of a computer monitor may create eye related problems, such as eyestrain, blurred vision, delayed focusing, etc. However, how many of you adjust your computer screen brightness as per your room light? Because room light varies depending on day or night, and sunlight or cloudy, it may not be an easy task.

How to Enable Linux Copy Paste Option in Windows

Copy and pasting in Linux is a lot easier than it is in Windows and Mac. Only need to highlight some text by clicking and dragging left mouse button and click mouse wheel button to paste the copied text. You can enable this handy feature in Windows also with a little application AutoClipX.

Check your computer’s USB boot support

Before creating a bootable USB disk or USB installer for your favorite Linux Ubuntu operating system or for your Windows 7, it is good to know whether your computer can boot from a USB drive or not. Though newest motherboards have USB boot support, here is a simple solution to check USB boot support for your PC.

Download the free tool called USB Boot Tester (158Kb) into your computer. Connect a pen drive to your PC. Run the USB Boot Tester and follow the instruction.

Now restart your PC and change the first boot device to USB or Removable Devices or External Devices (depending on BIOS versions) from the BIOS and save the settings. Restart your PC again.

If nothing happened and your computer boots from the hard disk as usual, just switch the pen drive to another USB port and once again restart your PC. Still nothing happened, it means that your PC can’t boot from USB. In that case change the boot priority back to normal from the BIOS.

But, if you get Memtest launch from the USB flash drive, then it means that your PC can boot from a USB device. You need not to complete the memory test of your system. (Via)

Also Read:

1. How to Create Bootable USB for Linux
2. How to Make Windows 7 Bootable USB
3. How to Make Linux Bootable USB
4. How to Add USB Support for PC when it does not Support USB Booting

Search programs, drivers, games and other information for Linux with Linuxidx

Linuxidx is a very special search engine that helps you to find Linux related web resources like applications, driver files, games and other useful information for your Linux operating system .

The search results are very encouraging and I am sure this will certainly useful for you to find something for your Linux OS.

Nautilus Flickr Uploader – Upload photos to Flickr from Ubuntu

There are several applications available for uploading photos to your Flickr account from your desktop, but unfortunately most of them are for Windows.

Here is a simple utility for your Linux system (GNOME/KDE) called Nautilus Flickr Uploader, to upload photos to your Flickr account.

The application is very easy to use, after installation, select the pictures you want to upload to Flickr on you file browser and right click to open them with Nautilus Flickr Uploader, and you're done.

Download Nautilus Flickr Uploader at source

Adobe AIR Uninstaller for Linux Ubuntu

If you install an Adobe AIR based application from its source without saving its application file on your computer, or if the AIR engine is not available, uninstalling that program can be difficult on a Linux systems.

If you have such problems, here is an uninstaller for Adobe AIR which lets you uninstall an AIR application from your GNU/Linux Ubuntu distribution easily.

Uninstaller for Adobe AIR is free software under GPL version 3 license, and is designed to work with GNU/Linux Ubuntu distribution and with the GNOME and KDE window manager.

Download Uninstaller For Adobe AIR

Get Access to Linux Files From Windows

Accessing Linux partition (Ext2/Ext3 file system) from Windows is not possible without special software. If you have installed both Windows and Linux as a dual boot on your computer, there may be many situations that you have need files stored on your Linux installation.

Previously we mentioned about a free tool called Paragon ExtBrowser, which lets you read, write, modify, create, and delete files and folders under Windows. Here is another freeware tool called DiskInternals Linux Reader that allows you to browse Ext2/Ext3 Linux file systems from Windows and extract files from there.

DiskInternals Linux Reader provides for read-only access and does not allow you to make records in Ext2/Ext3 file system partitions. This guarantees that the interference in an alterative file system will not affect the work of Linux later.

Apart from this, it is necessary to note, that it gives you an opportunity to use common Windows Explorer for extracting data. A preview option for pictures is one more pleasant point, which is worth mentioning.

While saving, it ignores file security policies. It means that it is possible to access absolutely any file on a Linux disk from Windows. The program can create and open images of Ext2/Ext3 disks.

Download DiskInternals Linux Reader

Download Free Paragon ExtBrowser To Work With Linux Ext2FS or Ext3FS Partitions From Windows

If you have Windows and Linux operating systems, some times you want to access files and documents from one system to other. Yes, it is very easy to access Windows partition from Linux, but you can’t open Linux partition from Windows without a special tool.

Paragon ExtBrowser is a Windows based utility that will enable you to work with Ext2FS or Ext3FS partitions from Windows. With this tool you can read, write, modify, create, and delete files and folders under Windows.

Just plug in your hard disk with ExtFS partitions to your PC via eSATA or USB-to-SATA and you can instantly modify files on Linux partition without installing special drivers.

Keay features:

1. Fast and transparent access to Ext2FS/Ext3FS under Windows
2. Special unmapped folder in My Computer (Explorer) to open ExtFS partitions, where you can read, write, modify, create, delete files and folders under Windows.
3. Better stability with less risk to your system because there is no need to install a separate kernel mode driver

Paragon ExtBrowser works with Windows 7, Vista and XP. You can download it free from Paragon

Wally wallpaper changer now supports Bing images

Wally is an open source, developed in Qt4, wallpaper changer for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems.

It uses different sources for background images, such as local folder or FTP remote folder, Bing search, Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, etc

Using the program is very simple. Download (7.4Mb) and installs it (Windows XP). Select a source (for example Bing, or add more), add key words like garden, flower, nature, etc, select time interval (1Min or above) and click OK to save.

Now right click on the Wally tray icon and select ‘Play”. That’s all.

Works on Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. Download Wally form http://code.google.com/p/wally/

Sonar Power Manager - A new and better power-saving software for Notebooks

The Sonar Power Manager is an interesting power saving software for Laptops. It uses Laptop’s microphone and speaker as a sensor to switch of the display.

I don’t know how much effective this, but the goal according to the author “is to shut off the screen immediately after you leave, even if you just moved the mouse 10 seconds ago”.

It uses ultrasonic sound on your computer's regular sound system. But unfortunately not all Laptops are able to detect ultrasonic sound properly, but many could.

This new user presence detection technique may be more reliable than the slow and error-prone mouse and keyboard activity timeouts.

The open-source software works on Windows7, Vista, XP and Linux. Interested users can download it form author’s site.

How to create a bootable Live USB Key with Linux on it?

Creating a bootable Live Linux USB key is really simple with LiLi USB Creator. You don't have to be a computer geek to do that.

It is a freeware tool for Windows and anybody can create a Live USB Key with a Linux ISO file (Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Mint, CrunchBang, Kuki and Fedora) with five easy steps.

This software also offers an exclusive option of automatic virtualization to directly run Linux in Windows without any configuration or installation.

Here is how to crate a Linux Live USB key:

1. Launch the LiLi USB Creator and choose a USB key or drive in the list
2. Select a Linux ISO file or CD (for example Ubuntu, Feddora, etc)
3. Choose the size of persistency data (select 200MB or more)
4. Check the options you want - Enable launching LinuxLive in Windows, Hide created files on key and Format the key in FAT32
5. Click the lightning button to start the creation (formatting the USB, Installing boot sector, etc)

Complete details here

Requirements are: A USB device with a FAT32 or FAT partition, 810 MB free (depending on Linux OS), Windows 7, Vista and XP. Download LiLi USB Creator (free)

How to run Linux Live CD ISO image directly on Windows

Many users want to taste the flavor of Linux, especially Ubuntu on their Windows machine. I am not talking about installing Linux on Windows, but about a free tool that lets you run Linux directly on Windows without rebooting.

MobaLiveCD is a portable tool (1.6Mb), especially useful for testing downloaded Linux ISO image file (Live CD) before burning them on a CD/DVD or USB stick.

Users can run their favorite Linux LiveCD (ISO) just with a single click. It will run into an emulation window called ‘Qemu’.

Users can either associate this tool to right click menu of the ISO image file by clicking the button ‘Right-Click menu’ or directly from a saved location.

Download MobaLiveCD from program's home page

Duplicati – A simple and automatic backup tool for Linux and Windows

Losing an important file via accidental deletion, hard drive crashes or virus attacks can be devastating. To keep your critical data from an accidental loss you need to have a good back up strategy in place.

There are numerous applications for data security and preservation. Here is an easy to use, wizard driven, automatic and open source program for backing up your important data.

Program called Duplicati is a very simple to use program. Install and run it. Just follow the instruction given on each window.

1. Choose ‘Setup a new backup’

2. Specify a folder that contains important data (e.g. My documents)

3. Enter a password or generate one and choose an Encryption mode (e.g. AES)

4. Select where to save your backup (USB device, remote server, etc)

5. Choose when and how often your data should run or leave it default(optional).

6. Chose a time that you want to backup the data (optional).

All backups can be encrypted and are digitally signed, so that no other person can read or tamper with backed up data.

Duplicati is avalible for use on Windows 32 bit, 64 bit, and linux. Download from: http://code.google.com/p/duplicati/wiki/Downloads

Speed up your system and program performance with new BleachBit

BleachBit is an open source tool for cleaning Windows and Linux systems and can wipes clean garbage of over 50 applications.

The program could improve functioning of many applications, for example, it can vacuum Firefox SQLite database to make it faster.

The new BleachBits speed up your system and improves performance of several programs including Firefox, Google Chrome, IE, Opera, Safari, Adobe Reader, MS Word, etc and deletes cookies, flash cookies, browser cache, temporary files, etc.

The new BleachBit (0.6.4) adds a command line interface, displays a more detailed summary, fixes bugs, etc. More information and download.

How to mass rename files and folders easily with open source, multi-platform Metamorphose

Metamorphose is an open source, multi-platform (Windows, Mac and Linux) program for batch renaming files and folders quickly. With this program you can easily rename MP3 files and photos based on their ID3 tags and EXIF data.

As a professional renaming tool for almost any situation, it allows many different renaming operations in a GUI.

Features include search and replace (with RE), insert, numbering, date/time, id3 & EXIF tag read, change length, get all files in sub-dirs, undo/redo, etc.

1. Here is an example to use the program: After installation, right click on a folder that contains sub folders or files and select ‘Rename with Metamorphose’.

2. Now select ‘Renamer tab’ and select which renaming operations you want to use by double-clicking or drag-and-dropping them and give necessary details.

3. If the preview looks OK then click the Go! button. At this point your selections will be renamed.

The program supports Windows, Linux and Mac Operating systems. Program’s homepage / Download.

BleachBit-The privacy and disk space cleaner for Linux and Windows

BleachBit is a useful utility for Windows and Linux that can deletes unnecessary files like browser cache, cookies, history, localizations, logs, temporary files, and broken shortcuts and free up valuable disk space and maintain your privacy.

Designed for Linux and Windows systems, it wipes out unnecessary junk files created by most programs. Moreover it let you know detailed information of each action before deleting it.

The program supports programs like Adobe Reader, Chromium, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Google Chrome, Safari, Google Earth, Flash, GIMP, Java, KDE, OpenOffice.org, RealPlayer, Skype, VIM, XChat, Yum, and much more.

Version 0.6.0 is a major release of Bleach Bit and supports Windows Vista, 7 and XP , Linux versions of CentOS, Debian, Fedora, Mandriva, openSUSE, Red Hat, Ubuntu, etc.

This release includes new and improved cleaners, a safety feature, enhanced CleanerML for writing new cleaners, bug fixes, small performance improvements, and improved translations. Further information / Download

All contents on your hard drive at your fingertips

There are several software tools that can provide a range of functionalities in order to perform a particular task in a simple and fast way.

Here is one such desktop utility that allows you to access your hard drive contents quickly via system tray or menu bar icon with dynamic pop-up menu.

Hawkscope is an open source, cross platform (runs on Windows, Mac and Linux) application; once installed it will sits on the system tray and you can access any files, folders and programs from there with a mouse click or with a global short cut key combination.

Besides, it has some other functionalities such as hide unwanted drives, folders or files by adding them to blacklist, plug-in system like Open with, etc that you can configure through the option menu.

Download Hawkscope from Google code.

UNetbootin: Lets you make live Linux bootable USB drive

Many people like to use Linux operating system without installing it on their computer. In order to do that, either a live bootable Linux CD/DVD or a live bootable USB drive is required. Bootable USB drive has many advantages, it is too handy and you need not to burn a Linux OS onto a DVD . Making a bootable Linux live USB drive is very easy with the freeware program UNetbootin.

UNetbootin lets you to make bootable Live USB drives for a variety of Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, openSUSE, etc from Windows or Linux operating system. You can use either downloaded Linux ISO file (CD image) or can be directly download a Linux operating system (if you have a broadband internet connection) from the app itself.

Download (3.9Mb) and run UNetbootin (no installation needed), then select a Linux ISO (CD image) file, floppy/hard disk image, or kernel and initrd files. If in doubt use the ISO file. If you're using an ISO file, that is all you required, just press "OK" to start installing. More information and download is available from ‘unetbootin.sourceforge.net’

Free E-Book to Build a Strong Foundation in Linux

The e-book ‘Linux 101 Hacks’, written by Ramesh Natarajan gives practical examples to build a strong foundation in Linux. There are total of 101 hacks described in this book, all are explained with appropriate Linux command examples that are easy to follow. All these 101 tips are described in 12 chapters (e.g. Essential Linux commands, Cd command, Archive and Compression, SSH Client command, System administrations tasks, etc) and are quite useful, brief and well written.

To get this e-book for free, just visit at http://www.thegeekstuff.com/linux-101-hacks-free-ebook/ and follow the instructions.