Although it’s popular these days to pooh-pooh the advertising-supported, for-profit SourceForge in favor of GitHub, the SourceForge folks want to remind you that the forge still hosts more than 300,000 projects and serves up a good 4 million downloads a day.
We asked SourceForge’s community manager and longtime open source coder, Rich Bowen, to sniff out a few of the cool, lesser-known projects he thinks IT folks will love. What follows are his picks, along with a few of our own.
[ Also check out the slideshow of this article. | Learn how to install Apache on Linux in InfoWorld Test Center's step-by-step guide. | Track the latest trends in open source with InfoWorld's Open Sources blog and Technology: Open Source newsletter. ]
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1. LEAF
LEAF is a customizable embedded Linux network appliance for use in a variety of ways. It was originally intended as an Internet gateway but can also be used as a router, firewall, and wireless access point.
2. Freeplane
This is an application for an organizational technique called mind mapping. Occupying the middle ground between an editor and a diagramming tool, Freeplane allows the user to add content quickly and produce structured content that can be manipulated as easily as a diagram. It is useful for knowledge management and project management.
3. FOG
FOG is a free open-source cloning/imaging suite that is intended to be a substitute for Ghost. It can be used to create images of Windows XP, Vista and 7 PCs using PXE and PartImage. Features include memory and disk test, disk wipe, antivirus scan and task scheduling.
4. Advanced Onion Router
Advanced Onion Router is a Windows client intended as an alternative for the Tor+Vidalia+Privoxy bundle. It is able to force a program and its plugins to use the Tor proxy regardless of its configured proxy. Tor is a project for maintaining anonymity on the Internet.
5. Eraser
Eraser is a secure data removal tool for Windows. It removes sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns and it also erases residue from deleted files including MFT-resident files (for NTFS volumes) and directory indices (for FAT). Also allows you to schedule your data removal in advance.
6. Dmg2iso
Dmg2iso is a small tool for converting Apple Macintosh .dmg images to .iso images. The application is universal for Mac OS X version 10.4 and above.
7. TurboCASH Accounting
TurboCASH is an entry-level accounting package for Windows. It is suitable for single users and small companies. It accommodates developer scripts, local plugins and multi language translation.
