Free for high quality software for linux

Fork JavaScript project is a general purpose, namespaced JavaScript library with Ajax, Events, DOM manipulation. There are a few bonus lines of code specifically for use with Ruby on Rails but Fork can be happily used outside of Rails also.
Main features:
- an aspiration for the highest quality code
- author documentation
- documented limitations (all libs have them but dont report them)
- in-browser unit/integration tests
- tested in a wide set of browsers.
- functions to help create gracefully degrading web pages
- namespaced code
- does not augment JavaScript built-in prototypes
- does not add a layer of sugar on top of JavaScript to make writing JavaScript like writing in another language
- minimizable with jsmin and includes already minimized versions
- MIT License
- plugin for tight integration with Ruby on Rails
Why?
There are many JavaScript libraries out there. Why add another one to the list? To create a quality library with a liberal license.
I like Ruby on Rails. The Rails default Prototype JavaScript library does not suit many development situations and contains code that makes developing for a wide selection of browsers difficult or impossible. Prototype has some great ideas in its mix but the implementation quality has been questioned many times. Prototype has influenced many JavaScript libraries and some of Prototypes best ideas have also influenced the Fork API.
Because Fork is a namespaced library, you may be able to use both Fork and Prototype simultaneously as you transition from one to the other.
I like the Yahoo! UI library. Of the JavaScript libraries Ive used it has the best API. The YUI library has many valuable nuggets of information about browser bugs and workarounds. The approach of YUI suits browser scripting well.
However there are more than a few places in the code where Im left scratching my head and thinking "why did they do that?" Probably that is how every developer looks at another developers code. The YUI API is the starting point for much of the Fork API.
Most libraries seem to develop too quickly. I like the general debian attitude of careful growth because the browser execution environment is wildly varied and deserves a certain degree of conservatism in the JavaScript we send to it.

MySQL High Availability clustering is a set of scripts and programs that provide a high availability database cluster using MySQL replication.
MySQL High Availability clustering is transparent to client applications, as the cluster uses a shared logical IP to provide the service.
Enhancements:
- References have been changed from MASTER_NODE to CLUSTER_IP in takeover, failover, and slave_routine, when it was appropiate.
- This release introduces changes in compat.sh, several main cluster files, and the installation documentation, according to bug reports 1707251 and 1707212.

Fripp is a music composition environment that uses a spreadsheet metaphor for entering music and manipulating it with built-in and user-created functions. The project supports MIDI playback and recording, and displays music in common notation.
Scores can be exported to Mup format for high quality printing. The core program is written in Python, and the user interface is implemented using the wxPython toolkit.
Main features:
- Enter "music" into cells of a spreadsheet. The columns of the spreadsheet contain the bars of your score, and the rows contain the staves. So each cell contains one bars worth of music for one staff.
- Play the score from one or more MIDI instruments connected to your computer, if you have the (free) KeyKit application installed.
- Export the score to a file for high-quality rendering with the Mup music publication program.
- Organize compositions in workbooks, which can contain multiple scores. The picture above shows a workbook named "Lipstick", which contains three scores. The active score is called "Truly Almond".
- Enter formulas into the spreadsheet cells, to generate new music or transform other music in the score. Formulas can use built-in functions such as:
- Reverse(): Return the reverse of a given musical phrase.
- ReverseTime(): Return a transformation of a given musical phrase, with the pitches in the same order as the original, but their durations in reverse order.
- ReversePitches(): Return a transformation of a given musical phrase, with the durations in the same order as the original, but their pitches in reverse order.
- Transpose(): Return a transposition of a given musical phrase.
- etc.
- Write your own functions in Python, to generate or transform musical phrases, or to control other aspects of the score, such as tempo, meter, key, or instrumentation.
- Write rich-formatted, hyperlinked notes about your scores, and store them in the workbooks.
- Automate Fripp with your own Python scripts.

The Persistence of Vision Ray-Tracer creates three-dimensional, photo-realistic images using a rendering technique called ray-tracing. It reads in a text file containing information describing the objects and lighting in a scene and generates an image of that scene from the view point of a camera also described in the text file.
The Persistence of Vision Ray-Tracer(tm) was developed from DKBTrace 2.12 (written by David K. Buck and Aaron A. Collins) by a bunch of people (called the POV-Team?) in their spare time. The headquarters of the POV-Team is on the internet (see "Where to Find POV-Ray Files" for more details).
The POV-Ray package includes detailed instructions on using the ray-tracer and creating scenes. Many stunning scenes are included with POV-Ray so you can start creating images immediately when you get the package. These scenes can be modified so you do not have to start from scratch.
In addition to the pre-defined scenes, a large library of pre-defined shapes and materials is provided. You can include these shapes and materials in your own scenes by just including the library file name at the top of your scene file, and by using the shape or material name in your scene.
Ray-tracing is not a fast process by any means, but it produces very high quality images with realistic reflections, shading, perspective and other effects.
Ray-tracing is a rendering technique that calculates an image of a scene by simulating the way rays of light travel in the real world. However it does its job backwards. In the real world, rays of light are emitted from a light source and illuminate objects. The light reflects off of the objects or passes through transparent objects. This reflected light hits our eyes or perhaps a camera lens. Because the vast majority of rays never hit an observer, it would take forever to trace a scene.
Ray-tracing programs like POV-Ray start with their simulated camera and trace rays backwards out into the scene. The user specifies the location of the camera, light sources, and objects as well as the surface texture properties of objects, their interiors (if transparent) and any atmospheric media such as fog, haze, or fire.
For every pixel in the final image one or more viewing rays are shot from the camera, into the scene to see if it intersects with any of the objects in the scene. These "viewing rays" originate from the viewer, represented by the camera, and pass through the viewing window (representing the final image).
Every time an object is hit, the color of the surface at that point is calculated. For this purpose rays are sent backwards to each light source to determine the amount of light coming from the source. These "shadow rays" are tested to tell whether the surface point lies in shadow or not. If the surface is reflective or transparent new rays are set up and traced in order to determine the contribution of the reflected and refracted light to the final surface color.
Special features like inter-diffuse reflection (radiosity), atmospheric effects and area lights make it necessary to shoot a lot of additional rays into the scene for every pixel.
Main features:
- Easy to use scene description language.
- Large library of stunning example scene files.
- Standard include files that pre-define many shapes, colors and textures.
- Very high quality output image files (up to 48-bit color).
- 16 and 24 bit color display on many computer platforms using appropriate hardware.
- Create landscapes using smoothed height fields.
- Many camera types, including perspective, orthographic, fisheye, etc.
- Spotlights, cylindrical lights and area lights for sophisticated lighting.
- Photons for realistic, reflected and refracted, caustics. Photons also interact with media.
- Phong and specular highlighting for more realistic-looking surfaces.
- Inter-diffuse reflection (radiosity) for more realistic lighting.
- Atmospheric effects like atmosphere, ground-fog and rainbow.
- Particle media to model effects like clouds, dust, fire and steam.
- Several image file output formats including Targa, BMP (Windows only), PNG and PPM.
- Basic shape primitives such as ... spheres, boxes, quadrics, cylinders, cones, triangle and planes.
- Advanced shape primitives such as ... Tori (donuts), bezier patches, height fields (mountains), blobs, quartics, smooth triangles, text, superquadrics, surfaces of revolution, prisms, polygons, lathes, fractals, isosurfaces and the parametric object.
- Shapes can easily be combined to create new complex shapes using Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG). POV-Ray supports unions, merges, intersections and differences.
- Objects are assigned materials called textures (a texture describes the coloring and surface properties of a shape) and interior properties such as index of refraction and particle media (formerly known as "halos").
- Built-in color and normal patterns: Agate, Bozo, Bumps, Checker, Crackle, Dents, Granite, Gradient, Hexagon, Leopard, Mandel, Marble, Onion, Quilted, Ripples, Spotted, Spiral, Radial, Waves, Wood, Wrinkles and image file mapping. Or build your own pattern using functions.
- Users can create their own textures or use pre-defined textures such as ... Brass, Chrome, Copper, Gold, Silver, Stone, Wood.
- Combine textures using layering of semi-transparent textures or tiles of textures or material map files.
- Display preview of image while rendering (not available on all platforms).
- Halt and save a render part way through, and continue rendering the halted partial render later.

3ivx is an MPEG-4 toolkit that supports MPEG-4 Video, MPEG-4 Audio and the MP4 file format. 3ivx D4 4.5 allows video and audio to be compressed to a fraction of its original size while maintaining high image quality.

You can store over 2 hours of near DVD quality audio and video on a single CD-ROM or stream near DVD quality video over a cable modem or DSL modem.

Supported File Formats:

- Input Files: 3GP, AAC, DivX, MOV, MP4
- Output Files: AVI, MOV, MP4

Why should I install 3ivx?

The 3ivx decoder plays back most MPEG-4 files (including MP4, M4A, 3GP and MOV files) with MPEG-4 AAC Audio and MPEG-4 Video (such as DivX 3, 4 and 5, Apple MPEG-4, Philips MPEG-4 and XviD) using Windows Media Player or other compatible players. The Audio Decoder can play back MPEG-4 Multi-Channel High Efficiency AAC including audio encoded by Nero AAC and iTunes.

The 3ivx encoder produces industry-leading compact high quality MPEG-4 Audio and Video and is distributed as a plug-in for QuickTime as well as plug-ins for Video for Windows and DirectShow.

This allows you to encode MPEG-4 Audio and Video in AVI, MOV or MP4 files with the encoding application of your choice.

The 3ivx encoder produces industry-leading compact high quality MPEG-4 Audio and Video and is distributed as a plug-in for QuickTime as well as plug-ins for Video for Windows and DirectShow. This allows you to encode MPEG-4 Audio and Video in AVI, MOV or MP4 files with the encoding application of your choice.

Because of its core design and optimization the 3ivx codec maintains a record-breaking speed.

3ivx Delta 4 - 4.0.3 plays back DivX 3.x, 4.x, 5.x, OpenDivX, XviD, FFMpeg, AngelPotion, SMR, Philips MPEG-4, Apple MPEG-4, MS-MPEG-4v3, 3ivx D3, D3.5 and 4, RealMagic MPEG-4, Sorenson MPEG-4, Blizzard MPEG-4 and other MPEG-4 variants.

FreeMIS project is developing a free and better alternative to the commercial MIS products. All the FreeMIS files and data are stored on a web server, and the FreeMIS system is accessed via the Internet. Users simply need an Internet connection and a modern web browser (preferrably Firefox, but Internet Explorer 6 and Safari work fine).
Each user has a unique username and password, which grant them access to the system. At present, only teachers can access the system, but the design of FreeMIS is ready for access by any of the stakeholders in the school system - students, parents, governors etc.
At present, FreeMIS is used to write reports to parents on pupil progress. Using FreeMIS, teachers can write reports at a time and place of their own choosing. Some choose to write reports in school, but many now write their reports from home.
Main features:
- Password protected access, to ensure security of data.
- Web-based, so it can be accessed on any computer connected to the Internet, without the need for special software.
- Storage of pupil and staff data
- Storage of class enrollment and course data
- Production of reports to parents/guardians on pupil progress
- Monitoring of pupil progress through a tracking and target setting system, which includes the automatic generation of letters to parents/guardians
- Noting of unexplained absences, which automatically generates a warning email to the school office
The FreeMIS project aims to provide schools with a high quality alternative to the proprietary Management Information Systems that abound in schools in the UK and beyond.
We at the FreeMIS project believe that the best way to create a high quality MIS is to develop it as an Open Source project. This means that the system and the code from which it is built will always be freely available.
At present, FreeMIS only offers a subset of the functionality of a comprehensive MIS. Development is ongoing, however, and FreeMIS has stood the test of being used in a Scottish High School.
Becta has recently published a report highlighting the financial savings possible if schools move towards Open Source alternatives. FreeMIS aims to be part of the package that schools will adopt.
Enhancements:
- Added user/admin_edit screen to simplify administration
- Cleaned up xhtml
- Fixed bug #1497176
- Refactored code to make it more DRY
- Removed historic tables from old PHP version
- Improved admin screen to edit pupil sets
- Increased coverage of unit/functional tests
- Cleared up css for reports, and switched full reports to print on blank page, rather than having fancy hiding of navigation stuff for printing.
- Fixed bug that made reports vanish if pupil was dropped from a pupil set
- Put together all academic_year related details on one form for ease of administration
- Gave Heads of Faculties write access to all faculty reports