Free guru software for linux

GNU Midnight Commander is a user-friendly yet powerful file manager and visual shell, useful to novice and guru alike. It provides a clear, user-friendly, and somewhat protected interface to a Unix system while making many frequent file operations more efficient and preserving the full power of the command prompt. After some practice, you will wonder how you could ever live without it.
Being a text mode application, GNU Midnight Commander can be used locally or remotely, on the console or under X Window System. By using full screen space of the terminals, it provides an intuitive user interface to the operating system, aiming to be a useful tool for users with any level of experience, from a newbie to a guru.
GNU Midnight Commander used to support a GNOME interface, which was historically the first file manager for the GNOME project. This interface is no longer part of GNU Midnight Commander.
GNU Midnight Commander runs on POSIX (Unix-like) operating systems, such as GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, Solaris, HP-UX and others. It can also be compiled under Cygwin on Windows.
GNU Midnight Commander uses GNU Autoconf which should automatically configure it for every Unix clone. Following configurations have been tested in the past (this list is very old):
- i386-*-linux1.x, 2.x
- alpha-linux-linux2
- sparc-linux-linux2.x
- sparc64-linux-linux2.1
- mips-sgi-irix5.x, 6.x
- mips-dec-ultrix4.3
- rs6000-ibm-aix3.2.5
- sparc-sun-sunos4.1
- sparc-sun-solaris2.3, 2.4, 2.5
- sparc-sun-netbsd1.0
- hppa-hp-hpux9
- hppa-hp-hpux7
- m68k-apple-aux
- unixware
- mc88110-aviion-dgux5.4R2.01
- i386-*-sco3.2v4.2
- i386-*-sco3.2v5
Because GNU Midnight Commander is a full screen program it doesnt run on dummy terminals but anything more advanced will do (like vt100). If your terminal works with vi, emacs, elm or pine it will work with GNU Midnight Commander.

Horgand is a jack capable organ client with presets and some effects incorporated.

Horgand generates the sound in real time like a FM synthesizer. Due this, you can change the frequency of all the drawars and add some special effects.

This is my fist DSP program attempt, my first jack client, and my first attempt to produce any sound, and im not programmer. THIS PROGRAM COMES WITH NO WARRANTY, and sure have tones of bugs.

Horgand is a organ ... generates sound like a FM sinthesizer in real time, good reason for use a fast computer, there are many others programs who emulate a organ and sure their sound is better, but i program what i need, and just for fun.

You can modify the frequency of all "drawars" and use the "effects".

Im not a DSP "guru" and belive me, i will never be. Sure Horgand has many "noises", but ... i remember old organs ... they have many "noises" too.

Packer is a tool that helps in the creation of packages.
Packages are a great convenience for gurus and new users alike. Thus, users may be less inclined to use software that is not packaged.
This is unfortunate for GNU/Linux software developers since packaging software is a huge pain, especially given the huge variety of packaging formats.
Packer helps to automate this process. Using a text-based wizard, packer can collect all the information regarding a program needed to create a package.
Then, a simple command is all it takes to create a debian directory (used to build debian packages), RPM SPEC files (for Mandriva, SuSE, and Fedora/Red Hat), and autopackages spec files (autopackage is a system for creating distribution-neutral installers with dependency handling).
These files are of a similar quality to hand-crafted ones. Packer can also automatically build the packages themselves if requested.
Usage:
Running packer with no options will start the packer wizard. It will populate the packer directory based on your answers to the its questions.
It is always possible to relaunch the wizard to make modifications to the package if there were problems with the information originally entered or if a new version of the program being packaged is released.
Running packer with options will create binary and source packages from the information in the packer directory. You may call packer -h to find out the availible options.
Enhancements:
- Removed dependency on dynamic content on packages.debian.org (ie it works again)

Kukkaisvoima is a lightweight weblog system licensed under GNU GPL version 2. The project is made with Python programming language.
It stores all blog entries as plain text files so you can easily write and edit those with your favorite editor. Motivation for Kukkaisvoima was to do simple everything in one package weblog with Python.
Main features:
- Multiple categories for one entry
- No external dependencies outside Pythons standard library (no need for database engine etc.)
- Comments
- RSS feed for all entries and for every category
Install instructions:
After downloading the latest version of Kukkaisvoima. Move the package to your webdirectory and do the following steps:
tar xvfz kukkaisvoima-(versionnumber).tar.gz
cd kukkaisvoima-(versionnumber)
chmod +x index.cgi
mkdir temp
You may need to modify the index.cgi script suffix (change .cgi to .py) or use different permissions for the index.cgi script or for the temp directory. Temp directory should be writable by the script. For more information and help consult your webserver manual or local Python/Unix guru.
Configuring and using:
Edit the Config variables found in kukkaisvoima_settings.py. After configuring you can write blog entries as html formatted text files in directory specified in config file. Kukkaisvoima will generate the blog from these entries. Every entry must be in the format of
nameoftheantry:YYYY-MM-DD:category1,category2.txt
For example:
helloworld:2006-12-28:general.txt
As seen in the example entry can have multiple categories separeted with comma.
Enhancements:
- This release introduced a spam question to prevent spam comments and an admin interface for deleting comments.

Harvs Hamshack Hack is a remaster of the KNOPPIX distro for Amateur Radio Operators (Hams).

This project is directed primarily at Amateur Radio enthusiasts (Hams) who have no prior experience with LINUX. Hopefully, experienced LINUX users (perhaps, even a "guru" or two) will give it a spin and offer corrections and suggestions for improvement ... in fact, they are obligated to do so!

The CD contains a complete LINUX-Knoppix operating system and enough software to accomplish the usual tasks we all perform daily from our homes ... web browsing, email, letter writing, etc.

In addition, there is a huge library of programs for our Amateur Radio hobby.

The Hamshack Hack is a "Live CD". As a "Live CD" system, no installation to your machines hard drive is necessary. The whole package will run off the CD by building a "ram disk" in your machines memory. As soon as you re-boot your machine, the LINUX system vaporizes and youll be back with whatever system is installed on your hard drive.

To obtain your very own copy of the "the Hack", you must download the "hamshack.iso" image file and then, using your favorite CD burner (I use K3B on Linux, or Nero on Windows), burn the image to a CD. Pick the "Burn CD Image" option, else youll end up with just another copy of the .iso file. Then, when the smoke clears, youll boot your machine with this new CD.

Module::Install::Philosophy Perl module contains the concepts behind Module::Install.

SYNOPSIS

This document describes the personal philosophy behind the creation of CPAN::MakeMaker (the predecessor of Module::Install). The views expressed here belong to Brian Ingerson; if they are not of interest to you, you can safely ignore this document.

The above is obviously a mutation of the monumental speech by great Martin Luther King (http://web66.coled.umn.edu/new/MLK/MLK.html). While the contexts are vastly different, I feel that there are some serious parallelisms.
The CPAN has become a place that is not free of injustice. This situation has arisen not out of directed oppression, but from a failure of our community to keep its tools sharp. It is the culmination of many small decisions made in the name of practicality. This is a sad state for an institution that was created to allow all interested people to contribute equally to the best of their ability.

This assertion is rooted in my personal experience as an author. When I created my first Perl module, Inline.pm, I knew that I had done something important. But how was I to make a dent in vast Perl community?

As a complete unknown in the Perl community, my voice did not travel far. I repeatedly tried to get even an acknowledgment from the gurus familiar with XS. No success. I resorted to sending messages with ridiculous subjects to modules@perl.org. (http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/modules/2000-08/msg00078.html) No response. Through sheer determination and shameless self-promotion I eventually got the word out, and I hope the world is a slightly better place for it.
Since then, Inline has won awards and I have had the privilege to meet almost all of Perls finest. But I still remember the pain of starting out, and want to help invite more people into this wonderful world.

One thing I have learned from experience is that the Perl community (and throw in the Python and Ruby people as well) is a small drop in the vast ocean of programming. Its a giant pot of Java out there; and a sea of C. Perl may not be the biggest fish, but with some care and cunning we could become a much bigger school.

These are the current problems that I see with CPAN and the core modules:

New Modules dont help Older Perls
If I were to guess what percent of all Perl5 installations were at the current release level (5.8.0 in October 2002) I would say 3-5%. That may even be generous. Id say that over 40% of installations might still be at 5.005 or earlier.
The biggest problem with adding a module to the core is that it only helps a small subset of Perl users for a long long time. Worse yet, a good module author will still probably avoid using the core additions as prerequisites, because they want their new module to work as well on 5.005 as on 5.8.
CPAN::MakeMaker should be able to help in this regard. For example, instead of putting Inline.pm into the core for 5.9, I can now effectively get it into the core for every version of Perl that Inline supports.
Author Exclusiveness
Not just anybody can get a module into the core. It seems you have to know people in high places. If I were a brilliant new talent with a great new module, it would have a harder time getting the ear of the pumpking, then if I were, say, Damian Conway. In fact, I probably wouldnt even know where to start.
Reduced Competition
One comment Ive heard from some very good Perl programmers is "Everything important has already been done". Their feeling is that even though a module is suboptimal, it would be a waste of time to write a competing module. Who would use it instead of the one already in the core?
When I write a competing module, I know that I have to make it at least twice as good as the existing one to even get noticed. Thats not a bad thing, but should everybody be forced into that situation?
For example, lets say that you have created a really useful CGI script. Lets also say that it makes use of your own CGI::Special module, because CGI.pm doesnt meet your needs. Even though your script might be generally useful and worth sharing, the fact that it requires a non-standard module can only negatively affect its acceptance. Trying to get general acceptance for the superior CGI::Special module will be harder still.
Core modules are assumed by the general public to be "Best of Breed". While this may be true for some modules at some point in time, it keeps talented people from attempting to "breed" something better.
Core Bloat
Every time we add a module to the core it gets bigger and bigger. And we cant ever remove modules from the core, once theyve been added.
If I had my druthers, wed remove all modules from the core that werent necessary for either running Perl or installing modules. Of course, wed need to set things up so that installing modules was so easy, that it could be done on the fly if necessary. Is this easily accomplishable? Nope. Is it impossible? Nope. We have the best language in the world to help us do it!
Maintenance Bitrot
Believe it or not, Perl authors can sometimes acquire a "Life Beyond Perl". They get families or new hobbies or even hit by a bus. (This would be a "Death Beyond Perl".) The fact is, that once somebody writes a piece of code and shares it with the world, they are expected to maintain it for all time.
That is being generous. There are others that think that once their module has become popular or made it into the core, they dont need to keep fixing and improving it. I have personally been guilty of this sin.
And then theres the Damian Conway Effect. This plagues the exceptional authors who are so innovative and prolific they simply dont have time to maintain everything they have written.

I initially formalized these opinions at the YAPC (Yet Another Perl Conference) in June 2001. Since then I have been trying to think of technological solutions to fix these social problems.

One idea was dubbed NAPC. NAPC is CPAN backwards. It is a large system of precompiled modules that can be installed on the fly, with the goal of reducing the number of modules in the core. NAPC hasnt got started yet. Id still like to do it someday, but its a big problem with a lot of issues.

CPAN::MakeMaker (and now Module::Install) on the other hand, is simple and ultimately flexible. It should work with all of the existing CPAN processes without requiring any changes from them. And new features can be continuously added. Even though it doesnt scratch all of my philosophical CPAN itches, its a good start.

PHLAK is a modular live security Linux distribution. PHLAK comes with two light guis (fluxbox and XFCE4), many security tools, and a spiral notebook full of security documentation. PHLAK is a derivative of Morphix, created by Alex de Landgraaf.

The story begins with two coffee drinkers from Longview, Texas. James Hartman and Shawn Hawkins were like any other Linux users, hitting Slashdot in the morning, researching numerous open source repositories, and experimenting with interesting projects.

Always security minded, the two developers started looking at live security distributions. Never being completely satisfied with existing projects, the two started on a mission to create the most complete live security Linux distribution.

So began the research. Instead of starting from scratch they decided to look at some of the other preexisting live CD distibution, finally settling on Morphix due to its modularity. After three months of development the initial version was released. Two moths later 0.2 was released with all fifteen pieces of flair.

PHLAK is designed as the security professionals tool kit. It is not meant to turn the unexperienced into a security guru overnight. However, anyone with the desire can learn from the included tools and documentation.

Like any good tool, PHLAK can be used by Sith or Jedi alike. Included in the distribution are all the mainstream tools such as: nmap, nessus, snort, the coronors toolkit, ethereal, and several other security packages.

Some of the other lesser known, yet equally effective, tools include: hping2, proxychains, lczroex, ettercap, kismet, hunt, achilies, brutus, and many others. Make no mistake, this is a real Linux distribution including many common services such as apache, mysql, ssh, iptables, and most other services that are included on any other standard distribution.

To make things more user-friendly, PHLAK currently includes two fast, light-weight window managers, XFCE4 (the default) and Fluxbox. From these window managers the user has easy access to the powerful documentation system. Currently included in the XFCE4 user interface are quick-start buttons to initiate services and different firewall settings for those who are command line impaired.

Remember that PHLAK is still in its infancy. It is constantly progressing towards the level the developers had originally envisioned. The future versions of PHLAK will better harness the modularity of its Morphix origin as well as increase its base of hardware support and detection.

The project team is dedicated to expanding and updating the PHLAK security arsenal as well as making it more available to a broader user base. They foresee it becoming the Professional Hackers Linux Assault Kit. Make no mistake, the Internet is an unfriendly environment. Arm yourself well.