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Regular Opening Hours: Monday to Thursday (until further notice), 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed between 12 to 1 P.M.

School closures due to storms are announced on the following radio stations:  CJAD 800, MIX 96, CHOM 97.7 and on Global TV-Montreal

Tools that might come in handy.

Some times you may find yourself needing new versions of word processing software, or image editing tools for one reason or another. An assignment is due, and you or your parents haven't got the funds to purchase new software. All is not lost. There are high quality open source software packages available for free. All you have to do is download them. These are not shareware, nor are they pirate programs. They are legally available, free programs.

Most of the programs are actually available for all three platforms, Windows, Mac and Linux, the upstart Unix variant that is available freely for the same systems that run Windows and Mac.

These links open in a new window. The Kanehsatà:ke Education Center assumes no responsibilty for off-site links.

Not necessarily software, but useful nonetheless:

ALISON - Free online learning website proving hugely popular for ICT skills training

Free Interactive Learning, Skills Training for ECDL, ICDL, BCS Unit-E, BCS e-Citizen, ICT, Internet, Financial Literacy, Psychometric Testing, for staff, students and individuals.

http://alison.com/

Now, on to the software.

First for the Mac: Apple's X11
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/x11formacosx.html
(You'll need this for The GIMP and OpenOffice.org and other open source software on the Mac. Install this first. You need 10.3 through 10.3.9.)

Now, on to the main programs.

Writing

http://www.openoffice.org/
An Microsoft Office-like Office suite, includes database Access like software.

http://www.abisource.com/
Another Word processor program. Some people prefer this to Open Office. Both, by the way, open Word Perfect documents in addition to Microsoft Word documents.

http://www.celtx.com/
Script-writing software. Requires Firefox.

http://www.scribus.net/
Open Source Desktop Publishing for Linux, Mac OS® X and Windows. Similar to Quark and InDesign.

Audio

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems

http://www.ardour.org/
Ardour describes itself as "the new digital audio workstation". It features multitrack recording. You'll need JACK to run Ardour. Currently only available for Mac and Linux.

http://jackaudio.org/
Main site for JACK. JACK was designed from the ground up for professional audio work. Currently only available for Mac and Linux.

http://jackosx.com/
Mac OSX port of JACK.

Video Editing

http://www.jahshaka.org/
Jahshaka is available for all platforms. A serious video editing non-linear suite. Designed for editors and other professionals involved in digital content creation, Jahshaka is a post production suite that will ultimately include modules for video and audio editing, compositing, animation, visual effects, graphics and paint. Hardware accelerated using OpenGL and built using cross-platform technology, the software runs equally well on Windows, Mac OSX and Linux.

http://cinepaint.org
See CinePaint under Image Editing below.

Image Editing

http://www.gimp.org/
Photoshop clone. This has a somewhat steep learning curve, but then, so does Photoshop.

http://plasticbugs.com/index.php?p=241
Home of the GIMPShop fork of the GIMP. This version uses the menu structure of Adobe Photoshop rather than the GIMP's native menu structure.

http://cinepaint.org/
CinePaint can just as easily be placed in the video editing category because it has been used on such films as Titanic and Shrek to achieve digital effects. From the website:

"CinePaint is a collection of free open source software tools for deep paint manipulation and image processing. CinePaint is used for motion picture frame-by-frame retouching, dirt removal, wire rig removal, render repair, background plates, and 3d model textures. It's been used on many feature films, including The Last Samurai where it was used to add flying arrows. It's also being used by pro photographers who need greater color fidelity than is available in other tools."

Anti-Virus

http://www.markallan.co.uk/clamXav/
This one is for Mac only.

http://www.clamwin.com/
This is for Windows users.

Book Cataloging

http://books.aetherial.net/wordpress/
Mac only. Catalog your books, keep track of who borrows them.

Linux

If you want to try out Linux without installing it, several distributions have 'Live CDs' available. Here are just a few. These are all free to download.

http://ubuntulinux.org/
This South African based Linux is the only distribution that will send free CDs to anyone who asks. Ubuntu is very popular among new users.

http://kateos.org/
KateOS provides an Anti-virus program on their live CD in case your Windows installation is infected. They also have a regualr distribution.

http://www.pclinuxonline.com/
Texas based PCLinuxOS has made a lot of fans for their ease of use and hardware support. English only.

That's all for now. I hope you have found this list useful.