Computing Minimalists

It works, but it’s not what I use

2010-10-15T11:27:00.002-07:00

It works, but it’s not what I use

I must work harder: DSL at 150Mhz, 32Mb

2010-10-15T11:27:00.001-07:00

I must work harder: DSL at 150Mhz, 32Mb

You reap what you sow

2010-10-15T11:26:00.001-07:00

You reap what you sow

In two flavors: AntiX at 150Mhz, 32Mb

2010-10-15T11:14:00.000-07:00

In two flavors: AntiX at 150Mhz, 32Mb

Top DOS games

2010-09-16T12:51:00.001-07:00

PC Gaming really took off in the late 90s. Likewise PC gaming magazines really took off in the late 90s. This PC gaming boom is perhaps why my PC always felt underpowered for the games in magazines, or that I had to upgrade. PC gaming was generally more involving than consoles yet magazines seemed to focus on the newest games and also the most graphical-heavy FPS with "3D graphics". But why when 2D games had been pretty and in colour for at least a decade? I always felt I missed out on these games in effort to be a cool PC gamer. This PC gaming shift was to the detriment of deeper more involving games with greater longevity. So in my search for games which provide deep engrossing experiences I try to look at games first popular before the commercial shift in PC gaming.

Where was the PC games industry before 1995? DOS that's where! It just so happens Windows 95 became the standard as PC gaming industry became more commercialised. Although its not necessarily the reason for the commercialisation it is a handy historical dividing line. So for this post I am going to suggest some (roughly) DOS-era games available for the PC you might like to play. Don't feel tied to digging out your old copy of MS-DOS. DOSBox is the obvious choice in which to play these games if you're using a remotely modern computer.

Simcity
Warcraft 2
Command & Conquer
Lemmings
The Secret of Monkey Island (any SCUMM game Indiana Jones, Broken Sword etc.)
Ultima VIII
Caesar II
Grand Theft Auto
The Settlers II
The Oregon Trail
Worms
Civilization II
Sid Meier's Colonization
Railroad Tycoon
Transport Tycoon
Seven Kingdoms

Most of these had demos on coverdisks so in theory the demos should still be available floating around on the internet. Some have open-source clones but sometimes these clones use much more in resources.

Five distros for “slow” machines

2010-08-02T14:18:00.001-07:00

Five distros for “slow” machines

1996 is over

2010-07-17T14:11:00.000-07:00

As long as it works, keep using it

Ubuntu and bloat

2010-07-17T13:50:00.001-07:00

8.04 might be your best bet

Alternative desktops: Fvwm

2010-07-15T16:45:00.001-07:00

Alternative desktops: Fvwm

10 things that drive me crazy about current operating systems

2010-07-15T16:44:00.000-07:00

10 things that drive me crazy about current operating systems

10 things I hate about OS X

2010-06-26T08:55:00.000-07:00

10 things I hate about OS X;
10. Finder - limited, bloat (would rather use a43 or Xfe),
9. iPhoto - lock-in, bloat (would rather use Irfanview),
8. iTunes - lock-in, bloat (would rather use foobar2000),
7. Mail - bloat (would rather use i.Scribe or Claws),
6. Safari - okay but would rather use Firefox,
5. iChat - bloat (would rather use Miranda IM),
4. iWeb - limited,
3. TextEdit - bloat,
2. Preview - bloat (would rather use universal viewer)
1. The "eye-candy" desktop - bloat (would rather use JWM).
Some of these things are deliberately designed to be limited (i.e. aimed at consumers) and others have annoyances that I could learn to use properly but I'd rather just use another system.

Maximalism?

2010-04-28T11:26:00.000-07:00

A recent post and comments here made me question whether the philosophy I am supporting is better described as computer maximalism? I certainly disagree with lessism where functionality is reduced significantly.

Instant Messaging

2010-04-05T12:33:00.000-07:00

Move over iChat, Adium, Pidgin, Trillian, Windows Live/MSN Messenger and other bloatware. Miranda IM and Attym are here. What about Digsby though, more social networking protocols supported but less minimalist? And what about Empathy (UNIX-Like systems answer to windows-only Miranda) which supports more protocols than even Miranda?

SpriLinux

2010-04-02T12:26:00.000-07:00

Ubuntu + IceWM = SpriLinux

Be a Power User

2010-03-18T15:23:00.001-07:00

How to Be a Power User

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

"This 'users are idiots, and are confused by functionality' mentality of Gnome is a disease. If you think your users are idiots, only idiots will use it. I don't use Gnome, because in striving to be simple, it has long since reached the point where it simply doesn't do what I need it to do." - Linus Torvalds, 2005Power users accomplish many times what normal users accomplish more efficiently in less time. You don't have to have the latest most expensive equipment to work efficiently. Power user does not refer to users who consume lots of power or resources. It is only in the last decade that computer software with printed manuals have all but disappeared, and software has been designed to be as simple as possible. Knowledge of networking or programming is not necessary to be a power user!

Steps

Seriously consider using the command-line. You can still tweet, instant message, play mp3 (with mplayer), browse the web (with Lynx or Links2), p2p (amulecmd), torrent (rtorrent), image edit (ImageMagick), read feeds (raggle), chat (irssi), ofm (midnight commander), manage downloads (axel, wget) and everything else. Linux and BSD make it easy to use the command-line, whereas OS X and especially Windows don't. actionWindowsWindows Powershell,Mac OS X, Linux, BSD etc.list directorydirlsclear consoleclsclearcopy file(s)copycpmove file(s)movemvdelete file(s)delrmcreate directorymdmkdirremove directoryrdrm -rfchange current directorycdcdcurrent directorycd, chdirpwdsearchfindgrepconcatenatecatcatpermissionschmodchmoddisplay/output textechoechoadd usernet useradduser If you must use a GUI read on to the next step. But the efficiency advantages of the CLI are as follows.
- If you need to move all folders ending with "photos" this is easy in the command line but difficult and slow in a GUI.
- Command-line completion is also known as tab-completion and can speed things up.
- Pipe command-line output into other commands if needed.
- Shell aliases can be set in Linux.
Consider a tiling window manager (TWM). Most systems use floating window managers where windows aren't automatically aligned and can overlap one another. If you spend a lot of time moving, resizing, maximizing, minimizing, restoring and generally switching windows then a tiling window manager might be for you. A TWM presents multiple windows on one screen aligned in a tile formation. The following is the manifesto of Ion[1], a dynamic tiling window manager with tabs for each frame."So-called “modern desktop environments” converge on total unusability, and present-day mainstream graphical user interfaces in general are far less usable than they are praised to be. Usability simply does not equal low learning curve, and hiding system details from the user, as the Official Truth seems to be these days."KeyTilingfunctionAlt+knext tileAlt+jprevious tileAlt+spaceswitch layout
Ditch the mouse. Use the keyboard. Set up key bindings for everything, basic windows operation and browsing . Learn the key bindings. Familiarise yourself with them.KeyOperating systemfunctionWin+eOpens My Computer in Windows ExplorerWin+fFindWin+mMinimize all windowsWin+dToggle minimizeall windowsWin+rOpen run dialogCtrl+ASelect allCtrl+BBoldCtrl+OOpenCtrl+CCopyCtrl+XCutCtrl+VPasteCtrl+ZUndoCtrl+PgUpNext tabCtrl+PgDnPrevious tabAlt-tabSwitch open windowsAlt+F4Quit appAlt+F5Restore windowAlt+F7Move windowAlt+F8Resize windowAlt+F9Minimize windowAlt+F10Maximize current window.
- Use application keyboard shortcuts (Vimperator[2] and other Firefox add-ons are useful for this).KeyBrowser FunctionAlt+left arrowBackAlt+right arrowForwardAlt+homeHomeCtrl+LLocation/address barCtrl+kSearch barCtrl+TNew tabCtrl+WClose tabCtrl+PgUpPrevious tabCtrl+PgDnNext tabCtrl+RRefreshCtrl+uView source
Write scripts. You won't become a programmer but scripts help automating common repetitive tasks. In Windows they're sometimes called batch files.
- If you need to copy photos until you reach a certain number of megabytes, a script is needed.
- Use browser scripts. Greasemonkey, iMacros and Chickenfoot. Opera supports user javascript.
Use an Orthodox File Manager (OFM). Also known as Commander-like, Midnight Commander is one for command-line users. Learn the keyboard shortcuts[3].KeyOFM FunctionF1helpF2user menu/scriptingF3viewF4editF5copyF6moveF7new directoryF8deleteF9top menuF10quit
If you don't want to ditch the mouse, use mouse gestures. Strokeit (Windows), Opera (Cross platform), gMote (Windows), Easystroke (Linux), Mouse Gestures Redox (Firefox) are all applications.
Turn off any eye-candy that might slow you down.
Choose appropriate software. Don't just use the bundled software just because its bundled, unless its a conscious decision.
- Choose a web browser, don't just use the bundled one because its bundled.
- Organize your audio and images with appropriate software designed for this purpose.
- Don't use a word-processor where a decent plain text editor will do. Use Regular Expressions.
- For chat use IRC.
Use a job scheduler for regular tasks. In Windows use Task Manager, in Mac OS X use launchd, in Linux/BSD use cron/anacron.
Power users in word processing use styles (or even Latex).

Tips

Have user accounts. Especially if there are multiple users, but even if you're the only user of a particular computer its better to run as limited user instead of root/Administrator most of the time.
Use feeds (RSS/Atom) to receive web updates. Its quicker than visiting multiple websites.

Warnings

Many myths exist about performance[4] including;
- defragging,
- turning off services,
- registry cleaning,
- memory optimization software tools.

Related wikiHows

Sources and Citations

↑ http://modeemi.fi/~tuomov/ion/

↑ http://lifehacker.com/software/firefox/bring-vim+like-navigation-to-firefox-252695.php

↑ http://www.krusader.org/handbook/key_bindings.html

↑ http://lifehacker.com/5033518/debunking-common-windows-performance-tweaking-myths

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Be a Power User. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

A bare minimum

2010-03-01T15:01:00.000-08:00

A bare minimum

Command-line chicanery

2010-03-01T13:29:00.001-08:00

I never thought the day would come but here are a few command-line links.

http://blog.pjvenda.net/2007/05/using-linux-without-x.html

http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2007/05/21/a-day-without-x/

http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2007/05/17/more-terminal-programs-you-should-be-using-like-a-pro/

I was particularly impressed by twin.

Help me I think I'm converting to command-line!!!

Meet the Techno Luddites

2010-02-27T07:11:00.000-08:00

Meet the Techno Luddites

Floppy Office is now Tiny USB office

2010-02-20T09:10:00.000-08:00

Floppy Office has now been changed to Tiny USB office. Old versions of Floppy Office are still available.

A43

2010-02-08T12:47:00.000-08:00

I wish there was something like A43 for other platforms.

Universal Viewer

2010-02-08T12:46:00.000-08:00

I wish there was something like Universal Viewer (formerly ATViewer) for other platforms.

Pinta GTK

2010-02-08T11:43:00.000-08:00

Pinta - raster graphics editor

Introducing Pinta, a Gtk+ Clone of Paint.NET

Nathive

KolibriOS

2010-02-08T11:42:00.000-08:00

Kolibri: 1.44Mb of cute « Motho ke motho ka botho

Streamling Mac OS X with small apps

2010-02-04T13:35:00.000-08:00

Streamlining Mac OS X with small apps in 2010

Best small raster graphics editor
Seashore
Pinta
Nathive

Best small web browser
Links 2
Dillo
Arora

Best small text editor
Geany
gEdit
Editra

Best small office suite
SIAG Office
Papyrus Office

Best small e-mail client
i.Scribe
Sylpheed
Claws Mail

Best small word processors
Ted
Pathetic Writer
Abiword

Best small spreadsheet
SIAG

Best small finance management
Money Manager Ex

Best small instant messenger
PixaMSN
aMSN

Best small PDF reader
Foxit

Best small image organisers
Cornice
GQview
Xnview
imgv
imgSeek

Best small raster graphics editors
mtPaint
xPaint

Best small diagramming application
Dia

Best small video player
mPlayer?
Xine

Best small archiving and compression
7-Zip
PeaZip

Best small disc authoring
Burn

Best small audio players
Zinf
XMMS

Best small music/iPod managers
Yamipod
gtkpod

Best small torrent software
Transmission

Best small P2P
aMule
gtk-Gnutella

Best small file manager
KFM?
Xfe
Xfile
PCManFM
ROX-filer

Best small orthodox file manager
Gnome commander
Krusader
Double Commander
muCommander
emelFM2
Worker
Disk Order

Best small desktops
Blackbox
Fluxbox
IceWM

Best guerilla wiki
TiddlyWiki
DidiWiki

Best small personal organisers
Anxiety

Best small Project Management
GANTT Project

Best small notetaking software
Wikidpad

Best small video editor
AviDemux

Puppy Linux June Testimonial

2009-06-21T08:02:00.000-07:00

"You see, since I got my first PC back in 1998 I've been a straight Windows user. Ten years ago Linux was much more exotic than it is now, and of course Win98 was the hot stuff. It would crash every now and then, but the worst thing I risked was losing my game-saves. I kept my first PC for seven years, and hell, that was a great machine. It would perform reasonably well even in 2005 (reasonably - it would manage to handle Quake 3, high detail settings and all, it would play movies and do quite a lot of cool stuff). ... " - Puppy Linux Discussion Forum :: View topic - Linux ups and downs

Puppy Linux Discussion Forum :: View topic - Suggestions for the 6 lightest/fastest puplets??

Windows 7 hits a new low

2009-06-21T07:58:00.000-07:00

Windows 7 on a Pentium II (266MHz) with 96Mb RAM.

Goodbye Windows 98

2009-05-15T11:59:00.000-07:00

Did something happen in Autumn 2008 to the Win98 community?

Slitaz Linux review

2009-04-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

Slitaz Linux review with pictures here

Packard Bell 75MHz 8Mb RAM

2009-03-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

A topic has been posted at Ubuntu Forums about a Packard Bell running at 75MHz with 8Mb RAM.

Tiny Core Linux in action

2009-03-29T15:22:00.000-07:00

Computing minimalism part 3: Armageddon

2009-03-26T12:04:00.001-07:00

By Greg Hill

Only the brave may wish to enter here -the final lesson of computing minimalism - as we take things past the "moderate" level. Hopefully you have already seen the need to reduce the bloat on your PC and perhaps you're already enjoying the benefits of having lighter, user friendly software. This chapter is for those who have had their curiosity tweaked and want to see how far they can take this experiment.
Most users will probably prefer to read this section out of interest and consider later if they want to try the software suggested.

But let's take a moment to ponder one last reminder of the problems with bloated, proprietary software. Have you ever owned an iPod? If so, you almost certainly used iTunes to change the music on your pod. It's just as well you did, because if you ever tried to use any other software, or even just the Windows file system, you would have had problems. iTunes actually scrambles the names of your music folders so that you cannot use " My Computer" to change your music! That's right, you paid for the iTunes licence when you bought your iPod, and you are thanked for it by purposely being inconvenienced and forced to do things the way Apple want.

It's worth re-reading and pondering that previous paragraph again - it really does sum up the problems with popular software. Luckily, other programmers have come up with alternatives to iTunes such as this, this or this. These programmes allow you to change your music simply by dragging and dropping. Unlike iTunes, these applications are small, quick, unobtrusive and free. The choice is yours: pay Apple to have your time wasted, or have these programmers use their time to help you for free. You might want to send the latter a few dollars as a thank you.

Now let us proceed with our final experiment. Firstly, if you've come this far it's time to seriously consider switching to GNU Linux if you have not done so already. It might seem a scary prospect but it doesn't have to be. You can test GNU Linux without having to make a single change to your current PC setup. All you need to do is download a live CD. A live CD runs the whole system from the CD for you to try. Once you're done, simply reset the PC and your computer is exactly the way it was before. Bear in mind, of course, a live CD will be a lot slower than the same software would be once it's installed on your hard drive.

You also have the choice of a "dual boot", meaning you can install GNU Linux on your PC whilst keeping Windows. When your PC boots up, it will ask you which Operating System you wish to load.

Because Linux is free, open source software (you remember those terms from last time, right?) there have been a whole slew of different versions released. The most popular is Ubuntu. Ubuntu standard version comes with openoffice.org and all other software most people will need for day to day working. Ubuntu is faster and more stable than Windows, yet is actually one of the slowest versions of GNU Linux.

Another popular choice is Puppy Linux. I must confess I love Puppy Linux. PL is frequently used as a live CD. It runs like lightening because it can load its entire system into your RAM. That's right, the memory that your PC usually uses for running different takes that you start and stop can actually handle the entire Puppy Linux system. What this means for you- unless your PC is a fossil - is that PL will run so fast, you will sometimes not have removed your finger from the button before your task is completed. Go ahead, download one of the many versions of Puppy Linux (I use boxpup myself) and give it a try. It's user friendly, straightforward, fun and as mentioned, can be used as a live CD so no changes need to be made to your computer.

Puppy doesn't have open office but it does have Abiword , a spread sheet programme and a web browser ( which browser varies depending on which version of PL you download). Oh yeh, it's also free as in 'beer' and 'speech'.

Now I'm going to give you my final list of software suggestions. I'm also going to introduce you to something called a console application.

A console application is basically a programme without graphics. Usually the user must type a command that will start up a programme that uses only words, not pictures. Windows users may remember the old days of MS DOS and GNU Linux users will be familiar the same interface, known in Linux as "the terminal".

I know what you're thinking: why in the hell would anybody want to do that? Isn't that just living in the past? We've got graphical programmes to do the same stuff, why on earth would I want to bother typing commands into a blank screen when I can click a mouse on an icon?!

There are two answers to this. The first one is best illustrated with a practical example: as I type this, I'm running four console applications; a word processor that I'm typing this article with, an audio player, a bittorrent client and a system monitor. A system monitor is a programme to tell me what applications are running on my system, what they are doing, how much RAM they are using and how much CPU power they are using.

My bittorrent client is very busy, it is downloading four files and sharing eight. In total there are about 30 kbs going in and out. Yet, a look at my monitor shows that the software is using just 2.7% of my RAM (which is one gigabyte in total) and less than 1% of my CPU power. My audio player is using 2% of my RAM and a whopping three percent of my CPU. My word processor weights in at 0.2% of my RAM and 0.1% of CPU and the system monitor itself is almost the same.

In other words, I'm running four programmes - each doing an important job - at well under 100 megabytes of RAM. And there are no sacrifices here, all the software does its job just as well as graphical software, and in many cases, even better.

The second reason is simple. Using typed commands may seem scary but it's really not. Most console software can be operated with just one or two commands and a couple of keyboard shortcuts. By using typed commands, we strip away one of the "barriers' between user and PC. Naturally, we learn a bit more by doing this. You know the old saying: "knowledge is power". Console apps teach us a bit more about how our computers work.

So I may suggest several console applications in my forthcoming list here, but by no means only console apps. Let's crack on:

Office suites:

By their nature, office suites need a graphical environment to run. The trick to a lightweight office is to ensure each application is integrated with the others. In practical terms, it means that each programme should run and "feel" similar to the others. MS Office attempts to do this but because each application is loaded with excess "features" it is impossible

If you're a Windows user looking for a truly lightweight suite. I hear good things about Softmaker Office though I have never used it myself. The Softmaker Office is freeware, and the download is 24 megabytes, twenty times smaller than MS Office.

Users of Linux could use Siag Office, an office suite of just 1.5 megabytes to download. In fairness though, Siag requires other applications to be installed to run and a little technical knowledge to get running. In real terms, you need about 20 megs to run Siag. Softmaker is also Linux compatible.

Word Processors:

In addition to the aforementioned suites, we have Wordgrinder, the console application I am using right now. Wordgrinder is extremely simple and does not feature font choices, etc. At present it lacks even a spell checker (I've written to the programmer to say thanks and also plead with him to add a checker one day). What it does do is let the user type..... and type..... and type without intrusion or annoyance. WG is free as in 'speech' and 'beer' and available for Linux and Windows.

If you need a spell checker, you can do as I do, type in Wordgrinder and spell check online or use a text editor with a spell checker, such as Jed (also a console app, also free in both senses).

Bittorrent clients:

Windows users have Utorrent. There simply is no need to use anything else. Utorrent is free beer, graphical, user friendly and highly featured.

Linux users can use one of my favourite apps: rtorrent. rtorrent is a console app that does its job brilliantly. It's free in both ways and you can read a tutorial here. There are also graphical apps available for GNU Linux but I can't bring myself to recommend anything apart from rtorrent.

Audio:

Like to listen to music while you work? Windows users have Zinf. Zinf is based on freeamp, it hasn't been updated for a while but remember what we learned in lesson one: newer software is not always better software.

Windows and GNU L users also have the excellent MPlayer as a choice. Both apps are free in both senses.

Both of these applications may require an extra download a small amount of technical tinkering. This is the price we pay to get our PC working at its best. In all honesty, Windows users may want to stick with the straightforward and excellent Foobar 2000 I mentioned last time.

In the way of Console apps for GNU Linux, MOCP is the most popular choice though I enjoy Orpheus. Works like a charm.

Multimedia:

Windows users have Fusion Media Player as a choice. If it requires too much effort, Media Player Classic that we looked at last week works very well and easily. Mplayer also plays multimedia. As a Linux user, I prefer Xine.

Web browsers:

The browsers we looked at last time - with my suggestion of Opera and Arora - are the only browsers I can suggest that are full featured. Browsers such as Dillo (Linux) and elinks (Linux or Windows) are lightweight and fast but cannot be used for pages such as Facebook. At least not yet, though Dillo is progressing.

CD Burning:

Basically, get rid of Nero now! It ranks alongside Itunes and Office in terms of over-sized, burdensome software.

To burn in Windows, Silent night can be used, though take note that it is proprietary.

To author a disc in GNU Linux, try cdw or XFBurn.

I don't use image editing software but I'm told GIMP - which is free in both senses and multi-platform - is catching up on Photoshop in terms of features. Gqview is a popular image viewer.

If you like to chat try aMSN (multi- platform, free both ways) or GNU Linux users can use the console app Irssi. With the latter you won't be able to see your friends' photos, but you already know who is hot and who isn't.

So that's the lot. Feel free to ask any questions or make further suggestions. If this all looks a bit intimidating, why not try just one new application a week or a month? Try a few Google searches; look for the ubiquitous user groups and help forums. Ask for ideas.

Don't get angry or annoyed if your new application doesn't work out for you immediately. Remember, a learning curb is healthy, it shows you are acquiring a new skill. Also remember, you can try out all the benefits of a fast system without any risk by downloading a GNU Linux live CD and running it from there.

Have fun!

Computing minimalism: try this software, be more productive part 2

2009-03-26T12:02:00.000-07:00

By Greg Hill

OK, so in part one we established what the problem is with popular software, why that problem exists and we established the benefits of taking the trouble to find a solution.

In this section I will try to guide the reader through the first baby steps towards that solution. The idea is to make you more productive in terms of work speed and, ergo, freeing up your time. That solution can be summed up in two words: "free software". Before we press on there are a couple of important points to make.

First, the term "free software" has two important and distinct meanings. "Free software" usually means "free" in the sense that it is non-proprietary. This means you are free to copy it for yourself or colleagues, free to distribute it and if you're feeling sharp, free to actually use the original code to improve the programme! This type of "free" is often called "free as in free speech" for clarity. 'Free speech' software can also be called "open source" , the difference in meaning is almost negligible.

The second type of "free" of course is "free of cost". This is usually referred to as "free as in beer". Even "free beer" programmes usually accept user contributions should you find the software useful, but it's entirely your choice. (One piece of software even requires the user to promise he or she will not take more than two airplane trips in one year). Software can be free in terms of both 'speech' and 'beer', or just one, or neither. If you are a typical computer user, it's likely that all your software is not free in either sense.

Secondly, I have established already that I do not believe you can ever be truly free or efficient when using Windows. But I accept that leaving Microsoft entirely is a big step that many people don't feel they can take yet. So I am bearing that in mind as I make my suggestions here.

Now, here are a few suggestions for users of Windows and / or GNU Linux for alternatives to popular software. The criteria for my choices here are simple. A perfect, short and sweet summary of what makes good software can be found here, but I will briefly recap.

Good software should do one job and do it well.

A music player plays music while I type. I don't need to browse musical web sites with that same software. My word processor that I'm using now does not enable me to embed a database in my document whilst autocreating forms for me with links to an HTML web design template. I don't need any of that. You get the idea.

Good software is unintrusive.

As I'm type, I'm downloading some music (legally, from jamendo.com ). My download manager is in the background and will stay there, with just a little five second message appearing in the corner to say when it's done. It doesn't pop up to ask me for "upgrades". It doesn't offer to link to other software, it doesn't use any advertising or ask for a monthly subscription. It gets the heck out of my way so I can work. Try doing that with Adobe PDF reader.

Good software is lean

You don't need to spend thirty minutes downloading bloated software just to read a PDF. It does not take 20 MB of ram just to type a letter to mum. An internet browser should not take twenty seconds just to process a basic web page. These problems occur because overpaid programmes purposely bundle their software with burdensome features for reasons we have already discussed.

Yes hard drives are getting bigger, but that does not mean we should waste the space anymore than you should put large, empty boxes on your front lawn just because you have a large garden.

Good software is easy to install and uninstall.

It's my computer. I will decide what goes in and out. Software has no more right to make its removal difficult anymore than a guest in your home has the right to refuse a polite request to leave.

I could go on but the previous link explains it all nicely, so take a quick read.

Enough waffle. Let's press on with a few basic alternatives. Don't worry if this is not minimalistic enough for you, I'm taking things one step at a time.

Office suites

Let's start with the easiest answer. To get good, free software for the office use OpenOffice.org That's the actual name of the software as well as its web address. Openoffice.org is free as in 'beer' and 'speech'. It does everything you need it to do. Its word processor can read and write Word documents, its spreadsheet programmer can read and write Excel files and so on. There's no excuse whatsoever not to use this software as an MS Office replacement. It's not exactly as lean as I would like but at least you have the freedom. Available for Windows and GNU/Linux.

Word processing

As well as the OpenOffice.org writer, there is a much leaner choice for Windows. It's called Jarte and you can see it here. Jarte is free as in 'beer'. It's small, it's quick and its interface is far more straightforward and user friendly than Word once you get past the tiny adjustment curb. I'm willing to bet that ninety percent of tasks you use your word processor for, you can do with Jarte at a fraction of the disk space and resource use. And yes, it can read and write .doc files.

Jarte is available only for Windows. A quick look at the website will see the case for minimalism explained once again, quite nicely.

Abiword is another alternative. Abiword sits somewhere between Word and Jarte for size and functionality. It is free as in 'speech' and 'beer' and is popular with Linux users, though it's multi-platform, meaning it can be used on any system. I use Abiword when I need a full featured word processor for my work. Yet again, it can read and write Word files.

If you're not sick of hearing about it yet, a good comparison of Abiword and Word is available here.

PDF File readers

Ever since PDF came into fashion, users have been baffled by the long start time of Adobe, agitated by the constant nag screens, confused by the amount of memory it uses and annoyedby requests for upgrades and massive internet downloads. There must be an alternative, right?

Yes there is: Foxit Reader. Free as in 'beer', lighting quick and tiny, Foxit Reader cannot edit or create PDF files, but how many users need to do that? (And if you do, there's other free software for you to use). Available for Windows and GNU Linux.

Audio

Unless you have been living in an alternate reality, you may have noticed that Windows Media Player is slow, bulky and tries hard to run your computer for you. Well, the alternative is Football 2000, which is one of my favourite pieces of software and one of the very few Windows only applications I miss.

Foobar can play virtually any audio file, it can create playlists, it can convert between formats, it can look up details of your audio CDs online, it can - only if you tell it to - edit the tags on your audio files (tags are the small files that tell you details such as the artist name, album title, genre type etc.) and organise your music library. The interface looks spartan and there may be a tiny learning curve, but in the long run it will save you time and makes organising your music fun again. The only thing it can't do - as far as I know - is bring up a picture of the album cover. Though a quick glance at the website suggests maybe now it can!

Foobar 2000 is freeware, meaning free as in 'beer' but not speech. Did I mention it's quick and extremely light on resources? :-)

Multimedia

Slightly tougher area here. Multimedia, by its nature, is not something that is easy for computers to handle without a lot of power. Still, remember that challenge I gave you last time? Think about your software nine years ago, what can it do now - with much bigger software - that it couldn't do back then?

To prove this point, we have Media Player Classic. MPC is based on the Windows Media Player of old but only aesthetically, the code behind it is totally independent as is the team of designers. Free in both senses, MPC can play virtually anything - including DVDs - and runs lean. It is Windows only.

On Linux, we have the even more efficient Xine Media Player or Mplayer. The latter is also available for Windows but you need to have a little computing knowledge to get it running.

Web browsers

There is a whole ton of choice in this area. Most rebellious users like to use Firefox. Personally I prefer to use Opera. There's simply no competition with the two 'big' browsers, Opera wins hands down in style, features, security, users friendliness, stability, choice and light resource use. No I don't get kickbacks for that, Opera is free as in 'beer' and multi-platform. It can even be used on mobile phones.

The adventurous may like to try a little known browser called Arora. Arora will be easy to use for anyone who has used Firefox. The only feature lacking in these early days is a system for remembering user-names and passwords. Still, it runs super light and should work well for anyone who has older hardware.

That's enough for our first experiment. Give these programmes a try and use them without fear. Mess around, have fun. They will not affect your existing software and are easy to install and remove. While you play around with them, try a little experiment: open up your task manager (Windows users press ctrl+alt+delete , Linux users all have their own way to do this) and make a comparison. Compare Jarte and Word, compare Windows Media Player and Foobar 2000 and so on. As long as your system is clean from viruses and spyware, the difference in speed and performance should be easy to see anyway.

I'll be back soon to take our experiment one step further for the willing. Meanwhile, if anyone has had their curiosity tweaked, the free software versus proprietary argument goes well beyond geek chat. It covers corporate behavior, ethics, philosophy on the rights of people and ideas about human development. A simple Google search will turn up many interesting resources, the GNU web site has many interesting articles ranging from FAQs to reasons why schools should use and benefit from free software. Finally, look out for a documentary called "Revolution OS". The introduction features one free software figure telling a Microsoft manager" "I'm your worst nightmare!".

Computing minimalism: try this software, be more productive Part 1

2009-03-26T11:58:00.000-07:00

By Greg Hill

What is computing minmalism? And why should you give a damn?

Oh OK, I may, just may, be a part time geek. But I have friends, a healthy love life and I have not played laser tag since I was a kid. So that's my disclaimer done.

Now, I'm going to try and persuade you to think differently about the way you use a computer. Even if (unlike me) you are a total non geek. Even if you couldn't care less about computers and use them because you have to, even if you don't go as far as I do with my methods, I hope to just change the way you approach the idea of computer use, very slightly.

Here's what I'm building up to - I believe that a lot of computer software we use today is bloated, clumsy and non-conducive to productivity. In other words: it's slowing you down.

"Word processing was a solved problem in 1984. By 1987 spreadsheets had all the functions a normal person would ever use. Databases took a little longer, but by 1990 that was sorted. An infant could have been born that day and by now would be almost of age to vote and we've seen no real improvement in productivity since."

That was a quote from Mikel Kirk that I think sums the situation up beautifully. Think about it - how many features on your office suite or your web browser do you use? How many of them were not available on the same program back in the year 2000? Unless you happen to be involved in Desk Top Publishing or database maintenance - or perhaps even then? - I'm willing to bet the answer is: "one or less".

And yet the software you used has become far bigger, far more hungry on your resources and most probably far more demanding of your attention. You don't have to think too hard to come with examples; Ipod users normally use Itunes, a program that not only uses an oceanic amount of memory just to load up, but also dominates the user's entire music collection. It will sort them, it will play them, it will allow you to search for information about that new band online. No need to use your brain, just use Itunes.

Microsoft Word users have an even greater pleasure. For the last five years or more, Word has given you the utmost pleasure of completing your work for you. You want a bullet list? It's done! You want to line up all those answers for the quiz? It's already done! What's that? You didn't actually want to do that? Oh well, you can always manually undo it all. Oh and don't forget to hunt down the "auto complete" menu and uncheck every box before it happens again.

OK, so sometimes we have problems, but it's all meant to be user friendly right? I mean, these extra features are designed for people who aren't familiar with computers and need help, no?

It would be nice to believe that, but in my cynical mind I can't help but think that such designs are utilised for another purpose; to make damn sure you stick with that proprietary software that you just installed. The less you question Itunes, the more likely you are to use it. The less choice you have over how you play music, the more often you see the Apple logo. The more often Itunes "helps" you organise your music collection, the more likely you are to visit the Itunes store.

You get the picture. Certain companies design the software this way not to help people who are unsure, but to "help" people who are stupid, because 'stupid" is how they think of you.

OK so maybe there's a problem, and maybe some of the software is big and clunky, but what does it matter? Computers are getting faster everyday and besides, everyone uses this software so what choice do we have?

Well on the first charge, the answer is not so clear cut. Remember that quote I gave you earlier, software is growing more bloated at the same rate as our PC's are becoming souped up. There seems little evidence and no guarantee that we humans are becoming more productive.

As for "why worry?" Well perhaps you shouldn't. If you can stand having your intelligence insulted and if you don't care about working at well under full productivity then maybe there's no problem.

For me though, it's matter of principle. I simply will not allow some lazy, overpaid programmers to use up a chunk of my RAM just to play an MP3. I simply cannot abide using a "word processor" that insists it knows better than me about what I want to do and lumbers me with 101 featuresthat 99% of us will never use. I will not surf the Internet with a browser than takes an age to start up and a lifetime to open a page simply because it's from Microsoft. I prefer to open my mind a little more rather than accept such nonsense.

I want applications that do one thing and do them well, whilst getting the hell out of my way when I want them to. That's what real productivity is.

But even if that doesn't matter to you, there is another factor: cost. The alternatives I will propose to you are either totally free of cost or much, much lower than the prices you pay from the fat cat companies for the overblown nonsense.

In my next blog on computing minimalism I will propose two solutions. For the shy user I will simply suggest a few pieces of alternative software that can easily be installed (and uninstalled) on Windows and tried out. After that, I'll take things a bit further and go into some really lightweight and efficient applications for GNU/Linux and maybe Windows too.

Peer to Peer - P2P

2009-03-06T12:46:00.000-08:00

aMule

gtk-Gnutella

File Managers and an image organizer

2009-03-02T15:20:00.000-08:00

Best file managers
XYplorer (Windows)
Xfe (Linux)

Also Xnview is out for Unix systems now.

Smallest Window Managers

2009-02-12T12:51:00.000-08:00

We have a new winner for smallest window manager - TinyWM!
And a neat comparison at the same site. Not including IceWM, JWM or FVWM, any stats on those appreciated!

Suckless Philosophy

2009-02-07T13:58:00.000-08:00

Home of wmii and dwm

Image Organisers

2009-02-07T07:56:00.000-08:00

(0.7Mb) GQview (Cross platform)
(1.0Mb) Fotoxx (Linux)
(3.4Mb) Xnview (Cross platform)
(1.1Mb) Irfanview (Windows)
(2.5Mb) imgv (Cross platform)
(?.?Mb) imgSeek (Cross platform)

Knoppix 6 uses LXDE

2009-02-06T15:02:00.001-08:00

Knoppix 6 has been released and has dropped KDE in favour of LXDE.

Installing software in Slitaz

2009-02-06T14:05:00.000-08:00

How to install software in Slitaz
1. Click on the XTerm icon at the top of the screen.
2. Type tazpkg recharge to update the list of packages.
3. Type tazpkg search to search for a package.
3. Type tazpkg get-install and the name of the software you want to install.
Slitaz uses packages with the extension .tazpkg. If the software you want isn't available download the source code then
1. Click on the XTerm icon at the top of the screen.
2. Type tazwok cook and the name of the software you want to compile (may take a while).

Examples
# get-flash-plugin ....... install flash plugin for firefox.

# tazpkg get-install abiword ....... install abiword

# tazpkg get-install gimp ....... install GIMP

# tazpkg get-install lame ........ lamp encoder for mp3 player.

# tazpkg get-install xine ........ Video player.

# tazpkg get-install kino ........ movie maker / player.

In every case the dependencies will be checked and if required will be installed

See the Tazpkg manual for more info.

How to shrink Windows 95 to 5.35Mb!

2009-01-25T06:04:00.001-08:00

how you can shrink the Win95 installation down to near 5Mb

Windows 3.1x refuseniks

2008-11-18T12:58:00.001-08:00

Windows 3.1x refuseniks.

8 Great Alternative Desktop Managers For Linux

2008-11-17T11:53:00.000-08:00

Most of the Linux users should be familiar with Gnome and KDE since both of them are the most commonly used desktop managers in the various Linux distros. Now, if you are using an old PC with low hardware specs, you might find that the above two desktop environments are too heavy for your computer to handle. More

Dual boot Win98 + Ubuntu 7.10

2008-10-27T13:59:00.000-07:00

Visual guide to installing Windows 98 and Ubuntu 7.10 minimal command line system for dual-booting with a PC Chips 'Book PC' with a 400 Mhz Celeron CPU with 64 Mb of RAM and a 20.0 GB hard drive. .

Linux.com review TinyMe

2008-10-15T13:29:00.000-07:00

Linux.com review TinyMe

Ubuntu GTK1.2 Remix

2008-10-02T15:44:00.000-07:00

Ubuntu GTK1.2 Remix is a revision of an Ubuntu 8.04 live CD that is intended to run on old, outdated hardware, with a target in the sub-300Mhz range.

It relies almost entirely on GTK1.2-based software, which means it should prove both fast and ugly in equal measures, on almost any i386 computer.

Ubuntu Dapper Drake on Pentium I machines

2008-10-02T15:34:00.000-07:00

XFCE Ubuntu 6.06.1 on 120Mhz Pentium 1 + 48Mb + 1.5Gb
Ubuntu 6.06.1 + 75Mhz Pentium + 64Mb + 1.5Gb + Openbox

Diet Ubuntu

2008-09-02T01:26:00.000-07:00

Diet Ubuntu by Stevey

Review of Ubuntulite

2008-08-27T02:11:00.000-07:00

Review of Ubuntulite with LXDE desktop environment. Not downloadable as a single .iso.

Lightweight Desktop tips from Inxsible

2008-08-25T14:53:00.000-07:00

Lightweight Desktop tips from Inxsible - just click on desktop applications and WMs on the right.

Damn Small Linux tips

2008-08-08T15:05:00.001-07:00

Adding Icons
1. Bring up the menu
2. Click Desktop
3. Click IconTool
To see an added icon
4. Bring up the menu
5. Click Window Manager
6. Click Restart

Set up wireless internet
1. Bring up the menu
2. Click System

Adding Users
1. Bring up the menu
2. Click System
3. Click AddUsers

Change user privileges

Intro to the desktop
http://bit.ly/17FbTv

Compared with Windows
http://bit.ly/3uyfsk

Remaster DSL
1. Open ATerminal
2. Type mkmydsl
http://bit.ly/10kDsK

ATerminal Commands
Copy "cp"
Delete "rm"
Move "mv"
Rename "mv"

Configure JWM (DSL 4)
Edit .jwmrc
http://bit.ly/PBHbx

Configure Fluxbox (DSL 1-3)

Configure Conky (the text you can see on the right of the desktop)
Edit .conkyrc
http://bit.ly/3Yvguo

Change the default window manager
Edit .xinitrc

Damn Small Linux Not
http://bit.ly/2d3t9Y

French Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or9GR4QfWCY

Music Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdbC9CubV68

My Fluxbuntu Adventure

2008-07-25T16:40:00.000-07:00

My Fluxbuntu adventure

Linux on old computers Forum

2008-07-25T16:18:00.000-07:00

Linux on old computers Forum Index

Linux Distribution testing - on old computers

2008-07-25T16:12:00.000-07:00

Linux Distribution testing - on old computers blog

Light Linux blog

IceBuntu

2008-07-25T16:03:00.000-07:00

IceBuntu Forums - Ubuntu with IceWM official forum

Linux Inside: The 'little' Linuxes

2008-07-19T16:26:00.000-07:00

Linux Inside: The 'little' Linuxes

by Gene Wilburn article from the year 2000

Linux on Compaq Armada 1130T

2008-07-19T16:25:00.000-07:00

Linux on Compaq Armada 1130T

Damn Small Linux on floppies

2008-07-19T13:04:00.001-07:00

Installing Damn Small Linux with only floppy disks.

Ian Fieggen on Windows 95

2008-07-17T14:15:00.000-07:00

Ian Fieggen discusses Computing Minimalism and how he set up his Windows 95 system and how he continues to apply those principles today.

Useful Software for Windows under 2Mb

2008-07-11T13:06:00.000-07:00

Useful Software for Windows under 2Mb courtesy of Emil Protalinski at MSFN.org.

ASCII Ribbon Campaign for plain text e-mails

2008-06-19T03:41:00.000-07:00

ASCII ribbon campaign - against rich text/html e-mails and proprietary attachments.

Damn Small Linux on a 486

2008-06-01T07:44:00.001-07:00

Damn Small Linux on a 486 running at 33Mhz with 16Mb RAM and surfing the web

Making Windows 98 smaller

2008-06-01T07:37:00.000-07:00

8Mb - Embedded 98
7Mb - Winimize Mindows
4.38Mb - Nano98

See also

Boot land Mindows

Is OpenOffice.org getting faster?

2008-05-28T11:51:00.000-07:00

Is OpenOffice.org getting faster?

XP on low-end systems

2008-05-19T04:41:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Windows XP on low-end systems with as little as 8Mhz CPU and 32Mb RAM (takes 30 minutes to boot)

Read comments here

XP-Free Zone

2008-05-12T12:54:00.000-07:00

The XP-Free Zone by Mark Lee published by Micromart in 2006 about Microsoft Windows other than Windows XP.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12

2008-04-26T14:44:00.000-07:00

RQMoney

The Cost of Modern Software Development

2008-04-24T15:26:00.000-07:00

The Cost of Modern Software Development
OSNews Comments

Windows 9x series

2008-04-24T15:21:00.000-07:00

Windows 9x series still enjoys support - and even fans.

2008-04-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

Best small web browser
(3.6Mb) Links 2 (Cross platform)

Links 2 supports graphics and Javascript and is very fast.

Revive an old PC with Linux - wikiHow

2008-03-16T16:18:00.000-07:00

Revive an old PC with Linux - wikiHow

How to Revive an old PC with Linux

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Have you got an old computer gathering dust in the attic? Did you know you can revive it with a modern Linux operating system? It can become a useful router/firewall, server or even desktop computer again. All without buying expensive Windows licences that are no longer even supported. Old limitations on file names, disk size, USB support in early Windows versions can even be overcome.

Steps

Consider what you want, a desktop computer, a server, or a router/firewall
Clean it with compressed air
Test your PC will turn on safely
Determine what your PC will boot from (in the BIOS or manual), old ones might not boot from USB, really old ones might not even boot from CD
If it won't boot from CD, download floppy boot images of Damn Small Linux and Puppy Linux (WakePup for Puppy Linux 1 and 2 series) and once extracted onto a floppy disk, insert them into your old PC
Download Damn Small Linux and Puppy Linux CDs (on a new PC if you have one) and burn them as images (with Infrarecorder or Nero)
Turn your old PC on if you haven't already and insert the CDs as soon as you can, if successful, you'll be greeted by a DSL or Puppy Linux boot screen for a few seconds (press a key quickly to interrupt the countdown if you like)
Unless you have valuable data on the old PC, consider creating a swap partition (with gParted or Ultimate Boot CD) if you have too little ram (less than 64Mb) to run the distros "live"
Read and consider carefully using cheat codes at boot (also called boot parameters) to run more from CD and use less RAM
Choose Xvesa rather than X.org framebuffer if you have display problems
Turn off ACPI or APM if you have problems
If you like Puppy Linux but 3 series is too slow, consider 2 series (Phoenix or 214R), or even 1 series (MeanPup or 109CE)
If you like Damn Small Linux, also consider Damn Small Linux-Not (with Abiword and Gnumeric) or Feather Linux (also derived from Knoppix).
If you have a serial mouse, test whether it is detected and works. If it doesn't, then additional configuration can be made with boot parameters/cheat codes
For dial-up modems, consider a hardware dial-up modem for maximum compatibility
Some gains in performance may be made, once installed to hard disk rather than running live
Also consider a "frugal installation" for performance gains

Tips

If you're adding applications, choose lightweight ones like SIAG Office rather than OpenOffice.org
Choose lightweight window managers like JWM, IceWM or Fluxbox rather than GNOME or KDE
Choose lightweight browsers like Opera or Dillo rather than Konqueror or Flock.
If you want something different and unusual with eye-candy, consider Enlightenment window manager which comes with eLive

Warnings

If power supply wires have broken do not use the PC
Puppy Linux runs as root

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Revive an old PC with Linux. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Choice Puplets

2008-03-12T13:05:00.002-07:00

Dragon Puppy
eBoxPup (and MiniPup)
ecoPup
Fire Hydrant
117Mb-JWM
131Mb-Featherweight
205Mb-Abiword
270Mb-OpenOffice
447Mb-Inferno
or here
FlightPup
IcePup (formerly known as FoxPup/LitePup)
Grafpup
Lighthouse Pup (+ optional KDE)
MeanPup
MiniPup
Minsys (codename Muppy)
NOP
Pupeee
PuppyPro
TeenPup
Tmxxine (Shard, Rainbow or Prism)
XPuppyPro

Updates and additions

2008-02-09T14:40:00.000-08:00

Best small raster graphics editor
(1.6Mb) Photofiltre (Windows/WINE/ReactOS)

Best small internet browser
(0.6Mb) Crazy Browser (Windows/WINE/ReactOS)
(2.3Mb) Netsurf (Linux)
(1Mb?) Skipstone (Linux)

Computing Minimalists

2008-01-03T09:10:00.000-08:00

For people who would rather wait seconds than minutes.

"While users expectations of computers have increased, computer programs have grown larger, or used larger amounts of system resources. Resources are perceived as cheap, and rapidity of coding and headline features for marketing are seen as priorities. Niklaus Wirth has summed up the situation in Wirth's Law*, which states that software speed is decreasing more quickly than hardware speed is increasing. Software gets slower faster than hardware gets faster." - Wikipedia. This should and can be avoided.

*Wirth himself says this quote belongs to Martin Reiser. So, perhaps it should be known as "Reiser's law".

"Word processing was a solved problem in 1984. By 1987 spreadsheets had all the functions a normal person would ever use. Databases took a little longer, but by 1990 that was sorted. An infant could have been born that day and by now would be almost of age to vote and we've seen no real improvement in productivity since." - Mikel Kirk

----
Best small office suite
(2Mb) Floppy Office (KPad, Spread32, Eve, PDF Producer) (Windows)
(2Mb) SIAG Office (SIAG spreadsheet, Pathetic Writer, Egon animator) (Linux)
(6Mb) Papyrus Office (Cross platform)

Best small internet browser
(0.5Mb) TheWorld Browser (Windows)
(1Mb) OffbyOne (Windows)
(0.3Mb) Dillo (Cross platform)
(5.2Mb) K-Meleon/K-Ninja (Windows)

Best small graphical operating system
(1.44Mb) KolibriOS (based on MenuetOS)
(50Mb) Damn Small Linux
(50Mb) MeanPup (based on Puppy Linux)
(23Mb) ReactOS (Windows compatible)
(11Mb) FreeDOS + OpenGEM complete

Best small e-mail client
(1Mb) i.Scribe (Cross platform)
(5.3Mb) Sylpheed (Cross platform)

Best small word processors
(0.3Mb) AEdit (Windows)
(5.2Mb) Abiword (Cross platform)

Best small spreadsheet
(0.9Mb) Sphygmic (Windows)
(0.4Mb) Spread32 (Windows)
(1.3Mb) Simple SpreadSheet (Linux)

Best small finance management
(2.1Mb) Money Manager Ex (Cross platform)

Best small instant messenger
(1.43Mb) Miranda IM (Windows)
(4.1Mb) aMSN (Cross platform)

Best small PDF reader
(1.7Mb) Xpdf (Linux)
(0.8Mb) Sumatra PDF (Windows)
(2.1Mb) Foxit (Cross platform)

Best small image organisers
(3.4Mb) Xnview (Cross platform)
(1.1Mb) Irfanview (Windows)
(2.5Mb) imgv (Cross platform)

Best small raster graphics editors
(4.7Mb) mtPaint (Cross platform)
(0.4Mb) Xpaint (Linux)

Best small diagramming application
(0.1Mb) Eve (Windows)
(12.2Mb) Dia (Cross platform)

Best small video player
(0.3Mb) Fusion Media Player

Best small archiving and compression
(0.8Mb) 7-Zip (Cross platform)
(2.9Mb) PeaZip (Cross platform)

Best small disc authoring
(1.8Mb) SilentNight Micro CD Burner 5 (Windows)
(1.5Mb) ImgBurn (Windows)

Best small audio players
(0.02Mb) Zinf (Cross platform)
(1.6Mb) foobar2000 (Windows)
(1.5Mb) XMMS (Linux)
(0.3Mb) XMPlay (Windows)

Best small torrent software
(0.2Mb) µTorrent (Windows)
(2.3Mb) Transmission (Linux, Mac)

Best small organisers
(1.2Mb) UK's Kalender (Windows)
(2.8Mb) EssentialPIM Free (Windows)

Best small Genealogy software
(0.2Mb) Simple Family Tree (Windows)

Best small file manager
(2Mb) Universal Viewer (Windows)

Best small desktops
(0.9Mb) Litestep (Windows)
(~6Mb?) Blackbox (Cross platform)

Best guerilla wiki (Cross platform)
(0.2Mb) TiddlyWiki
(0.02Mb) DidiWiki

Best small Project Management
(2.94Mb) FusionDesk (Windows)
(9Mb) GANTT Project (Cross platform)

Best small notetaking software
(1.6Mb) Keynote