The program is easy to set up, and basically all you need to do is write your password, username and the server you want to connect to. The interface is pretty basic but you can customize some of the settings to suit your preferences. In addition, Spark also has support for emoticons and avatars and you can also define the colors. There really are a number of settings that you can change here, much more so than other IM clients.

The conversation window is similar to those in some IM clients so if you have used one before, the learning curve should be easy. Spark has also added some useful options like letting you view logs, taking a screenshot, send files to another user and view information about the person you are chatting with.

Spark even lets you invite other users for a conference. The Buzz tool will alert a person so they know you want to chat with them, and there is also a spell checker.

Spark is aimed primarily at organizations and businesses but that doesn’t mean casual users cannot use it for chatting. If you are tired of the usual messengers found on the Internet you may want to give this a try.

Related Links:
Spark Official Website

Lyx has a lot features ranging from math and science to creating documents, tables, and graphics. You can import Word, RTF, html ASCII, PDF, LaTEX, Postscript and many more. You can also send a fax from within the program. Lyx supports change tracking and it can compare different document versions plus you can make virtual sticky notes, perfect when you want to jot something down quickly.

One of the program’s biggest strengths, however, is in it’s structured document creation. If you’re creating long complex documents you will find features like bibliography, index, references, and labels very useful. Of course standard features like spell checking, cut/paste, opening multiple documents, undo, redo revision tracking and thesaurus can all be found here as well.

If those features are not enough, Lyx has support for different text classes so you can type LinuxDoc, presentations, movie scripts books, articles, letters and more. In addition, text classes for sciences societies are supported as well. Speaking of science, you can enter equations via point and click and it has a powerful math formula editor as well. Algebra systems are supported as well as algorithms, customizable math macro, equation numbering, and arrays and a whole lot more.

While Lyx’s set of features may seem intimidating it really isn’t since its graphical user interface is very intuitive and the menus clearly show where the functions are.

Related Links:
Download Lyx
Lyx on YouTube

NASA World Wind is packed with a lot of features starting with Blue Marble, a stunning hi-res image of Earth, and finishing on being able to see the planet at a kilometer per pixel res. It also comes with Land Sat 7 that allows you to view terrains up close, and you can even use it to browse your own neighborhood or notable landmarks close by.

The program also comes with SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) and used in conjunction with Land Sat 7 gives you an awesome vista of the planet at eye level. With this feature you can fly in any direction and in any location on the planet. You will also find NASA SVS interesting as it showcases high quality animations explaining various natural phenomena, and then you can have World Wind play it.

MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) consists of different kinds of data that is regularly updated by NASA. Among the data that are updated are volcanic activities, fires, floods, dust, and other natural phenomena. This feature is updated daily and you can download them using this program. Apart from the fantastic images, NASA World Wind lets you get rainfall, temperature, cloud cover and other data from any city in the world.

Related Links:
Download NASA World Wind

It’s a sophisticated program, capable of modeling human figures, creatures, vehicles, and so on. The program uses a graphical interface instead of icons. You use the keyboard and mouse to change an object’s geometry. Four selection modes are available: Body, Face, Edge and Vertex. Make no mistake about it; Wings 3D has a lot of tools. Each mode comes with its own set of modelers and editors. Its auto-UV feature makes adding textures easy.

There are a lot of mesh and selection tools plus lights, materials and colors. You can export objects as OBJ and other popular formats. Standard features include weld, cut, bridge, bevel, extrude and rotate among others. Advanced features include inset, shear, bend, intersect, circularize etc. You can use its Smooth Preview to assess your model. Other advanced tools like sculpt, tweak and Virtual Mirror are perfect for modeling symmetrical objects.

There are a lot of options, but you can configure its interface. You will find more commands with its right-click menus. Keep your cursor over the mouse over a menu, a brief explanation will pop up. It can import ndo, 3ds, ai, .lwo/.lxo, .obj and other popular formats. You can export to 3ds, ai, obj, pov and many others.

Wings 3D is available for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. It is continuously being updated. The software uses OpenGL for rendering. However you can export and render with YafRay, POV-Ray and other software.

Related Links:
Download Wings 3D
Wings 3D on SourceForge
Wings 3D on Facebook
Wings 3D on YouTube
Wings 3D Development Forum

With Tomboy you can easily organize and even branch off notes. You can also create links for those pages you made, and what’s even better is that the links stay intact even if you rearrange and rename your notes. In many cases changing names and reorganizing is unavoidable, so this is a really handy feature.

Using the program is also very easy as everything is just a mouse click away. All you need to do is click the Tomboy Panel applet and select any of the notes you made, and you can also use its search function to find older notes that you made before. Another handy feature is the Table of Contents as it shows all your notes in the order when you last changed them.

The versatility of Tomboy doesn’t end there though, because with it you no longer have to drag your applications around the desktop to find the website you added. As far as editing features go, it has many advanced features but you probably won’t need to make many adjustments as the basic set up works just fine. The interface of Tomboy is very streamlined so you can focus on just writing notes. In addition, the application offers.

Related Links:
Download Tomboy

The program also has its own tools for geometric analysis, graphics rendering (with ray trace support) and an interactive geometry editor. Because it has a lot of features, the program can be used for creating different types of graphics, and it can also be used for electromagnetic and ballistic analyses as well.

If you are familiar with CAD, this one should not be too difficult to learn. In fact it is easier to learn as the package contains all the utilities, tools, libraries you will need to manipulate files and data, ray trace and create objects.

What sets BRL CAD apart from other 3D modelers is that it relies on Constructive Solid Geometry instead of Boundary Representation. Because of this feature, the software is capable of simulating physical phenomena.

With this program you can make geometric models with customizable tools. To make things easier for you, its libraries each have a specific purpose like image handling, geometry ray tracing, editing, and creating and so on. The software also has plenty of utilities and tools for converting images, interrogation and geometric conversion.

There are many free CAD programs out there, but few are as comprehensive as this one. If you are looking for a solid well rounded 3D modeling software, this is a pretty good option.

Related Links:
BRL-CAD Official Website

Mathbuntu is packed with several software and textbooks to help you discover, learn or educate on mathematics. Sage is bundled in, as well as Maxima, a complete and free algebra system and also Geogebra, an interactive program devoted to algebra and geometry. Mathbuntu also includes R, a statistical program as well as Octave and Scilab, powerful and high end languages for numerical computations.

Apart from those programs, Mathbuntu also comes with LaTex, an open source program designed for preparing mathematical documents. In addition, it also has a text editor (gedit) that allows you to highlight LaTex syntax. If you do a lot of editing you will find Lyx, its built-in WYSWYG editor, very useful. Mathbuntu also comes with TeXworks and Texmaker, a tool that allows you to integrate and create documents.

While the emphasis is on mathematics, other kinds of software are included as well like Pidgin, an IM app that you can use to relay typeset mathematics, a calculator, and a versatile plotter so you can visualize 2D graphics. If you need to manipulate 3, 4 or 5 dimensional models, you can do so with K3DSurf.

With so many math programs bundled, it is unlikely that you will use them all, but there’s no doubt that you will find several of them useful. If you are a teacher or serious student of mathematics, this may be the only set of programs you will need.

Related Links:
Download Mathbuntu.

The key here is the program’s interface as it is very easy to understand and most importantly is customizable. If you have used other 3D programs before, the interface will look very familiar, with four windows displaying the side, front, back and camera views. Meanwhile, the Objects Property Panel and the Objects List are there to help you manage more complex scenes.

Art of Illusion comes with a complete set of tools for refining, manipulating, rendering and creating 3D objects. In addition, the Animation, Object and Scene provide a variety of controls and functions. What makes Art of Illusion so fun to use is that you can go on an object’s properties easily and once there you can edit everything from the light shining on the object, the lighting color, intensity, texture angle and more.

While the software may seem daunting to some, the help files are very extensive, as its tutorials guide you through the process of making an hourglass and other objects. Plus there is the fact the interface will feel very much the same for longtime 3D program users. Using basic geometric shapes, you’ll be able to build more complex and organic shapes. And best of all, it doesn’t just create 3D shapes but also animations as well.

Related Links:
Art of Illusion Official Website
Art of Illusion Forum

The default format used is OpenDocument but it is compatible with Microsoft Office. Calligra’s word processor, Words, has an extensive feature set and drag and drop support, and you can actually use it as a desktop publishing application. Sheets meanwhile has all the formulas and number crunching features you would expect from a classic spreadsheet. It is not the most powerful spreadsheet out there, but it is more than enough for regular office work.

Stage makes it easy to create slideshows, and it also has a nice overview feature that provides a summary of the info on the slide being shown. Unlike other office suites, Calligra has a full featured raster graphics editor in Krita which has a full complement of painting tools. Karbon is a very capable vector graphics program and using it is quite easy since all the tools are displayed neatly. Kexi, its database software, has many features that make it easy to implement and create a database.

Aside from the main applications Calligra Suite also comes with an e-book authoring application (Author), a mind mapping and note taking app (Braindump), and project management software (Plan). If you are looking for a comprehensive office suite that can perform all your daily tasks without costing a cent, Calligra is definitely worth a look.

Related Links:
Download Calligra Suite

If you use it to record on exiting material the program can perform latency compensation and it can monitor using hardware, and this feature allows you to apply plugins to Ardour and see the effects in real time. Its anything to anywhere routing allows for support of unlimited track, and you can also automate panning as well as plugin parameters.

Adour also has extensive editing capabilities such as time stretching, splitting and dragging, and it also comes with a beat detector and cross fade editor. There are no limits to its redo/undo, and you can use it for audio mastering too.

Furthermore, Ardour conforms to industry standards so there will be no compatibility problems when you run it. You can also import or export entire sessions or just parts of it, as it has a database manager built in. Other notable features include MIDI level machine control, no copy-protection and 32 bit floating point for the audio path.

This is just an overview of the things that you can do on Ardour. If you’re looking for a free powerful audio editor this is the one to get. It is powerful and as far as learning curves go it isn’t that steep either.

Related Links:
Downlaod Ardour