Ever have to move a program folder after an install then try to update the registry so that everything still worked correctly?  Or how about simply having to make the same changes to a whole bunch of text strings in the registry manually? I recently had to do the former, a program installer wanted to put the program folder into C:\, but I prefer to have my programs in C:\Program Files – thanks. Some programs require a path without spaces (therefore, it helps to put them in the root folder), but others are just so old that they install to C:\ by default. Moving the program folder from C:\ to C:\Program Files works to move the files, but the registry keys will continue to point to a folder in the root directory (and of course will prevent your programs from completely working).

To fix this you have to get adventurous and make edits to the registry. I found a solution to the slow process that is normally a standard part of finding and editing these entries. The program is called Registry Replace by Absolute Impulse. It allows you to do search and destroy string replacements similar to those you can perform with a standard text editor.

I’ve been a fan of trueSpace for years (I’ve been using it since version 2 hit the shelves!), the software from Caligari Corp is a medium to low end (cost wise) 3D modeling and rendering package that has an excellent feature set, is compatible with most industry standard file formats and is extensible through addons. I’ve used it both personally and professionally for various purposes. I just got an email from Caligari this morning stating that the latest version, tureSpace7.6, has been released to everyone for free! Not only that, but the training videos and manual are included as well! AWESOME!!

trueSpace may be daunting for those who are not familiar with it’s user interface, but once you get used to how tools and tool bars are arranged, it becomes much more intuitive than you may originally think. Since I haven’t used a new version since trueSpace 5.5, looks like I’ve got some catching up to do. They’ve added tabbed interfaces for views so that you can switch between workspaces and multi-angled model views and a panel with library browser and settings tabs. One of the reasons I’ve stuck with version 5.5 for so long has been that it can import stl, igs and other industrial modeling files. I use these at work to render products that are in concept phases of production or that we can’t get samples of in time for photos we may need. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be supported under the new version. Guess I’ll have to keep digging to see if I can find out anything more about this.

I recently came across yet another free and open source software portal, this on is from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). A lot of good software listed on this site, stuff you wouldn’t normally get quickly by searching Google or SourceForge.net. One of the interesting pieces of web based management softwares I came across was SAHANA.

SAHANA runs on a LAMP/WAMP server and enables fast setup and web based management of disaster recovery networks. Features include a missing person registry, organization registry, request management system, camp registry, volunteer management, inventory management, and situation awareness. SAHANA has been used in several recent disasters for various applications. More can be found on its website.

Link
UNESCO Free & Open Source Software Portal