Which FreeBSD-compatible proprietary software would you buy?

I convert webpages to pdf in Firefox, by going to Print --> Destination --> then save/print as a PDF file.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but wkhtmltopdf is easier to work into a shell/perl/python script. It's a headless system, all it does is sit there and collect data all night, all day, every day. It only uses about 1 watt of electricity and just collects data. It serves it with ftpd. I want to turn it into a control system for animal watering, feeding, waste removal; but I haven't gone that far yet.


Perl: 
#!/usr/local/bin/perl -w
#---------------------#
# PROGRAM: weather.pl #
#---------------------#
$var = "wkhtmltopdf -q \"https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=42.3517&lon=-71.152&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=text&TextType=2\"";

$dt = `date`;
chomp($dt);

$var = "$var \"weather-$dt.pdf\"";

$DIR = "/srv/forecast/";
chdir( $DIR ) or die "Couldn't go inside $DIR directory, $!";
system($var);
 
Jose said:
I always hate it when I'm forced to use Google Docs at work. Let me regale you with what I immodestly call "Jose'
s conjecture": There's always another version of this Google doc.

I've noticed that whatever version I have access to of the Google doc I need is old & bogus. There's always a new & improved version somewhere and I don't have the right permissions to have it even show up in search for me. There may be more than one newer version. That is a subject for further study.
Click to expand...
Exactly the same happens with documents that are not stored in the cloud. I still remember with horror what happens when someone e-mails a draft of a document to 20 people, and then gets 20-marked up copies back, and has to integrate them. Even worse: Each of those 20 people now thinks that they have a copy of the document, and don't know that much newer versions exist.

Change control is hard. For source code, we have sort of solved the problem (with things like subversion, git, cvs, ...), but these solutions all take enormous discipline. For documents, the same amount of discipline is required. The technology for collaboratively editing documents all exists, but (and there I agree with you), the habits haven't been formed yet.
 
ralphbsz said:
but these solutions all take enormous discipline. For documents, the same amount of discipline is required.
Click to expand...

Easy, just add _Final on the end when you think you won't make any more changes. Chuck in some arbitrary _V1, _V2 and then fall back on _V2a, _V3b. Finally suffix your initials at the end _KP.

;)
 
kpedersen said:
Easy, just add _Final on the end when you think you won't make any more changes. Chuck in some arbitrary _V1, _V2 and then fall back on _V2a, _V3b. Finally suffix your initials at the end _KP.

;)
Click to expand...
Don't forget to suffix things with _new and _latest. Those suffixes age well.

Personally if the documentation is not in a wiki, it doesn't exist.
 
Mjölnir said:
M$ Flight Simulator. Is there a better one available (for home enthusiasts)?
Click to expand...
X-Plane? If it's confirmed to work on FreeBSD through Steam.
store.steampowered.com

X-Plane 11 on Steam

The future of flight simulation is now! X-Plane 11 is the detailed, realistic, and modern simulator you’ve been waiting for. Intuitive user interface, 3-D cockpits, new effects, 3-D sound, living airports and world-wide scenery.
store.steampowered.com store.steampowered.com
 
The audacity to speak of more third party support when FreeBSD doesn't even ship it's own desktop. Oh the sorrow. '

Asking for more application support whilst instructing people to setup a working desktop manually is the quickest way to the NOPE train.
 
Zirias said:
Nonsense. "Desktops" and other GUI stuff are available. Does Linux "ship its own desktop"?
Click to expand...

Ask yourself why Ubuntu is a first class citizen to Valve and you'll understand the premise behind my above statement.

"Hey you should support this awesome, professional operating system.. but wait! you know the GUI stuff? yeah, you gotta set it up yourself."

App Devs: Nope. ?
 
Beastie7 said:
Ask yourself why Ubuntu is a first class citizen to Valve
Click to expand...
Because it's one of the most widespread Linux dists built on a solid package management (Debian's APT) and includes LTS releases.

Commercial software, including GUI stuff, for Linux (and of course for many Unix systems) was *always* available and nobody cared whether the installer for the target system installed some "desktop environment" by default. I once used Internet Explorer 5 on a HP-UX machine running some simple X session from xdm…
 
Ashampoo Office is a commercial office suite. There's a free version too. It would be worth trying that on FreeBSD, then if that works, to try the paid version.
 
This thread has received loads more responses than I thought it would! Some interesting posts here which have helped me adjust my own thoughts/attitudes on the topic of open-source vs proprietary.

To answer my own question, the only software I'm paying for at the moment is Xenforo, the same forum software used here on the FreeBSD forums, and some add-ons for it. At the time when I started my own forum, there really weren't any really good open-source alternatives, and even today I'm unsure there are.
 
Argentum Either EA has changed A LOT in recent years or you would need to pay me also a lot to use it...
 
Crivens said:
Argentum Either EA has changed A LOT in recent years or you would need to pay me also a lot to use it...
Click to expand...
It has changed, yes, and evolving. BTW, this is not my personal usage. Also, I do not know any OS alternatives. One of the few commercial alternatives is perhaps https://www.nomagic.com/products/magicdraw.

The question in this thread was, which proprietary software you might buy. Personally, I am fully satisfied with FreeBSD and ports available. My answer was just maybe, because I use this in my everyday work.
 
sidetone said:
X-Plane? If it's confirmed to work on FreeBSD through Steam.
Click to expand...
Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is the only video game I play off PS2 console. When I bought Skyrim and couldn't load and play it without Steam standing between me and the game starting like I expected it to in Oblivion, my desire to play it oblivious.

As went Win10Pro and interest in computer gaming with it.

I think everything online should be free. As in FreeBSD. Hosting and domain names excluded. Though host ads have no place on a free site. Or mine.

I've never charged for anything I've had up on my sites, make a penny for anything I've done online and am in the hole for hosting alone. Though I have a PayPal account and will take gifts from strangers, it was done of my own free will and yours for the taking.

If it's not software in the ports tree I don't need it or install it from a site like Nvidia. Everything I want or need is in there or a reasonable facsimile to do that job.

Unless they're selling 3rd party terminals in which any command entered is carried out I'm not buying.

Code: 
root@bakemono:/ # initiate machine war --global
initiate: Command not found.
root@bakemono:/ # deus ex machina
deus: Command not found.
root@bakemono:/ # launch nuclear strike --hud --dc
launch: Command not found.
root@bakemono:/ #

I'll just wait...
 
I had almost completely lost the ability to write before coming back and starting to post again. Please excuse my use of it if enjoyment experienced excessively expressed, everything eventually evaporating entirely entropy established
 
BostonBSD said:
Some really good optimization software would be useful also [deterministic optimization/linear programming, probabilistic optimization]. MIT? has something called LP solve, which works, but something more user-friendly and general would be very nice (optimize financial portfolios, scheduling, etc).
Click to expand...
So apparently there's a mathematical scripting language called R that does this for free.

Check it out:

You need to buy some filing cabinets. You know that Cabinet X costs $10 per unit, requires six square feet of floor space, and holds eight cubic feet of files. Cabinet Y costs $20 per unit, requires eight square feet of floor space, and holds twelve cubic feet of files. You have been given $140 for this purchase, though you don't have to spend that much. The office has room for no more than 72 square feet of cabinets. How many of which model should you buy, in order to maximize storage volume?

MAX = 8X + 12Y

Cost
10X + 20Y <= 140

Floor Space
6X + 8Y <= 72

So make an R script like so:
Code: 
library(lpSolve)
f.obj <- c(8, 12)
f.con <- matrix(c(10, 20, 6, 8), nrow = 2, byrow = TRUE)
f.dir <- c("<=","<=")
f.rhs <- c(140, 72)
lp("max", f.obj, f.con, f.dir, f.rhs)
lp("max", f.obj, f.con, f.dir, f.rhs)$solution
lp("max", f.obj, f.con, f.dir, f.rhs)$objval

Run the script:
R -f lp2.r

The output is:

Code: 
> library(lpSolve)
> f.obj <- c(8, 12)
> f.con <- matrix(c(10, 20, 6, 8), nrow = 2, byrow = TRUE)
> f.dir <- c("<=","<=")
> f.rhs <- c(140, 72)
> lp("max", f.obj, f.con, f.dir, f.rhs)
Success: the objective function is 100
> lp("max", f.obj, f.con, f.dir, f.rhs)$solution
[1] 8 3
> lp("max", f.obj, f.con, f.dir, f.rhs)$objval
[1] 100
>

Looks like I need to buy 8 of cabinet X and 3 of Cabinet Y
to maximize my file space at 100 cubic feet.
 
You can do this in in the symbolic math package "maxima" too!
Code: 
$ maxima
;;; Loading #P"/usr/local/lib/ecl-20.4.24/sb-bsd-sockets.fas"
;;; Loading #P"/usr/local/lib/ecl-20.4.24/sockets.fas"
Maxima 5.44.0 http://maxima.sourceforge.net
using Lisp ECL 20.4.24
Distributed under the GNU Public License. See the file COPYING.
Dedicated to the memory of William Schelter.
The function bug_report() provides bug reporting information.
(%i1) load(simplex)$

(%i2) volume: 8*x+12*y;
(%o2)                             12 y + 8 x
(%i3) cost: 10*x+20*y<=140;
(%o3)                         20 y + 10 x <= 140
(%i4) space: 6*x+8*y<=72;
(%o4)                           8 y + 6 x <= 72
(%i5) maximize_lp(volume,[cost,space]);
(%o5)                        [100, [y = 3, x = 8]]
 
bakul said:
You can do this in in the symbolic math package "maxima" too!
Code: 
$ maxima
;;; Loading #P"/usr/local/lib/ecl-20.4.24/sb-bsd-sockets.fas"
;;; Loading #P"/usr/local/lib/ecl-20.4.24/sockets.fas"
Maxima 5.44.0 http://maxima.sourceforge.net
using Lisp ECL 20.4.24
Distributed under the GNU Public License. See the file COPYING.
Dedicated to the memory of William Schelter.
The function bug_report() provides bug reporting information.
(%i1) load(simplex)$

(%i2) volume: 8*x+12*y;
(%o2)                             12 y + 8 x
(%i3) cost: 10*x+20*y<=140;
(%o3)                         20 y + 10 x <= 140
(%i4) space: 6*x+8*y<=72;
(%o4)                           8 y + 6 x <= 72
(%i5) maximize_lp(volume,[cost,space]);
(%o5)                        [100, [y = 3, x = 8]]
Click to expand...
That looks pretty neat too, and actually more readable.
 
So create a file file.mac.


Code: 
load(simplex)$
volume: 8*x+12*y;
cost: 10*x+20*y<=140;
space: 6*x+8*y<=72;
maximize_lp(volume,[cost,space]);

Run the file:
maxima -b file.mac

Output:

Code: 
;;; Loading #P"/usr/local/lib/ecl-20.4.24/sb-bsd-sockets.fas"
;;; Loading #P"/usr/local/lib/ecl-20.4.24/sockets.fas"
Maxima 5.44.0 http://maxima.sourceforge.net
using Lisp ECL 20.4.24
Distributed under the GNU Public License. See the file COPYING.
Dedicated to the memory of William Schelter.
The function bug_report() provides bug reporting information.
(%i1) batch("file.mac")

read and interpret /usr/home/myname/workspace/file.mac
(%i2) load(simplex)
(%i3) volume:8*x+12*y
(%o3)                             12 y + 8 x
(%i4) cost:10*x+20*y <= 140
(%o4)                         20 y + 10 x <= 140
(%i5) space:6*x+8*y <= 72
(%o5)                           8 y + 6 x <= 72
(%i6) maximize_lp(volume,[cost,space])
(%o6)                        [100, [y = 3, x = 8]]

Now, Alain De Vos just told me about something called Julia, which appears to be even more readable [at least on the output, but perhaps not the syntax].
 
BostonBSD said:
That looks pretty neat too, and actually more readable.
Click to expand...
It is pretty powerful as it can do symbolic math. Worth getting familiar with. There are some youtube videos that may interest you. Run wxmaxima and try this:
Code: 
f(x,y):=sin(x)+cos(y);
plot3d(f(x,y),[x,-5,5],[y,-5,5]);
There are newer and more powerful programs such as mathematica but it is not open source. Then there is open source sage that is built on top of NumPy, maxima, R, GAP etc. There is no BSD port but may be the linux binary will run? I haven't tried. R, Julia etc are programming languages and they don't do symbolic math for you. They are all useful in different but overlapping contexts.

I should add that there are symbolic math packages for Julia but I am not familiar with them. Maxima is derived from Macsyma & it has a lot of stuff built in.
 
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