GNU/Linux software

This is Free Software, released under the terms of the GNU General Public License. If you have any trouble, or if you're looking for older versions or checksums, please get in touch.

iGNUit - a flashcard-based memorization aid for GNOME
gxmessage - a GTK-based xmessage clone
bmk - store and recall filenames using short aliases
sgrotum - generate a new email or newsgroup signature
markv - takes ASCII text and returns nonsense
gnect - the GNOME Project's Four-in-a-row game
skoosh - a simple, friendly, sliding tile puzzle for GNOME2
Other stuff

iGNUit

Version 2.24.3 / 2017-11-17 / GPL v3

Screenshot: iGNUit preference dialog, Appearance tab

Screenshot: iGNUit preference dialog, Schedules tab

Screenshot: iGNUit preference dialog, Other Options tab

Screenshot: iGNUit File Properties dialog

iGNUit is a memorization aid based on the Leitner flashcard system. It has a GNOME look and feel, a good selection of quiz options, and supports UTF-8. Cards can include embedded audio, images, and mathematical formulae (via LaTeX). It can import and export several file formats, including CSV. iGNUit can be used for both long-term learning and cramming. I'd really appreciate any feedback about the program and any problems you have with it.

Tutorials can be found on YouTube or downloaded here: The Main Window (6 Mb), Creating Flashcards (6 Mb), and Quizzes (9 Mb).

Here's the ChangeLog.

Compilation requirements: (Debian/Ubuntu package names in brackets)

libgnomeui >= 2.24.5  (libgnomeui-dev)
libglade >= 2.6.4     (libglade2-dev)
gconf-2.0 >= 3.2.6    (libgconf2-dev)
libxslt >= 1.1.28     (libxslt1-dev)
gstreamer >= 1.8.2    (libgstreamer1.0-dev)
intltool >= 0.50.0

For LaTeX support (optional), you'll also need latex (e.g. texlive) and dvipng.

Download:

ignuit-2.24.3.tar.gz (C source code, 557 Kb)
Older versions...
Alternative download location: http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/ignuit/

Other resources:

Some ready-made flashcard files:

Electronics
- Resistor colour codes (includes images; 261 Kb)
Geography
- Countries and capitals (19 Kb)
Language
- Japanese: reading and writing in hiragana, katakana, and kanji (1.9 Mb; author: Pander)
- Russian 101: alphabet (with images and audio; 316 Kb)
- Russian 101: numbers, days, months, seasons, colours (some basic vocabulary; 18 Kb)
- Russian 101: numbers, days, months, seasons, colours (some basic vocabulary with audio; 1 Mb)
- Сказки (Phrases from Russian stories, last updated 2016-04-04; 7 Kb)

gxmessage

Version 3.4.3 for GTK3 / 2015-05-25 / GPL v3
Version 2.20.4 for GTK2 / 2015-05-25 / GPL v3

Gxmessage is an xmessage clone for GTK based desktops. Gxmessage pops up a dialog window, displays a given message or question, then waits for the user's response. That response is returned as the program's exit code. Because gxmessage is a drop-in alternative to xmessage, gxmessage accepts any option xmessage would, and returns the same exit codes.

Download:

gxmessage-3.4.3.tar.gz for GTK3 (C source code, 268Kb) (ChangeLog)
gxmessage-2.20.4.tar.gz for GTK2 (C source code, 265Kb) (ChangeLog)
Older versions...
Alternative download location: http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gxmessage/

Other resources:

Notes:

With Ubuntu 11.10 (and perhaps elsewhere), running gxmessage might result in the following warning message being sent to stderr: Gtk-WARNING **: Unable to locate theme engine in module_path: "pixmap". This is not a bug in gxmessage, and can be solved by installing the gtk2-engines-pixbuf package. See launchpad #762167 for details.

If the GTK3 version of gxmessage prints WARNING **: Couldn't register with accessibility bus: Did not receive a reply to stderr, it can be worked around with export NO_AT_BRIDGE=1 (see here and here).

In the past, Debian based distributions included gxmessage under the name gmessage.

bmk

Version 1.3 / 2018-10-10 / GPL v3

The "bmk" program stores and recalls filenames using shorter aliases. The package includes example bash scripts showing how to make it do super nifty things. I've ended up using this program a lot - hopefully you'll like it too!

Example:

  $ pwd
  /home/trm
  $ bmk --add foo:/usr/local/bin
  $ cdb foo
  $ pwd
  /usr/local/bin

Download:

bmk-1.3.tar.gz (C source code, 129Kb) (Changelog)
Older versions...

sgrotum

Version 2.0.0 / 2004-07-27 / GPL v2

This program generates email signatures according to instructions contained in template files. It can insert randomly selected quotations, rotate a set of plain signature files, … pretty much anything you like. It hasn't been updated in years, so YMMV.

Here's the ChangeLog, and excessive evidence.

Requirements:

GLib

Download:

sgrotum-2.0.0.tar.gz (C source code, 90Kb)
Older versions...

markv

Version 1.1.0 / 2005-02-03 / GPL v2

This incredibly useful program converts perfectly good text files into utter nonsense. (Why? Because it's good for you.) It uses an algorithm from Jon Bentley's book, Programming Pearls, to recreate the behaviour of Mark V. Shaney, a famous program by Bruce Ellis and Don P. Mitchell.

(ChangeLog)

Download:

markv-1.1.0.tar.gz (C source code, 64Kb)
Older versions...

gnect

Four in a row for GNOME, with a computer player driven by Giuliano Bertoletti's Velena Engine. For the past few years gnect has been maintained by the GNOME games team, as part of the gnome-games package.