From MariachiWiki

Contents 1 Open Source Software 2 Useful Open Sourced Software 2.1 Mathematical 2.2 Office Suite 2.3 Operating Systems

Open Source Software

Open Source Software is software that it is source code is freely distributed. To read more about what its implications are follow this link.

Source Code, is that the computer programmer writes.

Examples of software that are not open sourced - Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, LabView. These are all commercial software that the manufacturer do not provide you with the source code.

Useful Open Sourced Software

Mathematical

1. R - R is a stastitiscal analysis package created by Statisticians and today widely used by a large scientific community. Its a powerful software for data analysis. Web site: http://www.r-project.org/
2. Scilab is a scientific software package for numerical computations providing a powerful open computing environment for engineering and scientific applications. Developed since 1990 by researchers from INRIA and ENPC, it is now maintained and developed by Scilab Consortium since its creation in May 2003. www.scilab.org

Office Suite

1. Open Office - Open Office is a suit of programs for the office. It will let you edit word documents and use excel files. It is free of charge and the Web site is: http://www.openoffice.org/

Operating Systems

1. Linux - The entire operating system and utilities. There are many distributions of linux. Three that are good and totally free (there are no charges for cds, manuals, etc).
   1. Slackware Slakware is for Purists - very nice distribution but requires some expertise to install.
   2. Ubuntu Ubuntu is very nice and extremely easy to install.
   3. Scientific Linux-SL is a Linux release put together by Fermilab, CERN, and various other labs and universities around the world. Its primary purpose is to reduce duplicated effort of the labs, and to have a common install base for the various experimenters