Standard Software Installations

From TeleFlow

Over the years of developing TeleFlow applications, and creating web environments, its developers recommend standardizing on software that is efficient, easy to use, will operate with many file formats, and where possible is free so long as has been adopted by enough users that it has acquired a critical mass.

For example, Sun's OpenOffice, until recently, did not do a particularly good job of editing Word documents, but as of version 2.2, the software performs excellently with most Word and Excel documents. It also provides MediaWiki output, which makes it particularly easy to take older documentation and promote it to wikis.

Contents 1 General Office Installations 1.1 OpenOffice 1.2 FireFox 1.3 ThunderBird 1.4 UltraVNC 2 Web Development and Management Installations 2.1 PHPEd 2.2 CodeCharge 2.3 Subversion 2.4 XAMPP 2.5 FileZilla Client 3 Database 3.1 HeidiSQL 4 Other Solutions 4.1 HTML Editing 4.2 Sound Editing 4.3 Notepad++ 4.4 Antivirus 4.5 Large File Handling 4.6 Team Collaboration

General Office Installations

Where possible, company employees should adopt these following software environments

OpenOffice

OpenOffice has become a favorite of many companies because it is essentially Microsoft Office 2000 (before it became slow and clumsy). We have adopted it for this reason, and because it is free. As of version 2.3, OpenOffice will export to MediaWiki format, which makes it somewhat easier to create Wiki pages. Apparently, version 3.0, due at the end of Summer 2008 will also include the ability to edit Wikis directly.

Download: http://www.openoffice.org/
Wiki: http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Main_Page

FireFox

FireFox is ideal for web developers because of the many extensions that can be added. Most importantly, the FireBug extension can be added in order to inspect elements. This has become nearly essential for quick resolution of frustrating HTML and PHP intermingling.

Download: http://en.www.mozilla.com/en/firefox/
Extension: Date and Timestamp
Extension: http://www.getfirebug.com/

ThunderBird

OpenOffice does not currently include an email client. Thunderbird is an excellent email client which does a very good job at removing spam. Although Thunderbird can also have many extensions added to it, there is currently no recommendations. SunBird is a calendar/to do list, but, as this functionality appears to be coming in OpenOffice 3.0, unofficially billed as the Microsoft Office Replacement, we should wait until we know that any work created in Sunbird can be imported into OpenOffice.

Download: http://en.www.mozilla.com/en/thunderbird/

UltraVNC

UltraVNC is VNC plus file transfer, and works very well as a replacement for pcAnywhere. For information about installing UltraVNC, refer to the UltraVNC section.

Web Development and Management Installations

PHPEd

NuSphere has created an excellent PHP editing environment called PHPEd. The environment is very similar to Delphi / Borland Interactive Development Environments, and its includes a proper debugger, which is generally not easy for PHP. This is a very impressive development environment which complements CodeCharge.

Download: http://www.nusphere.com/

CodeCharge

CodeCharge is a rapid application development environment for PHP, and makes it very easy to create rich reports. The environment has its own file structure that allows it to create web applications by generating robust, scalable programming code in ASP.NET (C#), ASP, PHP, Java Servlets, JSP, ColdFusion and Perl.

Download: http://yessoftware.com/

Subversion

Subversion is a CVS replacement. It is also widely regarded as an improvement, and has been nearly globally adopted by the open source community. It should be considered for a replacement of the StarTeam CVS system currently in use.

XAMPP

Xampp is a full installation for Apache 2.x, PHP5, MySQL 5.x, Perl, Mercury Email, FileZilla FTP, and other related solutions has been made available in one easy installation. XAMPP has made installing websites easy.

Download: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html

FileZilla Client

FileZilla is an essential FTP tool for managing both TeleFlow and Web server systems. Not only does it list all your websites and each password in a handy form, it also includes SSL FTP.

Download: http://filezilla-project.org/download.php

Database

HeidiSQL

HeidiSQL is a great utility that enables you to interface with your MySQL databases. The product is a great competitor to Navicat, and worth a look if MySQL is a part of you solution.

Download: http://www.heidisql.com/

Other Solutions

This section contains information about software which you may need in certain cases. Please review and add from time to time.

HTML Editing

At one time Dreamweaver ruled the desktop for HTML with integrated PHP development. A new package called NVu has made strong inroads in the once undefeatable Dreamweaver.

Download: http://nvudev.com/index.php

Sound Editing

CoolEdit was the company standard at one time, but this application was purchased by Adobe. Consequently, an open source environment has become very popular. Audacity has become a widely used open source environment which makes editing sound files a relatively simple effort:

Download: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Another editor which gets some mention is Wavosaur.

Download: http://www.wavosaur.com/

NOTE: Audacity is currently recommended for its simplicity. However, be careful to set your Preferences to record 8000Hz, 16b, Mono files (Standard Format), or you will need to convert your recordings once completed. TeleFlow 2008 (released July 2008) includes an option to convert all files from any Wav format to Standard Format.

Notepad++

This application is at the same level as MultiEdit, and includes some fantastic features that makes programming in any programing language manageable when the full IDE is not present. Also, it can handle tagged file formats (HTML, XML), as well as binary files. This software should be installed on all computers, including server computers.

Download: http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm

Please note: If you are using Notepad++ for developing PHP code, please review PHP_development for some important information which could prevent a lot of frustration.

Antivirus

This one is tough, as it seems anti-virus is very hit and miss. We do not recommend Norton Antivirus. McAfee is only a little better. Currently, Grisoft AVG, and Clamwin may be the best bets for free anti-virus.

Large File Handling

If you ever need to get a look at the contents of a TeleFlow log file that has outgrown your favorite text editor, GSplit might just be the answer you're looking for. GSplit can break a giant file down to manageable pieces, and it's free.

Download: http://www.gdgsoft.com/gsplit/index.aspx

Team Collaboration

This software appears to be recommended by Sun, and is an open source environment.

Download: http://www.collanos.com/en/m1/en