Sumner County Schools makes an effort to incorporate free, open source computer software througout our district. This software is freely available to teachers, parents, and students, thus allowing us to extend technology education beyond the boundaries of the classroom. Below are links to some of the applications that our district recommends.

Windows Software

• ClamWin Anti-virus - Anti-virus program for Windows.
• Firefox - A web-browser that is better than Internet Explorer in numerous ways: more secure, more user-friendly, more extensions.
• NVU - A WYSIWYG web authoring program comparable to FrontPage or Dreamweaver.
• OpenOffice - A complete office suite, with word processor, spreadsheet, presentation program, database, and more. Can read and write files compatible with Microsoft Office. Use as a replacement for Microsoft Office.
• Thunderbird - An email client..

• Celestia - Space simulation that lets you explore the universe in three dimensions.
• FreeMind - Graphical organizer for creating outlines, diagrams, etc.
• Tangram - Virtual tangram program. The web site has a few hundred more tangram puzzles you can download and let kids solve.
• TuxPaint - A wonderful drawing program for kids with some fun features. There are two installers for this program, the main setup program and the stamp installer. Run the main setup first, then the stamp installer.
• Tux MathScrabble - A math scrabble game. Fill in the blocks to make math equations.
• TuxTyping - Games to practice keyboarding skills.
• WordSlider - Slide the tiles around to spell the given words.

• Skyroads Game - A great game where you drive (and jump) your space car down a space road. Sokoban - A thinking puzzle game. Figure out how to move the boxes without trapping yourself.
• SolarWolf - Space game where you tag all the boxes without getting shot down.
• TuxRacer - A 3D game where you guide the penguin sliding down the mountain. Great graphics, and a lot of fun. You can download more courses for riding at Tux Racer Belly Rub.

• Audacity - Software for recording and editing sounds.
• Blender - 3D graphics modeling and rendering. Tutorials available online at WikiBooks.
• GIMP - The "GNU Image Manipulation Program". A pixel-based graphics program comparable to Adobe Photoshop. There are two items in this folder that need to be installed. Install the GTK program first, then install GIMP. Books on how to use the program are available online here and, my favorite, Grokking the GIMP.
• Inkscape - A scalable, vector graphics editor similar to Illustrator or Freehand. This is the type of program you use to create scalable clipart.

• 7-Zip - A zip/unzip program.
• AutoRuns - Shows which programs are set to start up, and allows you to turn off those that are just hogging system resources.
  
• FileZilla - An FTP client. FileZilla also makes a free FTP server, for those who need one.
• PDF Creator - Create PDF files from any program by "printing" to this PDF program.

• OSS Win - Website with links to more open-source, free software for Windows.

Mac Software (OS X)

• Clam X Anti-virus - Anti-virus for Mac OS X.
• Firefox - A web-browser that is better than Internet Explorer in numerous ways: more secure, more user-friendly, more extensions.
• NeoOffice - A Mac port of OpenOffice, a complete office suite to replace Microsoft Office. You can also download the "official" OpenOffice release for OS X, which uses the X11 tools, at OpenOffice.org.
• NVU - A WYSIWYG web authoring program comparable to FrontPage or Dreamweaver.
• Thunderbird - An email client. Use in place of Eudora.

• Celestia - Space simulation that lets you explore the universe in three dimensions.
• TuxPaint - A drawing program for kids with some extra features. There are two installers for this program, the main setup program and the stamp installer. Run the main setup first, then the stamp installer.
• TuxTyping - Games to practice keyboarding skills.

• FrozenBubble - Shoot the right color bubble into the right place to clear the board before it's too late. This version works on Mac OS X 10.3 or above; the website has a version for Mac OS X 10.2.
• SolarWolf - Space game where you tag all the boxes without getting shot down.
• TuxRacer - A 3D game where you guide the penguin sliding down the mountain. Great graphics, and a lot of fun. You can download more courses for riding at Tux Racer Belly Rub. This port of the game does not include sound support.

• Audacity - Software for recording and editing sounds.
• Blender - 3D graphics modeling and rendering.  Tutorials available online at WikiBooks.
• GIMP - The "GNU Image Manipulation Program". A graphics program comparable to Adobe Photoshop. GIMP requires the X11 tools package to be installed. Books on how to use the program are available online here and, my favorite, Grokking the GIMP.
• Inkscape - A scalable, vector graphics editor similar to Illustrator or Freehand. This is the type of program you use to create scalable clipart.

• AppleJack - A user-friendly troubleshooting assistant for Mac OS X. Must be run in single-user mode.
• CyberDuck - An FTP client.
• X11 for Mac OS X - An official Apple utility that allows you to run X11 (Unix-based) programs on Mac. This program is required for GIMP, OpenOffice, and a number of other open-source programs that have been ported to Mac.

• OpenSource MAC - A website with links to lots of free, open-source applications for the Mac.