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<DOCID>Open_Source,_Part_5.doc.txt</DOCID>
<AUTHOR>Doug Anger</AUTHOR>
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This semester, the Weekly Geek has been looking at Free / Open Source software. We have discussed briefly the advantages and disadvantages of open source and reviewed the OpenOffice suite as well as two astronomy programs: Celestia and Stellarium. This week's column concludes our series on open source with a look at two more free programs that could be handy for taking notes in class: FreeMind and Audacity.

FreeMind is a program for what is called mind mapping. It allows you to organize your thoughts in a graphical manner on the screen and it can be very useful for taking notes and preparing for a presentation. FreeMind organizes concepts as nodes. Like in an outline, there is one main topic and main points fall under it. More points can be added under the main points and details can be added under those.

In FreeMind, you can add icons to these concepts to indicate which are most important, which you need to study more later, which are good, which are bad, et cetera. You can also add paragraph-style notes to any node. If your professors allow taking notes on a laptop, this could be a great way to study for the exam later.

You can find FreeMind at http://freemind.sourceforge.net/. 



Audacity is a free audio recording and editing program. One of its many uses is audio note-taking. If you're the type that prefers to take notes by speaking (hopefully not in class) or record the professor (with permission of course), Audacity could be a useful addition to your computer.

With Audacity, you can record from your computer's built-in microphone or an external source. Once your audio is recorded, you can use the basic editing tools to add effects, boost the volume at quiet spots, delete long silences or other portions of the audio you don't need, et cetera. You can also add labels to your recording to help you find what you're looking for more easily later.

You can find Audacity at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/. 

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