Lets face it, most of us have far too many disks in our collection. Cataloging DVD's is one of the many options you have in GCstar!

Lets face it, the days of shelves bowing under the weight of DVD cases & CD’s is coming to an end, but even if for you its not, in the days of cheap online stores and what seems to be all year round “everything must go” type sales, most peoples collections are going to be rather large.  Whilst GCstar won’t put all your CD’s into their correct boxes, nor will it put them in an alphabetical order on your shelves, what it will do is allow you to document your entire collection on a database.  So why is this preferable to any other database package? I hear you ask.  Well, if you fancy setting up your own fields with “genre”, “year” et al, then be my guest.  Its already been done though with GCstar.

But GCstar is so much more than that, don’t want to type in all the details for each title you own? No problem, GCstar will search on-line databases and copy the data into your collection, saving you a considerable amount of time and being far more accurate than you when you are trying to keep your attention after entering your 1000th title.

Currently in version 1.5.0beta 1 (released on 19/07/09) GCstar has matured into an essential database package for all your collection needs.

INSTALLATION

GCstar appears to be one of the rarer titles that comes with its own generic installer, making it simple to install the latest version with very little command line experience (“./install” is about as complex as it gets)  it will then proceed to check you have the correct dependencies and then install to a target directory of your choice.

Having deployed this on three machines (each with a different distro) I can report that the process is flawless.

FEATURES

GCstar caters for numerous types of collection: Movies, Music, Books, TV shows and er….Mini vehicles? as-well as many more.  It also has a database of websites that it can grab the data from in order to make cataloging your collection even quicker and easier.

There’s a whole host of other features such as being able to link a file to a database entry and open that associated file.  You have various filter options for the fields and you can also log if you have lent the title out and to whom.

Here are a list of collections you can create (from the website)

GCstar 1.5.0.beta1 manages these collections:

• Movies
• Video games
• Books
• Music
• Numismatic
• Wines
• Board games
• Comic books
• TV shows episodes
• Stamps
• Periodicals
• Mini vehicles
• User defined collections

Cataloging your games is another feature of GCstar. Never loose track of who you have lent that title to!

USING GCSTAR 1.5.0beta1

Very simple to use, GCstar offers you the choice of database at the very beginning.  Once that is selected, the screen is split into two, with your database being shown as a list on the left, whilst the detailed view is on the right.  Making a new entry is simply a matter of having to click “add” and in order to keep things simple, a new record entry has search button at hand for looking for titles.

Everything about this package is self-explanatory and I wouldn’t expect many users will encounter any difficulties in using this software.

Operation speed is excellent, with searches being performed quickly even on slower machines and large databases.

CONCLUSIONS

If you want to catalog your collection(s), you really cannot go wrong with this piece of software.  Now more mature in its life (its now a collection of data-base’s instead of single packages) its functional, fast, user-friendly.

When speaking with Linux newcomers they often complain that they are never privvy to the latest software versions since they are dependent on the repositories (and are not sure how to compile code or search other sources) that’s where the GCstar 1.5.0 installer will come into its own and why maybe other packages should consider including this approach.

The whole experience, installation & operation is faultless.  I cannot recommend this title enough.  What I would say is do not download it from your repositories (always visit the site)  I’ve noticed on a few distro’s they have packaged much earlier versions and when the software is this good, I recommend getting the latest stable release.

This package really does “exactly what it says on the tin” and Ive noticed that there are many shareware titles offering alot less than GCstar and requiring you to pay.

I say that this is the definitive cataloging software for your collections.

You can visit the GCstar homepage here: http://www.gcstar.org/

Goblin – bytes4free@googlemail.com

GCstar 1.4.3 on ubuntu 9.04

Everyone collecting somethings, depends on their personal interests. Some collects stamps, movies, musics, books, magz,etc. So every one need a collection manager for manage their collections digitally. In windows world there is alot crapps called “sharewares” and paid softwares availabel. In ubuntu there is a wonderfull program called gcstar in repos.

Actually i am looking for simple managing or data-base softtware for collecting the information of films i watched. Because  I am perhaps not memorable names of some films and its details, name of director, and language. After a lot searches i find a great program called GCfilm and check it. The projects name is changed now to GCstar, and it collects more than films including music ,wines, books, etc

wow, this Program works wonderfully. I never thought this was as simple like this. When i give name of film it capable of automatically fetching informations and posters of films from various net sources. This programs use sources like IMDB, Allmovie, Amazon, cinemacliock, filmup, filmweb, and movieclub. So no need to manually entering datas, but it also allowed to do so. This one sure a must need programs for everyone who wildly addicted their books, music, and films.

installing GCstar in ubuntu is very simple because it availabe in repos.

sudo apt-get install gcstar

But a new versions of program on getdeb

here is link to getdeb  http://www.getdeb.net/app/GCstar

Home Page of GCstar www.gcstar.org

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MakeUseOf has an article reviewing 4 Open Source Collection Manager Apps.

Alexandria (Linux) is a Gnome application specifically aimed at cataloging books.

Griffith (Windows, Linux) is fairly similar to Alexandria, but is designed for movies.

Tellico (Linux) comes packaged with support for books, comic books, videos, music, coins, stamps, cards, wines, video games, and board games and also allows custom collection types.

GCStar (Linux) has options and customization similar to Tellico.

Ukoliko imate pozamašnu kolekciju diskova i postalo vam je prilično teško voditi evidenciju o njima krajnje je vreme da nabavite GCStar program za manipulaciju sa kolekcijama.

GCStar je besplatan program program i možete ga preuzeti ovde:

http://www.gcstar.org/

Program omogućava vođenje evidencije o sledećim kolekcijama:

• Filmovi
• Video igre
• Knjige
• Muzika
• Društvene igre
• Stripovi
• Epizode Serija
• Korisnički definisane kolekcije

Informacije o vašoj kolekciji možete sami unositi ili preuzeti sa Interneta a program vam čak omogućava da vodite evidenciju o tome kome ste pozajmili određeni disk i kada. Program ima sjajnu podršku za HTML export pri čemu možete da izaberete jedan od više templejta.

Sve u svemu jedna sjajna aplikacija

Nuova versione per GCstar che arriva alla release 1.4.3. Con questo software potete gestire la vostra collezione privata di video (Licenza: GPL , OS: Intrepid Ibex 32/64bits, Formato: Deb).

Fonte/Download: GetDeb

Nuova versione per GCstar che arriva alla release 1.4.2. Con questo software potete gestire la vostra collezione privata di video (Licenza: GPL , OS: Ubuntu Hardy 32/64bits, Formato: Deb).

Fonte/Download: GetDeb

Cuando tenemos demasiados archivos en nuestro disco a veces se nos hace difícil hacer un seguimiento de los mismos. Por lo antes de empezar a eliminar nuestros archivos, una posible solución es empezar a familiarizarnos con estos coleccionadores.

Alexandria

Alexandria es una aplicación para Gnome, destinada específicamente a la catalogación de libros. Cuenta con una simple y limpia interfaz, y es ciertamente fácil de usar, pero carece de muchas de las pequeñas características que los otros programas en esta lista tienen. Puede añadir libros, ya sea por el ISBN, el autor o el título. Alexandria tambien busca en  una serie  sitios web  relacionados para obtener información adicional del libro; pero si no encotrara nada, nosotros podemos introducir la informacion que querramos en forma manual. También puede organizar sus libros en categorías, y realizar un seguimiento de los materiales en préstamo. En general, Alejandría puede ser la elección correcta para el usuario principiante que sólo quiere una manera facil de organizar sus bibliotecas personales.

Para instarlo escribimos en una consola:

sudo apt-get install alexandria

Griffith

Griffith es bastante similar a Alexandria, aunque está diseñado específicamente para las películas y tiene una interfaz un poco mas complicada. Todas las características estándar de un administrador de colección las tiene, pero no muchas más. Tiene soporte para un amplio número de idiomas, lo que es ideal para usuarios internacionales; también descarga un poco de información acerca de cada ítem. Sin embargo, su aspecto global parece un poco saturado para mí, sobre todo teniendo en cuenta el hecho de que se trata de una aplicación Gnome.

Para instarlo escribimos en una consola:

sudo apt-get install griffith

Tellico

Tellico es un programa que ha cosechado una buena cantidad de atención y tiene la distinción de ser la única aplicación que figura en esta lista específicamente diseñada para KDE. La primera cosa que me gusta de Tellico, y que realmente lo distingue de Griffith y Alexandria,  es la flexibilidad que tiene. Viene con el soporte para libros, cómics, vídeos, música, monedas, sellos, tarjetas, vinos, videojuegos y juegos de mesa. Tellico tambien le permite personalizar la colección.

Para instarlo escribimos en una consola:

sudo apt-get install tellico

GCstar

GCStar es el último programa en nuestra pequeña lista y posiblemente el mejor. Como se puede ver, probablemente, integra todas las características que busco en un coleccionador de archivos. Envuelve todas estas características en un paquete muy brillante, y su único rival  sólo parece ser Tellico. Se originó como GCfilms, un programa específicamente diseñado para catalogar colecciones de películas, pero desde entonces se ha expandido para abarcar una variedad de otros tipos de archivos. GCStar también cuenta con opciones de personalización similar a Tellico, que lo convierten en una buena opción para los coleccionistas experimentados.

Para instarlo escribimos en una consola:

sudo apt-get install gcstar

Sitios oficiales de cada proyecto:

Fuente: makeuseof.com

È uscita da poco la nuova versione di Gcstar e subito l’ho pacchettizzata per ubuntu hardy.

Questo aggiornamento corregge vari bug, ed ecco la lista che riporta gnomefiles:

* New plugin to import collections from MyMovies.
* Missing translations added for Greek and Polish.
* Music collections were corrupted.
* Export plugins had problems with pictures without suffixes.
* Option to fetch big pictures from websites was hidden on Windows systems.
* Bug fixed in image mode when updating an item and filtering.

Devo dire che mi trovo davvero bene con questo programma ed è uno da me più utilizzati.

Cosa? Che programma è? Ragazzi… ve lo dico subito

Cgstar è un ottimo programma per catalogare e gestire le proprie collezioni, che possono essere libri, dvd, film, videogiochi, e persino vini (sì quelli che si bevono).

Quindi se volete avere sott’occhio i vostri libri, film, sì insomma quello che vi ho appena scritto, gcstar è un programma potente e semplice allo stesso tempo.

Una volta messo il nome, o il codice ISBN per i libri, si possono cercare automaticamente su internet le informazioni sull’oggetto in questione sfruttando i vati siti specializzati in quel prodotto (in italiano per i libri ci sono ibs, bol e liberonweb); oltre alle informazioni scaricherà anche la copertina se è disponibile o l’etichetta del vino.

Ah dimenticavo, il pacchetto deb il trovate nel mio repository (vedi la pagina in alto) oppure lo potete scaricare direttamente da qui.

Il pacchetto è per i 32 bit, se serve per i 64 bit chiete pure nei commenti.

He empezado a utilizar GCstar, y la verdad es que aunque al principio lo descarté, me estaba gustando bastante.

Había descubierto una opción que me parecía bastante interesante. Se trata de una característica que presentan algunos tipos de campos, que lo que hace es guardar un historial de los datos que se hayan ido introduciendo.

Esto me parecía muy útil para el tema de “etiquetas”, ya que de esta manera podría ir asignándoles etiquetas a los artículos, y estos de forma automática se van almacenando en una lista asociada al campo, de manera que al introducir otro artículo pueda buscar en la lista, y de la misma forma, también lo había empezado a utilizar para los autores.

El problema es que en apenas 7 u 8 entradas, se me ha jodido ya un par de veces la base de datos, teniendo que empezar de cero, incluyendo la creación de los campos de la colección.

Por ello, creo que me vuelvo a decantar por Tellico, así que voy a darle una segunda oportunidad.

If you’ve ever had the desire to catalogue all of your gear, whether they be DVD’s, games, books or CD’s I can heartily recommend GCstar.

The app Ceemedia was suggested in last month’s Linux Format magazine so I tried it, only to find that many users on its Sourceforge page were complaining of error messages when searching for content – same thing happened to me and the project seems to have gone stale, but never fear, there is always something else.

GCstar fits the bill perfectly. You can create a number of pre-set collections, whether it be books, movies, games, wines or board games or you can create a new collection type.

The “movie collection”, will allow you to type the name of the movie into the search bar – it’ll then scan a pre-defined website like IMDB and populate the other fields with the artwork, cast, release date etc.

You can then sort the movies on year, cast or any other detail supplied.

The games collection is an absolute treat. It’ll search gamespot or Amazon for your games and fetch a couple of screenshots and even game tips & cheats.

When you’re done you can export your collection as a CSV or HTML file (among others…).

To round it off, if like me you have trouble deciding what game to play or movie to watch, it’ll randomly select movies for you.

Best thing is, its available from the apt repository. Simply type:

sudo apt-get install gcstar

Enjoy!

Reconozco que soy uno de esos delincuentes, según el criterio de esos que algunos llaman ladrones,
que se baja música y películas a tutiplén. Pero oigan, que yo no hago perder dinero a nadie, al ritmo que van subiendo de precio los bienes básicos -lease huevos, leche, etc.-, quedan muy poquitos euros para acceder a la cultura, que es como se dice ahora. Y, en fin, me gustaría seguir escribiendo sobre el tema, pero ya hay gente mucho más informada y capaz para aportar salsa al asunto.

A lo que vamos. Si te ocurre como a mí, que tengo tropecientas pelis guardadas en distintos deuvedés, necesitarás un programa para archivarlas, y si guardas más de una película en el soporte, probablemente poder conocer en qué disco está cada peli.

Yo propongo dos alternativas: GCstar y Ant Movie Catalog.

Ant Movie Catalog es el rey de los catalogadores, en mi opinión. Destaca en su sencillez
de uso, y su carácter práctico. De hecho, toda la información de la
película la encontramos dispuesta en un mismo plano, sin necesidad de
pestañas. De forma que basta un vistazo para acceder a todos los datos
que nos interesen.

Por otro lado, dispone de una serie de scripts que nos permite descargar de distintas bases de datos los ídem sin necesidad de introducir manualmente toda la información. Estos scripts pueden actualizarse desde el mismo programa, aunque su ritmo de actualizaciones es más bien lento. Al igual que GCStar, podemos ponerlo en castellano de toda la vida, y puede exportar nuestra colección a diversos formatos.

This is a quick review of several library catalogue software offerings for Linux.  The article that sparked my interest in this type of software can be found at here.

• Alexadria is  a GNOME-based application for maintaining a personal library inventory.  It has a simple interface, supports CueCat, and is apparently well-documented.  The downside is that it is only for books.
• Tellico is a competing product for KDE.  It will track items other than books and appears to be more configurable.  Here’s an online manual of sorts that does note CueCat support in the release notes.
• GCstar is  a general-purpose collection manager, highly configurable and extensible with Perl.  The FAQ mentions the ability to fetch info from websites, but no mention of CueCat whatsoever.  Softpedia as has a good review.

All three automatically search the Internet for book/album/movie information and all three are available in Ubuntu repositories.

Also, a commercial product, Readerware, supports Linux.  There is also a free CueCat offer.  Three separate packages are required to track books, mosic and movies, each costing $40 or $75 for the bundle.