For backtesting on a shoestring budget... Get your technical indicators from books. Use your library and its interlibrary loan capabilities. For backtesting software you don't need tradestation. Check out wealth-lab.com. Use Excel if you have it. Write your own testing software in c++ or visual basic. The gnu c++ compiler for Linux is free. Look for data on traders2traders.com. Be sure to contribute something if you take something.
I think ensign have playback feature let you play with historical data http://www.ensignsoftware.com/faq/help.htm also tradetrek http://tradetrek.com/home/productsServices.asp has chart walker feature let you trade history data.