Mac OS X tools
From MMAE
These are applications and tools that make Mac OS X more usable and fun. Note that many of these only work in 10.4. This is not meant to be a comprehensive list. (For that, check http://Apple.com/Downloads/ or http://osx.freshmeat.net/ ) Just a list of local favorites.
Contents |
[edit] Automated Software Package Systems
- mac ports
- fink (seems stale and out of date)
- i-Installer
[edit] Dashboard
- Geek Image
- show image from a URL on your dashboard with periodic updates
- Airport Radar
- show signal strength for surrounding WiFi routers
- AppButton
- customizable text menu of favorite applications and a textbox to type the name of the app you want to start immediately
- 3-2-1 Countdown
- countdown timer with customizable time and alarm sound
- Radar in Motion
- animates NWS or weather.com maps
[edit] Application launchers
(IMHO the improvements to spotlight make everything else in this list nearly obsolete)
- spotlight and dock (built into OS X)
- quicksilver
- launchbar
- mondodock (dashboard)
- appbutton (dashboard)
- todos
[edit] Preference panels
- MenuMeters
- displays system health statistics in the menubar
- Mouse Locator
- paints a bullseye around the mouse when you move it so it dosen't get lost
- Widget Manager
- delete, activate, deactivate widgets
[edit] made obsolete by 10.5
- Witch
- switch applications easily from the keyboard
- VirtueDestops
- virtual desktops (successor to Desktop Manager) replaced by Spaces
- iCal Events
- (dashboard) show ical events for yesterday, today, and tomorrow; replaced by expanded ical widget (click to cycle)
[edit] Applications
[edit] system tools
- X Resource Graph
- another system statistic grapher
- sleepwatcher
- run scripts at special events like shutdown, sleep, logout, etc.
- monolingual
- free up disk space by removing unneeded international localizations
- open and open-x11
- open documents and apps from the command line
- growl
- event notification system
- ImageBurner
- GUI for burning cd images
- toast titanium
- commercial cd burning software
- butler
- key and gesture event generator and rebinder
- iRedLite
- bind Apple Remote buttons to kestrokes or applescripts (see also wikipedia:Apple Remote)
- Todos
- shows an icon for every application on your system in a panel; very good for exploring all available apps
- smcFanControl
- set (raise) the minimum fan speed
- whatsize
- list directories by size
[edit] networking
- Adium
- universal instant messaging client
- Camino
- web browser (some think it better than Safari or Firefox)
- Vienna
- RSS reader and agregator
- rsyncX
- for mac->mac transfers; see also rsyncXCD for restoring a system from a server over the network
- transmission
- bittorrent client
- JollysfastVNC
- VNC client, suports bonjour and apple screen sharing
[edit] multimedia
- Gimp
- Gnu Image Manipulation Program (raster image editor)
- mplayer
- media player (unstable on intel mac)
- VLC
- multiplatform media player
- Flip4Mac
- Windows Media Player format files (not available on intel mac yet)
[edit] editors
- NeoOffice
- OpenOffice for the mac
- Aquamacs
- emacs adapated for Mac GUI
- subethaedit
- a simultaneous multiuser editor
- bibdesk
- citation manager for LaTeX
- LaTex Equation Editor
- insert LaTeX formatted equations into non-LaTeX documents
- TeXShop and iTexMac
- graphViz
- text file based automatic graph layout engine
- eagle
- PCB design software
- 0xed
- raw file viewer
[edit] games and music and stuff
- MacSwear
- snake game on various 3d surfaces
- frozen-bubble
- snake-3d
- xscreensaver
- xscreensaver collection
[edit] tips
- list of many global keybindings
- wiki of key bindings
- Turn on two finger scrolling and right click in preferences
- holding the button on a doc icon is the same as right clicking it
- holding the options key changes stuff in some menus, giving advanced options
- command click on a dock icon opens the relevant application's folder in finder
- you can drag a folder into the dock and then right click, and it turns into a menu
- most of the items in the menubar can be moved around by command-click-drag; you can also drag them out of the menubar this way to remove them
[edit] hardware
[edit] Web sites
[edit] software catalogs
- http://www.freemacware.com/
- http://opensourcemac.org/ (a list much like this one)
- http://apple.com/downloads/
- http://osx.freshmeat.net/
- http://osx.iusethis.com/hot
- http://nothickmanuals.info/doku.php?id=opensourcemac
- http://versiontracker.com/ (Windows too if you are desperate)
- http://www.ss64.com/osx/index.html complete command reference
- The Gems of Apple’s Development Tools
- http://machamradio.com/ amateur radio tools for the mac
