Open Source Software (OSS) for Macs is an often neglected topic so hopefully these will be of interest to Mac Users
well-known oss applications also available for osx
- **Audacity** (sound recorder & editor)
- **Firefox** (web browser)
- **FreeMind** (mind-mapping program)
- **The GIMP** (image editor)
- **Handbrake** (DVD ripper and video converter - formerly OSX-specific!)
- **KompoZer** (web page editor)
- [[http://www.net2.com/nvu/ |NVU]] (Web page editor)
- **Miro** (HD video player & Bittorrent client)
- **OpenOffice.org** (and **NeoOffice** - office suites)
- **VLC** (versatile video player)
- **XMind** (mind-mapping program - can host mindmaps online)
oss applications that are osx-specific
- **Adium** (instant messaging client)
- **Cyberduck** (FTP client)
- **ffmpegX** (video transcoder)
- **Q** (an emulator allowing Linux, Windows and other operating systems to be run in a virtual machine)
- **Quicksilver** ('unified, extensible interface for working with applications, contacts, music, and other data')
- **Romeo** (control Mac via Bluetooth)
- **Seashore** (image editor)
- **SimplyBurns** (CD/DVD burning software)
- **Transmission** (Bittorrent client)
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| MacLibre |
A wonderful, wonderful suite of programs is available for OSX called **MacLibre**. This features a wealth of OSS, auto-updates, and is a graduate of the Google Summer of Code competition. I would recommend any Mac user to install this - what have you got to lose?
More Open Source software for OSX is listed at **Open Source Mac**. A more comprehensive list is available, of course, at **Sourceforge**.
http://www.opensourcemac.org/
Web Browsing
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| firefox |
Mozilla Firefox
The premier free, open-source browser. Tabs, pop-up blocking, themes, and extensions. Considered by many to be the world's best browser.Download Page
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| camino |
Camino Based on the same Mozilla foundation as Firefox, Camino is a more native OS X app. Fast and simple.
Download Page
Video Player / Video Podcasting
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| miro |
Miro Beautiful interface. Plays any video type (much more than quicktime). Subscribe to video RSS, download, and watch all in one. Torrent support. Search and download from YouTube and others.
Download Page
IM - Instant Messaging
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| adium |
Adium Connect to multiple IM accounts simultaneously in a single app, including: AOL IM, MSN, and Jabber. Beautiful, themable interface.
Download Page
Application Launching
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| quicksilver |
Quicksilver Quicksilver lets you start applications (and do just about everything) with a few quick taps of your fingers. Warning: start using Quicksilver and you won't be able to imagine using a Mac without it.
Download Page
Software packs
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| MacLibre |
MacLibre Installs a pack of great open source apps (including many on this page) and keeps them updated for you.
Download Page
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| thunderbird |
Mozilla Thunderbird Powerful spam filtering, solid interface, and all the features you need.
Download Page
Utilities
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| The Unarchiver |
The Unarchiver Uncompress RAR, 7zip, tar, and bz2 files on your Mac. Many new Mac users will be puzzled the first time they download a RAR file. Do them a favor and download UnRarX for them!
Download Page
RSS
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| vienna |
Vienna Very nice, native RSS client.
Download Page
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| rssowl |
RSSOwl Solid cross-platform RSS client.
Download Page
Peer-to-Peer Filesharing
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| cabos icon |
Cabos A simple, easy to use filesharing program. Gnutella network.
Download Page
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| solarseek |
SolarSeek Soulseek filesharing for Mac, in a simple, solid client.
Download Page
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| transmission icon |
Transmission Very nice torrent downloader.
Download Page
Running Windows Software on Macs
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| Q |
Q Emulator Run Windows programs on your Intel Mac at near native speed. Works on G4 / G5 Macs too, but much slower.
Download Page
Podcasting
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| juice |
Juice Solid podcasting client.
Download Page
Video Playback
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| VLC |
VLC Plays more video files than most players: Quicktime, AVI, DIVX, OGG, and more. Pretty good interface.
Download Page
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| MPlayer |
MPlayer The interface and buttons are not as nice or as Mac-like in feel, but it may play even more video files than VLC.
Download Page
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| MPlayer |
Perian A plugin that allows quicktime to play additional video formats. (Included in Democracy Player.)
Download Page
iPod Ripping
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| iPodDisk |
iPodDisk Copy music off your iPod in the finder, like a regular disk drive.
Download Page
DVD Ripping
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| handbrake icon |
Handbrake DVD ripper and MPEG-4 / H.264 encoding. Very simple to use.
Download Page
CD / DVD Burning
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| handbrake icon |
Burn CD and DVD Burner. Burn any video to a disc that plays in your DVD player!
Download Page
Privacy
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| vidalia |
Vidalia This TOR frontend keeps you anonymous on the web using military-grade techniques. For use with Firefox see: TorButton.
Download Page
Word Processing / Office Suites
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| bean |
Bean Very fast and easy to use word processor. Live word count, autosaving, more.
Download Page
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| openoffice |
OpenOffice OpenOffice is a full-featured, office suite compatible with Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, and Excel. Friends don't let friends pay for Microsoft Office.
Download Page
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| abiword |
AbiWord A word processor. Leaner and quicker than OpenOffice. Compatible with Microsoft Word documents and OpenDocument Format.
Download Page
Wifi Scanning
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| kismac |
KisMac The best wireless scanner for Mac. Find wireless access when you're on the go.
Download Page
Sound Recording
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| audacity |
Audacity Simple sound recording tool.
Download Page
Graphics, Photo, Publishing
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| seashore |
Seashore Based on Gimp, but doesn't require X11.
Download Page
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| seashore |
Xee Fast image viewer and image browser.
Download Page
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| gimp |
Gimp.app Photo editing application that rivals Photoshop in features (requires X11).
Download Page
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| inkscape |
Inkscape Vector graphics application (requires X11).
Download Page
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| scribus |
Scribus Desktop publishing. Complicated install, but a nice app.
Download Page
FTP / SFTP
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| cyberduck |
Cyberduck Very good all-around ftp program.
Download Page
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| onebutton ftp |
OneButton FTP Simple, fast FTP, with a focus on "advanced queuing".
Download Page
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| fugu |
Fugu Not as polished as Cyberduck (and only for SFTP) but has a side by side interface showing your files and the remote files.
Download Page
HTML / Text Editing
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| smultron |
Smultron Text / html editor. Integrates with Cyberduck for editing websites.
Download Page
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| NVU |
Nvu Visual tool for making websites (WYSIWYG html editor), comparable to Dreamweaver.
Download Page
IRC
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| colloquy |
Colloquy Great IRC client.
Download Page
Media Center
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| centerstage |
Centerstage Full-screen interface for playing audio, video, and photos. Connect it to your TV.
Download Page
Note Taking
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| freemind |
Freemind An innovative application for note taking and outlining. Takes time to get used to, but some people swear by it.
Download Page
Personal Finance
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| cashbox |
Cashbox Simple, easy to use application for managing personal finances.
Download Page
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| buddi |
Buddi A personal finance and budgeting program, aimed at those who have little or no financial background.
Download Page
MSN Chat AMSN Messenger
More Web Browsing
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| shiira |
Shiira Fast, nice web browser.
Download Page
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| sunrise browser |
SunriseBrowser Good webkit-based browser created with special tools for web designers.
Download Page
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| seamonkey |
Seamonkey Full-featured Mozilla browser, used to be called 'Mozilla Suite'.
Download Page
PDF Viewer
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| skim |
Skim PDF viewer.
Download Page
Screensaver
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| electric sheep |
Electric Sheep Immersive, trippy screensaver.
Download Page
More Filesharing
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| bittorrent |
Tomato Torrent Download torrents. Nice and simple.
Download PageAlso see: Poisoned - Azureus
3D Graphics and Modeling
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| blender |
Blender Powerful 3D Modeling software.
Download PageAlso see: Persistence of Vision Raytracer - Art of Illusion - Wings 3D - Quesa -Open Media Toolkit
MP3 Management
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| ieatbrainz logo |
iEatBrainz Fills in the correct metadata (title, artist, etc) for MP3s in your collection.
Download Page
Planetariums and Outer Space
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| celestia icon |
Celestia Open-source 3D planetarium software. Akin to traveling through space (outer space).
Download Page
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| stellarium icon |
Stellarium "Renders realistic skys in realtime." See what you would see if your city wasn't so light-polluted. Used in real planetariums.
Download PageAlso see: macORSA - Orbit Reconstruction, Simulation, and Analysis
Comic Viewer
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| jomic |
Jomic Read digital comics.
Download Page
Dance Dance Revolution
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| stepmania |
Stepmania Dance Dance Revolution clone. Can connect to external dance pads.
Download Page
Games
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| cube icon |
Cube Nice first-person shooter.
Download Page
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| Marathon: Aleph One icon |
Marathon: Aleph One Engine for Bungie's free FPS series Marathon. Play online, solo play with rich original story, many total conversions and thousands of maps.
Download Page
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| zombies icon |
Zombies 3D zombie strategy game.
Download Page
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| armagetron |
Armagetron Advanced 3D Tron game.
Download Page
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| BZflage logo |
BZFlag First-person tank game.
Download Page
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| Battle for Wesnoth logo |
Battle for Wesnoth Fantasy / Strategy Game
Download PageAlso see: Snes9X (SNES emulator), Frozen Bubble, PySol for Mac (card games),PLANESHIFT (3D Fantasy MMORPG), VDrift (drift racing simulation).
del.icio.us Client
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| cocoalicious |
Cocoalicious Let's you easily post to del.icio.us.
Download Page
Free File Hosting
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| CC Publisher |
CC Publisher Host Creative Commons video or audio files for free on archive.org with this easy uploader.
Download Page
Quick Links
Viewers Comic viewer: Comical
Comic viewer: FFView
OpenDocument viewing application: ODF Viewer
RSS and Usenet
RSS Reader: Feed
Cross-platform RSS reader: BlogBridge
RSS video podcast player: I/ON
Usenet Reader: OSXnews
IM, IRC, Chat
Multi-IM: Fire
Powerful IRC client: X-Chat Aqua
Videoconferencing client: XMeeting
PBX / Voip system: Asterisk
Graphics and Art
Draw on a moving canvas: Cosmic Painter
Image editor: Seashore
An artwork scaling calculator: Scaletron!
A Paint-like program designed for pixel-pushers: Pixen
A VRML/X3D Browser: FreeWRL
Video
Realtime Editing and Effects System: Jahshaka
Video transcoder: ffmpegX
MPEG convertor: MPEG Streamclip
Music and Audio
OGG Vorbis encoder (ogg is an open source audio codec): Ogg Drop
Music notation: LilyPond
Play and compose live music: Miraton
Max/MSP style realtime music and multimedia environment: Pd
Manage chords, lyrics, and projection: OpenSong
Wifi / Networking
Discover open wifi networks: iStumbler
A Prism/Prism2 driver 802.11: WirelessDriver
Fast, lightweight VNC client: Chicken of the VNC
VNC server providing remote access to the GUI, keyboard and mouse: OSXvnc
Utilities
Manage disk space: DiskInventoryX
Book management: Books
CD / DVD Burning: SimplyBurns
Disable sleep on a Mac: InsomniaX
Protect your laptop with a car-alarm style alarm: Multialarm
Remove extra languages from OSX to save disk space: Monolingual
System event notifications: Growl
System performance monitors: MenuMeters
Virtual desktop tool: Desktop Manager
Virus checker: ClamXav
Share mouse and keyboard between 2 or more computers: SynergyKM and Quick Synergy
Check available RAM: Memtest
Monitor CPU, RAM, battery, CPU temp, network, I/O, and more: X Resource Graph
Control your Mac via Bluetooth: Romeo
Writing and Typesetting
Screenplay writing and pre-production support: Celtx
Bibliography manager, BibTeX .bib format: BibDesk
Typesetting - TeX previewer for Mac OS X: TeXShop
Typesetting: iTexMac
Education
Education course management system: Moodle
Student information system: Focus / SIS
Another student information system: Centre
Programming
Development platform: Eclipse
SQL Editor: YourSQL
Math and Engineering**
General purpose computer algebra system: Yacas
GNU S language: R
MATLAB style rapid engineering and scientific prototyping / data processing: FreeMat