Free must-have OS X apps

existenceexistence
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Let's start a list of must-have OS X apps/utilities



I have three to share:



NeoOffice -- Open Office wrapped.



Gimp.app 2.0 -- Photoshop clone wrapped in a convenient package



RAM Disk Creator -- Shareware with annoying startup delay but otherwise fully functional. Allows creation of ultra-fast RAM disks just like OS 9! I'm curious to see how high of an XBench Disk score a G5 with a RAM Disk >100MB will have.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 59
    giantgiant Posts: 6,041member
    SubEthaEdit



    Locator
  • Reply 2 of 59
    1337_5l4xx0r1337_5l4xx0r Posts: 1,558member
    menumeters



    I went from OS9 -> linux -> OSX...

    I can't stand not knowing what my mac is up to. I got hooked on these things while running linux.
  • Reply 3 of 59
    ichiban_jayichiban_jay Posts: 660member
    Big Bang Chess - Simply the best chess game I have seen yet. it utilizes everything mac osx has to offer. The graphics are sweet. It has built in ichat support so you can play this chess game with other ichat users, over rendevous, and through email. It also allows you to use your iTunes songs for in game music.... simply... the best free too
  • Reply 4 of 59
    mattjohndrowmattjohndrow Posts: 1,618member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ichiban_jay

    Big Bang Chess



    wow, that is actually really awesome!!!!!! great program!
  • Reply 5 of 59
    othelloothello Posts: 1,054member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by mattjohndrow

    wow, that is actually really awesome!!!!!! great program!



    i have not seen that before -- its excellent!



    and free
  • Reply 6 of 59
    ichiban_jayichiban_jay Posts: 660member
    Yup. well it just came out recently :0
  • Reply 7 of 59
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Just curious... what do you need a RAMdisk for???



    The point of a RAM disk is to make a pseudo-disk in RAM, reserving a chunk of RAM for it, so you have fast access to it.



    Except that the virtual memory system of MacOS X already does this without having to carve out a chunk of RAM for just that... it's called file mapping.
  • Reply 8 of 59
    dr. zoidbergdr. zoidberg Posts: 155member
    CyberDuck, sftp/ftp-browser, a good companion to SubEthaEdit.



    Desktop Manager, multiple desktop manager with nifty switching-transitions



    VLC Media Player
  • Reply 9 of 59
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    BTW, SubEthaEdit is now at 2.0. Nice new features. Still lacking a style colorization editor, unfortunately, but definitely a step in the right direction.
  • Reply 10 of 59
    formatc2formatc2 Posts: 176member
    BitTorrent

    Fastest, best, P2P



    DivX

    DivX codec for playback



    DivX Doctor II

    Changes .avi header to quicktime header for iDVD burning
  • Reply 11 of 59
    giantgiant Posts: 6,041member
    Fink Commander



    Goban
  • Reply 12 of 59
    hobbeshobbes Posts: 1,252member
    Quicksilver.
  • Reply 13 of 59
    webmailwebmail Posts: 639member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Existence

    Let's start a list of must-have OS X apps/utilities



    I have three to share:



    NeoOffice -- Open Office wrapped.



    Gimp.app 2.0 -- Photoshop clone wrapped in a convenient package



    RAM Disk Creator -- Shareware with annoying startup delay but otherwise fully functional. Allows creation of ultra-fast RAM disks just like OS 9! I'm curious to see how high of an XBench Disk score a G5 with a RAM Disk >100MB will have.



    NeoOffice, a hack on a hack, not user friendly, waste of time, more hours in a day spent messing with a office suite knockoff than actually typing stupid papers. Might be fine for those of you who type or spreadsheet once a week.



    Gimp, who the hell uses this? Find me somebody who designs or manipulates photos, and has anything to there name who uses gimp. It's horrible backwards user interface, it should die.
  • Reply 14 of 59
    nanonano Posts: 179member
    i use gimp
  • Reply 15 of 59
    kneelbeforezodkneelbeforezod Posts: 1,120member
    Nicotine.app - SoulSeek for OS X with no terminal hassle.



    Weatherpop - Adds the weather for your Zip code to the menu bar.
  • Reply 16 of 59
    giantgiant Posts: 6,041member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by dr. zoidberg

    Desktop Manager, multiple desktop manager with nifty switching-transitions



    This guy really did make a great little tool.
  • Reply 17 of 59
    nebagakidnebagakid Posts: 2,692member
    SubEthaEdit and Cyberduck.



    Besides that, Apple has made everything I need.
  • Reply 18 of 59
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    I assume you mean non-Apple ones. I use the iApps, Safari, and other included apps more than any other ones! However from 3rd parties here's what inhabits my Dock.



    Poisoned.



    AIM (very buggy and slow, but iChat never seems to work as well and Proteus gobbles CPU too much)



    MPlayer. It plays things VLC won't. It hasn't been updated in a long time though while VLC continues to improve its interface. Also VLC is better for DVDs and other disc formats. They're a good team!



    SNES9X Custom. It's free, superfast, and plays all those old SNES games! Don't know if there's any good free NES emulator for Mac but RockNES is good.



    Camino .8 is a great backup browser for Safari. So is OmniWeb but it's not technically free, though it's great they don't handicap it!



    So much good stuff.



    Hey matt we have to play that Big Bang Chess game!
  • Reply 19 of 59
    bnoyhtuawbbnoyhtuawb Posts: 456member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by FormatC2

    BitTorrent

    Fastest, best, P2P



    DivX

    DivX codec for playback



    DivX Doctor II

    Changes .avi header to quicktime header for iDVD burning



    http://www.3ivx.com/download/macos.html



    Has a free DivX decoder/encoder without limitations etc.
  • Reply 20 of 59
    nanonano Posts: 179member
    Adium A aim and other protocal client. I like it better than iChat.
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