OSX|Unix Programs, Freeware Made Easy on OS X

Unix Programs, Freeware Made Easy on OS X

Introduction

This website is merely a series of notes that I have made for my own use which I have decided to share over the internet. I have made them as easy to follow as possible so that anyone, myself included, can follow them without too much trouble. The notes are aimed primarily at using software freely available to the Mac platform, much of it unix-based, "open source" software. The documentation on many of these programs is woefully inadequate. Through a process of trial and error, I have figured out how to use some of these applications. Since I have a tendency to forget the discoveries I have made, putting them on the web is useful for myself and, I hope, others as well.

Although all the procedures documented in the tutorials on this site have been tested, there is no guarantee that they will work on other Macs. There may be any number of reasons why you might have problems. So it is best to experiment to make sure they function as advertised before using them in a critical project.

Installation

Before we start, a word about installation.  Most of the programs we will be using are not hard to install — if  you know how to do it.  A program developed by the Open Source community called Fink not only compiles and installs all the programs you will need, it even finds them on the internet and downloads them for you. When used in tandem with the OS X program FinkCommander, it makes installing unix software almost as easy as using the OS X Software Update.  For information on how to install and setup Fink, go here.

One thing else note. There exists a terrific program called On My Command which allows one to access command-line Unix programs from the convenience of a contextual menu. Go here for a tutorial.

Audio

We'll begin with a glance at some Unix audio programs. The programs that are used in this site's tutorial are:

• sox
• normalize
• mpg123
• lame

There are three other programs we'll be needing which, although not "Unix" programs, nonetheless are free:

• Audacity
• iTunes

We will use these programs to:

1. Convert audio files from one format to another
2. Edit sound files
3. Equalize volume level of selected files
4. Flatten dynamics with compand filter
5. Subject audio files to a variety of filter effects
6. Use Unix batch commands to improve workflow
   

CD Burning with cdrtools

For most of your burning needs, iTunes and the Finder will provide you what you need. But for those special tasks, cdrtools can sure come in handy. The programs we will use at this sites tutorial are:

• cdrecord (part of cdrtools package)
• mkisofs (part of cdrtools package)
• cdda2wav (part of cdrtools package)
• X-CD-Roast (GUI for cdrtools)
  
• disktool
• iTunes
• Disk Copy
• sox

We will use these programs to:

1. Create multi-session data CDs
2. Erase CD-RWs, including individual tracks
3. Extract multiple audio tracks into single file
4. Copy CDs and CD-ROMs
5. Use X-CD-Roast to access power of cdrtools
6. Automate certain functions of cdrtools
   

Publishing and Layout

Here our aims, to start out with at least, will be relatively modest. The programs we'll use, as before, are all available for free:

• ps2pdf
• tiff2ps
• tiffcp
• lyx

We will use these programs to:

1. Setting up PDF Services
2. Create multipage pdf files out of tiff images
3. Experiment with the lyx word processor
4. Configuring LyX keyboard bindings

Html tools

The aim here will be on utilizing free tools for building webpages. The software we will use involves a mixture of unix and Mac OS X programs: 

• Mozilla Composer
• NVU
  
• Bluefish
• JAlbum
• QuickImageCM
• iPhoto
  

Internet

The focus of this section of the site is not so much to make or alter files, but merely to make use of various unix web browsers, as well as other internet utilities from the unix universe. We will make use of the following programs:

• wget
• lynx
• gtk-gnutella
• pan
• dillo
• mozilla

Our main focus in this section will be on using these utilities to save time — either time in surfing or time on the internet.

Word Processing

For those who bought their Macs before Apple upgraded to Appleworks 6.0 and are looking for a word processor that works in OS X, the following programs represent your best bet:

• Open Office Writer
• KWord
• Abiword
• TextEdit

We will compare the advantages of using each of these programs with their disadvantages, indicating the most efficient methods of using them in combination to get specific tasks accomplished.

Utilities

Years of using Apple's pre-OS X systems has conditioned a number of Mac users into believing that commercial utility programs such as Norton Utilities or Tech Tool Pro are an absolute necessity. But this is not necessarily true. In the first place, Unix does not have the stability problems associated with earlier incarnations of the Mac OS. You don't need constantly take care of it to keep it from imploding on you. In addition, there are a number of unix or unix-based freeware programs that will take care of most, if not all, your utility/service needs.