InformIT: Mac OS X Unleashed > Applications and Utilities

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Applications and Utilities

Occasionally we all need to do some work. There are a growing number of productivity applications you can choose from. These are some of the highlights currently available.

Amadeus II

Amadeus II (www.unige.ch/math/folks/hairer/martin/Amad2.html) is a full-featured sound recording and editing application for Mac OS X. Sick of the built-in system sounds? Create your own using Amadeus. Laptop owners can use Amadeus's built-in direct-to-MP3 recording capabilities for dictation and other high-compression storage needs. Amadeus supports a wide variety of sound formats and advanced editing options for removing noise from sampled recordings. Figure 8.12 displays the Amadeus II application in use.

Figure 8.12 Use Amadeus II to record and edit sounds.

Alternatives

Music and sound editing software for Mac OS X is currently very limited, partially because of a lack of important APIs for technologies such as MIDI output. The following applications offer features similar to Amadeus:

Sound Studio— Sound Studio is an easy-to-use editor with straightforward controls and an attractive interface. www.felttip.com/products/soundstudio/.
SoundHack— Designed for digitally processing sounds to obtain unique results, SoundHack is both fun for hobbyists and useful for musicians. It's definitely worth a download. www.soundhack.com/.

REALbasic

Nothing beats sitting down in front of your computer and creating your own applications. With REALbasic (www.realbasic.com/) and Mac OS X, anyone can compile standalone applications within 15 minutes of starting the development system. The REALbasic environment, pictured in Figure 8.13, uses an object-oriented model and graphical interface design tools to get up and running in no time. Users can create software ranging from games to client/server applications.

Figure 8.13 Build your own Mac OS X software in REALbasic.

Pepper

Need a good HTML text editor? PHP editor? C/Perl editor? Get all these by downloading Pepper (www.hekkelman.com/pepper.html). Pepper is an extensible text editor for many popular programming languages. Distributed as shareware, it offers features found only in other commercial offerings at a fraction of the price. The Pepper interface is unique among Mac OS X applications and is definitely worth a look. Figure 8.14 shows Pepper in action.

Figure 8.14 Pepper is an excellent text and programming editor.

Alternatives

The only real alternative to Pepper (or vice versa) is BBEdit. Available in a free Lite version, BBEdit is a fantastic program in its own right, but is feature-rich almost to the point of being excessive. Download BBEdit from www.barebones.com/bbedit_for_X.html.

StoneStudio

StoneStudio (www.stone.com/StoneStudio/StoneStudio.html), seen in Figure 8.15, is a suite of applications developed for designers interested in publishing to paper and to the Web. The collection of applications is authored in Cocoa, giving you full access to many of the advanced features of Mac OS X. StoneStudio goes head-to-head with applications such as Macromedia FreeHand, and includes additional features such as animated GIF creation and AppleScripting.

Figure 8.15 The StoneStudio application suite is powerful, stable, and easy to use.

Tiffany

Going head-to-head with another mainstream photo-editing application (such as Adobe Photoshop), Tiffany (www.caffeinesoft.com/) offers many of the same features as its better-known counterpart and extends some of the core capabilities beyond what is currently possible. Advanced layer management and control, scriptable actions, and masking controls make this a standout among the Mac OS X graphics applications currently available. Figure 8.16 demonstrates Tiffany in action.

Figure 8.16 Tiffany takes many Photoshop features to the next level.

Like StoneStudio, Tiffany is a Cocoa application originally developed for the OpenStep platform. As such, it tightly integrates the advanced features of Mac OS X into its core.

Alternatives

Mac OS X is host to other image editing software. These applications are a great addition to any Mac OS X software library—especially for users with a digital camera.

GIMP (X Window System)— The GNU Image Manipulation Program is now available for Mac OS X. With a strong Linux following and very active development, this application gets better by the day. ftp://gnu-darwin.sourceforge.net/pub/gnu-darwin/.
GIMP (Cocoa)— Although not completed at the time of this writing, an early version of a Cocoa-native GIMP is available for download. Unlike the X Window System version, which must install a number of X Window Systems–related support libraries, GIMP for Cocoa runs entirely native within the Mac OS X user interface. ftp://gnu-darwin.sourceforge.net/pub/gnu-darwin/.
GraphicConverter— Although the name implies that this software package is good at converting between image formats (and it is), it also has the capability to manipulate photos. Despite its small size, the base feature set of GraphicConverter should be enough for most common image editing functions. www.graphicconverter.net.

OmniGraffle

Another great application from the folks at the Omni Group (www.omnigroup.com), OmniGraffle is difficult to explain without seeing it in front of you. Part object-oriented drawing application and part flow charter, OmniGraffle can make any charting project a breeze. By enabling the user to create palettes of common objects (and including a variety of prebuilt palettes), OmniGraffle can be extended to work with customized charts and graphs. One of the more amazing features of the software is its capability to determine the best layout for a connected system based on the objects you have defined. Figure 8.17 shows the OmniGraffle application in use.

Figure 8.17 OmniGraffle can automatically organize your charts using its built-in best-fit algorithms.

DesktopCalendar

This simple application overlays a transparent calendar atop your current desktop background. Although useful only if you happen to need an easy-to-access view of a calendar, it serves to illustrate the unique features offered by the Quartz graphics subsystem. Figure 8.18 displays a Mac OS X desktop with the live DesktopCalendar included. www.lisai.net/~hamada/Acti/MacOSX/DesktopCalendar/index.html.

Figure 8.18 DesktopCalendar overlays a live calendar on top of the Mac OS X Desktop picture.

Alternatives

There are a number of alternative calendar solutions for Mac OS X, include a Dockling that will be mentioned later. If you're not interested in a calendar overlay, one of these alternatives might work best for you.

Calendar 2000— A full-featured calendar application that tracks special events as well as offering the Julian, Gregorian, Jewish, and Islamic views. www.wundermoosen.com/wmCalendar2000.htm.
PandoCalendar— A small attractive desktop calendar and note keeper. PandoCalendar is simple, and entirely free. www.PandaCorner.com/PandaSystems/PandoCalendar.html.

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