Open Source Essentials for your Mac
Apple's UP promo netted more than 70 new Macs sold. It is a good sign that UP faculty, students and staff are switching to the Mac. However, there are skeptics in UP. Not the Microsoft-user kind of skeptics but the Open Source kind. They say that the Mac is not pro- Open Source. They are so used to Linux that they believe that there is nothing better than Linux. Well, my dear friends, I am here to tell you that Apple supports Open Source far more than Windows does. In fact, the very core of Apple's Mac OS X can be had, minus the sleek GUI, of course, at http://developer.apple.com/darwin/ and for *free*. Yes, it comes with the source code and licensed under the Apple Public Source License ( http://www.opensource.apple.com/ apsl/ ). Besides, Mac OS X is based on BSD Unix so the difference with Linux is not that many.
I will not dare say that Linux is better or the Mac OS X is better since I advocate the use of both. However, what made me use the Mac as my main workhorse are: (1) intuitive GUI, (2) great, if not the best, hardware, (3) support for Open Source applications, (4) standards compliant, (5) compatibility with peripherals, (6) easiest way to install and uninstall applications (this is a nightmare in Linux and Windows) and (7) great community support (similar to PLUG).
Anyway, let's help the new Mac users from UP by providing them with some tips on what Open Source applications can be installed on their Macs. First is the best browser out there, Firefox ( http:// mozilla.com). If you use multiple platforms, getting Firefox provides the most portable web browser not because it runs on Java but because it is available on the Mac, Linux and Windows. The downside of using Firefox on the Mac is the inability to sync your bookmarks with your .Mac account, which Safari is capable of doing.
The Mac has another Open Source web browser named Camino (http:// caminobrowser.org ). It is also based on the same rendering engine as Firefox and backed by the Mozilla Foundation.
The next thing to install is OpenOffice.org (http://openoffice.org) or NeoOffice (http://www.neooffice.org). OpenOffice.org requires the X11 Windowing environment, which is not installed by default. It is highly recommended that you install X11 so that you can fully tap the multitudes of Open Source applications available on the internet. NeoOffice, on the other hand, is a full native Mac application that does not require X11. The only disadvantage of NeoOffice is it is a version behind OpenOffice.org. Both applications, however, are more than enough for ordinary users to not buy Microsoft Office. Save yourself a bundle by using your MS Office budget to get more RAM.
For instant messaging freaks, of which there are lots in UP, get AdiumX (http://www.adiumx.com). This nifty application allows you to talk to your buddies on AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, iChat, GoogleTalk, ICQ, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, Novell GroupWise and Lotus SameTime. Talk about compatibility! And yes, you can get the source code, too. Mac OS X has its own instant messaging application called iChatAV, which interfaces with AIM, Jabber and GoogleTalk and provides better video chatting capabilities with the built-in iSight camera of the new Macs or the external iSight camera.
For file transfers, Cyberduck (http://cyberduck.ch) and Fugu (http://rsug.itd.umich.edu/software/fugu/download.html) are two free and open applications for FTP and secure FTP.
If you are used to Adobe's Photoshop and do not like the GIMP user interface, check out GIMPshop ( http://plasticbugs.com/index.php? p=241 ). It is GIMP hacked to look like the Photoshop user interface. See the image taken from the GIMPshop website.
Another Open Source application that I have on my must-download list is VLC ( http://www.videolan.org ), a audio and video player. It plays practically all audio and video formats (except for some of the new Windows Media Format files).
On the server side, you get tons of Open Source applications as well. You have the Apache web server, Tomcat Java application server, mySQL & PostgreSQL databases, PHP & Perl, and basically most, if not all, the Unix applications and utilities available on Linux. I am mentioning these because you can install all of these on your desktop or portable Mac. These applications come bundled with the server version of Mac OS X.
You can find more Open Source applications for your Mac on http:// www.opensourcemac.org and Apple's listing at http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/unix_open_source/ .
If you are the more adventurous type, you can setup your Mac to dual- boot Mac OS X and Ubuntu Linux for PowerPC. That way, you get the best of both world - not that you cannot get the same Unix applications but the whole user experience is definitely different. I recommend installing Ubuntu Linux and updating the driver for the Airport Extreme card (wireless). Using the Ubuntu Linux LiveCD will render your WiFi inaccessible. If you want a copy of Ubuntu Linux for PowerPC, let me know by leaving a comment at http://rom.feria.name.
The latest Macs (iMac and MacBook Pro) are now based on Intel Core Duo processors. Although most applications are being ported to Universal Binary ( runs on both Intel-based and PowerPC-based Macs), there is no evidence (yet) that you can dual-boot these new Macs on Windows or Linux. Until I get my hands on the Intel iMac (waiting for my editor to send me the unit), I cannot say that all of the applications mentioned above will work on the latest Macs.
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