Smultron no longer free
Just a couple of days ago I mentioned Smultron as a good freeware text editor for the Mac. But with the opening of the Mac App Store, it is now $4.99. Developer Peter Borg has to make a living like the rest of us, so I hope things work out for him.
Fortunately for freeware mavens, Smultron was open source, and was forked to a similar text editor called Fraise. You can download it here. But get it while you can, because the fork may not be long for this world. Here’s the latest news from the Fraise blog, dated July 15:
I am currently thinking of starting a completely new text editor that will not be a fork anymore, but a proper and independent software.
That was six months ago, and there has been no news since, which does not bode well. On the other hand, the paid version of Smultron appears to have some nice new features and will likely be updated. So if you’re a fan, five bucks is a reasonable asking price.
Posted Thursday, January 6, 2011 in Updates
Retweet with Retweetie
Awhile ago, I was lamenting the lack of recent development for Tweetie, and came up with a list of Twitter alternatives that, by contrast, have been moving along with updates. If you’re still hoping for new Twitter features, though, there is some good news — Nick Paulson has created a plugin called Retweetie.
Retweetie is a SIMBL plugin for Mac that makes Tweetie use Twitter’s native retweeting functionality. No longer do you get a “RT @user: “ tweet, but instead a real retweet. Just Repost your tweet as usual and let ReTweetie handle the rest.
The only catch is that you also have to install SIMBL (SIMple Bundle Loader). This is a bit of software that allows developers to patch existing applications. Installation is painless, and an uninstaller is provided if you get cold feet.
Posted Wednesday, December 15, 2010 in Updates
A new wave for Seashore
It must have happened while we weren’t looking. Seashore — long a favourite of those needing a free Mac image editor — has been bumped to version 0.5.0 after languishing for years at or below 0.1.9.
It’s not yet considered stable, but we had no trouble putting 0.5.0 through its paces. The first thing you notice is the unified interface:
Compare it with the cluttered old one, which is spread across four windows:
It’s much easier to use the new way. The tool options are conveniently positioned across the top, and the layers are displayed logically on the left.
A feature comparison at the Seashore site shows that the program stacks up well against Acorn, Pixelmator, Photoshop Elements, GIMP, and even Photoshop.
But there are still a few crucial items missing. The developers are calling for help with full vector support, effects layers, performance, scripting, localization, and file formats — notably PSD, which would bring it in line with GIMP.
It’s good to see they would also like help with high-resolution icons. It may seem superficial, but many people base their first impression of a program on its looks.
The goal set for Seashore is to make it a good free alternative for the average user. This means we can forget about a free version of Photoshop, but it also means expectations for the app are realistic.
About all we can do here at thriftmac is cheer from the sidelines. If you’re a programmer, though, here’s your chance to help with a worthy cause.
Posted Sunday, July 11, 2010 in Updates
McSolitaire 3.0b2
McSolitaire is fast becoming the best Klondike solitaire game available for the Mac. The latest version, still in beta, features a variety of beautiful themes, including Wild West, Pirates and Casino. In addition, it is packed with great new features such as the ability to make the game solvable. You can also set the number of cards flipped from the deck and automatically finish a winning game.
Posted Saturday, July 10, 2010 in Updates
Plasma Pong is back
It took a few years, but we’ve finally caught up with Plasma Pong. The game was in legal limbo for awhile, no doubt bogged down by the fact that Pong is a registered trademark of Atari Interactive Inc. Over at plasmapong.com, Steve Taylor promised a comeback for Plasma Pong, but as far as we can tell it never really happened. Luckily, Brothersoft Games has made the game available for download in all its psychedelic glory.
Posted Thursday, July 1, 2010 in Updates
The return of Smultron
When Peter Borg announced he was no longer developing Smultron, it was one of the sadder days for those who appreciate free and open source software for the Mac. Fortunately, Borg’s five years of effort have been taken up by Jean-François Moy, who has taken the source code and forked it.
Among the early improvements are the ability to duplicate a line and perform string searches in files contained in the parent directory of the current document. He is also considering changes to the icon set and the way the tab bar displays open documents.
On the bug side of things, some users have reported that this latest version of Smultron no longer works with Leopard — an obvious deficiency that should be worked out soon. And as I write this, I notice that even though I have Smultron running, there is a blank space in the dock where its icon should be.
Perhaps most controversial is the idea of a new name for Smultron, but don’t be alarmed — Moy doesn’t appear to be pondering of something radical:
“I’m currently thinking of changing the name of this project to accentuate the difference between the original project and this fork. I would like to keep smultron in it.”
If you have any ideas, you can contact him through the site. Personally, I think he should leave it alone.
Posted Sunday, March 14, 2010 in Updates
Vienna 2.5 beta
If you’ve ever wanted to tweet or post to Facebook from your news reader, be sure to check out the beta for the next version of the open source Vienna.
We tried it, and — despite the app being in beta — the features worked flawlessly. When you’re in a story you want to share, simply click on one of three icons in the tool bar for Twitter, Facebook and Evernote. You’ll be taken to the site of the service you’ve chosen, with the URL of the story you want to share ready for posting.
Perhaps more exciting than this sharing feature is the advent of plugin capabilities. So far, two types are supported: link plugins that allow sharing of the type described above for Twitter, Facebook and Evernote, and script plugins that allow you to run defined actions through AppleScript.
Plugins are apparently easy to create — no programming expertise is needed. So who knows what cool stuff the Vienna community will dream up. Maybe I could finally figure out how to create my dream script: a button that marks all the stories in a feed as read.
Posted Thursday, February 11, 2010 in Updates
Handbrake .94
The developers of Handbrake have a habit of adding the tiniest increments possible to new versions of the popular software. Perhaps it’s from an undue sense of modesty, because the latest release of this freeware video transcoder is not only 64-bit, but brings in 1,000 changes. Infinite Loop has the details.
Posted Friday, November 27, 2009 in Updates
NetNewsWire out of beta and into ads
The final release of NetNewsWire 3.2 is out and, as expected, ads now appear in the bottom left-hand corner. The ones I’ve seen so far aren’t particularly irksome — basically just a bit of text. I suppose there will also be some using images that could be more distracting. One concession to ad haters is that they are now just 90 pixels tall — half the original 180 pixels.
Another concession, of course, is that you can pay $10 and have the ads removed entirely. In fact, when you first fire up NetNewsWire, an ad appears informing you of this option. It only lasts a few seconds, though, so it’s easy to miss. You can also pay by clicking on Buy NetNewsWire in the NetNewsWire menu. I found it strange that the eSellerate store you connect to doesn’t mention that ads will be removed. It might make some people wonder if they’re in the right place.
There remains, however, the sticking point of what to do — if anything — for people who paid for NetNewsWire before it became free. There is no mention of a solution at the nwbeta blog, so it looks like they (I among them) are out of luck.
During the brouhaha over ads, I decided to take Vienna for a spin and found it to be a perfectly acceptable alternative. Would I go back to NetNewsWire? Other than inertia, there’s really no reason not to. The ads don’t bother me a bit and I refuse to maintain a lifelong bitterness over a payment I made years ago.
Posted Thursday, September 24, 2009 in Updates
ToyViewer 5
Some pretty good alternatives to Photoshop have come out recently, including Pixelmator and Acorn. They cost a lot less, but still do a great job of image editing.
Don’t forget, though, that there are freeware alternatives. GIMP is the best known even though it tends to put people off with its steep learning curve. Seashore is much nicer to work with, but develop seems to have dropped off.
So it’s heartening to see that the venerable ToyViewer is still alive and kicking with an upgrade that takes it to version 5. We’re not sure how its Japanese developers came up with the odd name, but if you’re willing to get past that, there are a lot of great features — including compatibility with Snow Leopard.
One of the most impressive things about ToyViewer is its ability to handle several image formats. Yes, you can even display your Photoshop files.
Posted Friday, September 18, 2009 in Updates
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You'll find nothing here but 100 per cent, totally free software for Mac. There are no demos, no crippleware, no "freemiums." The only exceptions are for programs supported by tasteful ads. In some cases, developers ask for a donation — and we encourage you to make one if you find the program useful. Let us know if you find an app here that is not totally free, and we'll delete it. And if there is a program that deserves to be here — but isn't — we'd like to hear about that, too.
