Free software I've written

This page is a catalog of free software I've written or worked on. For the software provided with no included license, I would ask that you credit me when you make use of or incorporate my software into another product; and that you send along any improvements you might make. Bug reports are also welcome.

Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) compatibility:

• AntiRSI, Shroud, NCIDpop, launch, appswitch and Pester (both 1.0 and 1.1b15) work properly.
• ICeCoffEE doesn’t work. Analogs to a portion of ICeCoffEE’s Services and URL launching functionality are present in Lion. I do not plan to update it.
• F-Script Anywhere doesn’t work and I do not have any immediate plans to update it. An injection service is available as a partial substitute.

Pester

Pester is a simple alarm clock and timer for Mac OS X. Use it to remind you to catch the bus or attend an upcoming meeting. It is modeled after xalarm in functionality—though not in interface design.

• Download as a compressed Disk Copy (UDIF) image, version 1.1b15 for Mac OS X 10.6 and later. (Release notes)
• Download Universal Binary as a compressed Disk Copy (UDIF) image, version 1.1b12 for Mac OS X 10.4–10.5.8.
• Download source and binary as a compressed Disk Copy (UDIF) image, version 1.0 for Mac OS X 10.1–10.6.8.
• Source is available at GitHub.

Shroud 1.1.2

Shroud places a solid-color backdrop behind windows or applications on your Mac to allow you to focus. Unlike some similar applications, the backdrop doesn't activate when you click on it, messing up your carefully arranged workspace. Shroud also (optionally) obscures your menu bar until you move the mouse over it.

• Download Universal Binary as a compressed Disk Copy (UDIF) image, for Mac OS X 10.5 and later. (Release notes)
• Source is available at GitHub.

NCIDpop 0.9.17

The OS X version of the NCIDpop network caller ID client, originally written by Alexei Kosut, has not seen much development in a while, and had fallen behind the Windows version.

• a call history window (reopen NCIDpop to see it); copy or drag phone numbers from it
• reverse lookup support, including Apple Address Book lookup with photos (double-click or use the contextual menu)
• network change robustness (automatically reconnects to the NCID server)
• localized date formatting and Address Book-based phone number formatting
• optional Growl notification support

Maybe you’re wondering “why use NCID when I already have caller ID?” If you have SIP service at home, NCID can give you caller ID on the first ring on every computer display—or more, if you use the Growl suport to forward the notifications elsewhere. Since I get pretty frequent calls from people I don’t want to talk to, such as Spanish-speaking bill collectors who won’t take no for an answer, it’s been a great help in reducing my stress when the phone rings.

Screenshots: incoming call and call history; preferences.

• Download Universal Binary as a compressed Disk Copy (UDIF) image, for Mac OS X 10.4 and later.
• Visit the NCIDpop home page.
• Source is available at SourceForge.

AntiRSI 1.4njr4

The original version of AntiRSI was written by Onne Gorter. In his words, “AntiRSI is a program for Mac OS X that helps prevent RSI (repetitive strain injury) and other computer related stress. It does so by forcing you to take regular breaks, yet without getting in the way. It also detects natural breaks so it won't force too many breaks on you.”

Over the past few years I’ve made several changes, including:

• redesigned break window, using less CPU during breaks
• usage tracking which doesn't get affected by video players (e.g., UpdateSystemActvity)
• work session timer measuring how long you've been typing in total
• showing the break window in all Spaces on Leopard
• not keeping AntiRSI focused when you click “Postpone”, or at the end of a break when you have AntiRSI set to keep itself in front

Screenshots: session timer and break window; preferences.

• Download application as a ZIP archive, for Mac OS X 10.4.3 and later (Universal Binary).
• Source is available from Subversion (browse).

launch 1.1, a command-line launcher for Mac OS X in the spirit of open

Apple provides a simple command-line launching program called open with Mac OS X. It offers few options—launching applications by name or by path, launching TextEdit, or opening a number of applications, documents, folders, or URLs. With the exception of special support for TextEdit, launch does everything open does, and:

• opens URLs and email addresses in your preferred helper application, or sends URLs to any other application of your choice
• lets you specify applications by their four-character creator (e.g. 'ToyS') or Java-style bundle ID (e.g. com.apple.scripteditor), both of which allow you to move or rename an application without changing references to it
• asks applications to print documents
• pipes output to applications
• launches applications in the background
• launches Carbon applications in Classic
• reports errors intelligibly
• shows information about any item on disk, including its file type, creator, data and resource fork sizes, version, dates and bundle ID (where applicable).

launch is useful by itself, but is even better when used in scripts. Assign a shell command to your favorite Mac OS text, graphics or resource editor. Browse your favorite Web site with a few keystrokes.

• Download source and Universal Binary in gzipped tar format, version 1.1 for Mac OS X 10.4 and later.
• Download source and binary in gzipped tar format, version 1.0.1 for Mac OS X 10.2 and later.
• Source is available from Subversion (browse).

appswitch 1.1.1, a command-line interface to OS X process management

If you use shell scripts to automate OS X applications, you may need to switch between applications. You could use AppleScript via osascript(1), but it may take several seconds for the script to compile and execute—or you could use appswitch, which works almost instantly. Need to launch an X11 application from Terminal but the X server isn't in front when you need it? Use appswitch to fix the problem. Or, if you'd like a version of the ps(1) utility which understands the concept of OS X applications, appswitch can help.

• Download source and binary in gzipped tar format, version 1.1.1 for Mac OS X 10.6 and later.
• Download source and Universal Binary in gzipped tar format, version 1.1 for Mac OS X 10.4–10.5.8.
• Download source and binary in gzipped tar format, version 1.0.1 for Mac OS X 10.2–10.3.9.
• Source is available at GitHub.

ICeCoffEE

ICeCoffEE lets you Command-click to open URLs in Mac OS X applications including Safari, Mail, TextEdit and Terminal. It adds an enhanced, editable “Services” menu to some text fields’ contextual menus, and optionally to the menu bar as well. ICeCoffEE is modeled after ICeTEe for classic Mac OS, which provided the same functionality in many Macintosh applications by patching TextEdit.

• Version 1.5 supports more URL styles, displays icons for services and keyboard shortcut preferences, works on hyperlinks in text, adds a Copy Link menu item, no longer requires a URL be selected in Safari/WebKit, adds contextual menu services to Preview/PDFKit and fixes several bugs.
• Version 1.4.4 fixes a conflict with Safari 3 Beta.
• Version 1.4.3 fixes several bugs and is a Universal Binary, compatible with Intel Macs.
• Version 1.4.2 is fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.4.
• Version 1.4.1 fixes a conflict with Safari 1.3 as included in Mac OS X 10.3.9.
• Version 1.4 adds French localization (thanks to thomas didrel) and the ability to select which services appear in contextual menus.

• Download installer as a compressed Disk Copy (UDIF) image, version 1.5b5 for Mac OS X 10.4.11–10.5.8 (Universal Binary).
• Download installer as a compressed Disk Copy (UDIF) image, version 1.4.4 for Mac OS X 10.3.9–10.4.11 (Universal Binary).
• Download installer as a compressed Disk Copy (UDIF) image, version 1.4.1 for Mac OS X 10.2.8–10.3.8.
• Download installer as a compressed Disk Copy (UDIF) image, version 1.4 for Mac OS X 10.2.0–10.2.7.
• Download installer and binary as a compressed Disk Copy (UDIF) image, version 1.1 for Mac OS X 10.1. (If you really want ICeCoffEE support in 10.1’s Terminal, download ICeCoffEE 1.2b2: there are known bugs which crash Terminal in this version, and I do not provide support for it, but it may work for you.)
• Source is available from Subversion (browse).

F-Script Anywhere

F-Script Anywhere lets you embed a F-Script interpreter in any Cocoa application. You can use F-Script like a debugger, so you can examine your application's objects in a richer environment than GDB or Xcode permits. F-Script Anywhere can also be useful for examining applications you didn't write, to isolate bugs or add new features.

As of version 1.3, F-Script Anywhere is now part of the F-Script distribution, and is no longer distributed via this Web site. It is finally compatible with Mac OS X 10.4 and is a Universal Binary. Thanks to Robert Chin for bringing F-Script Anywhere up to date.

• Download F-Script Anywhere 1.3.1, compatible with Mac OS X 10.5.
• Download F-Script, including F-Script Anywhere for Mac OS X 10.4.x.
• Download source and binary as a compressed Disk Copy (UDIF) image, for Mac OS X 10.1.x and 10.2.x only. This version is compatible with FScript.framework version 1.2.x.
• Source is available from Subversion (browse).