This page hasn't been updated since Spring 2000 at the latest, and certainly not since I became a resident of LaptopLand. When I was working mainly on a public computers in various Princeton clusters, I found it essential to be able to download some of my treasured bits of software in order to do my work. (And of course that meant that I spent much of my "work" time doing endless configuring...)

Most of the "download" links in the second column are probably worthless, and of course these are all for MacOS 9 (or 8 or 7) anyway. So I guess that this is mainly just an historical document about some software that I found useful in the last part of the 1990s, back when the distinction between 68k and PPC was really meaningful to me.

-- cbu (09/18/2004)

and these are a few of my favorite things...

home page	download	about
Adobe Acrobat Reader	Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.01    (fat) 6653 kB	Viewer for PDF documents, usually those composed using the not so free Adobe Acrobat 3.0. Also comes with a handy plug-in for Netscape to view files without leaving the browser. Freeware from Adobe. Fully installed it will take 7.2 MB.
Alpha	Alpha 7.2.2    (PPC and 68k) 3.3 mB	Alpha is a mode-based ascii text editor written in Tcl with emacs functionality, designed to work interactively with ftp and telnet clients as well as web browser and mail programs. If that doesn't excite you then count your blessings and don't even bother finding out more. When properly configured Alpha can copy LaTeX or HTML files from a remote server, preview them, and post them back to the remote server without leaving the program. Alpha can also launch programs in the background that will process a LaTeX file and display the final dvi or post-script version. Integrates well with Big Brother, Excalibur, Fetch, Netscape Navigator, Telnet, OzTeX, and BibTeX. Lately, the Alpha home page has not contained download links for the most recent versions, but Gary Gray and his Penn State site maintain updates. Shareware, $30.  Written by Peter Keleher, HTML mode written by Johan Linde.  Fully installed, approximately 18 mB, but it can be pared down to around 8, and less with earlier versions. Andrew Trevorrow (see OzTeX's home page) has put out a CD-ROM with full versions of Alpha, BibTeX, and much more. I find myself using Alpha for several hours a day anymore. Kind of scary. See also my little alpha support page.
BBEdit Lite	BBEdit Lite 4.1    (fat?) 1047 kB	BBEdit Lite is a scaled down version of Bare Bones Software web publishing program. They have their own FAQ site which puts them one step above Alpha, and it includes some useful resources. Freeware; the full version cost $79 plus another 5 for shipping, and that's with an educational discount.
BetterTelnet	BetterTelnet 2.0fc1    (PPC) 213 kB	According to its author, "BetterTelnet for MacOS is a significantly enhanced version of NCSA Telnet 2.7b5. It is just as flexible to configure, but adds more features, tons of bug fixes for true stability, and many new options." Freeware from Rolf Braun, who also has a Finder Options Extension for system 7.5.
BibTeX	BibTeX 1.1.7    (fat) 616 kB	BibTeX is a program and file format designed by Oren Patashnik and Leslie Lamport in 1985 for the LaTeX document preparation system. This is Vince Darley's freeware Macintosh implementation, one that I increasingly can't live without.
Big Brother	Big Brother 1.2    (fat) 751 kB	Big Brother will validate all links for a web site, both internal and remote, and notify you if any of them don't work. Only works for System 7.5.x and above. On-line documentation available. Best of all, you can invoke Big Brother without leaving Alpha. $10 shareware, written by Francois Pottier, who claims that this is the final version for the mac.
Cache Killer	Cache Killer Pro 1.05    (fat) 40 kB	Cache Killer Pro will periodically flush the cache files of your web browser, or empty any other folder that you specify. Requires system 7.5 or later, specifically the Finder Scripting Extension. $14 shareware, written by Scott Harralson
CMacTeX	Multiple files    to download.  See home page.    28.65 mb + 5.1 more    for some macfonts,    PPC only.	CMacTeX is the David Knuth type-setting program implemented for the Macintosh. Personally, I prefer OzTeX, although I haven't used either of them enough to really compare. OzTeX is smaller, and seems easier to strip down. CMacTeX involves a hefty investment of memory and downloading time. Unlike OzTeX, CMacTeX will run only on a PowerPC Macintosh. System 7.5 or later is required and you will need at least 16 MB of free RAM to run some of the programs. Does come with a version of MacGhostView, but you can get that separately. $35 shareware, by Thomas R. Kiffe.
Cookie Monster	Cookie Monster 1.5.1    (fat?) 10 kB	Cookie Monster is a tiny little application that will eat all of the cookies that you pick up as you're cruising the web. Just leave it in either your startup or your shutdown folder in the system folder and it will do the rest. Home page has a link to more info about cookies. "e-mailware" by a somewhat anonymous author (perhaps due to the threatening letters from the Children's Broadcasting Corporation for using the image of the Cookie Monster without permission.) (whoops.) It is NOT public domain; if you use it, send an e-mail to nicolas@pobox.com, who also states "If you work for MicroSoft, you are NOT allowed to use it."
Drop*PS	Drop*PS 1.1.4    (fat) 39 kB	"Drop*PS is a utility to send text files containing PostScript code to any PostScript printer connected to an AppleTalk network. To send a file, folder full of files, or disk full of files, simply drop it onto the Drop*PS application or an alias. You can also drop multiple files, folders, or disks at once. (DPS can also download EPSF-format files.) " DPS does its work independently of any installed printer drivers, so if you happened to trash all of the LaserWriter drivers from your system folder you can still print. Freeware from Bare Bones Software, the same people who make BBEdit.
Excalibur	Excalibur 3.0    (fat) 1085 kB	A spell-check program primarily used by Alpha for LaTeX files. Maintain's it's own on-line help manual, also available for downloading. A .pdf manual is also available. Unpacked it takes up approximately 2.5 mB. The latest version finally skips over URLs, allowing you to spell-check .html documents from Alpha. Yea! There is also an html dictionary available with limited utility. Freeware with restrictions, written by Rick Zaccone and Robert Gottshall
Fetch	Fetch 3.0.3    (PPC) 966 kB	The standard File Transfer Protocol program for the Macintosh. "Fetch 3.0 is licensed free of charge to educational institutions and non-profit organizations (i.e. charitable organizations; government departments and government- or corporate-funded research organizations do not qualify). Users not affiliated with an educational or non-profit organization who wish to continue using Fetch should purchase a license. A single user license costs $25." Originally developed to serve the needs of Dartmouth College, Fetch was and is written by Jim Matthews.
Interarchy	Interarchy 3.8    (PPC) ?? kB	The premier File Transfer Protocol program for the Macintosh. Interarchy is version 3.8 of the previously named "Anarchie." "Interarchy 3.8 is a powerful and flexible Internet interface for Mac OS. It can transfer files via FTP and HTTP, search the Internet to find the files you want, provide a wealth of information about remote servers as well as your local Internet connection and Internet applications, help manage remote servers, let you remotely control and test your Macintosh across the Internet. All Interarchy functions can be accessed via the menus or alternatively via a new user interface technology called wands. Interarchy wands are shareable, linkable, easy to make and very versatile. As user interface elements, wands have many diverse applications beyond simply providing alternative interfaces to Interarchy, they can also be hyperlinked to other wands, the web, other applications, AppleScript or indeed any document or URL." $30 shareware
MacGhostView	MacGhostView 1.3.3    (fat) 2126 kB & required fonts 3093 kB	MacGhostView allows one to look at a postscript document without having to print it on a post-script laser printer. It's a stand-alone version of the software that comes with CMacTeX. One really handy thing to do is set it as the .ps viewer in the preferences for Netscape - begin to download a .ps document and you'll automatically launch MacGhostView. As with MacGS, you can either "open" a file or "view" it. Viewing it is much faster (and thus cruder) -- if you try to print the viewed file, however, it'll probably look like crap. $20 shareware (charityware, according to the author) written by Thomas R. Kiffe.
MacGS	MacGS 5.50    (fat) 4071 kB	Another PostScript viewer. As the MacGS site says, "PostScript is a language, not a graphic file format. A PostScript file is really a program, not graphical data." That's why it's hard to find a simple viewer for them. The screen ouput from MacGS is nothing short of elegant and lovely. Unfortunately, it also takes a while to put up each page, making the cruder displays of MacGhostView seem a little more tolerable. Best for a final review of a document, not the casual glance. More information avaliable in their on-line manual. One of the best features is a .ps to .pdf converter, but there's a lot more. Takes up about 10.5 mB. Freeware by L. Peter Deutsch.
MacGzip	MacGzip 0.2    (fat?) 103 kB	"MacGzip (Mac GNU zip) is a compression utility designed to be a replacement for 'compress.' Its advantages over compress include better compression and freedom from patented algorithms. The GNU Project uses MacGzip as the standard compression program for its system." In other words, a decompression application necessary to open .gz files. GNU Freeware by macspd@ivo.cps.unizar.es and jazz@ws4.cps.unizar.es
MacWilbur	MacWilbur 4.7.1    (fat?) 103 kB	A stand-alone document that gives an overview of HTML 3.2 standard, code-named Wilbur.  A handy little reference program that doesn't take up much space at all. Freeware by the Web Design Group. Their sites has more information / reference tools regarding HTML language issues on their home page.
MI/X	MI/X X11R6    (PPC) 1913 kB	Have all of your files in your Unix account but can't afford a Sparc station?  MI/X will make your Macintosh act like an X-terminal, with various restrictions.  I still can't get a graphics windows from S-Plus, and have yet to figure out how to adjust the font size of the emacs windows, but I'm working on it. Fortunately they maintain their own FAQ page, but you won't find any other manuals for it. Note: 68k version is also available. Note: Before downloading, look at question 32 of the FAQ: "Some versions of Expanders for StuffIt archives by default will convert the linefeeds in text files to Mac format. This will cause MI/X to report an error when reading the fonts.dir or fonts.alias file. To get around this, you will have to temporarily change the Expander program preferences to not convert text files to Mac format." Freeware by Micro-Images in Lincoln, Nebraska.
NCSA Telnet	NCSA Telnet 2.7b4    (fat) 335 kB	It's my lifeline, especially when I'm a thousand miles from Princeton taking in the basement environs of some library in Saint Paul. This is the latest version of telnet from our friends at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Freeware, with source code in the public domain. The NCSA credits Rick Watson of the University of Texas for "helping incorporate his authentication and encryption code into NCSA Telnet and for his permission to use parts of his documentation" for their manual
Netscape Navigator	Communicator 4.51    (PPC) 14 mB	It's not only free and popular, but Bill Gates doesn't own it yet.  I guess that might explain both.  Every new version takes up more space, of course, but come with Java. Communicator includes the Navigator Browser as well as an e-mailer and much more.
OzTeX	Multiple files   to download.   See home page.	An implementation of the TeX type-setting program but for the Macintosh. Full implementation can be over 80 mB, but by following the instructions you can pare that down to under 20. Includes the freeware BibTeX (by Vince Darley) and a dvi previewer. $30 Shareware by Andrew Trevorrow.
Strip PPC/68k	Strip PPC/68k 1.0a1    (fat) 64 kB	Split PPC/68k will read the source code for a fat binary application and remove any PPC or 68k code to make it a tad more efficient and reduce its size on the hard drive. It comes with 2 different applications, and it would be a good idea to choose the right one and throw the other away. Probably means more to those of us with a IIsi rather than g3 owners. The home page is for Panda Wave, the software concern of In Phase Consulting. They don't even mention the Split PPC/68k program anymore; the download comes from the Oklahoma Press Electronic News archives. Freeware by William Edward Woody
StuffIt Expander	Stuffit Expander 4.5    (PPC) 656 kB	Primarily used as a plug-in with Netscape, but can also be used if you lost your copy of StuffIt Deluxe and need to open that archive you saved so many years ago. Freeware from Adobe.
StuffIt Lite	Stuffit Lite 3.6    (fat?) 871 kB	Scaled down version of StuffIt Deluxe. Kind of an essential tool in my world. $30 shareware from Adobe.

web pages look better on a Macintosh