concerned
USB-to-Ethernet 1.0
USB-to-Ethernet offers you USB to Ethernet Adaptor Drivers more>>
USB-to-Ethernet offers you USB to Ethernet Adaptor Drivers.
There are two basic catagories of USB-To-Ethernet adaptors:
- USB 1.1 devices that use a Pegasus driver.
- USB 2.0 devices that use a AX8817x driver (or its successor, the AX88772).
Each disk image includes an installer for Panther or Tiger, and a "src" folder containing the corresponding xCode projects.
Installation
Download and mount the appropriate driver disk image listed above, run the corresponding installer for Panther or Tiger, and then restart your system as suggested. The Installer will ask you to authenticate so it can place the corresponding driver in "/System/Library/Extensions/" with the correct file permisions to load as a kernel extension.
Next, plug-in your Ethernet adaptor with a live Ethernet cable attached. When you open the Network Preferences panel, it should inform you that a new port has appeared and ask if you want to enable it. Enable the new port and apply your network settings. Thats it.
Each driver is pre-configured to recognize a handfull of common devices. If your device does not appear to be recognized by the driver, you might have to add it to the Info.plist file, which is located inside the USBPegasusEthernet.kext or USBAx8817x.kext directory. You can use the System Profiler or USBProber tool to find the corresponding Product ID and Vendor ID.
To uninstall the driver, make sure any USB adaptors are disconnected, and then drag the corresponding driver in /System/Library/Extensions/ USBPegaususEthernet.kext or USBAx8817x.kext to the trash. You may need to authenticate that you have administrator privileges.
USB 1.1 Performance
The Pegasus chipset provides a USB 1.1 compatible implementation which could be a concern for some users. USB 1.1 runs at 1.5 Mbps (low speed) or 12 Mbps (full speed). For best performance, its important to isolate any low speed devices on a separate bus. Mice and keyboards often run at low speed.
Using the Link Rate tool in IPNetMonitorX, I measured the link rate to another device on my LAN as 6 Mbps. The built-in Ethernet on my 12" PBG4 reported 44 Mpbs. When I measured the link rate to the next hop router through my cable modem, it reported 1 mbps. It didnt make any difference whether I used Ethernet built-in or the USB-To-Ethernet adaptor. Finally, I downloaded a 2.2 MB file to compare the throughput using the Monitor tool.
Both downloads took 5 seconds, but Ethernet built-in reached a peak rate of 589 KBps versus 579 kBps. Repeating the experiment several times produced similar results. Ethernet built-in might be 1-2% faster, but performance was clearly limited by the speed of my cable modem (Your Mileage May Vary).
USB 2.0 Performance
The AX8817x chip set provides a USB 2.0 compatible implementation which runs at up to 480 Mbps (high speed), so it should be possible to keep up with 100 Mbps fast ethernet as long as there are no other slower devices on the same bus. To test this I copied a 64.8 MB music file to my PBG4 laptop connected through a LinkSys USB200M Ethernet Adaptor (en3) and compared this to the same file transfer using Built-in Ethernet (en0).
Both transfers reached 10 MBps (80-90 Mbps) and took about 10 seconds. I repeated the test in the other direction.
While the USB-To-Ethernet adaptor was slightly slower, at 80 Mbps there was little noticeable difference. Files moved quickly from one system to another via 100 Mbps fast Ethernet. Copying the same file using AirPort wireless took 50-90 seconds.
Stability
While other USB-To-Ethernet drivers are reported to be buggy, I havent encountered any stability problems to date. The adaptor turns off when the computer goes to sleep and comes back on when the computer awakes. It does not support "Wake On LAN" at this time.
Wrap Up
This USB-To-Ethernet Adaptor combination could be an attractive solution for a Mac Mini, or old iBook used as an Internet gateway or server. Im particularly fond of using old laptops as servers since they are compact, quiet, use little energy, and include their own battery backup.
Any Currency Converter 4.2
Free Yahoo! converting widget for your Mac more>> Free Yahoo! converting widget for your Mac
Any currency converter is a free Yahoo! widget that displays the exchange rate among any two to four currencies, including some metals.
The base currency is rotatable, invertible, and amount-adjustable. A handy tool for those who work or study abroad and are concerned about the daily exchange rate.
System requirements:
-
Enhancements
- List of currencies updated, hints added in preferences
BootPicker 2.1.2
Will help you deploy multi-boot Macs and permit your end users to choose whichever platform will work best. more>> Will help you deploy multi-boot Macs and permit your end users to choose whichever platform will work best.
BootPicker is a very useful tool because with the advent of Boot Camp comes the possibility of deploying multi-boot Macs and permitting your end users to choose whichever platform will work best for whatever theyd like to do at the moment.
But how do you manage the presentation of this choice? There are a couple concerns to keep in mind:
1. Setting the boot device is an activity restricted to administrative users.
2. Allowing non-administrative users access to this functionality potentially allows them to set the boot device to some external media that they provide (then they can really tamper with the system).
3. Leaving the machine at the EFI boot picker (hold down the option key at startup), while possible, leaves the previous options open and also leaves the machine in a state in which it cannot be managed or accessed via the network. rEFIt allows you to lock down the boot options at startup, however youre still unable to actually manage the machine in this state.
BootPicker runs on startup immediately prior to LoginWindow. Based upon your configuration, it presents an option to the end user to choose an operating system.
Upon choosing that OS, the computer either continues to Mac OS X or reboots to the specified OS. The next time the computer is rebooted, it will automatically return to Mac OS X and the boot picker.
Finally, for environments that require management at a large scale, or management while the machines are turned off or booted to a different OS, BootPicker can be managed via a Mac OS X Server Open Directory Master.
Got AD? Thats OK, you can leverage that as well. You can even run BootPicker from a logout script to give every new visitor to your lab machines the opportunity to choose their OS without rebooting.
Enhancements:
- Added some accessibility features. VoiceOver and keyboard interaction are now supported.
Poisoned 0.5191
Poisoned is an impressive and unique software GUI frontend for the giFT daemon empowers you to share files across the internet or a network on the following major P2P file sharing networks. more>> Poisoned 0.5191 is an impressive and unique software GUI frontend for the giFT daemon empowers you to share files across the internet or a network on the following major P2P file sharing networks:
- OpenFT
- Gnutella
- FastTrack
Enhancements:
- All updates to the source on cvs have been made so you can all start committing changes to the code. Now ares support is fixed.
- Gnutella support fixed.
- Nodelist updating is fixed.
- A few minor changes to correct glaring problems and concerns.
- A basic update to keep people functional.
iZones 0.91
iZones - Calculates your heart rate zones more>>
You can also use iZones with information about your fitness level to further refine your Heart Rate Zones.
However if you have any concerns about your fitness you must consult a doctor.
iZones does not tell you what is safe for you. Please do not use iZonesif you have any concerns about your fitness.
Kensington Keyboard 1.8r1
Kensington Keyboard - Driver for wired & wireless keyboards more>>
The most important of these changes for 10.3 concerns the use of Fast User Switching. If you intend to use this, you must use Kensington Keyboard 1.2 or later, since earlier versions will get very confused.
Enhancements:
- added Universal Binary support for running on Intel-based systems.
Discordian Date 1.2
Discordian Date brings a new and useful widget which is a principle concerned with the nature of disorder vs. order. more>>
Discordian Date 1.2 brings a new and useful widget which is a principle concerned with the nature of disorder vs. order. Among other things, it purposefully contradicts itself in a number of ways. One of its benefits is a very regular calendar: All years have the same number of weeks and a new year always starts on the beginning of a week. However, the Principia Discordia is somewhat vague over how leap days should be applied - therefor, the widget can display the current date aligned either to the Julian or the Gregorian calendar.
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 or later
ScanCalc 1.7
ScanCalc - Utility for calculating the size of scanned images more>>
This can be helpful if youre having a service bureau scan some slides for you and you need to know how many removable cartridges to send. Its also useful if youre concerned about image size and want to see the difference between scanning an image at 300 DPI versus 400 DPI.
ScanCalc also functions as a proportional wheel: enter in a new height or width and ScanCalc will show you the percentage of enlargement/reduction. ScanCalc works with several measurement systems, including inches, points, and metric.
Main features:
- Simple
- Handy log for recording multiple measurements
- Can memorize frequently used picture sizes.
Enhancements:
- Logging and favorite sizes were added.
Trojan Wrangler 1.0
Trojan Wrangler is a simple to use, yet sophisticated utility which scans media files for the resources that Mac OS X uses to locate code. more>>
Trojan Wrangler 1.0 is a simple to use, yet sophisticated utility which scans media files for the resources that Mac OS X uses to locate code. There's some concern that Trojan horse programs can be hidden in certain media files (MP3, AAC, GIF, JPEG). There are plenty of other ways to disguise programs as other sorts of files so unsuspecting users can be tricked into running them, but if this particular issue is a concern Trojan Wrangler will let you scan any downloaded media files for hidden code.
Apache Cocoon 2.0.4
XML publishing framework. more>>
Cocoon interacts with most data sources, including filesystems, RDBMS, LDAP, native XML databases, and network-based data sources. It adapts content delivery to the capabilities of different devices like HTML, WML, PDF, SVG, and RTF, to name just a few. You can run Cocoon as a Servlet as well as through a powerful, commandline interface. The deliberate design of its abstract environment gives you the freedom to extend its functionality to meet your special needs in a highly modular fashion.
Tunalyzer 1.1
Tunalyzer - Tunatics companion more>>
The more users install and enable Tunalyzer, the more songs can be identified through Tunatic. You have the power to make Tunatic better! :^)
Where does Tunalyzer look for music?
Tunalyzer looks for music in the "Music" folder in your home folder. Tunalyzer looks for mp3 or AAC files with metadata (title, artist, etc.)
If your "Music" folder contains mp3 or AAC files with inaccurate metadata, please dont enable Tunalyzer.
How much CPU/bandwidth will Tunalyzer consume?
Tunatic works in the background, when no user activity (mouse motion, keystrokes) occurs. Thus, Tunatic doesnt interfere with your work. And since audio fingerprints are highly compressed, Tunatic consumes very little network bandwidth.
What about privacy?
We are concerned about privacy. None of your personal information is collected by our software (Tunatic and Tunalyzer) or transmitted by our software from your computers to ours. IP addresses may be recorded for security purposes.
Enhancements:
- Tunalyzer now logs its activity. Click "View Log..." to see the log of processed tracks.
- You can now choose the location where Tunalyzer will search for music files. Click the "Choose Search Path..." button.
Office 98 Unique Identifier Updater
Office 98 Unique Identifier Updater is an updater deal with privacy concerns regarding the insertion of a unique identifier number in Office 98 documents. more>> <<less

Public Health News Widget 1.2
Public Health News Widget is considered as a wonderful and useful dashboard widget application. From infectious diseases to cancer prevention and environmental health, let the top experts in the field keep you up to date on research that addresses the most pressing health concerns of today. more>>
Public Health News Widget 1.2 is considered as a wonderful and useful dashboard widget application. From infectious diseases to cancer prevention and environmental health, let the top experts in the field keep you up to date on research that addresses the most pressing health concerns of today. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the largest, oldest, and number one school of public health in the world.
- Mac OS X 10.4 or later.

Armagetron Advanced 0.2.8.3rc4
Armagetron Advanced is considered as an interesting and convenient to play arcade game based on the movie of the same name, release by Disney in 1982. more>>
Armagetron Advanced 0.2.8.3rc4 is considered as an interesting and convenient to play arcade game based on the movie of the same name, release by Disney in 1982. The original game consisted of 4 sub-games, the only one of concern is the 'Light Cycles' one, in which the player uses a left/right joystick to control a 'Light Cycle' which leaves a wall behind it wherever the cycle it goes, turning only at 90 degree angles.
The player must then get the AI to crash into their wall while avoiding hitting the AI's own wall themselves. Those were the humble beginnings of Armagetron Advanced's game play, which has now blossomed into 16 player mayhem, with highly advanced AI, network game play, and of course all in a 3D environment.
Enhancements:
- Fixed 'invincibility' bug. It really was cycles freezing in time.
- Fixed sporadic sound related crash at round end.
- setting rename: SILENCE_ALL -> SILENCE_DEFAULT.
- Sound no longer gets muted after you switch the sound settings.
- Fixed object collision detection that would sometimes pick a wrong wall to collide with, most likely the reason behind wrongly accredited kills.
- Fixed inability to switch viewport assignment in four player mode.
jscl-meditor 3.1
Java symbolic computing library and mathematical editor jscl-meditor aims to provide a free and open source Java symbolic computing library with a mathematical editor front-end more>> Java symbolic computing library and mathematical editor
jscl-meditor aims to provide a free and open source Java symbolic computing library with a mathematical editor front-end. There are several computer algebra systems available on the market, most of them developed in other languages, mainly C/C++ and Lisp.
But the benefits of using java in symbolic computation are great. Aside from being widely used and to comply with various standards, this language has two features of concern : readability and portability.
The symbolic capabilities are currently:
- polynomial system solving
- vectors and matrices
- factorization
- derivatives
- integrals (rational functions)
- boolean algebra
- simplification
- geometric algebra
- java code generation
- graphical rendering of math expressions
NOTE: jscl-meditor is licensed and distributed under the terms of the GNU Library or Lesser General Public License (LGPL).
System requirements:
-
Enhancements
- send to/paste from twitter action