SuperIludec_hl@mastodon.social
Aug 17, 2026, 9:25 PMAre there any must have Apps for #MacOS I should be aware of? #RetroComputing, music players, productivity software?
PS: Open Source software preferred!
Replies
Retrofan 64retrofan64@oldbytes.spaceAug 17, 2026, 9:44 PM@dec_hl How retro are we talking about? 68k era? Pre-OSX?
- SuperIludec_hl@mastodon.socialAug 17, 2026, 9:45 PM
@retrofan64 the mac is recent, I'm looking for emulators, etc 😊
majickmajick@mefi.socialAug 18, 2026, 2:15 PM@dec_hl Hi there! Here are a handful of things I use that might fit some of your "must have" needs:
Ample: great little MAME wrapper (Apple ][ and Mac, handful of other targets)
AppleCommander: Apple ][ disk image manipulation
BBCBasic: hey, I always wanted to learn
Bean: tiny, focused word processor (free-as-in-beer)
connectmenow: workaround for CIFS/NFS disconnect on sleep
cool-retro-term: ever want your terminal emulator to look like a CRT? DOS prompt? Amiga CLI window? Sky's the limit, here
DOSBox-X: the Mac port is well supported and friendly(ish)
Droid64: C64 disk image manipulation
FS-UAE: canonical Amiga emulator
Hex Fiend: if there's a better hex editor, I've never seen it
Karabiner-Elements: limitless keyboard mapping (public domain)
LinearMouse: for pointer input mappings
Moonlight: Great little Sunshine client, beats the pants off NoMachine
NetNewsWire: the canonical RSS reader
OmniFocus: superpowered task management for any method (closed source, commercial)
1/3- majickmajick@mefi.socialAug 18, 2026, 2:15 PM
@dec_hl
SIDFactory: music tracker
SIDPLAY: second best sidplayer I've ever used, best on the Mac
Sikarugir: handy little WINE wrapper maker
Spatterlight: well-crafted IF player
SponsorBlock for Safari: make YouTube slightly more tolerable
Syntax Highlight: more readable QuickLook parsing
uBlock Origin Lite for Safari: do not bother with other such tools for this browser
UTM: Slick wrapper for QEMU
vAmiga: a finely crafted alternate Amiga emulator
Vesktop: less-awful Discord client
VICE: it's VICE
VirtualC64: a finely crafted alternate C64 emulator
WINE Staging: upstream WINE in a neat package
XQuartz: *the* X11 server for the Mac
2/3 - majickmajick@mefi.socialAug 18, 2026, 2:15 PM
@dec_hl
Need CLI tools rather than app bundles? I got you. Not necessarily Mac-specific.
afsctool: interface to APFS file-level compression (janky)
bobbin: text mode Apple ][ emulator
c2t: tape audio from Apple ][ disk images (for bootstrapping real hardware)
cpmtools: CP/M disk image manipulation
ciderpress2: Apple ][ disk image manipulation
diskus: du but actually fast
exomizer: best in class cruncher
imagemagick: must-have wherever you go
mosh: obvs
ntvdm: 8086 real mode DOS shim
podman: Docker but doesn't suck
psid64: wrap .sid as .prg
RunCPM: the finest CP/M emulator I've used
tmux: obvs
virtualt: TRS-80 Model 100/102/200 emulator
3/3Best of luck with your new Mac!
- SuperIludec_hl@mastodon.socialAug 18, 2026, 2:17 PM
@majick 🙏 thanks a lot
- SuperIludec_hl@mastodon.socialAug 18, 2026, 6:55 PM
@majick PS: do you know of any decent MOD, S3M, XM Player for OSX? Like OpenCubicPlayer or similar?