Install it and try running the hokuyo_aist_example binary. (You should
consider using the SVN version, it's got a vastly updated API with many
new features, including support for the new scanners due to be released
at the end of the year).

If that library works for you, I could be convinced to wrap it up in a
ROS node this week.

Since it is just the fopen call that is failing on the Mac, and since we have sample code that does work, I think we'll manage to get this going. It isn't something that I think justifies having another hokuyo node for. (Plus, he already hacked a node around the hokuyo sample code that does work.)