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Fav/Essential Mac Programs

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Originally posted by: scootermaster
Some others, since people stopped describing what they do:

SequelPro (MySQL Client)
Default Folder X (Customizes Save Dialog boxes, plus MUCH MUCH more)
USB Overdrive (Gives better control over USB input devices // mice,keyboards,etc.)
Xmarks (bookmark syncing between browsers)
Acorn (image editing similar to Pixelmator)
glimmer blocker (like safari adblock but 64 bit)
Colloquy (IRC Client)


I have a hack, so many of those monitoring tools don't seem to work, unless people have any experience with ones that do.
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Amended the ones that I know.
 
Ya know, this makes me realize that we really need a good thread resource for software for OSX, i'll get cracking on it tonight and tomorrow with the long weekend
 
Good call Aphex, if we can also get links to them that would be great.

Beyond the standard, what I have installed and use reasonably often:
AppFresh - A lot of third party apps use Sparkle in order to do inline, unobtrusive updates, but for those that don't you can consider AppFresh to be Software Update, but for the rest of your stuff.

Carbon Copy Cloner - This is great and something that I have yet to find an effective replacement for it with Windows drives. It will create a bit for bit clone of your drive onto any other drive that has the requisite space. Then you can just drop in that drive and boot off it and you are good to go.

OmniDiskSweeper - Is a good way to get an idea for where the free space on your hard drive has gone to. There is also Grand Perspective, which gives you a pretty graphical look at the same info, but I prefer the just straight data approach to OmniDiskSweeper.

That is what I use that I don't think anyone else has mentioned yet, or at least not often.
 
Adium - multi-client instant messaging application
ClickToFlash - automatically blocks Flash while browsing the web, can force H.264 for YouTube
Coda - text-based coding software
Linotype FontExplorer X - font viewer and organizer, sort of like iTunes for fonts
Transmission - torrent application
UnRAR X - unpackages and packages RAR files
smcFanControl - let's you control the fan speeds on your Mac
Fetch - FTP client
GetTube - allows you to download YouTube/Google Video files to your HDD

All of these except for Coda are free IIRC, and I couldn't live and work without them.

 
Originally posted by: Xanis
Adium
ClickToFlash
Coda
Linotype FontExplorer X
Transmission
UnRAR X
smcFanControl
Fetch
GetTube

All of these except for Coda are free IIRC, and I couldn't live and work without them.
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When you post these lists, could you post at least a word or two telling people what they do? Takes one person ten seconds to type, versus a hundred people however long to cut, paste and google.

Thanks!
 
Originally posted by: scootermaster
When you post these lists, could you post at least a word or two telling people what they do? Takes one person ten seconds to type, versus a hundred people however long to cut, paste and google.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Fixed. Check my original post for the update. 🙂

 
+1 for Frostwire. Nice, slick program. The files are about what you'd expect (i.e. nowhere near as good as those from SoulSeek) but the program itself is very polished.

Speaking of which...when we going to get a Soulseek Mac client!? (That works).

I have VM Ware pretty much for Quicken, Soulseek and MediaMonkey (for filetagging/image art)

 
Originally posted by: Chris
Originally posted by: Kai920
I'm getting a bit sick of Firefox's slowness... I mean even exiting it will take 30 seconds. I can't ditch FF completely because of Firebug, but I would like to give Safari 4 an extended trial as I never really used it before. Any tips or must have plugins? Is there something like Firebug for Safari available?
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What are you guys running that FF is so slow? From my old MBP Core Duo (not Core 2) to my Quad Xeon FF maybe loads slow the first time, but renders, quits, etc very fast. Yeah, Webkit browsers load and render a lot faster, but FF is by no means intolerable.
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Quick OT post: I disabled 3 addons and now my Firefox is shutting down MUCH faster. Before it used to just beachball for a good 30 seconds or more, now it's less than 5. The three addons I disabled were FirePalette, Gmail Manager, and Google Gears. 🙂
 
Desktop/Work:
Final Cut Pro (still using FCS 6, at work and home)
DVD Studio Pro
Motion
Compressor

Taply (great little tool for quickly previewing audio media- been using since long before QL and still use it daily)
MediaCalculator (calc for timecode, film footage, drive record space, etc.)

Photoshop PS3 (I'm not a big fan of 4)
Toon Boom Storyboard Pro (now the animation indy standard)
Autodesk Sketchbook Pro (drawing tool)
Flash
Anime Studio

Pages
Final Draft
MS Office 2008
Dreamweaver
Free Ruler (ah the convenience sometimes of just being able to measure the screen)

Toast
Virtual Box (a fantastic free alternative to VMware Fusion and/or Parallels)
MacPar Deluxe (file archiving tool)
Egg-Time Counter (time management)
LameSecure (tool to lock directories)
BlueHarvest (invaluable for keeping @**&ing ._resource fork droppings off servers)

Live Mesh (for sharing projects/files across multiple users/machines/homes/offices- replaced Drop Box for me, which I've since dropped like a hot potato)
Adium
Cyberduck
Fugu (SFTP, SCP, SSH)
uTorrent


Home Theater/Entertainment:
Plex (Media center, based on XBMC only much better. )
XBMC (media center)
NicePlayer (awesome alternative to DVDPlayer, borderless interface=priceless)
Hulu Desktop (simply awesome)
Boxee (also awesome)
eyeTV

Air Mouse (makes an iPhone/iPod Touch into a gesture remote)
Remote Buddy (makes Wiimote, PS3 BD etc. into remote)

Google Earth
MAME (arcade game emulator)
SixtyForce (N64 emulator)

LastFM app
iTunes
VLC (when all else fails for odd media files)
 
Originally posted by: miniMUNCH
Path Finder by cocoatech.com

It is basically what Finder should be.
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I have a license for PathFinder and I initially really liked it, but the performance is just horrendous on my machine. Well horrendous is a bit harsh, but it's worse than the standard Finder, and in general the Finder does what I need it to just fine.. so I haven't used PathFinder in quite a while. Plus, I can't consistently keep DropBox working with Pathfinder.
 
miniMUNCH said:
Path Finder by cocoatech.com

It is basically what Finder should be.
Click to expand...

I just found path finder, what an improvement on finder. Though thats not hard to do lol.

Path finder is really awesome. Hopefully performance stays good.

My favorite programs:
Path finder
Audium
Vmware fusion
firefox (ad block, xmarks, fast dial..etc)
growl
vlc


Stuff for Bar up top:
Istat
temp monitor
weather dock lol
 
Last edited:
Q : How to tell a Mac user from a PC-convert-to-Mac user?

A: Look at the programs they use, Mac purists tend to have the essential softwares (paid legitimate softwares) that helps their professional career path, for video, audio, writing, magazine publishing, photography.

Notice how their desktop tend to be rather plain and minimalistic. Because these Mac users are professionals and highly paid for their beautiful work.

On the other hand, the PC converts overload their computers to the deepest clutters. Don't forget, Macs are not designed the same purpose as PCs. Just as you wouldn't drive a Ferrari on a pot-filled road.
 
u3laptoper said:
Q : How to tell a Mac user from a PC-convert-to-Mac user?

A: Look at the programs they use, Mac purists tend to have the essential softwares (paid legitimate softwares) that helps their professional career path, for video, audio, writing, magazine publishing, photography.

Notice how their desktop tend to be rather plain and minimalistic. Because these Mac users are professionals and highly paid for their beautiful work.

On the other hand, the PC converts overload their computers to the deepest clutters. Don't forget, Macs are not designed the same purpose as PCs. Just as you wouldn't drive a Ferrari on a pot-filled road.
Click to expand...


I wouldn't say that is true. I don't even own a windows computer. I have two macs. I have my work notebook which has only software for my job. And I have my home notebook with tons of stuff for a variety of tasks (games, browsers, etc). A mac is a PC, it is not designed for high end work. It's designed to do what you want it to do.
 
u3laptoper said:
Don't forget, Macs are not designed the same purpose as PCs. Just as you wouldn't drive a Ferrari on a pot-filled road.
Click to expand...
Eesh.
How many played-out tech cliches can one fit into a single statement?

Mac's are PC's. Also, they aren't analogous to Ferrari.

Mac purist? There's two distinct camps as far as that goes.

There are Mac users that are professionals that use Macs...

...and then are Mac users who think that using a Mac makes them a professional.

Personally, I've noticed the later type were few and far between pre-iMac. Before that, virtually no one bought a Mac thinking the computer itself was any kind of fashion statement or that you could just sit around admiring OS7, 8, 9 all day and that's all it took to call oneself a pro.

Post iMac, I've met scores of Mac 'purists' in the later camp, just as there are PC-wankers as well.
 
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