testonej

Hey guys,
I bought a Mac Pro the other day and so far I am not all that impressed. I was looking to just stimulate my brain by learning some new things but, so far I am not all that impressed with OS X as compared to Vista or Windows 7. I am having a hard time getting used to the way it handles window focus under the mouse compared to windows.

Can anyone suggest a good text editor that supports regular expressions?

Also, I would love to hear about any software you use that you find valuable for OS X(games, editors, etc.)


Thanks!

audax

Two good resources that I found when I bought my MBP.

Open Source Mac - Free Mac software, all open-source, all OS X.

Best Mac Software.org - The Best Software for Mac OS X (OSX)

nvanprooyen

I've only found one resource helpful for post Mac purchase -

testonej

I have to be honest... I am starting to think ebay is looking pretty good as well. I miss my Textpad.

testonej

This is good stuff! Thanks for the post!

MCRunning

Coda

JamesH

Well I'm working on some sites right now and here are all of the apps I have going right now:

Adium - chat program
Colloquy - #cakes ftw
Dreamweaver
iTunes
Mail
Excel
Photoshop
Safari
Transmit - Great FTP program
Transmission - Great torrent program
VMWare - Great for virtual machines (testing, running basic Windows apps, etc)

I bolded the ones that everyone doesn't already know about. That's basically all I need to work on my aff sites and shit. I have a MacBook Pro, and its running pretty smooth (little bit of lag here and there, but it's still workable). I definitely need some more ram, but both processor cores are only being used by 25-40%. I have a feeling that your Mac Pro may be a bit overkill for AM work.

scorch

what is #cakes?
and why does it win/world.
p.s full addy pl0x

JamesH

Cakes Chat | NickyCakes.com

Colloquy is an IRC app

What is full addy pl0x?

DewChugr

For a great text editor html editor check out BBedit. It's a great program, built in ftp, code colring, etc.

Some other apps you might be able to use

DVD ripping - mac the ripper, ffmpegX, HandBrake
Playing saved flv and swf, SWF & FLV Player
Bonjour Browser if your on a network
Stuffit, compresson, can create droplets to things
RAR Expander
Chicken of the vnc If you use vnc
All adobe stuff
Toast for burning
IBidwatcher for sniping ebay
AppleMacSoft DRM Convertor if you use iTunes
CoRD if you remote to win boxes
PeerGuardian for transmission
GetLeft if you rip sites

I think once you get used to the Mac you'll find it's just easy and it works.

Some things that will help get you started.

The Apple key is called the command key.

When you click on a background window it comes to the front without bringing all windows of that app to the front, very handy.

Hold control while using the mouse wheel to zoom entire screen.

In Firefox hold control and option then use scroll wheel to zoom Firefox window. Or command with plus or minus key.

Command click the title are of a background window and move it around without bringing it to the front.

Command-shift-n to create a new folder.

If you command click the name of a finder window it will show you the directory path to where the folder you are in is located. If you release the mouse on one of those folders it will open in the current window.

When you are in a finder window command up arrow takes you up one level and command down arrow opens the file or folder highlighted.

When you are in a file open window you can usually select multiple files to open with shift or command keys.

In the finder drag a file or folder onto a folder and hold it there a second and the folder will open and you can drag the file to a folder in that window.

You can create a folder with shortcuts to files, folders, links etc and drag the folder to the right side of the dock. Now right click on that folder and you can get to all the links in it easily. You can also drag a disk icon there and easily navigate through the drive.

In the finder double clicking a folder opens it in the current window, command double clicking it opens it in a new window.

Option double clicking a file, folder, app opens it and closes the window it was in.

Command-delete to send selected items to the trash.

Command-shift-delete empty trash, add option to bypass asking if you are sure.

Option drag to copy an item.

To cancel dragging an item either hit escape or drag it to an empty spot on the finder bar at the top of the screen.

Command-h to hide an application (most apps, not photoshop).

Command-option-click and app in the dock to select or open it hiding all other apps.

Command click a dock icon to reveal it's location in the finder.

Drag a file to a apps dock icon to open it with that app.

To kill an app right click it's dock icon and select force quit.

Screen shots, command-shift-3, grab whole screen, command-shift-4 select area to grab or command-shift-4, then press space and click a window to grab just that window. Screen captures are PNG by default, but you can change them to PDF within terminal with this command. You have to log out and back in for it to take effect. I believe you can also make jpg or psd files.

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type pdf

In windows that are long enough to scroll, finder, firefox, etc. If you command-click a position in the scroll bar it will scroll instantly to that position.

When in a finder window command-j will let you change the appearance of the window, icon size, picture or color of background of window, etc. WATCH the option at the top that says this window only or all windows. If you pick all windows it will change every window on your computer.

Organize you files with labels, right click files/folders and select a color. You can change the colors in the finder preferences, under the finder menu.

When you are in open save dialog windows and other places cmooand-d takes you to the desktop.

When you are in a finder window command-shift-a takes you to your apps folder, command-shift-u takes you to your utilities folder.

Play with the terminal, there is a ton of stuff you can do with it. Type cal to get a calendar of the current month or cal 2009 for a calendar of 2009.

Hope this helps, pm with questions.

__________________
if (preg_match("/SEO /i",$_POST['subject']) || preg_match("/search engine/i",$_POST['subject'])
header("Location: http://www.googlehammer.com");

Hey Newbie, watch the Wickedfire newbie video

HarveyJ

I'd replace the SWF/FLV Player (in fact EVERY video player) with VideoLan (VLC) for Mac, and the compression stuff with 7zip for Mac.
Fewer programs to worry about, and they both work beautifully (even if the UIs are ugly as sin)

__________________
After 10,000 years I'm free!

RealMedia

I am with him on this one I am glad to announce.

DewChugr

I've had issues playing flv files in vlc using and skipping. When skipping ahead ina video manually the video closes. Other than that agree vlc is a great program. Both are free.

7zip is good, and free, but there are a lot of things you can do with stuffit, like right-click mail compressed files and you can create droplets that will compress and email or ftp files. Comes in handy for a lot of things.

__________________
if (preg_match("/SEO /i",$_POST['subject']) || preg_match("/search engine/i",$_POST['subject'])
header("Location: http://www.googlehammer.com");

Hey Newbie, watch the Wickedfire newbie video

johu

Install XP or Vusta on a virtual machine, such as VMWare fusion. It's one hell of a machine to run Windows on, when you need Windows.

MCRunning

If you aren't using VLC, get Perian + flip4mac

Windows Media® Components for QuickTime
Perian - The swiss-army knife of QuickTime components

WTF

Textmate - best text editor EVER on any OS

DewChugr

I really like BBedit, but I'll give the textmate demo a try.

__________________
if (preg_match("/SEO /i",$_POST['subject']) || preg_match("/search engine/i",$_POST['subject'])
header("Location: http://www.googlehammer.com");

Hey Newbie, watch the Wickedfire newbie video

testonej

Thank you all for your replies and comments, this is alot to look into.

itchy

i just bought a macbook air and so far i love it, can't keep my grubby little mitts off it. And i mean i never ever ever thought i'd ditch my pc!! only thing i miss so far is gotrusted but i'm going to sign up for strongvpn instead. love the touchpad, fingerscroll is awesome when on the net.

and i'm going to be wading through all these tips as well, thanks

BeerNuts

Colloquy for IRC Chat
Adium for AIM Chat
Transmission for Torrents
Parallels for Windows Boot
Little Snitch for Firewall/Program Blocking
Candy Bar for editing Icons and Bar
Unison for Usenet
par2formac for PAR Files
UnRarX for Rars/Zips

__________________

piatek

It takes time to get use to a Mac.
I was a windows user since windows 3.1 all the way to XP, 2003.
Bought my first Mac 4 years ago, and i will never go back to windows.
Sure it is different at first but no virus, no blue screens, runs 24/7 pretty much, super stable, and just overall a great computer.

There is tons of great software for mac.
Myself i only use Adobe CS3 Master so most of the stuff is there ( but I am a graphic designer ).
For coding like CSS i simply use Dreamweaver.
FTP Client > Transmit
Onyx - for OSX tweaking
FlightGear for OSX - flight simulator ( if you love to fly )
MS Office for Mac is useful
Some editors are TextMate, TextWrangler, BBEdit I think and Smultron.

=)

Dimaseo

I bought a Mac Book Pro (15") last summer and I will never by a windows machine again. I also have a great (or thought it was) windows desktop with dual 21" monitors and it just sits there collecting dust. Now that I think of it, I haven't even been on it for a month.

Next purchase: 8 core mac pro with the 30 inch monitor, can't wait.

I don't understand how people can put down macs. Maybe a tough conversion for about a week or two but that's it. Macs last years, windows last months.

ck256

sweet - if you'd like - I'll take them off your hands and save you the trip to the trash can.

ck256

Agreed - same story myself.

Things was - the mac allowed me to do some really cool stuff very easily - things that I knew how long would take on Windows since I used it forever . . . and will never go back. i use Window at work every day and it's so painful when selects don't how they should, drag drop is screwed up, and the computer is just a pain in the ass to use. Over 20 years experience.

Anyways - to each their own - good luck.

ck256

Completely agree - I've had the same Macbook for two years - put 2gb RAM in it and it just keeps on going.

Now I don't game on it - but it handles all of my other business quite well. And quite frankly, I don't care to game on it.

Sorry to sound cliche, but it just works . . and works quite well.

DaveTheGoldfish

Here are the apps I love:

• Adium for instant messenging
• Xslimmer to cut down the size of applications by like 50%+ (works really well)
• Pixelmator for graphics work
• Textmate for coding + quick notes
• Evernote to keep all the best articles/PDF's I find in a single place to do with business
• Transmit for FTP
• Handbrake for DVD ripping
• Echodio to put my iTunes library on the cloud as a backup and sync between computers (use the coupon 'accelerator' for access)
• Mozy for backup
• Screenflow for screencasting - absolutely beautiful application
• Foxmarks to sync/backup my bookmarks
• AppCleaner to uninstall applications/widgets properly
• 1Password to manage passwords
• AppFresh to update programs
• Timeline because I'm trying to construct a timeline of my life
• Pages to prepare proper documents
• Keynote to create decent looking screencasts

...okay, that's really just everything I have installed.

Love my Mac.

testonej

Man this thread is becoming an awesome resource for Mac Software. Thank you all for your contributions.

I have a pretty long list of things to test now. Keep it coming!

Update on my Mac - I am starting to like it more each day. Still not sure I like it better than a windows Box but it is growing on me. I have been using MS software since DOS 3.31 so..... I got some more growing to do.

Thanks again!

piatek

I hope it will grow on you. It is really a great computer.
Also make sure to buy an AppleCare within the first year of purchase if you will keep it for that long, which I hope you will. Apple care is simply amazing, anything happens, you get it fixed for free, or replaced right away.

One more thing, there is tons of great software for mac, but make sure to buy a good mouse with 5 or 6 buttons and one that sticks to your hand. I mean, some people would use the mouse provided by Apple, and i would say this is why they are confused and hate it in the beginning. I mean who uses a mouse with one button ? ( well the new ones have maybe 3 lol )
Yes they look pretty but they are so uselss to most of us. So if you have not done it, do it asap. =)

brentdev

first to install before anything... free as well... Quicksilver.. i use it in everything i do (quite literally)..
adium for chat, colloquy for irc, transmit/coda for ftp and html/css work then textmate for coding.... grab a copy of mamp pro for a better and much easier to manage way of having a local dev server...well worth it (plus its cheap)..ohh and netnewswire for rss...

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ck256

ah, quicksilver . . . i use it so much i forgot about it!!

indispensible, really

ontheconcord

Did you happen to pick-up a mac pro from your local apple store with a business discount for the 08 generation?

gopher

Josh, it definitely takes some getting used to. I wasn't entirely comfortable with OSX for at least 4-6 weeks, but after about 2-3 months I couldn't go back to Windows, everything feels so clumsy now. And I've been a hardcore Windows user until I got my first Macbook in 06.

As for applications (some of these may have been mentioned already):

Textmate
Textwragnler
Adium
Colloquy
VLC
Seashore
Unison
Parallels
Cyberduck
Viscosity
Quicksilver
MAMP

weneedsound

Parallels (Virtual Machine)
Windows.. when you need it.

Textmate (Text editor)
Love this text editor.

FlowFTP
FTP software.

NetNewsWire (RSS)
For all of those blogs I waste too much time reading.

Yojimbo (Information Organizer)
Organize notes and I export the blog posts with good info and store them in Yojimbo.

Disco (Disc burning software)
Simple burning software, between this and 'disk utility' you shouldn't need anything else.

Photoshop
...

iWork (Pages, Numbers, Keynote)
Get good at using Pages style system and Numbers makes pretty graphs.

1Password
Store your passwords, serial numbers and credit cards. Sounds scary? The software has a dated interface but is very useful.

Transmission (Torrent)
Download torrents.

UnRarX (Compression)
Handle those RAR files.

Adium (Chat)
AIM.. and everything else

Perian
Codecs for Quicktime.

Connect360 (Media Extender)
Stream those torrented movies to your TV through your xbox360.

Flip4Mac (Codec?..)
Play WMV.


Also.. get used to the built-in software. Spaces, Spotlight, Terminal, Apache, PHP etc..

__________________

Garrett

1Password
Coda
xPad