I referenced it some time ago, but I made The Switch some time ago. My primary machine is now a MacBook Pro laptop. I haven’t even installed Linux on it yet, so strong was my desire to give Apple a fair shake at running my life. Some benefits were immediately obvious — using the Command keyboard button for more shortcuts instead of the Ctrl key certainly helped with my RSI problem. Other lessons I’ve had to slowly become used to — using Mail.app instead of Thunderbird, for example.

For the first installment on the trials and joys of switching, I’ll simply start with a list of the software I’m running and why. I’ve already re-installed the machine from scratch twice, so these are the programs that kept me interested enough to survive multiple installs.

• Builtins — Have to include these. I’ve gone whole-hog, doing all picture management from iPhoto, music management from iTunes, calendaring with iCal, and email with Mail.app. Email was the hardest hurdle. I still miss for some features from Thunderbird, but after going back many times, I finally settled into Mail.app. A future post will describe exactly what I hate (and some of what I like) about both products.
• X11 (from install DVD) / Xcode / MacPorts — Not applications listed separately in my applications folder as such, but certainly critical to my tuning process. MacPorts in particular I use to get all sorts of wonderful goodies. Newer versions of python, lots of extra libraries and command-line tools, and even some favorites like Wireshark (incidentally, MacPorts made it really easy to compile my own customized version of Wireshark that was capable of decrypting SSL traffic).
• Media
  • Codecs - From ffmpegX, Flip4Mac, to Divx and Perian.
  • VLC (GPL) - I hope I don’t have to explain this one. Best media player for any platform with great support for OS X. Necessary for (among other things) playing back MPEG-2 content recorded on my GB-PVR machine.
  • Theremin (GPL)- Used to control the MPD jukebox at the office.
  • MediaFork - DVD ripping software (though it sounds like it’s back to HandBreak (GPL) for future versions as the fork’s been resolved).
  • Joost - Interestingly little streaming video application in Beta right now. Drop me an email for an invite. I haven’t spent a lot of time with it, though when it works, it’s pretty snazzy.
  • Audacity (GPL) - Always handy audio editing tool.
  • GimpShop (GPL) - For when I need powerful image editing abilities.
  • Seashore (GPL) - Simplified Cocoa application using Gimp’s backend for simpler, more integrated editing (though less featureful).
• Utilities
  • HexFiend (GPL) - When I want to avoid the MacPorts provided hexedit.
  • AntiRSI - Good little tool to help remind me when to take a break from typing.
  • Google Earth - Need something to show off the fancy video card this thing’s got.
  • Growl (BSD) - Awesome display notification manager so that almost all the programs I’ve got on the laptop that need to get my attention can do it using the same interface.
  • iTerm (GPL) - Most excellent terminal application
  • QuickSilver - Most. Useful. Program. Ever. I will never be able to switch back to Linux or Windows as a primary OS until they have a launcher/tool/whatever as powerful as QuickSilver. Look for more on this in future posts.
  • MenuMeters - Handy little statusbar displays.
  • Mozy - Very cool little backup tool. Encrypted, up to 2gb free, what’s not to like? Mac client is in beta, but looks great and works well for me.
  • Disk Inventory X (GPL) - Awesome free space utility to show which files are taking up the most room. Crucial with the amount of media I have on my laptop. It’s about time to figure out how to split up my iPhoto and iTunes libraries to an external network drive!
  • Missing Sync ($) - Mostly happy with it for syncing my Treo 680 to the Mac, though I have had some problems with contacts not being synchronized correctly.
  • StuffIt - Because I need it sometimes, not because I like it.
• Games - Because I need something to help me avoid work besides my RSS feeds.
  • Battle for Wesnoth (GPL) - Fun turn-based strategy game/platform.
  • Neverball/Neverputt (GPL) - Kind of like marble madness or monkey ball and also has a minigolf mdoe. I prefer Neverputt.
• Internet
  • Adium - I actually prefer iChat (mainly for the video and audio chat and address book integration — though AdiumBook helps), but need to be able to use multiple AIM accounts at the same time so I had to switch to Adium. That said, I’ve really grown to appreciate the customization possible with Adium.
  • BitRocket (BSD) - Early beta that hasn’t been updated too recently, but a great bt client when I need it.
  • rdesktop (GPL) - I actually prefer the X11 version available in MacPorts to the Microsoft tool. Among other reasons, you can have multiple sessions open at the same time.
  • CyberDuck (GPL) - Very good SFTP, FTP, FTPS utility — using CyberDuck to edit files live on the server and have saved changes automatically pushed back is extremely convenient and works well with out how I like to write web pages and applications.
  • Firefox (MPL) - I assume I don’t have to say anything more, do I? No special changes compared to what I’d do on any other machine, though I have messed around with the various nightlies and custom builds to integrate OS X widgets. In the end, I go back to the standard.
  • KisMac (GPL) - Build from SVN for better support for newer radios.
• Productivity
  • Office ($) - Yeah, it’s on here. I’m not a huge fan of /any/ of the productivity suites I’ve tried on the Mac. Office 2004 has a really obnoxious interface, like the ribbon in 2007 was in training.
  • NeoOffice (GPL) - It works, but it ain’t pretty nor fast. I might give iWork a try at some point, but I’ve been waiting for a while for the 2007 version to be announced.
  • MacSword (GPL) - Bible study program — still trying to figure out how to get some of the modules I’ve created to work right.
  • Smultron (Apache v2.0) - Lots of folks swear by other commercial text editing tools, but I’ve always found Smultron does what I need, or I’m using vim on the command-line anyway.
  • VoodooPad Lite - My usage has dropped off lately, but for a while, I did a fair amount of note taking in VoodooPad. One trick — install the regular version (which will expire into a demo as you keep using it), but then don’t use it after the first time you run it. Instead, use the separate Lite version from that point on, but the Spotlight plugin installed by the regular version will remain active and search pads created with the Lite version.
• Random (other installed apps I don’t feel like writing up)
  • TreoCallLog
  • Twitterific
  • TNEF’s Enough
  • RapidoWrite
  • CoverSutra ($ — free from a Macheist)
  • Application Enhancer (with Window Dragon haxie)
  • GeekTool
  • Widgets (Package Tracker, iStat Nano, BaseConverter, The Endecoder — though I’ve hacked on it to add MD5 encryption/decryption. Yes, decryption)
• That’s it for now!

Posted by Jordan on Saturday, May 5th, 2007 at 4:39 pm.