A Change of Platform
About 2 weeks ago, the power connection on my Toshiba laptop started to flicker in and out. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed by fiddling with the power chord, but it started to get irritating. And then the battery stopped charging… sometimes. I would have to restart the machine to make the battery take a charge again. Very strange.
It was then that I finally decided to make the inevitable jump. Yes, I bought a Apple Powerbook. Allow me to introduce you to ‘Einstein.’ I’ve always been a fan of Apple, I had just never got around to buying a Mac for myself. But I love it. I’m hooked. Sure, there are a few things I miss right off the bat (the real ‘delete’ key, for instance), but I’m making due.
So here I embark on a new platform of computing. To those who already enjoy the benefits of the Mac, what are some of your favorite add-ons? Favorite freeware? What are some of your most valuable tips or tricks? I’d love to hear.
I’ve been impressed at the number of hardcore geeks I know going to the Mac. I’m talking command line Linux people. It makes me curious about it, but when I think about all that cash spent on software instead of hardware, I cringe.
On the other hand, for the average person, the Mac is a happy medium between the tedium (two ums!) of Windows and the power of Linux. Your dad’s stuck with the school’s laptop, but I think your mom would LOVE a mac.
Welcome aboard the S.S. Mac! I think you’ll enjoy your stay, especially once Tiger appears later this year.
There’s lots of great freeware and shareware out there that is definitely worth looking at. I highly recommend Quicksilver, ecto, NewsFire, xScope, Transmit (FTP), iTunes Watcher, DiskWarrior, etc… There’s so many, I could keep going for a long time.
For tips, just go scour through Mac OS X Hints. It’s probably one of the best resources out there for learning and getting deep into Mac OS X.
Apple’s own Hot Apps page can get you started with software for most of your needs. Sourceforge also has a bunch of OS X software, open source too.
Once you get the hang of DMGs and the Installer, you’ll feel like never going back. I have an old, second-hand 15" Powerbook and I’m loving every minute of it. I’m just waiting to get a Mini so I can use a proper keyboard.
I sometimes plug my desktop keyboard, mouse and CRT monitor to the Powerbook and use it as a desktop replacement. Try it!
Welcome to the Mac.
1. fn-delete on a Powerbook will give you the much needed forward-delete ability.
2. Set one of your lower corners to expose for quick access to your desktop.
3. Apps in no particular order:
Remote Desktop
PHP function index
Transmit
Adium for chat
Enjoy.
while everyone else is saying “welcome”
I say “fare well.”
Do me one favor. Don’t turn into one of those Mac Elitist that think they’re better just because of the machine they compute on.
Not technical or interesting, but an explanation nonetheless.
You might have seen it already, but Jon Hicks and his commenters have some great stuff for your menubar.
Personally, you must check out Quicksilver like Scott said. It’s amazing, I’ve been looking for months for something remotely similar for when I’m on my PC. Other good stuff: CalendarClock, SlimBatteryMonitor, Thunderbird and Firefox (der!), Transmit, skEdit (excellent text/html/MT/php/etc editor)
Hey man,
I can’t really offer you any information you don’t already know. But hey, I’m glad you finally came into the light. Welcome to the truth!!!
hi!
Check out Wolfgang Bartelme’s website:
http://www.bartelme.at/journal_detail.asp?detail=220
Where he gives you his list of the hottest mac-software must-haves.
Have fun with your mac!
Gerd
Steve,
As a long time PC guy, who recently swapped, I understand where you are coming from with a switch to the Powerbook. Our small design firm just bought 2 17" PB’s, one of which is mine. I’m not going to dog PC’s or rave about my Mac. I like aspects of both and wish I could combine them sometimes. I will say this, once you get used to the “crispness” from your PB display – going back to your PC seems a bit dull. :)
I second the Quicksilver and skEdit – those are some neat little apps. I’d add Pulpfiction to that list. It’s a nice little RSS feed reader.
I’d recommend getting the iCurve display stand and going with the wireless keyboard and mouse if your new Mac is to be your full-time productoin computer. We did that for our two and the iCurve is a nice way to set the PB up off the desk. Wireless on the other two isn’t just handy, it really does free up some of the wire clutter in your workspace and with the expanded keyboard you get your delete key back. You can get all three from Apple’s online store if you haven’t already.
The End and Home keys not working the same across all apps is my biggest grip with my Mac. Second, would be the lack of thumbnails stored with images. Every time you browse directories the Mac has to recreate the previews unlike Windows which only does it once and keeps a database of them handy in the directory. You can of course save images with a preview in Photoshop, but this is cumbersome for thousands of images as we have here. I don’t remember where I found it, but a little program called Pic2Icon can create all of them for a given directory. We used this to get around the image preview problem.
Keep us posted. I’d love to hear how the transition is coming along!
Just wanted to say thanks to Brian and Steve for recommending skEdit — I recently moved to the Mac myself and have spent the past month trying every editor available from SubEthaEdit to TextWrangler and skEdit by far beats them all, even the heavier apps like BBEdit. Fanstastic.
I’d also add that I really enjoy the VLC Player and yeah, Quicksilver’s a must.
Gotta say that what I love most is everything I wish I had or need to have for work is available somewhere as a homemade, $20 application, if not free, and they’re all great.
How about Jonas Luster’s Mac App list?
http://www.jluster.org/indispensable