So I picked up and installed Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) earlier this week, and it is pretty neat. X11 is out of beta, and an option during the install (X11 is an environment with which to run UNIX apps like The GIMP, and OpenOffice.org). Exposé is just shitty (read: it ROCKS!!!), I’ve got 2 of my mouse buttons (on my Logitech MX500) set to activate it– one to show ‘all windows’ and the other to show the desktop.
Here’s a list of requisite apps I’ve installed so far:
Adium [1.6.2 and a recent 2.0alpha build] – AIM chat client, exquisite interface.
AppleWorks [6] – Apple’s productivity suite, needs a rewrite, but sufficient for most anything.
BBEdit Lite [6.1] – Write HTML? You NEED this!!!
BitchX [1.0c19] – Command line IRC client.
Camino [0.7.0 and a recent nightly build] (formerly known as Chimera) – Beautiful gecko browser, based on Mozilla.
CandyBar – Change your system icons.
CanoScan Toolbox – I’ve got a Canon LiDE30 scanner, and this is the software for it.
Firebird [0.7.1 and a recent nightly build] – Gecko based browser (formerly known as Phoenix)
Fugu – Free FTP client with a similar interface to Transmit.
The GIMP – GNU Image Manipulation Program, it’s free, and it does most of the stuff Photoshop can do.
GraphicConverter [4.9] – Shareware graphic editing utility.
iCab [2.9.6] – A web-browser that doesn’t work very well.
InterActual Player – DVD playing app similar to Apple’s DVD player, but different.
Irssi [0.8.6] – Command line IRC client.
Keynote – Apple’s presentation software, many say it’s better than M$ powerpoint.
Logitech Control Center – Lets me assign crazy stuff to my (8) mouse buttons.
Lynx [2.8.4] – Command line web-browser, mostly for testing accessability.
Mozilla [1.5] – THE gecko browser, but fairly bloated.
MPlayer [OS X 2b6] – Open Source video player, supports most formats/codecs.
OmniWeb [4.5] – WebCore (KHTML) based browser, very nice.
OpenOffice.org [1.0.3] – Free open source X11 productivity suite, did I mention it’s free?
Opera [6.0.3] – Propretary web browser, many people still use it, so most people at least try to support it.
SmoothStripes Panther Preview – Panther’s stripes are toned down a lot from previous versions, but I still think they’re ugly.. here’s a theme to rid yourself of them.
StarCraft – Who says Mac users can’t have any fun?!
Stuffit Standard [8.0] – Newer version than what came with Panther.
TinkerTool – Utility to make all kinds of customizations.
TransparentDock [2.2] – I don’t like that translucent background behind the dock, so I got rid of it.
VLC [0.6.2] – Open Source DVD/video player, supports most formats/codecs.
X-Tunes – Awesome iTunes controller.
Note: this is only a partial list, it is the stuff I recommend to any Mac OS X user. If you can think of anything else I should add thats cheap and/or free, let me know by leaving a comment and I’ll check it out!
An awful lot of web browsers here, are you a web developer?
I did some browser testing for a MUG presentation with my father, and iCab turned out pretty well, with a number of unique features, like a good Print Preview, selective banner ad blocking, sending emails without an external program, and others. It’s not the most compatible, but it ain’t bad.
Programs that weren’t on your list? How about Watson, WeatherPop, or MT-Newswatcher?
Some would call me a web developer. I just call me “me.”
I am fairly disgusted at iCab’s [lack of] HTML/XHTML/CSS support. I’d honestly use IE before I’d use iCab.. though those are the 2 lowest on my list, and the only version if IE left in my apartment is in OS 9.
Never was a Watson user (and I don’t get much use out of sherlock either), I’ll go check out weatherpop and mt-newswatcher… not sure what the latter one is.
I find Watson a lot more useful than Sherlock, which I really only use for the Yellow Pages tool every once in a great while. Watson has a TV listing tool(though now you also have to make a free account with tvguide.com for it to work), a good Weather tool(with great satellite pictures), phone number lookups and reverse lookups, and a VersionTracker tool.
WeatherPop, the free version, just gives me the temperature and overall weather status(cloudy, foggy, rainy), but I don’t have to do anything to get the info, it’s always in the corner of my screen near the clock.
Newswatcher was a old Public Domain Usenet newsreader; MT-Newswatcher is a free but much better MultiThreaded version, and then an OS X version was released. It still looks mostly like a Classic app, but it works well.
I downloaded weatherpop, and it wouldn’t run. Downloaded MT-Newswatcher but wasn’t patient enough to figure out how to set it up. *shrug*
one of these days, I’ll probably try out watson.
thanks for the recomendations Alphax!