[eventhorizon]

So I did some searches and apparently I fail because I can't find that old thread that lists all the best freeware/shareware must-have apps. I recently got my hackintosh up and running with leopard (my poor imac g4 just doesn't cut it anymore) and I'm quite excited using a mac as my main comp these days once again. So, list away those awesome apps please!

[dmegatool]

It this what you were talking about ?

[Brad]

I maintain a list at my company's intranet wiki for just this purpose.

Here's its current contents:


== Web Browsing ==
- http://nightly.webkit.org/ WebKit - nightly builds of Apple's great web browser
- http://www.caminobrowser.org/ Camino - the Mozilla Gecko engine done right (well, mostly)
- Certainly not Firefox, except for development and compatibility testing, I suppose. The Mac version of Firefox just plain sucks.

== Misc. Online Tools ==
- http://www.adiumx.com/ Adium - multi-protocol chat client
- http://www.panic.com/transmit/ Transmit - FTP/SFTP/WebDAV client
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/cotvnc/ Chicken of the VNC - VNC client
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/osxvnc/ Vine Server - VNC server
- http://www.nexumoja.org/projects/Shimo/ Shimo - a nice interface to the Cisco VPN client

== Editors ==
- http://www.graphicconverter.net GraphicConverter - bitmap editor, can view ~200 formats and export ~80 formats
- http://macromates.com/ TextMate or http://www.codingmonkeys.de/subethaedit/ SubEthaEdit - write your code
- http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnigraffle/ OmniGraffle - vector graphics editor
- http://inkscape.org/download/ Inkscape - X11-based vector graphics editor
- http://www.mscape.com/products/iconographer.html Iconographer - icon bitmap editor
- http://www.uoregon.edu/~koch/texshop/ TeXShop - LaTeX editor
- http://www.panic.com/coda/ Coda - multipurpose FTP client and text editor

== Utilities ==
- http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/ Quicksilver - application launcher (and more)
- http://wakaba.c3.cx/s/apps/unarchiver.html The Unarchiver - multi-format decompression tool
- http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/menumeters/ MenuMeters - monitor your system from the menu bar
- http://www.bresink.com/osx/TinkerTool.html TinkerTool - customize hidden features in Mac OS X
- http://www.bergdesign.com/supercal/ SuperCal - calibrate your display!
- http://www.derlien.com/ Disk Inventory X - disk usage monitoring tool
- http://www.manytricks.com/servicescrubber/ Service Scrubber - customize Services menu, eliminate unused items
- http://andrewescobar.com/mailstamps/ Mail Stamps - make Mail.app look less ugly (not yet 10.5 compatible)
- http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/ Snapz Pro X - capture audio and video from the screen to file
- http://www.panic.com/candybar/ CandyBar - apply custom icons to your system
- http://www.freemacsoft.net/LiteIcon_en.html LiteIcon - like CandyBar, but open-source and free
- http://www.rubicode.com/Software/RCDefaultApp/ RCDefaultApp - easily change default document and protocol handlers

== Multimedia ==
- http://skim-app.sourceforge.net/ Skim - PDF Viewer
- http://www.graphicconverter.net GraphicConverter - bitmap viewer, can view ~200 formats and export ~80 formats
- http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...omponents.mspx Flip4Mac - WMV plugin for QuickTime
- http://perian.org/ Perian - AVI/etc. plugin for QuickTime
- http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ VLC - media player for files that QuickTime won't handle
- http://www.mactheripper.org/ MacTheRipper - extract protected DVD content
- http://handbrake.m0k.org/ HandBrake - recompress and export DVD content

[Brad]

Originally Posted by dmegatool It this what you were talking about ?

Aye, but that one is three years old. I'd say it's a fair time to start a new thread.

[tomoe]

Smultron for syntax highlighting with Matlab code.
Transmission for torrents.
WeatherDock for weather.
iTerm to sex up the command line.
Visor for it's wonderful F1 hotkey command line.
fdupes for finding duplicate files. Not an app, per se, but I often find myself using it.
WaterRoof to manage the ipfw firewall that has no gui in Leopard.
Safari Stand to make Safari more friendly.
Steer Mouse to make the MX Revolution play nice.

[Koodari]

MacVim for text editing.
Inquisitor for proper search in Safari.
FFView for reading comics.

BTW, what does iTerm do that Terminal doesn't?

[tomoe]

Originally Posted by Koodari BTW, what does iTerm do that Terminal doesn't?

Tabs, and a nice full screen mode.

[Wyatt]

My list is a little shorter than Brad's

Dreamweaver (for work)
MS Office (for work)
NetNewsWire -- RSS Reader
Cyberduck -- FTP
Parallels w/ XP (for Web site testing)
Adium
iStumbler -- WiFi utility
Google Earth -- Just for fun
Skitch -- Just for fun

[ghoti]

Originally Posted by tomoe Tabs, and a nice full screen mode.

Terminal does tabs since Leopard. And fullscreen?

[tomoe]

Originally Posted by ghoti Terminal does tabs since Leopard. And fullscreen?

Really? News to me.

[ghoti]

Here are a few updates for your Wiki page, Brad!

Originally Posted by Brad - http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnigraffle/ OmniGraffle - vector graphics editor - http://inkscape.org/download/ Inkscape - X11-based vector graphics editor

Inkscape is a good idea in principle, and it's free, but it's horrible to use on the Mac. You can't copy&paste, you have to think about using Ctrl- rather than Cmd- all the time, and the drawing tools are all very basic. You can certainly do a lot with it, but it's no fun to use. OmniGraffle costs serious money, but not only is it a real Mac program, it has so many clever things built in that you start to miss them in other applications once you've seen them. The alignment and automatic measurement tools are so much better than anything else I've seen in any other program. I wish Apple would steal some of those ideas for iWork.

The new kid on the block with regards to vector graphics on the Mac is VectorDesigner, which is still a bit in its infancy, but it's coming along nicely. Well worth checking out.

Originally Posted by Brad - http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/ Snapz Pro X - capture audio and video from the screen to file

Snapz Pro actually doesn't exist any more, it's now called Snapz Studio or something. iShowU has a much better user interface, a lot more options, and is a much more modern program overall. It's also a lot cheaper ($20).

If, like me, you can't live without a clock floating in your top right screen corner (which disappeared with Leopard), check out SimpleFloatingClock.

Also, I don't know if that goes a bit outside the scope of this thread, but check out 1Password. It's an incredibly useful program that I use for all my passwords and other sensitive data.

Oh, and one more, especially for a laptop: Orbicule Undercover. In case your computer ever gets stolen, this is your insurance policy to get it back.

[ghoti]

Originally Posted by tomoe Really? News to me.

Cmd-T, I command thee!

[kieran]

Originally Posted by ghoti Oh, and one more, especially for a laptop: Orbicule Undercover. In case your computer ever gets stolen, this is your insurance policy to get it back.

Does anyone actually have any experience with this?

How exactly does it work?

Since I never had a notebook with an iSight before the MBA, I never looked into this that much.

Would it really be worth it?

[digitaldave]

Not an app as such, but Pith Helmet ad-blocking for Safari.

[ghoti]

Well I don't have experience with it bringing my computer back, but it just seems to be a good idea. Once you report your computer as stolen, it starts sending back screenshots, IP information, and pictures taken with the iSight. If it can't establish a network connection, it will simulate hardware failures in the hope that the computer will be taken to an Apple Store. Once it detects a network that it thinks belongs to an Apple Store (they're keeping a list of those networks), it starts to make a lot of noise and flashes a message that it has been stolen ...

They have success stories on their blog, and there's some more info on the website about how it works. It costs a small fraction of the price of a new computer, and it makes it possible to actually get your computer (and all your data) back. I think it's worth it.

[kieran]

I was doing some reading up on it.

A student license costs $40. I think I might just put it on there to give me a little added piece of mind.

Especially with me going back to classes soon and pulling my MBA all over campus with me.

[dmegatool]

Originally Posted by ghoti Snapz Pro actually doesn't exist any more, it's now called Snapz Studio or something. iShowU has a much better user interface, a lot more options, and is a much more modern program overall. It's also a lot cheaper ($20).

What about this ? In fact, I just bought it today for my company. I wish I had found IShowU before... Anyway it works great for what I need.

[ghoti]

Oops, I guess I mixed that up with Wiretap ...

[colivigan]

Originally Posted by digitaldave Not an app as such, but Pith Helmet ad-blocking for Safari.

Lately I've really been digging Privoxy.

I'm a little embarrassed that it took me so long to find it - it's been around for years. It's an ad-blocking proxy server with a boatload of other features, so configurable it will make your head spin. And it's cross-platform. Might be a little daunting for the casual user, but I think it's pretty darn slick.

I particularly enjoy leaving the console window open and seeing all those ads and tracking links get crunched. It really gives you an appreciation for the amount of utter crap than can be concealed on even the most innocuous looking web pages.

[King Kovifor]

Personally I use:

- Transmit FTP
- Coda
- Chem Buddy (for all those who suck at Chemistry)
- Handbrake
- Inquisitor

[torifile]

TextExpander
1Passwd

The combination of those 2 little apps have saved me tons of time recently.

[Capella]

I don't have that many "must-have" apps. I'd say Adium and Thunderbird are my only two essentials.

[jdcfsu]

I'll second the recomendation of NetNewsWire, 1Password, and Coda and add in MarsEdit which is a great blog editing/publishing app.

[Mac+]

Originally Posted by ghoti Snapz Pro actually doesn't exist any more, it's now called Snapz Studio or something. iShowU has a much better user interface, a lot more options, and is a much more modern program overall. It's also a lot cheaper ($20).

Another video app worth checking out is ScreenFlow. Admittedly, it is more expensive (US$99.99) but it certainly looks well designed. I don't have it personally though (requires Leopard) - just throwing it out there.

[apple007]

Might have been mentioned already, but I've used iSquint and TubeTV quite a bit since buying an iPhone last summer. These two apps -- both are free -- are great for getting videos into iTunes in an iPhone-playable format.