Comments on: Making The Move: “Must Have” Apps for Your Fresh Leopard Upgrade

By: Jonas

Jonas — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:30:17 +0000

Have you had any issues with the Western Digital Scorpio? I’m wondering because of this:

http://www.macspecialist.org/content/articles/macbook_pro_owners_beware/

By: Adam Edelstein

Adam Edelstein — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 19:34:30 +0000

for text editors I have an even better solution for you; and given that you also had xcode it made a lot of sense for me to mention:
aquamacs yes you already have emacs installed if you went to the terminal, but this adds lots of extra prettys and basically is a superset.

By: VMware Virtualizing No-hack Leopard Server

VMware Virtualizing No-hack Leopard Server — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 18:11:09 +0000

[...] Making The Move: “Must Have” Apps for Your Fresh Leopard Upgrade (34) [...]

By: Anthony

Anthony — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:37:20 +0000

Thanks so much for this list. I’m sure you have many other things to write about (mark), but as a migrating PC user, lists such as this are invaluable.

By: Gloubibou

Gloubibou — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:17:53 +0000

@boB:

iStats’ calendar has been updated in recent versions. I find it to be much better looking. I love the world clock. What it is lacking, is iCal integration. For that I use the “iCal Events” widget.

It took me years to grasp why 1password is better than the keychain. It is: same passwords in all browsers, multiple identities for a single web site, password generator,… I used to have only 2 passwords and use them over and again. Generated passwords are much more secure.

By: boB Rudis

boB Rudis — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:01:09 +0000

Sorry, @Gloubibou, MenuCalendar’s calendar menu item is *waaaaaay* better then iStat’s (another reason I had chose MenuCalendar+MenuMeters combo previously). I’d probably use MenuCalendar still if it weren’t for the change in functionality under Leopard.

My “1passwd” is a text file in a secure disk image on my USB flash drive, only needed if I really can’t remember a username/password combo (which is rare).

By: Gloubibou

Gloubibou — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:50:45 +0000

+1 for iStat Menus. Especially for its menubar clock/calendar. The widget is gorgeous too.

Big vote for HoudahSpot 2. Leopard has improved Spotlight, but still nowhere near par.

Where is 1Password?

By: Kent

Kent — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 15:05:04 +0000

Thanks for sharing this with us. I really like seeing what apps other people are using, especially when the reason are given why they are used. Keep up the great posts.

By: Luca

Luca — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 11:55:35 +0000

I find it difficult to live without visualhub and Transmission. Definitely the best apps for the mac. ~and what is exactly wrong with the new iPhoto? The main differneces that i see is events and being able to flag photos which is all benefit in my opinion…

By: Leland C.

Leland C. — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 03:14:57 +0000

Wow. Didn’t know about Writeroom. Just wrote an essay on it. Thanks sooooo much. Gets rid of distractions! :p

By: Andy Croll

Andy Croll — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 03:03:07 +0000

+1 for Perian, but you’ll need Flip4Mac aswell for the odd WMV file.

And also Textmate. Textmate. Textmate.

By: Sue Anderson

Sue Anderson — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 01:54:50 +0000

TextWrangler and VMWareFusion are on my MacBook as well. Thanks for your list.

Have you ever tried Mac HelpMate? - a free all-in-one preventive maintenance utility that repairs permissions, updates prebinding, removes font caches, user caches, cleans logs, runs daily, weekly, monthly. Also has an auto scheduling feature. v. 2.0.1 works with Leopard.

By: Si

Si — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 01:05:14 +0000

You hit the nail on the head when it comes to ecto and Mars Edit. I’ve not bought either because I want both, but I want them both in one package.

I also made the move to Leopard recently (just this weekend) and went from FireFox 2.x to 3 beta and it’s been near faultless for a beta. One crash and with the config hack, almost all the plugins work just fine.

I’d like to throw Text Mate into the ring. The only Text Editor I’ve ever paid for, and worth every penny.

By: Links for January 6th through January 8th » jarango.com

Links for January 6th through January 8th » jarango.com — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 00:30:07 +0000

[...] “Must Have” Apps for Your Fresh Leopard Upgrade I’m considering doing a “clean” wipe when my copy of Leopard gets here. [...]

By: franta

franta — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 00:12:09 +0000

I ahve to wake up also but another hint. Iwork 08. Speed? are you joking me? Pages were nevver fast but slow.

By: franta

franta — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 00:10:15 +0000

Wake up! Perian.org video codecs are missing .-)

By: Nicolai

Nicolai — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 21:50:15 +0000

Yeah http://perian.org/ does a good job.

By: Fredrik Olsson

Fredrik Olsson — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:28:34 +0000

Skip Flip4mac and use Perian instead. Better codec support, and free.

By: boB Rudis

boB Rudis — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:02:23 +0000

@devlogic - so much for my accurately going through my old Applications folder. Yes. CoRD is fantastic, especially since it does allow for multiple sessions. I haven’t had to remote into more than one box at one time lately, so that “doh!” hasn’t happened yet. I keep MS RDC around for full compatibility (for some reason, it works better against various servers I need to hit). Off to grab a fresh copy…

By: boB Rudis

boB Rudis — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:59:41 +0000

@Mike O’Connor - That’s what I did and yes, it invalidates the warranty: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,2119528,00.asp

By: devlogic

devlogic — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:54:10 +0000

You might want to check out CoRD for your remote desktop needs. Auto-scaling of active sessions (i.e., resize the window, and you get 1024×768 in a 800×600 window, scaled down), and multiple open sessions with a drawer to switch between ‘em.

By: Mike O'Connor

Mike O'Connor — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:05:25 +0000

Oh, I forgot:

Do I need to get a certified apple tech to upgrade the hard drive to preserve my applecare? I’d like to do it myself if possible.

By: Mike O'Connor

Mike O'Connor — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:04:08 +0000

I’m also going to put one of those 320 GB drives into my MBP. I’m planning to do this:

1. Format 320 and install Leopard
2. put old drive into an enclosure and connect with USB
3. Use the migration assistant to restore my applications and data from the old drive

Does this make sense? (I’m new to the mac)

By: YK

YK — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:19:42 +0000

“Things” has taken over my life and finally made sense of it all… (http://culturedcode.com/things/)

By: lukerhn

lukerhn — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:09:43 +0000

The iSlayer guys are fellow Aussies… so I’ll always plug them if the need plugging!

My only other essential is CoverSutra. System-wide iTunes shortcuts + HUD + Growl + Last.fm… you can’t ask for much more from a single app!

By: David McDougal

David McDougal — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:04:33 +0000

I agree istat pro or istat menu are the BEST program for viewing your system.

I am sad to see that you left off SMCfancontrol (http://homepage.mac.com/holtmann/eidac/software/page5/page5.html) it is the best program out there for keeping tabs on and controlling the tempature on your machine. I use this daily, when gaming I turn the fans on full (6000rpm vs 2000rpm default) to pump out the heat and keep the system running well.

Also, what about things like Caffeine (http://lightheadsw.com/caffeine/) to keep your system from sleeping while you are using tranmission (version 1.00 has this option in transmission).

There are so many nice apps out there that I know you cannot include them all, but these seem like must haves to me.

By: boB Rudis

boB Rudis — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:02:36 +0000

Turns out, somewhere between my initial trying of iStat Menus and now, they added “Activity Monitor” to the CPU graphs as well. Which is a good thing since the memory numbers view (uses/free numerically make more sense than graphically for me) are fugly.

So, I’m with @Galley: iStat Menus FTW! … thx everyone for the repeated suggestion and please let me know what iSlayer is feeding y’all (besides a decent app).

Now that we we know/knew everyone *but* me runs iStat Menus… any other essentials I’m missing?

By: lukerhn

lukerhn — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:37:46 +0000

@boB … don’t forget you can turn off the labels so it only occupies 10px or so

By: boB Rudis

boB Rudis — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:30:48 +0000

@lukerhn: thx. it makes so much more sense to put it with CPU info, but if it’s under memory, I’ll give up that much extra, precious menu bar space for that added piece and give it a whirl again.

@mark, I was honestly hoping to see if any other folks did something similar and am still looking for what essential apps they are running post-Leopard. I’ve found some great apps that way.

By: lukerhn

lukerhn — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:19:34 +0000

@mark … Lay off on the criticism. It’s always interesting to see what other people find useful and what you rely on daily that they don’t. No one is forcing you to read the list…

By: lukerhn

lukerhn — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:17:59 +0000

@boB … the option to open Activity Monitor is there in iStat Menus under the Memory menu.

By: mark

mark — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:15:26 +0000

No superduper? Oh, that’s right. It’s STILL not leopard ready.

And what is it with list like this? So useless and done all the time. I think it’s a crutch for writers when they have nothing else to write about.

By: boB Rudis

boB Rudis — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:15:05 +0000

OK, iStat Menus is pretty enough and I’d've been glad to use that instead of MenuCalendar+MenuMeters even pre-Leopard if it weren’t for *1* thing: an “Open Activity Monitor” option from the menu-item.

If they add that, I’d be quite glad to use them, especially now since MenuMeters “works” on Leopard but isn’t officially supported under Leopard.

By: lukerhn

lukerhn — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:59:49 +0000

For MenuCalendar iCal and Menu Meters combined, why not try iStat Menus from iSlayer. It’s lightwieght, useful, integrates with a System Preference, oh and it’s free!

By: Matt Radel

Matt Radel — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:54:36 +0000

Great list! I’m still a little weary of Firefox 3 though…I think I’ll wait until the final version is released to upgrade.