I made a list of all the software I’m installing on my Quad (it was a checklist initially, but I thought it might be interesting to publish). Sorry, I’m not including links – too many to locate and paste in; use your favorite search engine. A lot of this stuff is also linked on my must-have software page (which probably needs updating) already:
- LaunchBar – if you haven’t tried this out – you owe it to yourself. Windows users, try AppRocket.
- Path Finder – the excellent file management tool I wrote about recently
- Camino – my default browser
- Firefox – my development browser
- BBEdit – my main text editor
- R-Name – bulk file rename utility
- .DS_Store Cleaner – utility to delete.DS_Store files
- LineBreak – utility to convert line breaks to/from Mac, Win, Unix
- Adium – multi-chat client, switched the theme to minimal_mod, which I quite like.
- iTerm – tabbed terminal windows
- Transmit – FTP client
- Gmail Status – monitoring my junk mail
- Menu Meters – what good is power if you can’t watch it work?
- MenuCalendarClock – I like having the date in the menubar
- MailTemplate – I’m starting to build a nice library of auto-replies
- NetNewsWire – mainly for use in troubleshooting issues w/ FeedLounge (is it a feed reader issue or a feed issue)
- Fink – package manager – I decided against DarwinPorts at this time
- Subversion client – using Fink I got this:
Setting up daemonic (20010902-2) …
Failed: This package must be compiled with GCC 4.0.0, but you currently have
GCC 4.0.1 selected. To correct this problem, run the command:I don’t care enough to find the version to update, so I just used the binary
- Mousepose – Shows the mouse location; I’d uninstalled this a while back, but now I really need it
- MySQL 5 – database engine for local databases and development. I’ve got 4.0x running on the PowerBook. I was surprised by how easy the install is now.
- PHP 4 – web scripting engine.
- PHP 5 – web scripting engine.
- phpMyAdmin – GUI for MySQL administration
- PostgreSQL – database engine for development and testing
- Photoshop – photo editing, icon creation
- Illustrator – logo creation
- Microsoft Office X – I use Excel a bit
- skEdit – I really never use this.
- TextMate – ditto
- SubEthaEdit – I hardly use it, but when I do it’s nice.
- Synergy (the iTunes controller)
- Zippist – utility for creating compatible .zip archives
- Palm Desktop – it’s ridiculous that this requires a reboot.
Data migrated:
- Mail settings – no need to re-enter all that account info.
- Bookmarks – must have.
- BBEdit Prefs
- Address Book data
- iCalendars
- Transmit bookmarks
- Adium accounts and chat logs
- Automator workflows
- Digital photos
- /etc/hosts entries
- httpd.conf virtual servers
- MailTemplate data
- Documents folder
- Keychain – all my saved passwords.
- ssh keys
- Photos database
- Photoshop actions
Stuff I didn’t need to migrate because I’ve centralized it (I should work on making this list longer):
- E-mail – IMAP is my friend.
- Source code via Subversion.
- Billing information, thanks to Vebio.
- Feed reader – FeedLounge, yo!
Stuff I should probably install at some point:
- Skype
- Open Office
- Gimp for OS X (photoshop clone version)
- Opera – for testing
The comments are open if you’ve got recommendations.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Bill Bradford adds this Comment:
I made a list of my “essential” apps a while back:
http://weblog.mrbill[...]ac-software/
I think I use Desktop Manager for its virtual desktop feature more than any other app. I’ve got command-1 through command-4 bound to four desktops, and have the same “work environment” that I had on top of Solaris or Linux (using Windowmaker’s virtual desktops) for the past six or seven years.
December 2nd, 2005 at 6:53 pm
Alex adds this Comment:
I’ve got 5,734,400 pixels of desktop space right now. Virtual desktops aren’t something high on my list at the moment.
December 2nd, 2005 at 7:10 pm
Bill Bradford adds this Comment:
Yeah, but with a display that big, dont you have to swing your head from side to side to see it all?
December 2nd, 2005 at 9:49 pm
Reinier adds this Comment:
Why not use Quicksilver instead of LaunchBar?
December 3rd, 2005 at 9:56 am
Meitar adds this Comment:
Unless you need the iCal integration MenuCalendarClock offers, you could also use this simple procedure for getting the date in the menu clock.
Thanks for posting this list, Alex. I found a few things I could use.
December 3rd, 2005 at 11:26 am
Alex adds this Comment:
Bill– yes, I do have to move around a bit.
Reinier– because LaunchBar is quite a bit better.
Meitar– I like the little drop down month calendar, but thanks for pointing that out.
December 3rd, 2005 at 5:45 pm
Alex adds this Comment:
On second thought – now that the PowerBook is “mobile only” (no second, larger monitor attached), I might want to use virtual desktops there.
December 3rd, 2005 at 11:19 pm
Bill Bradford adds this Comment:
On my 12.1″ iBook G4, I wouldn’t be able to use it effectively at all without virtual desktops.
December 3rd, 2005 at 11:25 pm
Chris Meller adds this Comment:
I assume since you took the time to find a .DS_store deleter, that you found no way to kill their creation in the first place?
We’ve got one Mac on our network at work, and it drives me crazy seeing all those lousy .DS_store files everywhere…
December 4th, 2005 at 6:40 pm
Alex adds this Comment:
I’ve never tried. The Finder is the app that creates those files – use Path Finder instead and all is well.
December 4th, 2005 at 6:44 pm
clappstar adds this Comment:
What was the final weight (MB/GB) of all those applications?
December 5th, 2005 at 12:05 pm
Alex adds this Comment:
No idea, I didn’t take a “before” snapshot.
December 5th, 2005 at 12:39 pm
alexking.org: Blog adds this Trackback:
Virtual Desktops
In the comments of my post listing my install process, Bill recommended Desktop Manager for virtual desktops on OS X. This got me thinking about using virtual desktops on my PowerBook again. I’ve tried this a few times, but never stuck with it.
…
December 16th, 2005 at 1:01 pm
clappstar adds this Comment:
Just curious, do you have an updated version of this list or any other recommendations for getting a new machine up and running.
Thanks!
September 13th, 2007 at 2:48 pm