What do you run on your Mac?

Published by in apple, edtech on February 13th, 2007

A good friend of mine has just taken the plunge from the world of Windows and Linux and purchased a Macbook! :-) With Parallels running he’s got the best of all worlds.

For his benefit, possibly my own if/when I need to reinstall apps, and yours if this is of interest, I’ve created a new wiki page listing all the Macintosh applications I currently have installed on my MacBook. (This list does not include pre-installed apps like the iLife suite, PhotoBooth, etc.)

Am I missing something vital that I should know about and be using? If so feel free to comment here or on the actual Jot.com page.

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13 Comments »
  • http://gnuosphere.blogspot.com Peter Rock

    “Am I missing something vital that I should know about and be using?”

    I would suggest that you use a FOSS (free/open source software) operating system. Such a system you can share with other human beings and modify (or have modified) to suit your needs. In practical terms, I would suggest a GNU system with the Linux kernel.

  • http://www.wesfryer.com Wesley Fryer

    Peter: I have really enjoyed and been amazed by Ubuntu, which I have run on an HP laptop I also have. I have not yet tried running it via Parallels, but if I can clear out some additional hard drive space by archiving unused files I plan to. (I currently just run WinXP on Parallels.) Do you have a favorite FOSS OS besides Ubuntu? The main thing I see missing for Linux are programs like iMovie (on the Mac side) and PhotoStory (on the Windows side.) I love digital storytelling, and I want to see a program as powerful and easy as iMovie for Linux. Do you know of a program out there for Linux that has iMovie power and ease of use?

  • http://www.mvweaver.com/wordpress Michael

    iPodRip is a good tool. I am constantly having to transfer audio recordings from my ipod to a couple of different machines.

  • http://gnuosphere.blogspot.com Peter Rock

    The only video editing software I’m aware of for GNU/Linux is Kino. Though at this time, I would imagine it comes no where near the power and flexibility of iMovie.

    Of course, if you use GNU/Linux and Kino then you add to the network effect of these packages and thus help contribute to their development. Waiting for them to become what you need may be possible but this is passive. My understanding is that iMovie and Photostory are proprietary software. Therefore, no matter their power, they are useless to those who value the freedom to share and modify software with their fellow human beings.

    Am I to conclude from your response that these are the only two packages that are preventing you from joining our community?

    “Do you have a favorite FOSS OS besides Ubuntu?”

    gNewSense is definitely my favorite as it is a distribution that respects one’s freedom when using software. Unfortunately, many video drivers and wireless network cards are built that require the use of non-free software. Therefore, gNewSense does not always work with all hardware. If this is the case, I would then recommend Ubuntu as one can install it and then strip off as much proprietary software as possible. My home system (Ubuntu GNU/Linux) happens to work with all proprietary software stripped off though the video performance is considerably worse now.

    Fedora and Debian are also quality distributions one can try and perhaps get themselves a totally free system by doing so.

    If one cares not about freedom and is simply interested in a no-cost “Linux” system with as much power as possible, Linspire/Freespire fits this category. These distributions are legally allowed to preinstall proprietary video codecs. These distributions used to be called “Lindows” and in a lawsuit lost this name but won the right to distribute the proprietary codecs needed to view/listen to much of today’s popular video and audio files. Linspire will likely become the distribution of choice for OEMs wishing to sell preinstalled GNU/Linux systems on machines that have the media capabilities of MS Windows right out of the box.

  • http://www.aaronslutsky.com Aaron

    I really like RapidWeaver by Realmac software. It is a great website building application, but it is commercial software. It becomes pretty powerful when you add plugins from yourhead.com and loghound.com. I have no stake in any of these sites, just a fan.

  • http://www.assortedstuff.com Tim

    Your list pretty much mirrors what I have on my MacBook Pro. I would add iClip which gives you multiple clip boards and Perian, a free plug-in for QuickTime which adds support for Windows Media and other strange media formats. If you have QT Pro it even allows for easy saving of non-protected video files.

    I also love Apple’s Aperture, which is a higher end photo organizer and editor (iPhoto’s big brother) but at $149 academic price, it may be beyond what some people need.

    Finally, XTorrent is a great bit torrent client with a search tool built in.

  • http://blog.scottjelias.net Scott Elias

    I don’t have a jot account (and they aren’t accepting new registrations!) so I can’t add to your VERY comprehensive wiki. I, too, just swapped my 12″ PB G4 for a black Macbook. Just received it last Friday so I’m still realizing things I have to install…

    If I could, I would add XTorrent (http://www.xtorrentp2p.com/) to your list. Feel free to add it on my behalf!!

    – Scott

  • http://weblog.techruminations.org Kurt Paccio

    Certainly with all of those apps you have a great back-up program/procedure in place. What do you use for system back-up? I’ve been looking for that ‘homerun’ software that will backup my Mac to an external HD.

    File back-up is not really an issue with so many free storage sites on the web.

    I do worry about my precious family photos that don’t make it to Flickr/BubbleShare and my videos that never see YouTube or Vimeo.

    Any advice?

    KP

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  • http://www.wesfryer.com Wesley Fryer

    Kurt: I am using the Backup software that comes as part of a .Mac membership. I have that linked from the list. I haven’t had to do a full restore, but I’m pretty confident it’s doing a good job. I have it backup all my documents but not my applications. I use an external firewire drive for the backup.

  • http://www.kwhobbes.edublogs.org Kelly Christopherson

    Wes,

    I like to sue SimpleDays (http://www.ttpsoftware.com/) for keeping track of things. I found a few things to add so thanks for the list.

    Kelly

  • http://teach42.com Steve Dembo

    You should grab the program, Todos which gives you a visual way to see the programs you’ve installed on your Mac!

    For example, this is what i had on my Mac a few months ago:

  • http://teach42.com Steve Dembo

    Bah, guess I can’t show an image. Here’s a link
    http://farm1.static.flickr.com/72/195727711_dc5d632721_o.png

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