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Ask YC: Mac virgin wants to know, what would you install?

40 points by ericb ↗ HN
Previously due to work and other reasons (I have a large amount of windows knowledge) I have been a windows user. This week, my first mac book pro arrived.

I'm looking for developer tools and tweaks, and cool programs that I'd know if I was a mac regular. On windows I'd point myself to sysinternals programs, registry hacks like opening a command prompt in a folder from explorer and registering dll's from a right click, tortoisesvn, putty, etc. For background, I'm doing development in rails at the moment.

So what do you suggest? So far I have quicksilver and growl.

77 comments

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moog
Textmate, Transmit, CocoaMySQL.

A nightly build of WebKit AKA Safari is much faster than Safari out-of-the-box. You can get it here: http://nightly.webkit.org/

mattculbreth
Textmate of course.

After that I'd get MacFUSE from Google Code for connection to Unix boxes, CheckOff for simple task lists, Twitterrific, xPad for notes, pgAdmin3 for PostgreSQL, Mailplane for GMail accounts, iWork08 or NeoOffice for Office apps, Parallels for virtual machines, and Adium for chatting.

You're all set then!

fiaz
I always get cool stuff from the following links. You'll learn a hell of a lot from what you find here and it will be useful virtually everyday:

http://del.icio.us/tag/mac+osx

http://del.icio.us/tag/macosx

http://del.icio.us/tag/mac

http://del.icio.us/tag/osx

You'll also discover all the cool ways Macs are being used and it might even give you some new ideas on how you can use your Mac in ways that are not possible on Windows.

I would also suggest that you first see if there is a way to install ANYTHING Unixy via MacPorts (as posted by another user). This is a VITAL component for developing on Mac OSX.

bayareaguy
First, the basics:

Signup with the Apple Developer Connection (ADC)[1].

After that you will want to install XCode. You can get that from the ADC or from the install cd.

You should then install macports[2] so that you can easily get BSD tools and utilities.

There is also a friendly GUI shareware app called Port Authority[3] you can use to maintain your ports tree.

[1] - http://developer.apple.com

[2] - http://www.macports.org

[3] - http://www.codebykevin.com/portauthority.html

I'll skip the whole code editor issue. XCode has one and you'll probably want to use some other one you already know about in addition to it anyways.

Some of my must-have utilities:

Disk Inventory X [4], so you can see where all your space went.

Hex Fiend [5] is a good open source no-frills hex editor.

[4] - http://www.derlien.com

[5] - http://ridiculousfish.com/hexfiend

When I need to write technical documentation suitable for printing, I use Scrivener[6], with MultiMarkdown[7], TexShop[8] and MacTex[9].

[6] - http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.html

[7] - http://fletcherpenney.net/MultiMarkdown

[8] - http://www.uoregon.edu/~koch/texshop

[9] - http://www.tug.org/mactex

Finally, here are a few things I've already posted to YC in the past.

FreeDup - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=89078

KeyCue - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=97555

Top 100 Essential Mac Applications - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=110233

ericb
I installed macports. Before I get to deep into this, is this error obvious to anyone? Note--I do see it's a missing folder, but what is unclear is why I don't have it, and whether it's a part of something larger I'm missing. When I run:

sudo port install putty ------------ Error: Target org.macports.extract returned: shell command " cd "/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_textproc_expat/work" && gzip -dc /opt/local/var/macports/distfiles/expat/expat-2.0.1.tar.gz | /usr/bin/gnutar --no-same-owner -xf - " returned error 127 Command output: sh: /usr/bin/gnutar: No such file or directory

gzip: stdout: Broken pipe

Error: The following dependencies failed to build: gtk1 gettext expat libiconv ncurses ncursesw glib1 pkgconfig Error: Status 1 encountered during processing.

bayareaguy
Sounds like this may be your problem: http://lists.macosforge.org/pipermail/macports-users/2007-Au...

Ryan Schmidt suggests:

Please verify whether you have /usr/bin/gnutar. If you do not, then your Mac OS X installation is incomplete. I believe gnutar is provided by either BaseSystem.pkg or Essentials.pkg from the Mac OS X DVD, both of which are quite essential to Mac OS X's functioning.

ericb
I appreciate the help. This was a factory install of leopard, so it seems odd that it would be missing components. To google, I go.
ericb
WOW. I just grabbed gnutar from a buddy who installed Leopard from CD. His machine had gnutar and mine didn't. Now, macports is happy as a clam. Seems bizzare that I didn't have it. I found one other person who had the same problem with a factory install. Weird.

http://nullstyle.com/2007/10/27/how-to-build-imagemagick-and...

ericb
As a breadcrumb for anyone stumbling across this via google, I also had to install the latest X 11 to get the X windowing to show me anything. X 11 is grayed out on my install disks in the optional installs for leopard. Until upgrading X 11, the terminal window would run and the X 11 process would launch, but no visible window would appear.

http://trac.macosforge.org/projects/xquartz/wiki/X112.1.4

Now the macports putty is working. Sweet!

axod
I don't actually bother installing much desktop software these days. Just a good text editor, browser, subversion...
optimal
That's where I'm at, too--just keep it simple. vim, svn, FoxBug, and I'm all set. I believe simplicity correlates with productivity.
axod
Agreed. And if you keep your desktop light, you can switch to working on another desktop easily. There are some pretty usable webapps out there these days.
comatose_kid
Vienna is a great free RSS reader. Colloquy is great for IRC.
curi
Why do you like colloquy? I found it barely adequate.
a-priori
I find Colloquy is fine (though it has a bad habit of pinning the CPU every now and then...), but there's nothing special about it. I'd switch in an instant if someone suggested a superior alternative.

What do you suggest for an OSX IRC client?

inklesspen
X-Chat Aqua is good, though unmaintained.
boucher
I find Colloquy to be significantly better. For one thing, X-Chat is pretty damn ugly.
jey
X-Chat Aqua is styled like any other Mac OS application. Colloquy's UI just wastes a ton of screen space.
jrsims
If you're a terminal junkie, then try installing 'irssi' over MacPorts.

Love it.

mcavalletto
For what it's worth, the apps I normally install on a new development box include TextMate, Cyberduck, QuickSilver, OmniGraffle Pro, Photoshop, and Skype.
optimal
I don't have much to add, but how do you like your MBP so far?

I've had mine for almost a year and like it very much. I liked my Dell laptop running Ubuntu, but I do prefer the (more expensive) Mac hardware. The fan runs almost silently when compared to the Dell and, okay, it's just a nicer design too.

ericb
I like it very much so far! I don't have a nagging paranoia that I've somehow got a virus. I like the quiet, and design itself. It's also faster all-around, and slicker.

The only downside at all so far--I can't stand the way the home and end keys work and I'm having trouble with not having ctrl-C/ctrl-V and ctrl-Z work--the apple key does those functions, but on my keyboard, I find that key to be more awkward. It's screwing with my keyboard shortcut mojo.

curi
you can swap cmd and ctrl keys if you want, in the keyboard area of system preferences. you can also change caplocks there to something more useful.

for home/end is the problem them not moving the cursor? try cmd-up-arrow and cmd-down-arrow

ericb
I'll try the swap asap for command and ctrl. That's great-- Thanks!

In windows, home and end jump to the end of line/beginning of line, so I frequently hit shift-home or shift-end to select a whole line of text, then I copy or cut and move it.

I found app-specific hacks here:

http://www.starryhope.com/tech/apple/2006/keyfixer/

but I haven't checked out how it works yet, as I think I can add Thunderbird and other programs myself. Or I'll just re-adjust...

curi
for line, cmd + left/right arrow (+ shift)
bouncingsoul
Rather than rearranging everything to be like Windows, maybe you should learn to use things the way they are on Mac.

Just consider that every hack and customization you make will make it that much harder to use another Mac without all your Windows-y adjustments.

For example, on Mac you navigate around text with the Command and arrow keys. So:

                         Win        Mac
    Beginning of line    Home       ⌘←
          End of line    End        ⌘→
     Beginning of doc    Ctrl-Home  ⌘↑
           End of doc    Ctrl-End   ⌘↓
ericb
I have had that thought, but I find the positioning of the apple key awkward. Also, 95% of my productivity is determined by how fast I get around my own machine, and also it's unavoidable for a while that I will be using my mac and other people's pcs.

Thanks for the translations.

bouncingsoul
It's awkward because it's unfamiliar. I was pretty good with Windows before I switched to Mac and now I definitely prefer using the Command keys with my thumbs than the Ctrl keys with my pinkies.

It does suck though to be using something so unfamiliar.

brianloveswords
OR you can do: CTRL+e for beginning of the line, CTRL+a for the end, CTRL+k to kill from the caret to the end of the line, CTRL+u to kill from the caret to the beginning, CTRL+h to backspace one character, CTRL+w to backspace one word, CTRL+f to move forward one character, CTRL+b to move backwards one.

Many might recognize these from emacs.

curi
no one has mentioned installing firefox yet. plus web developer extensions.

also get VLC for playing video files and DVDs

jotto
the only reason to install firefox 2 or firefox 3 is for the developer extensions, namely firebug.

safari is much faster and feels better to use because of the natural OS X interface.

curi
i also prefer safari. but another reason to use firefox is in combination with Spaces, which isn't very good at having an app's windows divided between spaces. (yes there is a setting to change this, but it has its own downsides)
m0nty
I spent a long time looking for a decent, free text editor. I eventually found two: Komodo Edit and Text Wrangler. The only reasonable terminal program is iTerm, although I'd give it up to get a Mac port of PuTTy.
makecheck
There's a ton of Mac terminals. I use MacTelnet as an OS X terminal, even though it isn't finished.
m0nty
I don't know about "a ton", at least not with tabs and a nice user interface. But MacTelnet looks nice, thanks for the tip :)
Alex3917
AIM: Adium

IRC: Snak

RSS: NewsFireRSS

Notes: FreeMind

Newsgroups: Unison

Misc: Aquamacs, AppFresh, WhatSize, Flip4Mac, Twitterific

If you go to Startup School then you should also have a copy of SubEthaEdit installed. It's a text editor for mac that lets you take notes collaboratively in real time.

jrsims
Why Snak for $29 when you can Colloquy for free?

http://colloquy.info/

Also, if you're a terminal freak and want a good text mode IRC client, I probably don't have to tell you that you can install 'irssi' over MacPorts.

Real hackers use irssi. :)

harbinjer
I really want to second the FreeMind suggestion. I don't use it every day, but its a great way to brainstorm or take notes, etc.
bouncingsoul
Honestly, I would hold off installing a bunch of software until you have a need for it – or at least until you can appreciate the problem it solves.

OS X comes with a lot of tools out of the box, and I think it'd be better to stick with that stuff until you outgrow it or are no longer satisfied with it.

For example, people will recommend the VLC player, but QuickTime with the Perian plugin is what I use: more stable than VLC and plays all the formats. And it's one less app.

I didn't use Quicksilver for much more than a launcher when I had it. The Spotlight menu in OS X 10.5 is pretty much as fast as Quicksilver for launching apps. So maybe wait to install Quicksilver.

Same with Adium: iChat is good enough for me.

And people recommend Growl, but I found it more annoying than helpful. Pretty much every third party app registers itself, which means seeing tons of alerts I don't care about. (Unless you go into the Growl preference pane and unregister everything, which made Growl too high maintenance for me.)

The only essential things I'd recommend (again, only get them if they make sense to you):

TinkerTool http://www.bresink.com/osx/TinkerTool.html  – Gives easy access to hidden system preferences.

Perian http://perian.org/ – A plugin for QuickTime that lets it play all the formats it doesn't play.

Paparazzi! http://www.derailer.org/paparazzi/ – Makes taking webpage screenshots easy.

Service Scrubber http://www.manytricks.com/servicescrubber/ – Lets you prune the Services menu. (Don't worry about installing this until you see a need for it.)

TextWrangler http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/ – Free text editor with terminal integration and excellent file search capabilities.

Transmission http://www.transmissionbt.com/ –  My favorite bittorrent client.

brianloveswords
Oh I completely disagree about the Spotlight menu being as fast as Quicksilver for launching apps but even besides that Quicksilver can do so much more. You can: set global shortcuts for damn near anything you'd want to do; add a line to a text file (for quick note taking); send a quick email; move files...

And for the Quicktime+Perian vs VLC thing, Quicktime will be decent enough for xvid or divx (though you'll take a small performance hit for it), but if you use MKV you will definitely want to use VLC -- Quicktime doesn't give you the option of switching languages or embeded subtitles, and the performance is awful.

But I do agree with the Transmission recommendation, it's really a great BT client: clean, not nearly as bloated as Azureus. Unless you really need some of Azureus' more advanced functions, you'll find Transmission can cover everything you want.

far33d
I hated spotlight on 10.4, but with my new machine with 10.5 I've found spotlight good enough that I haven't bothered downloading QS.
bouncingsoul
Well, my main suggestion was to use the tools that satisfy the needs you have. Spotlight app launching is fast enough for me. Maybe someday with a larger index it won't be, but that isn't the case right now.

I've never encountered an mkv file, so that Perian doesn't add support for it doesn't bother me.

If Spotlight is slow for you and you need to play mkv files then use the tools you need. But I don't think it's necessary to recommend an M24 tank because it can handle off-road and take out enemy road blocks to someone who'd be perfectly satisfied with a normal sedan for their morning commute.

tx
How did you get away with iChat? I don't know a single person on AIM account, everybody is either on Yahoo/MSN or even ICQ.
curi
weird. i don't know anyone on yahoo. msn only warcraft III players. AIM everyone else.
rms
Are you or your friends from outside of the USA? Seems like AIM is only really popular in the USA.
tx
Hm... some of them are (ICQ users), but the American portion of my contact list is split between Yahoo and MSN. For some of them those messengers are "corporate standard", i.e. everybody at work is running one of those two. Another sizeable group of corporate IM contacts is on Skype, and growing fast, due to the encryption I suppose. Frankly, I've never heard of AIM until I bought a Mac last month.

Am I on an island? :-)

koolmoe
You can do GoogleTalk on iChat as a Jabber account.
hernan7
Learn some Unix -- Bourne shell and all the usual suspects like awk, sed, grep. OS X has Unix under the hood, you might as well make use of it.
ericb
I'm already down with shell scripting, but otherwise that is generally good advice.
makecheck
I've used SCPlugin for Subversion access on the Mac desktop, it has a similar feel to TortoiseSVN on Windows.

I would also tinker with Apple's Automator (a built-in application) and look at the Finder's Folder Actions (which Automator supports). With surprisingly little effort, you can create some very powerful commands to use when right-clicking desktop items.

Finally, perhaps the Mac equivalent of a "registry hack" is the command-line "defaults" program (also built in). It allows you to explore and change the preferences of many programs. You can turn on hidden features and other cool stuff that way.

PStamatiou
I just got a Macbook Air and listed the first things I installed/uninstalled when I got it. Might be of use. It's at the end of this post:

http://paulstamatiou.com/2008/03/06/how-i-got-a-macbook-air-...

mrtron
Happy with the air? I really considered getting one and a powerful desktop...but decided to wait.
inovica
I love mine. I was sceptical at first but its been a lovely machine so far.... and I've owned 10+ Macs in my time.
akkartik
It's lighter than an X61, yet has a larger screen. That's what the thin-ness buys me.

I'd still have gone with a thinkpad if they came with anything but #$%# vista.

jey
Quicksilver, Adium, MacPorts
icey
DarwinPorts
asjo
Debian, actually.
CRASCH
Parallels or VMware. I have a mac book pro and I find that having access to windows and Ubuntu is great. The best of all three worlds.
pkaler
Check out the MacBreak Weekly Picks. MBW is probably the best Mac podcast out there. The hosts recommend a product each week.

http://mbwpicks.com/

bprater
I really like Coda for text-editing, especially if you want an integrated FTP editor, text editor and preview in one app. Textmate + Cyberduck + Safari is great, but it's a lot of extra clicking around.