The Ultimate OS X Thread

Paddy@CIRL

Thought it would be handy for any OS X users, both new and old, to compile a list of essential programs, sites and guides. Please feel free to add more to the thread and we can organise them into the first post !

Browsers
Firefox - www.getfirefox.com
The Web is all about innovation, and Firefox 3 sets the pace with dozens of new features, including the smart location bar, one-click bookmarking and blindingly fast performance.

Firefox for Intel Macs - http://www.beatnikpad.com/archives/2008/10/05/firefox
Optimized for Intel Macs, this version of FF or Minefield as it has been named by its author.

Opera - www.opera.com
Opera is the only Web browser that comes complete with everything you need to be productive, safe and fast online.

Camino - http://caminobrowser.org/
Camino is a Mac OS X-native browser built on Mozilla’s Gecko rendering engine.


Instant Messaging
Adium - www.adiumx.com
Adium is a free instant messaging application for Mac OS X that can connect to AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, and more

MSN:Mac - http://www.microsoft.com/Mac/products/messenger/default.mspx
Built for corporate Mac users on Office Communications Server 2007, Messenger for Mac 7 gives co-workers new ways to communicate easily with each other in different locations or time zones. Additionally, personal users will find a few improvements for managing their contact lists.


Torrents
Transmission - www.transmissionbt.com/
Transmission is designed from the ground up to balance power with simplicity. We've set initial preferences so things "Just Work", while advanced features like watch directories, bad peer blocking, and the web interface can be configured with just a few clicks. When Ubuntu chose Transmission as its default BitTorrent client, one of the most-cited reasons was its easy learning curve.

Tomato Torrent - http://sarwat.net/bittorrent/
A Macintosh BitTorrent client.

Vuse - www.azureus.sourceforge.net
Formerly known as Azureus. Same frog, new name. Find torrents fast.

Peer Guardian - http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/
PeerGuardian 2 is Phoenix Labs’ premier IP blocker for OS X. PeerGuardian 2 integrates support for multiple lists, list editing, automatic updates, and blocking all of IPv4 (TCP, UDP, ICMP, etc), making it the safest and easiest way to protect your privacy on P2P.


FTP
Fetch - http://fetchsoftworks.com/
Fetch is an easy-to-use, full-featured FTP and SFTP client for the Apple Macintosh.

Cyberduck - http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/internet_utilities/cyberduck.html
A open source product licensed under the GPL and free to use. Donations are welcome to help advance development in the future. Thanks to contributors, Cyberduck is available in English, Czech, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Slovak, Spanish, Chinese (traditional and simplified), Russian, Swedish, Danish, Polish, Indonesian, Catalan, Welsh, Thai, Turkish, and Hebrew.


IRC
Colloquy - http://colloquy.info/
An IRC client for Macintosh OS X. Contains screenshots, documentation, support and download area.

X-Chat Aqua - http://sourceforge.net/projects/xchataqua/
X-Chat Aqua is X-Chat with an Aqua interface for MacOS X


Video Playback
VLC Player - http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
VLC media player - the cross-platform media player and streaming server

Quicktime Pro - http://www.apple.com/quicktime/pro/
Available for Mac OS X and Windows, QuickTime 7 Pro offers a perfect solution for anyone who enjoys watching, recording, creating or sharing high-quality multimedia.

Perian - www.perian.org
Perian is a free, open source, QuickTime component that supports many popular media types, including AVI, DivX, and XviD.

DivX - http://www.divx.com/divx/mac/
DivX offers a free Apple Macintosh compatible media player.


Hardware
Apple - http://www.apple.com/store/ (Regional)

RAM - www.crucial.com


Dual OS
Parallels - http://www.parallels.com/
Run Windows, Linux and more side-by-side on Mac OS X without rebooting.

VMware Fusion - http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/
Seamlessly run your favorite Windows applications and devices, on any Intel-based Mac. Built from the ground up for the Mac, VMware Fusion is the easiest way to switch to Mac—letting you bring all of your Windows applications with you, making the most of your Windows software investment, while providing the perfect safety blanket for the switch.

Windows Vista - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/default.aspx
Windows Vista contains many changes and new features, including an updated graphical user interface and visual style dubbed Windows Aero, improved searching features, new multimedia creation tools such as Windows DVD Maker, and redesigned networking, audio, print, and display sub-systems. Vista also aims to increase the level of communication between machines on a home network, using peer-to-peer technology to simplify sharing files and digital media between computers and devices. Windows Vista includes version 3.0 of the .NET Framework, which aims to make it significantly easier for software developers to write applications than with the traditional Windows API.


Applications
SMC Fan Control - http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/23049
smcFanControl lets the user set the minimum speed of the build in fans. So you can increase your minimum fan speed to make your Intel Mac run cooler. However in order not to damage your machines smcFanControl doesn't let you set a minimum speed to a value below Apple's defaults

Little Snitch - http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/download.html
A firewall protects your computer against unwanted guests from the Internet. But who protects your private data from being sent out? Little Snitch does!

Quiksilver - http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Utilities/Quicksilver.shtml
A viable alternative to Spotlight

Smultron - http://tuppis.com/smultron/
A Free powerful text editor for OS X 10.5

Labtick - http://labtick.proculo.de/
For MBP users, a program to control the keyboards backlight

Awaken - http://embraceware.com/software/awaken/
A clock-alarm for your OS X system.

JSMS - http://jsmsirl.sourceforge.net/JSMS/JSMS.html
An SMS based program that works from your O2, Vodafone and Meteor online webtexts without the need for a browser to be open.

UnRARX - http://www.unrarx.com
UnRarX is a Mac OS X Cocoa application that allows you to expand rar archives and restore corrupted or missing archives using par2.

Senuti - http://fadingred.org/senuti/
Unlock your iPod with Senuti, a simple application that allows you to transfer songs from your iPod to your computer

Handbrake - http://handbrake.fr/
An Opensource DVD to MPEG4 converter

Mac the Ripper - http://www.mactheripper.org
MacTheRipper is a free DVD ripper (extractor) for Mac OS X. It can extract commercial DVD movies to your hard drive, minus all the copy protections and region controls put in place by DVD publishers.

iAlertU - http://www.slappingturtle.com/home/
iAlertU is an machine protection program, basically you "arm" the system by using the mini remote supplied with a lot of apples computers and it makes plipping noises just like a car alarm. then if anyone comes an tampers with your machine while your gone, and alarm sounds, the screen flashes and the in built iSight (on newer macs only) takes a snap shot of them and then emails it to you!

Textmate - http://macromates.com/
TextMate brings Apple's approach to operating systems into the world of text editors. By bridging UNIX underpinnings and GUI, TextMate cherry-picks the best of both worlds to the benefit of expert scripters and novice users alike.

OnyX - http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs/english.html
It allows you to run misc tasks of system maintenance, to configure some hidden parameters of the Finder, Dock, Dashboard, Exposé, Safari, Login window and of some of Apple's own applications, to delete caches, to remove a certain number of files and folders that may become cumbersome, to see the detailed info of your configuration, to preview various logs and CrashReporter-reports, to check the Preferences files and more.


Widgets
iStatPro - http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/status/istatpro.html

Gmail Notifier - http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/email_messaging/gmailinbox.html

babypink

bravo paddy!

you gets a gold star

cornbb

betafrog wrote: »

And for all MBP owners LabTick is an essential tool to control your Keyboard Backlight

Deadly, thanks! I've been looking for something like that...

Here are a few of my contributions...

OnyX for general system maintenance and tweakage.
GIMP for editing images/photos.
Awaken is a handy alarm clock.
Cyberduck for FTP
Adium for instant messaging
Transmission for simple/lightweight bittorrent.
Max is handy for converting audio/media files between formats.
Boxee is a media centre-type application (think Front Row combined with social networking)
Growl for notifications
JSMS for sending free SMS messages (via your 02/Meteor/Vodafone monthly allowance)
memtest for testing new RAM
UnRarX for unarchiving RAR files
and MacSaber ...just for fun

QuadLeo

Great Idea!

Switch - convert one audio file to another type: wav, mp3, flac, aiff, ogg....
Google Notifier - checks your gmail account for new mail regularly.
LXFree - Design stage lighting plans for theatres and other venues.
SoundByte - Sound FX system for live theatre and other shows.
Senuti - Like CopyPod. Take music from somebody's iPod directly into your music library.
SoundFlower - Excellent audio app. It's a router that can send audio from one application directly to another, like itunes directly to garage band for example.
Application Update - A widget that checks all your apps to see if they're up to date.

im...LOST

Ones that I feel are missing.

Nice Player (I use it more than VLC tbh)
Growl
JSMS
Handbrake for converting DVDs to .avi, mp4 etc.
Mac the Ripper for ripping DVDs to your HD.