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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Making the Switch (PC to Mac that is...)
Nic Hume, Photographer, Student/Intern
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Victoria | BC | Canada | Posted: 1:50 AM on 07.20.05 |
->> OK, it's official folks... I sold my old Sony Vaio R505 earlier today and am now laptopless until I order my 15" G4 PowerBook later this week...
I've seen quite a few threads about various bits and pieces of Mac software, but I thought putting out a wide-spread appeal for everyones "Favorite" software utilities might be worth a shot... *SO*... What software OTHER than the obvious (Photoshop, PhotoMechanic, Safari, NoiseNinja) do you guys use and/or find indispensible on a regular basis.
Keep in mind I'm a fairly experienced PC user (I've been tinkering with PC's since I was 11, have spec'd and built countless boxen for myself and friends, and have worked as a professional network technician on a PC-based LAN.) but am almost 100% new to Mac's... I'm looking for stuff to make my life easier, have fun with, and simplify my work-flow.
Any and all suggestion, tips, etc. would be welcome. And before anyone asks, YES I've dug through older threads on similar topics, but thought that getting a fresh outlook on things, as well as centralizing this info for the next person who looks for it, might be worthwhile.
--Nic |
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Vern Verna, Photographer
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Greenville | SC | United States | Posted: 1:54 AM on 07.20.05 |
->> fetch for transmitting unless u use the built in ftp in pm.
congrates on getting a real computer.
oh yeh no virus protection software needed to keep up daily. it shoud arrive with tiger. do the update on tiger there should be 2 from what is supplied on the computer. |
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Mike Isler, Photographer
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Santa Barbara | CA | US | Posted: 2:40 AM on 07.20.05 |
->> Nic,
Here's my list:
- Fetch for transmit
- PhotoRescue
- FotoQuote
- SilverKeeper for backups
- SoftRAID for a better external HD solution
- VPN Tracker (if you use a VPN... I set one up to get into my home office from the road)
- Apple Remote Desktop (used over VPN, to get to my own machine from the road)
- MacStumbler, to find open WiFi networks when traveling
- EXIF-O-Matic, for reading EXIF info from files quickly
- StuffIt, for compressed files
And a few indispensable programs that come with OS X:
- Stickies
- iSync
- Mail.app
- GraphicConverter
- Terminal (get to the UNIX command prompt)
I also purchased PocketMac recently, which lets my BlackBerry talk to my Mac... since only PC software is available for BlackBerries. |
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Cameron Davidson, Photographer
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Arlington | VA | USA | Posted: 6:02 AM on 07.20.05 |
->> Transmit for ftp. (better than Fetch imo)
SunPath (incredible tool for plotting shadows)
iView along with Photo Mechanic and of course, the incredible Capture One for RAW conversions.
Toast |
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Neil Brake, Photographer
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Nashville | TN | USA | Posted: 8:54 AM on 07.20.05 |
->> Nic,
Once you go Mac you will never go back.
Here are a few of my favorite programs.
New Photoshop CS2 - amazing tools and features
Mac SFTP Carbon - A secure FTP program
PhotoMechanics - A must for editing
Microsoft Word - Great for those letters and invoices
iTunes - Got to have the tunes
iPoker - Great Texas Hold-em plus 120 other poker games
Mac 10.4.2 operating system - Tiger Rules and the dashboard and automator get used daily.
Toast 6 Titanium - For burning those CD's and DVD's
If you use a Canon Mark 2 - Get the Fred Miranda PS plug-in - CS Pro 1D Mark 11
Good Luck
Cheers,
Neil |
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Damon Moritz, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Woodbridge | Va. | USA | Posted: 12:03 PM on 07.20.05 |
->> Buy some anti-virus software. There are some very malicious viruses out there which can effect both Mac and PC operating systems.
I just had one that took my Mac to a crawl as it ate up drive space.
Even if you are using the most up to date OS you will need this. |
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Howard Curtis Smith, Photographer
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Easton | PA | USA | Posted: 2:45 PM on 07.20.05 |
->> MacLink Plus to translate PowerPoint, Excel, or other files you may receive that you don't have the native software for.
MacJanitor to run built in Mac OSX maintenance scripts. (freeware)
SMARTreporter to monitor the health of your hard drive. (freeware)
iSnip a freeware clipboard program
AbiWord a freeware word processor that can read and write Word documents.
Transmit for ftp, or you can use PM, or there are several freeware programs.
Photorescue
TechTool Pro and/or Disk Warrior
Toast Titanium
SuperDuper a freeware program for making bootable backups. |
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Kirby Yau, Student/Intern
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El Cajon | CA | USA | Posted: 3:04 PM on 07.20.05 |
->> Image Recall - just incase you lose any images off your card.
Roxio Popcorn and MacTheRipper- To create backups of commercial movies you own.
Stuffit Standard 9.0- Compresses files in Macintosh SIT files, ZIP files, and Rar files a great way to guarantee that someone will be able to recieve the file windows or Mac.
Welcome to the Macintosh World, I hope you like it. |
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Michael Jordan, Photographer
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West Palm Beach | FL | USA | Posted: 7:02 PM on 07.20.05 |
->> Dude I have virus's e-mailed to me on a daily basis and the best part is that they can't even be run on my machine! If you feel worried then pay for antivirus software, do some research online and you will see how much of an issue it really is (hint: it's not).
I just switched to a Power Book three months ago and I know from this day on I will never go back.
Basic maint stuff
1. iDefrag (works like the defrag tool in XP)
2. Cocktail (Run once a month to keep things in order, the best all around maint utility)
Hardware
1. Logitech MX 900 Bluetooth Mouse (Best $100 I have spent, this mouse in conjunction with OS X's Expose program will move your workflow into overdrive)
2. Lexar FIREWIRE Compact-Flash Card Reader (With this and PM I can dump a fully loaded 512mb card in less than 1 min!)
Apple has made computers FUN for me again I hope they do the same for you! |
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Jim Colburn, Photographer
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Omaha | NE | USA | Posted: 9:51 PM on 07.20.05 |
->> "What software OTHER than the obvious (Photoshop, PhotoMechanic, Safari, NoiseNinja) do you guys use and/or find indispensible on a regular basis."
- MS Office for students for $150 (because we are, after all, willing to learn)
- Transmit for FTP work (excellent OSX interface)
- Route 66 for mapping (both the US and Europe)
- WireTap for audio capture
- MT-Newswatcher for newsgroups
- Skype for cheap international telephony (tell everyone you know to sign up and the calls are free)
- Quinn (a Tetris clone)
- Roxio Toast Titanium for burning data CDs and DVDs
- MacTheRipper for ripping DVDs to your hard drive (excellent for those trips)
- Roxio Popcorn (see above) |
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Greg Ferguson, Photographer
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Scottsdale | Az | USA | Posted: 12:50 AM on 07.21.05 |
->> I highly recommend Interarchy over Transmit or Fetch for FTP transfers if you need to move a lot of files fast.
Peter Lewis, who wrote Interarchy, was tapped by Apple to help with their TCP stack and is one of the most respected Mac programmers out there.
Interarchy is visibly faster than Transmit, and the interface is very easy to use - it's a Finder metaphor so you just drag and drop files. It's also very scriptable so building it into a workflow is easy.
I have and use Transmit and Interarchy, and have compared their ability to move a lot of files. Transmit is easy to use, but I think Interarchy is just as easy to use and is the more powerful of the two. |
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Jack Kurtz, Photographer
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Phoenix | AZ | United States | Posted: 1:08 AM on 07.21.05 |
->> My vote for utilities (that do not come pre-installed on a Mac hard drive) would be:
1) Most important would be DiskWarrior for keeping your hard drive directory in good shape.
2) Default folder - replaces Boomerang from the old System 7 days (circa 1995) Default Folder is great way of navigating among folders when opening and saving files in numerous folders on your drive.
3) Spell Catcher - a great interactive spell checker that works with all your applications
4) Window Shade X - double click on the title bar of your window and it rolls up and out of the way, much as the window shade over your windows would.
5) I use Transmit for ftp.
OS 10.4 (Tiger) updates for most of these utilities are out there. Check the Versiontracker.com web site for the latest updates.
These, of course, are in addition to your bread and butter apps: Photoshop CS2, iView Media Pro (for cataloging) and Microsloth Office.
jack |
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Nic Hume, Photographer
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Victoria | BC | Canada | Posted: 2:23 AM on 08.04.05 |
->> OK,
SO... my Powerbook arrived today and ALREADY I love the thing.... (if any Apple product reps are reading this, I'd be MORE than happy to sign up for one of those "I Switched" commercials :) ) ...
I just wanted to say thanks to all the fine folks who chipped in their 2 (or more) cents on this thread. I'm in the process of going down the list and playing with software right now :)
I DO have one question though... What do you guys use for chat programs ?? The system came with iChat, but that doesn't seem to be compatible with the MSN Messenger network. Any thoughts ? ? ... IMing is how I keep in touch with almost all of my friends, and quite a few work contacts, so any advice on this one would be appreciated.
--Nic |
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Lucas Jackson, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Ventura | CA | USA | Posted: 4:03 AM on 08.04.05 |
| ->> IChat works with AolInstantMessenger and thats pretty much industry standard man. Just sign up under your AIM name and password. |
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Nic Hume, Photographer
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Victoria | BC | Canada | Posted: 1:46 PM on 08.04.05 |
->> Lucas,
I've been TOLD (though I don't know this first-hand at all) that for whatever reason, folks down in the States seem to use AIM more than we do up here. Don't get me wrong, I *DO* appreciate your suggestion, I just don't think it will work in my situation.
Simple fact is that not a single one of my friends has, or uses AIM. Convincing all 178 friends and business contacts on my MSN list to convert would likely be a bit time-consuming, so I'm stuck with the MSN protocol for now.
Someone named "Ian" emailed me off-board (Thanks btw :) ) and suggested something called Adium, which I'm about to install and try out right now. Any other thoughts?
--Nic |
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Matthew Moses, Photographer, Assistant
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Michael Hickey, Photographer
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Kokomo | IN | United States | Posted: 3:17 PM on 08.04.05 |
| ->> See if your school has a purchase agreement with Microsoft, students and faculty can buy the latest version of MS Office for $5 here at Ball State and they get good discounts on Adobe products as well. |
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Steven Georges, Photographer
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Garden Grove | CA | USA | Posted: 9:20 PM on 08.04.05 |
->> I use to have a truckload of add-on's I used back in the old classic OS days but Apple's current OS X has almost everything I need built in, and a bunch of stuff I never thought of!
I'll second the usefulness of programs like SMARTreporter, FotoQuote, MacStumbler, StuffIt Expander (the free one) and Skype. All free except FotoQuote.
I'd like to add Apple's TextEdit. It's an often overlooked program that is included with OS X. It can do almost anything the original MacWrite could do including spell check, fonts, font size, font styles including color, menu with indents and tabs, pasting in graphics (but no advance wrap around) and the ability to save as a Microsoft Word document. (.doc)
I have two other full word processor programs on my laptop but I use TextEdit for 95% of my word processing because it opens FAST, takes up little memory, and is easy to use.
I'll have to check out "Adium."
If you want a board game to waste time with, Bejeweled (shareware) is the most addicting game I've ever played. I even paid the shareware fee!
Also, if you are looking for a program to do a particular thing, try pulling down the blue apple menu on the left and going down to "Mac OS X Software..." It will open a web page where you can search for and download OS X freeware, shareware, demos and widgets. I've found it useful more than once. You can find Adium and Bejeweled there.
Have fun and enjoy your new Mac! |
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William Jurasz, Photographer, Assistant
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Cedar Park | TX | USA | Posted: 1:28 PM on 08.05.05 |
->> Nic asked "What do you guys use for chat programs ??"
I use Fire. See: http://www.download.com/Fire/3000-2146_4-10358485.html?tag=lst-0-2
Its free and suports AOL, ICQ, Yahoo, MSN and IRC. Very nice, updated frequently as well.
Another utility for Macs that I use that, frankly, I was verys suspicious of is .Mac. I decided to gamble and bought it. I must admit, I didn't think I would like it this much. I will be renewing it when time comes. |
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