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OSX inventories, tips & hack collections

I love hearing how other people have set up their OSX Macs and learning about which programs they like to use for various tasks. I’m putting together a (very long and growing) profile of my own, but until that’s finished, I wanted to point to a few folks I’ve bookmarked who have posted great software and setup inventories as well as smart tips for workflow and productivity hacks. Here’s a few I like.

If you know of more good personal inventories and tip collections, post a link to it in comments or send a trackback ping to this post (please definitely don’t use comments to provide your inventory). I’ll look at all of them and add links to particularly good ones above.

Secret goal: make this post a one-stop-shopping link for people who want to quickly ramp-up on “what’s out there” in the OSX world that they might not know about, with a focus on how one given person has put it all together.


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Kevin Smokler's picture

Wow. You could get lost...

Wow. You could get lost in all of this.

Bryan Strawser's picture

Great list - here's mine: http://www.bryanstrawser.com/archives

Great list - here’s mine:

http://www.bryanstrawser.com/archives/006953.php

Bryan

John Hendron's picture

I made a small list...

I made a small list of apps I’ve used in an educational setting for teachers who are using G4 iBooks and OS X Panther.

http://www.johnhendron.net/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/2004/06/15#softwareapps

James Tauber's picture

A month ago, when I...

A month ago, when I got my PowerBook, I asked what tools I should download/buy. The results are at:

http://jtauber.com/blog/2004/08/13/mynewpowerbook

Simon Willison's picture

Here's a good one: http://www.jluster.org/indispensable...

Here’s a good one: http://www.jluster.org/indispensable

Art Taylor's picture

Never one to shy away...

Never one to shy away from an opportunity at techno-exhibitionism, I captured what I run on a daily basis here: http://www.astrogoth.com/index.php/MacOSXSoftwareInventory

Bill Bradford's picture

And here's mine, created a...

And here’s mine, created a couple of weeks ago:

http://weblog.mrbill.net/archives/2004/09/02/my-favorite-os-x-apps/

Paul Westbrook's picture

I have posted the list...

I have posted the list of software that I run at: http://www.paulstimesink.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=159&blogId=2

Bill Humphries's picture

Back in April I responded...

Back in April I responded to Mark Pilgrim’s Digital Colophon post with:

http://www.whump.com/moreLikeThis/link/03972 and http://www.whump.com/moreLikeThis/link/03974

I’ll amend that list from April with

http://www.instiki.org/show/HomePage

and second your recommendation of Markdown.

john's picture

Here's my list: http://www.inluminent.com/weblog/archives/2004/

Merlin Mann's picture

Trackback should be working now....

Trackback should be working now. Sorry about that, gang. Re-ping away, please.

Kiran Jonnalagadda's picture

Oh boy, that's a lot...

Oh boy, that’s a lot of inventories. Here’s adding mine to the pyre:

http://jace.seacrow.com/tech/macosx

Rui Carmo's picture

Well, I've got a mixed...

Well, I’ve got a mixed set of hints and useful apps over at http://the.taoofmac.com/space/HOWTO/Switch%20To%20The%20Mac (which is mostly UNIX-switcher oriented), and an application directory at http://the.taoofmac.com/space/Applications

But I could never really grok the notion of “essential” apps. I mean, what else do you need besides Terminal and Quicksilver? :)

Doug Alcorn's picture

Here's mine. I've also...

Here’s mine. I’ve also got some articles I’ve written on configuring various networking and development things. My point of view is mainly switching from linux. I’ve done some writing on my experience with switching.

Justin French's picture

I just started my own...

I just started my own – mostly opensource and shareware apps which I absolutely can’t live without.

Merlin Mann's picture

To paraphrase Anil, this place...

To paraphrase Anil, this place is turning into a sausage factory.

Where’s the Mac-loving women?

Jeth's picture

Here is an article that...

Here is an article that talks about setting up one’s computer to increase productivity. While it is a bit old, this article has some interesting ideas.

dougj's picture

Here's my shot. It's mainly...

Here’s my shot. It’s mainly from the point of view of an OS X / Linux web developer, and does tend to concentrate (whenever possible) on Open Source applications.

Essential Applications

solarce's picture

Being as we are discussing...

Being as we are discussing OS X apps, I am curious if anyone has any experience with MenuCalendarClock and how it performs/works over CalendarClock (freeware) did and if it is worth the $15.

Thanks

nick's picture

I'd totally forgotten that I...

I’d totally forgotten that I posted this - a while ago. But I’ve listed links to other osx app lists, as well as my own list.
here: http://phbz.org/bloggersblock/archives/000052.html

Teri Pittman's picture

One comment about the Mac...

One comment about the Mac OS in general. I’d bet half of these don’t work on my version of Mac OSX (I’m stuck back on 10.2.3, because I’m on a G3 and need to upgrade at least the video card to go any higher.) I have never seen an operating system with so little backward compatibility.

Mat's picture

Here's mine: http://matonmacs.blogspot.com/2004/09/it-begins.ht

Dan Schellenberg's picture

A short list of some...

A short list of some (mostly) free apps can be found here:

http://www.educationaltechnology.ca/dan/archives/2004/05/04/mac-os-x-must-have-utilities/

Dr. Smoke's picture

I provide a variety of...

I provide a variety of Mac OS X troubleshooting FAQs available here:

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/faqs.html

Peter Morelli's picture

Here are joi ito's: http://joiwiki.ito.com/joiwiki/index.cgi?jo

Erinc M.'s picture

Here is my favorite *free*...

Here is my favorite free applications for Mac Os X : http://erinch.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=1

macstansbury's picture

These folks over at MacZealots.com...

These folks over at MacZealots.com have a mess of good things put together, and they add stuff all the time.

And if you want to find out how to do something, they’ll try to figure it out and show you how it’s done.

GH's picture

I use Hog Bay Notebook...

I use Hog Bay Notebook to record Someday/Maybes and reference material under the following categories: Work, Career Development, Household/Personal, Health/Fitness, Leisure/Social, Potential Projects, and Consider Buying. Any subcategory more than 5 items gets its own folder.

Next Action items get dragged to these folders, as appropriate: Tickler (organized by Weekday, Month, 2006), Contexts( organized by place or situation), Agendas (by person), and Projects. Finished actions are checked off, and, after a while, deleted.

Sciral Consistency is great for managing those noisome chores you have to get to every so often, and helps you fine-tune a household routine. I also use SC to keep track of my Weekly Review “collection buckets” and how often I refer to them. These can range from mere to-dos to stuff on my Amazon wishlist and del.icio.us bookmarks. I can tell where my WR left off if it was half-assed.

Ryan's picture

Information overload!!! Anyone know of solution...

Information overload!!! Anyone know of solution to ‘archiving your resources’. For instance, I consider this site a resource with a considerable amount of useful information that I like to reference when I need to. However, what if this site goes down some day? Then what? Any ideas? You can email me directly.

Faisal N. Jawdat's picture

I've been keeping a list...

I’ve been keeping a list of apps & tips for people coming from UNIX (mostly):

http://www.faisal.com/docs/osxforgeeks.html

 
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