Setting up a Mac
I need a place to put this. It might as well be here. When recent switchers ask for advice I typically send some version of this list. Note that the information here might be dated, but I do update this post from time to time.
Setting Up Mac OS X
Some notes that might be helpful (reconsidered February 2012).
→ After doing the Apple welcome/walk-through, etc:
In Safari go to Preferences and turn off “Open ‘safe’ files after downloading.”
Unsubscribe to the pre-subscribed RSS feeds inside of Safari and Mail.
If you are paranoid like me, you might consider making an admin account then add user account (use your user account for everyday usage). This might be old voodoo.
Some Suggested Software
Internet Applications
- alternate web browsers: Chrome; Firefox
- NetNewsWire, an RSS reader with free and paid versions
- or try Reeder, an RSS reader around $10
- Skype
Productivity
- TextWrangler
- a solid free text editor (i.e. column text selection, scriptable)
- consider TextWrangler’s pro sibling: BBEdit, it doesn’t suck.
- For Notes
- Notational Velocity, an amazing app
- VoodooPad Lite, a personal wiki (free)
- Microsoft Office (probably necessary, sadly)
iWork (Apple’s office suite alternative)
- Keynote is my favorite application on OS X
- Keynote, Pages, Numbers are now available separately in the Mac App Store
Marked: maybe the easiest way to make webpages
Media
- Acorn: an image editor (not free but less than Photoshop)
- VLC: free video player of many formats
- Flash (install the latest version)
- Perian: plays Flash video and others formats play in all apps (like Keynote)
- Flip-4-Mac (like Perian but for WMV)
- ScreenFlow: for making screencasts
- MakeiPhoneRingtone
Utility Apps
- Backup, Sync, and Archiving
- SuperDuper!: makes a bootable clone of your hard drive; or free CarbonCopyCloner
- Dropbox: the essential sync service
- ChronoSync: for syncing two computers
- TimeMachine, the included archiving app in OS X
- Connectivity/FTP
- 1Password: does what you think, but better
- QuickCal: fast calendar item entry
Some Science Making Applications
- Statistics
- LaTeX
- MacTeX (easy LaTeX installation and other useful stuff)
- BibDesk: bibliography and PDF manager
- OmniGraphSketcher
- Xcode
More More More
Applescripts
- there are some scripts I can’t live without (also turn on GUI scripting)
- Doug’s AppleScripts for iTunes
- Send Do File to Stata
- See also the language module for Stata
A list of other apps I like that might bewilder you…
- Alfred: less mouse, more keyboard, much more awesome
- OmniFocus: a task or to do list app
- QuickCursor: for your text editor
- FastScripts: launch those AppleScripts
- TigerLaunch: add an app menu to the menu bar
- Moom: move your windows around the screen
- Caffeine: turn off your screen saver (sometimes)
- Day-O: a better menu bar date
- Kindle: books from Amazon all synced
- EagleFiler: organize stuff with tags and notes
A Few Recommended Web Services
Even More?
Some links
- Macworld: reviews and news
- Infinite Loop: Ars Technica’s Apple news and rumors blog
- Daring Fireball: Mac and just general nerdery
- Mac Power Users: a podcast
- Review of OS X 10.7 (Lion) from John Siracusa
You should probably ask Seth Jolly if I forgot to list something that I like a lot.
