Must-Have Freeware

[scem0]

I'm sure there have been threads about great software for OS X, but I want to start a more current thread.

On the 24th (Wed.) my Dad's 1GHz 17" iMac arrives. I am planning on using it a lot, being that my Dad isn't home a lot, and when he is he is rarely on the computer. So basically my mom bought me a new computer even though the package says 'for Dad' .

I was a Mac user all my life till 1+ year ago, when I got a PC because I couldn't afford a mac that was any good. In the year or so that I've been gone from the Mac world I have lost track of the good software.

So what software should I be downloading as soon as I get my/my Dad's iMac?

I've been hearing a lot about Konfabulator... What exactly is it?

What is the best dock editing application? There were about 3 or 4 dock editing programs (to make it transparent, change the indicator color, etc.) when I got my PC. What is the best dock editing program?

I'm getting a Nokia 3650 (or some other feature rich phone like it), what can I do with my phone through the iMac? Can I sync my phone's calendar to my iCal calendar with iSync?

So basically just list all the cool software you know.

Thanks ,

scem0

 

[NP3]

konfabulator is a "widget" javascript program. you can load lots of differnet widgets on your desktop such as a calendar, date, stock quotes, you name it. Its awesome.

My favorite dock editing application is TransparentDock. I got it at versiontracker.com i think....

pretty sure you can sync your calendar between mac & your new phone. check out apple.com/isync for more info.

Another program i like is Candybar...it changes all the default system icons to something different very easily.

 

[scem0]

I just spent a little while looking at the Konfabulator site.

Konfabulator looks awesome. But after seeing that there are 467 (that may not be the exact number, but I'm too lazy to go back) widgets I have another question:

What are the Must-Have Konfabulator widgets?

Thanks again ,

scem0

 

[NP3]

it really depends on what you want...


grrr they used to have a top rated widgets section....

i've pretty much stayed with the basics: digital clock, kitchentimer, and Calendar. I have a lower end machine & can't afford to use up system resources on more stuff..plus it can get crowded really fast.

Its really up to you. I'm plenty happy with these three, although like yourself, i am lazy too....i'm still running 1.0.2...and the current version is 1.5.3...oh well.

 

[dukemeiser]

Try AppleLegal.com for some reviews on good software.

This post is a good read if you want freeware. As I said in that post:

iComic is one of my everyday apps.

MacJournal is also a killer app. I'm always finding new things to use it for.

Taco HTML Edit is pretty good if you need an HTML editor.

 

[mrjamin]

clutter
MPlayer OSX

What kind of stuff are you looking for?

 

[ChrisH3677]

Sorry! I read this thread hours ago but had never looked at Konfabulator before. WOW!!! This little app has given me so many tools i've been looking for. I'm going to have to upgrade to the 17" PB to fit them all in!
Oh well, at least at work I have dual screens so i'll just move them all over when at work.

I will reply in full to you question scem0, but it's 2:30am now!! Thanks Konfabulator!!

A few I can't live without that spring to mind are:

- Menumeters
- Dockdockdock (I also use it as an app launcher)
- Pastor (password manager)
- Cleardock (turns those little dock arrows red)
- Sidetrack (for touchpads)

anyway bed is calling zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[scem0]

Okay, thanks for the input everyone.

I appreciate it. I will keep all the software and widgets you all recommended in mind.

Thanks,

scem0

 

[King Cobra]

Oh, man. You guys all forgot about TinkerTool! (sub-400KB download)

Oh, and iPod tracks -> Desktop 1.2.1 fills in the gap between transferring music from your iPod to your computer. An important utility for many iPod users. 32KB download.

 

[mikeyredk]

onyx

http://www.titanium.free.fr/us/onyx/index.html

excellent app if you put your computer to sleep at nights

also if you want to rip music of the ipod for yourself you can unhide system files with onyx or tinkertools and copy then right on to your hard drive

 

[scem0]

Awesome. TinkerTool looks great.

Thanks again,

scem0

 

[King Cobra]

I can't download OnyX. The Safari download's window tells me: "Download decoding failed." No .dmg apears on the desktop. I can't even seem to reload the download.

Now I'm not sure if the reason had to do with the file size being a total of one less than 667KB but the download, just isn't working. Any workarounds?

 

[scem0]

I'd try a diffrerent browser .

And if that fails and you are on a network you could download the file to a different computer and then transfer it to your computer via LAN rather than the internet.

scem0

 

[Gymnut]

I like to use MacJanitor since I don't routinely leave my computer on 24/7.

http://personalpages.tds.net/~brian_hill/macjanitor.html

Can't believe Cocktail went from freeware to having to register. Ah such is life.

 

[teabgs]

since nobody has added these much to my amazement....I mean, I wouldnt want to live without them.

and I also say tinkertool is a must have...

Synergy is by far needed. Why should you ever have to be in iTunes to CONTROL iTunes???

and MaxMenus is wonderful. i launch my most used apps with it and also have different directories mapped to some of the corners of the screen. Then of course, a simple key combination makes my applications list pop up where ever my mouse happens to be.

love them.

 

[mms]

SubEthaEdit is a great text editor.

Take a look at
macupdate.

 

[Bengt77]

I'd definitely go for Yahtzee X, but that's just me, being a total Yahtzee-addict.

(Hey, I just scored 316 points. Not bad, eh?!... )

Of course, Poisoned is of invulnerable worth also.

 

[ComputerWizard]

Hey everyone. Some of my must have Freeware apps are:

Menumeters - for monitoring my system resources

Tigerlaunch - for launching applications from the
menubar

Ucontrol - for being able to scroll with a trackpad
(IMHO it functions better than sidetrack)

iKey - for creating keyboard or menubar shortcuts for
accessing any programs or folders on your computer and
much more (This is a great app)

Temperature Monitor - a fun program for monitoring the temperature of your processor (this program only works on some computers)

Well this is all that I've thought of so far. If I think of more, I'll post them later.

 

[OutThere]

Menumeters
Comictastic
Xbench
Guillatine

All at versiontracker.com

 

[GovornorPhatt]

OmniDictonary is a must have freeware application. It grabs word definitions from several online dictonarys and presents them to you in it's lightweight interface.

Conversation is a cool freeware IRC client.

If you go to http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/lt/freeware/ you will find the latest mac os x freeware releases. For os 9 freeware, go to http://www.versiontracker.com/macos/lt/freeware. I use VersionTracker for all of my software and updates.

 

[King Cobra]

Originally posted by GovornorPhatt
Conversation is a cool freeware IRC client.

I've tried nearly every simplistic IRC freeware app that I could operate through VersionTracker, and I found X-Chat to best suit my needs. For two reasons: (1) There are two windows in X-Chat: The initial selection window, and then your chat window. So simple... (2) Command-line IRC command accessability WITH menu option compatibility, not the other way around. For instance, I tried Conversation, but quickly retracted to X-Chat once again when I found that many command-line IRC arguments were not implemented. I find that quite a pet peeve of mine when it comes to IRC apps, because the FIRST intent of an IRC app should be to implement IRC command-line arguments.

Menumeters, I should have also added that to the "must haves," but I can see that someone was attentive enough to do that already. Nice fellow.

 

[Makosuke]

Cocoa Gestures! I can't believe nobody has mentioned that one yet! Go get yourself some, and be amazed at how much time such a simple utility can save.

 

[scem0]

Oh good! Y'all posted a bunch of great apps.

Im really looking forward to the dictionary program and the Gestures program. I can't use a web browser without mouse gestures anymore. To have them in any cocoa app has to be nice.

I got the iMac btw, but unfortunately the seller forgot the power cord so he is shipping it to me and it should be here by Friday at the latest. I wont get home from out of town till late Thursday anyways.

Well, thanks one more time for all the help.

scem0

 

[mkrishnan]

Hope this isn't off-topic, but one of your questions is what you can do with the phone, and I have half an answer and half a question.

I have an iBook G4 and a Nokia 3650, and so far I have iCal and Address Book syncing going fine via BT & iSync. This was very easy to set up, although oddly the first few times I did it, I got a sync failure and if I tried it again a few times it would work. It has not done this since then.

Right now my primary calendar is on Outlook at work, so my iCal gets almost gobbldeygook data filtered through the phone and again through iCal, but starting this summer the iCal will probably be primary.

The big problem with the Nokia calendar is that it really doesn't handle recurring meetings very well, if it's anything more complicated than weekly, monthly (on xth of each month), or yearly. And of course the most crucial meetings are "1st tuesday of the month" -- the Nokia doesn't register these at all.

Finally, I've also gotten the phone to push images to the iBook. There are two bugs with this... first, sometimes the phone requires the computer to be discoverable and other times not (never needs to be discoverable for iSync, and the two are authorized users of each other). Also many times the phone will fail to send the image on the first try (same thing happens when I choose Send->IRDA to send images to my PC).

Also, when I use the bluetooth file exchange utility to browse the phone, it goes to the Inbox, wherein there are unfortunately no files. And there's no obvious way to navigate from there to the memory card. This is unfortunate b/c it'd be much more convenient to use BTFE to transfer images, since I could select a bunch like I do in Nokia's PC software.

Anyone experienced the first set of glitches (with individual file trans), or know of a workaround for the BTFE issue?

Thanks.

BTW...attached is a picture of me trying to sit in the back seat of a MINI at the Detroit auto show to see how bad it really is. The quality of people pictures from this camera is pretty abysmal.

 

[mms]

NetNewsWire Lite is a good RSS newsreader.
Adium 2.0, an AIM client, will probably be awesome whenever is comes out.
Transmit is great for FTP. Shareware, though.

I don't like messing with the dock so I wouldn't know about those. I like my dock fine the way it is.