Page History

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@ - Open Source
% - Free
$ - commercial product

Customizations

1. Finder,
   1. Preferences - Show all filename extensions
2. View
   1. Show Path Bar, Status Bar, Sidebar, 
3. Printer - Using native drivers will ensure updates are automatic.

Office and Day to Day

1. VLC Media Player - play DVDs and almost any video format
   

   1. To have multiple windows, run,

      Code Block
      language bash
      open -n /Application/VLC.app/

      Note, the playlist tends to go over the same place so it's not obvious sometimes if it worked. Figure out a parameter to fix this later.

   2. Clear recent files in dock 
   3. Possibly remove the function of recent files in dock (still to try)
2. Microsoft Office - Yeah you can't avoid it and using it since 2010 have not run into compatibility issues.
3. Kuvva (yet to try) - Wallpaper changer that pulls down nice wallpapers.
4. Secure Delete - Built into OS, drag files into garbage, then hold down apple key and right click, select "Secure Empty Trash".
5. Avaste Free Edition - As of 2012 top ranking antivirus for my use (but I do not rely on on-demand checking). Downside is no scheduling but not intrusive.
6. Avira Free Edition - As of 2012 2nd top ranking antivirus + can do automatic scheduled scans. Downside is disabling on demand keeps on resetting in Windows. No longer using.
7. Resize Browser Window - Useful for consistent screenshots.

Essential Utilities

1. I adjust Keyboard Preferences in conjunction with the next 4 tools.
2. Better Snap Tool (App Store $2) - Get Windows 7 like snapping in addition to being able to use keyboard shortcuts to snap windows wherever you want. Also has loads of other features. Went through lots of tools like SizeUp before getting to this one. I use the following options,
   1. Keyboard Shortcuts
      1. CTRL-Left = put window of left half - note this breaks Home of text doc shortcut on Mac
      2. CTRL-Right = put window on right half - note breaks End of text doc shortcut on Mac 
      3. WinKey-Up = center on screen using custom "snap area" of x=480, y=115, w=1,600, h=1,280 and move snap area to bottom right beside trash, click colour and make snap area invisible - but it breaks moving up a folder
      4. WinKey-Down = restore to previous position
   2. Additional customize,
      1. Extras - Double-click a windows titlebar - maximize
      2. Customizations - Uncheck "Restore old window size if window is dragged away again"
3. Keyboard Maestro (App Store $36) - Powerful shortcut utility. Very useful for me because I use an IBM keyboard. Common things I setup,
   1. Ensure Engine is set to run even if editor exists and also go back in and checkbox engine to start on login.
   2. Tin's OS Controls Group - Configured for everything except Terminal (want CTRL-C to work normally)
      1. CTRL-V = clear out formatting before pasting | Filter Clipboard with Remove Styles, Type the Apple-V
      2. Home = CTRL-LARROW - move to beginning of line
      3. End = CTRL-RARROW - move to end of line
      4. Since I use Windows Virtual Machine at the same time so often)
         1. CTRL-C = copy
         2. CTRL-Z = undo
         3. ... plus I go crazy and do more like CTRL-LARROW, END ect.. (will create detailed page on this)
   3. Pause = IBM keyboard; I wanted Winkey-Home - increase brightness (contacted author and he may eventually fix)
   4. ScrLk = IBM keyboard; I wanted Winkey-End - decrease brightness (contacted author and he may eventually fix)
   5. WinKey-L = Lock to Login Window
   6. CTRL-Break = CTRL-C in Terminal since I've over-ridden above
4. Spark with the Plain Clip Plug-in - Free but less powerful version of Keyboard Maestro. Not needed if you buy Keyboard Meastro.
5. The Unarchiver@ (App Store) - handles common formats such as rar that the built in compression software does not.
6. Araxis Merge 64-bit - Best diff tool I have ever found. (disable Ribbon Interface, check do not show splash window, add folder filter to ignore .svn folders and make the default encoding UTF-8 No BOM). If you have a Windows license you can use it on the Mac too. http://www.kaleidoscopeapp.com/ is in beta but it also looks like a very good alternative if you did not buy Araxis yet.
7. VMWare Fusion - allows you to virtualize operating systems. If you do not know what this means you are missing out.
   1. To allow HoeKey to work - Preferences, Keyboard & Mouse, Key Mappings and uncheck ⌘-V.
   2. To allow CTRL-Click to work in Windows 7 - Preferences, Keyboard & Mouse, Mouse Shortcuts and uncheck everything
8. TinyCal (App Store) - yet to try but it looks like what I want... simple visual calendar integrated with Google Calendar.
9. Go2Shell (App Store) - quickly jump to command line in viewed folder - when dragging to toolbar keep ⌘ key down

Fix Home and End Key

Yet to try. This absolutely drives me nuts as a programmer. Home should go to the beginning of the line and end to the end of the line. On the Mac OS home takes you to the beginning of a document and end to the end of a document.

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This fixes things for more editors and applications. However, Browsers have their own wrinkle.

Torrent

Transmission - used in Ubuntu for a long time and it works great. Also nice is a web interface to manage your torrents from other computers or devices.

RDP

Microsoft has a free RDP program for the Mac to connect to your Windows systems.

CBR - Comic Book Reader

Simple Comic - This is the first one I found. Really nice and simple app. However, found a bug in how it handles splash pages due to numbering in the CBR community. See bug filed here https://github.com/arauchfuss/Simple-Comic/issues/20. Somebody please let me know of an alternative.

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ComicBookLover - tried it, does not fix the issue. I sent them an email, Nov 2011 asking them to fix this.

Control Multiple Systems

ShareMouse* - Looks better than Synergy. Took 5 minutes to setup...  but when I tried, Oct 2011 still buggy.

Afloat - Keeps windows on Top

Afloat is a program that can keep your windows "afloat" on top of other windows. Mac OSX lacks this functionality and Afloat does a great job of keeping windows always on top. You can also play with transparency settings. What this program really does it install a SIMBL Plugin. If you want to uninstall it, simply locate /Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins and remove it.

It doesn't work very well (rather its not that compatible) with OSX Lion. I find that it really only works with Chrome and a few other windows. Hopefully future updates will make it more compatible but for the programs it does work for, it does it well. You can press Control, ⌘ + A to toggle sticky window on or off. Control, ⌘ + PLUS or MINUS to change transparency on the fly.

Second Tier Essentail

1. Snagit - screen capture utility. Most used feature, autoscroll, which scrolls to capture all contents of a window.
2. Paparazzi - Free screen capture but only for browsers.

Secure Your Data

KeePassX * - a central place to keep your important data with one master password or master key file. If you are using the Windows version at the same time, you will want to make sure to pick an older version of KeePass that matches KeePassX's data format. As of March 10, 2013 my version of KeePassX uses KeePass KDB (1.x).

Communication Utilities

Lacking here. What I'm looking for:

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ExpandDrive (create a map drive over SSH for easy development). ExpandDrive hands down is the best tool I found yet for Mac and Windows.

Developer Utilities

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Graphic Design

Napkin (appstore)  - Looks like a good Page Annotation utility with nice call-out features.

Power User

Homebrew - package manager to download Linux command line tools in a controlled manner (it does not put things everywhere). After Homebrew is setup (put instructions when using normal accounts), I install,

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wolcmd - wake on lan terminal and ui client - still to prove this works as expected

Mac OS X Native Terminal Commands

caffeinate - disable sleep until CTRL-C is pressed

SSH Server with Key Based Authentication

Tested on OS X 10.9.3

Edit /etc/sshd_config,

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sudo launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist; sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist 

Determine Mac Build Date

You can determine your Mac build date and a bunch of other information by using your serial number and hitting various websites that provide this service,

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Alternatively you can download the application coconutID.

Clear or Disable Recent Items in Lion's Dock 

If you right-click on your dock you will notice a history of recent items even if you set the application to clear or not retain history. Simon Heimlicher wrote a good article. 

Make Bootable Mountain Lion Disk

http://www.cultofmac.com/180925/how-to-make-a-bootable-disk-or-usb-drive-of-os-x-mountain-lion/

Rejected Application

http://appzapper.com - I went to delete Transmit and it still left files in /Users/tinpham/Library/Application Support/Sparkle. Not impressed.

Evaluating and Searching

Any help and suggestions would be appreciated.

Editor like Notepad++

Notepad++ is the BEST general purpose fast loading editor to replace notepad that I have ever used. Unfortunately, it is built only for Windows. Here are the key features I use and looking to replicate on Mac OS X,

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So I am building a list starting from Alternative To and Google. Will test each of these out and see if they meet my above requirements.

Trying Out 2015

Reading reviews order is,

1. Sublime - waiting a looong time for v3.
2. Backets by Adobe - polished but slightly slow
3. Atom - copies Sublime but still young

Trying Out 2014

Sublime - well they has a very slick website. Trying out Jan 16, 2013 version 2.0.1 Build 2217,

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Notepad++ Port - Well it uses WINE so it's not native code... try if I can't find an equivalent.

Did Not Pass

Coda - Not designed as a fast light weight editor.

CSS Editor

MacRabbit Espresso looks promising.

NTFS Write

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http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/24481/ntfs-3g - free and commercial version with more features (used by Cheryl).

Remap Keys

Looking at more utilities to take advantage of my keyboard shortcuts,

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http://jdwyah.blogspot.com/2008/03/mac-leopard-os-x-windows-convert-color.html - fixing the end key

SSH Manager

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http://www.grepsoft.net/index.php - this one I can customize the shells, but the bookmark + groups instead of tree view does not look as nice.

Mounting SSH as a Drive

Expand Drive - Is the best one out there right now for the Mac. As of Expand Drive 2.3.1 and Transmit 4.1.7 we found Transmit to be slow in comparison. Also your Expand Drive license works for both PC and Mac.

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Open Source Programs

Recommended by Garth for command line tools - http://www.macports.org/

Dock Enhancement

http://kapeli.com/dockview/ - get live preview when hovering over dock icon like Windows 7.

Website Editors

Coda - Tried version 1.7.5 in 2011. By same makers as Transmit. Has really nice interface and uses Transmit for mapping. Has almost everything except ssh client windows are not embedded in the editor.

Configuration Tips

Here are the configuration changes I mace to the Mac OS X.

Enable Dock Modification

Apple Menu - Dock - Turn Magnification On

Adjust Finder

View - Show Path Bar
View - Show Status Bar
View - Customize Toolbar and then drag the "New Folder" icon onto the toolbar. Click Done.

Adjust Expose

Control-UpArrow - Show all open Windows which I remap to CTRL on right side of keyboard.

Must Used Shortcuts

Here are the shortcuts I use the most.

Windows Management

Control-UpArrow - Show all open Windows which I remap to CTRL on right side of keyboard.
Contrl-DownArrow - While on an active Application Window will show only the Windows for that application

WinKey-BrowseLeft/BrowseRight - Near my IBM's arrow keys allows me to switch browser tabs.

Text Editing

AppleKey-RightArrow - Jump to End of a line. In browsers this acts as forward in history.
AppleKey-LeftArrow - Jump to Beginning of a line. In browsers this acts as backward in history.

Download Sites

Read a few reviews and they seem decent and interesting - http://mac.appstorm.net/category/reviews/

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