Quick Mac Update

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything Mac related and since I was busy over the weekend rebuilding my system, I thought I’d share what software I’m currently using.

There was nothing really wrong my my old system, but the Mac’s flexibility in terms of booting from external devices makes it easy to try out a fresh installation. While there were no problems with the old system, I do tend to evaluate a lot of different software and over time the system gets cluttered. In particular, my Applications folder has shrunk from 180 entries to 82, though it will end up between 90 and 100 when everything I use is installed.

As is often the case with these updates, my plan to install the system over the weekend and then migrate data and apps over the coming week didn’t pan out. Instead, I did a clean install of OS X, copied my personal folder over and reinstalled all key apps by Sunday evening! Macs really are easier to setup and maintain.

Anyway, here’s the list of Mac software I use almost every day:

• VMware Fusion (for hosting virtual PCs)
• Firefox (web browser)
• Lightroom2 (image management and manipulation)
• Info/xhead (password cache)
• Adium (IM)
• Photoshop cs3
• Dreamweaver cs3
• Dandbrake (dvd/video ripper)
• Solitaire till Dawn
• Vuescan
• Audio Hijack Pro
• Extensis portfolio
• Flip4mac (WMV player)
• Transmit (ftp client)
• Office 2008
• MS Messenger (IM)
• MS Remote Desktop
• Textmate (editor)
• Macgourmet Deluxe (recipe manager)
• OmniOutliner
• Omnifocus (task management)
• Real player
• MissingSync for Palm
• Turbo tax
• Strobosoft (guitar tuner)
• Weatherdock (displays weather in menubar)
• SnapzProX (screen capture s/w)
• iStat menus (system status)
• xAct (audio slicer/dicer)
• SyncTogether (syncs mac address books)
• Instiki (lightweight wiki)
• Eye-one Match (monitor calibration)
• Eclipse (software dev env)
• TWiki (wiki)
• Mysql (database)
• Pathfinder (finder replacement)

And I have to mention the terminal program.  It’s installed by default, which is why it’s not listed above (same with Mail).  I use the terminal program every day, usually with multiple tabs and windows open; it’s via the command line that I rule my networked world!

I have about a half dozen hosts that I ssh to on a regular basis. I often end up with multiple tabs, and it’s very helpful if the tab label indicates what machine I’m connected to. Using iTerm’s bookmarks, this works as desired with the bookmark name showing up as the tab name.

It took me a while, but I figured out a way to achieve the same result using the updated terminal program that ships with Leopard. With the new terminal it’s straight-forward to save connections that automatically ssh to the desired host, and also display the remote system’s name as the window title. Unfortunately, there’s no obvious way to override the tab label, which displays the shell name.

My solution is kind of crude, but it does work. Simply create a hard link to the ssh binary with the name of each remote system you need to connect to (symbolic links don’t work; ssh is still displayed). Then, while running terminal, copy one of the existing terminal templates and modify it as you normally would to change colors, etc. After that, in the shell settings tab, substitute the remote-name link you’ve previously created for “ssh.” An example makes this more clear:

instead of “ssh -l username remote-name” specify “remote-name -l username remote-name” and voila’, the remote system name is now displayed in the tab label.

Here’s the command to create the links as needed:

sudo ln /usr/bin/ssh /usr/bin/remote-name

Like many of the Mac faithful, I headed down to the closest Apple retail outlet around 6pm on Friday afternoon to pick up a copy of Leopard, the latest release of the Mac’s OS X operating system. I got to Haddock Computer in east Wichita about 10 minutes after 6. There was no wait, but they mentioned there had been a good line before the Apple specified 6pm sale time. They also had cookies and were giving away a small leopard stuffed animal with each purchase. Not the same as the t-shirts given away at Apple Stores, but pretty cool in any case. Oh, and I don’t know if this just an artifact of the cheap nature of such give-aways, or some kind of joke, but the label attached to the leopard showed a picture of a tiger (Tiger was the prior release of OS X before Leopard).

Anyway, moving right along, I started the installation around 8:30pm. I installed to an empty external drive, as I prefer a clean install as opposed to doing an upgrade (even though Apple upgrades are known to work pretty well). I had no issues, and was soon rewarded with the sleek new look of Leopard. This isn’t a review of Leopard as that’s very well covered on other sites, but I didn’t want to share a couple of quick observations and since I had written a list of software to be installed, I’ve posted that list in the extended entry area.

My first concern was that my VPN client (Nortel Contivity) worked so I could continue to connect in to work. If that didn’t work, I would have to update a different machine, and wouldn’t be able to use Leopard on a daily basis. Thankfully, it installed just fine, and I was soon connected into my company’s intranet.

Next on the list was VMWare Fusion, for running a PC on my Mac. Though I’ve worked for years only occasionally using my PC, it really is handy to have it running in your native environment, especially for things like calendaring, NetMeeting and so on. If you’re not familiar with virtualization techniques, it’s a mechanism that allows one or more virtual machines to run “inside” a host computer.

My next program to test was Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, which I use for managing my images. It worked fine, as did Adium, my multi-protocol chat client.

Given that those programs worked fine, I knew it was worth it to continue installing all the rest of the programs I use on a regular basis and also to copy over my Documents folder, iTunes music folder and so on from the original boot drive.

Below the fold is a list of all the software I’ve currently got installed on my Mac. Worth noting are a few programs that I haven’t yet installed, or that I have installed, but don’t use as much as in the past.

The first is Quicksilver, which I use as a program launcher. Simply type control-space and the first letter or two of program you wish to run, and Quicksilver launches it. It’s an indispensable Mac tool, so why haven’t I installed it yet? The answer is that Spotlight, the built-in file finder and app launcher, was reported to have been greatly improved and I wanted to give it a try. So far, it works just about as well as Quicksilver, which means one less program to install.

Next up is PathFinder, a Finder replacement. The new finder has a number of minor improvements, and so far I’m not missing PathFinder (much). Jury’s still out, but I suspect at some point I’ll need a feature that Finder is missing and will then install PathFinder.

The other program that I use daily but haven’t installed is iTerm. iTerm provides a tabbed terminal interface, which I greatly appreciate when I have 5-8 terminal windows active. Much better to have them contained in tabs that spread out over multiple windows. Well, the built-in terminal program now supports tabs.

Firefox has been my browser of choice for years. I’ve tried Safari in the past, but always came back to Firefox. This time may be different. Safari is much faster, and I’ve yet to run into a page that doesn’t render correctly. Pluses for firefox include better a rich system of plug-ins for extending functionality. The ad blocking is much better, tab handling a bit better, and the web development plugins are unsurpassed; I quite literally couldn’t do my job without them!

I usually install the vendor keyboard and mouse drivers, but so far, only one extra key (screen text size control) isn’t working with the built-in drivers. We’ll see how it goes.

As previously mentioned, below the fold is a complete list of all the software I’ve installed on my Mac running OS X Leopard. Though not extensively tested, all programs below do appear to work correctly with Leopard. For many of the packages listed, I’ve linked to the company or product home page so you can find out more information as needed.

(more…)

Here’s a Halloween treat:

Yes, it’s the pumputer, and you can see a whole series of photos that chronicle the creation of this only on Halloween Apple pumpkin mash-up.

Link courtesy of the Unofficial Apple Weblog

Finally! Over the years I’ve tried 3 different KVM (Keyboard/Video/Mouse) switches and have finally found one that works! And by works, I mean it simply works. Not some of the time, not sort of, it just works. I need to share the keyboard, display and mouse between at least 2, and ideally up to 4 computers and have long been searching for a switch that simply works.

Now I have a solution that works. No more using a switch with one keyboard and 3 mice, or using a keyboard but not being able to use the extended keys (like mute!). Or having it work sometimes, but not others (at which point I would unplug from the KVM and plug directly into the computer I was using at that moment.) Towards the end I was using a manual, mechanical switch; I would literally unplug the USB keyboard/mouse from one computer and plug into the other, not using my KVM at all. (The video was handled by virtue of the fact I have 2 video inputs, and am using the higher quality DVI input with the Mac.) Obviously, not an ideal way to share the keyboard and mouse with multiple computers.

I thought, well, if literally switching between systems worked, there had to be a KVM that would work the same way. After some searching I came across a brand I’d never heard of before, but one that got high marks on Amazon. I’ve been using my 4-port ConnectPro KVM for the past 10 days or so, and it has worked flawlessly with my Mac, linux computer and laptop running XP.

I’m very, very happy with this unit and highly recommend it for those who are tired of KVM switches that only work part of the time or with diminished functionality. It should be noted that to switch between computers requires pressing a button on the unit as opposed to using a keyboard shortcut. Slightly inconvenient, but given its otherwise flawless performace I feel it’s a small price to pay,