just came from the PC world

[liquidxray]

i just brought my 1st mac computer..well notebook at least...
anyways i just want to ask you mac people some questions

from the years i've been using PCs... everytime i get a fresh copy of windows on it.. i always have some software to install.. like winamp,winrar, divx, and etc.

so please advise this noob to enlightment in the mac world
thank you

 

[liquidxray]

and some essential websites
thank you

 

[stoid]

First of all, welcome to the community, I'm sure that you will enjoy your purchase and by trying to convince others to so the same for themselves.

You will have to download a DivX codec and Windows Media Player as they are not standard. As for other essentials, search through the forums as there have been many many thread on that very topic.

"Official" must haves thread andCool little OS X apps

I use versiontracker.com or macupdate.com, as they have just about anything that's available for download. Enjoy!

 

[advres]

For video troubles I would get VLC. I don't really like the interface but I haven't found too much I couldn't play with it.

Basically your mac is a great self serve unit right from the box. I would suggest exploring the OS and download stuff when you find something you can't do with the supplied software. Also, after you do some exploring you may realize you downloaded stuff you don't need.

I also suggest versiontracker for all your shareware/freeware needs. read, read, read and soak up everything like a sponge.

 

[NeoMayhem]

My personal list:

ffmpegX -- Good video manipulator
MiniVLC -- sweet video player (better then quicktime)
Azureus -- Best Bittorrent App
HandBrake -- Great DVD Ripper
Netshade -- Proxy App
SubEthaEdit -- Great Text/Code Editor
Pacifist - Open and extract .pkg files
QuickSilver -- great way to open files/apps
WhatSize -- see whats wasting your disk space.

 

[Logik]

My list...

Quicksilver
NewsFire
Firefox
VoodooPad Pro or MacJournal (whichever you prefer)
Cyberduck
iTerm
SubEthaEdit
VLC
ScummVM (so i can play some incredible games on the go)

 

[ChrisFromCanada]

Wow! That WhatSize program cleared me 120GB. But lots of that I was going to do anyway but still I found many files that I needed to delete.

 

[advres]

I completely forgot about one of my favorites.

Since you are new to mac you probably don't have much knowledge of permissions. Ocassionaly, your system (due to its unix core) needs to fix its permissions. permissions is what your system applies to all files telling the system who owns what and who has read/write access to what (root, administrator, etc..).

Sometimes the system gets a little confused and can cause all sorts of problems. For this you need to repair your permissions. You can do this from dusk utility but I like a shareware app called cocktail. Macjanitor is good too but it doesn't have a lot of the extras that cocktail has.

I would suggest getting that. It's free but if you want to pay for it so you can use the pilot feature (which lets you tell your mac to run certain things automatically) it is well worth it.

This is a very handy utility. you can also enable it to view your invisible files, make changes to the dock that you can't via system prefs, force empty the trash, and just a nice variety of useful stuff.

get it.

 

[chanoc]

A must for divx or WMV: mplayer

 

[oldpismo]

These are all good suggestions, but I think we would be better able to help if we knew the sort if thing you were planning to do with it.

My current favorite
Gimp

 

[BornAgainMac]

Click on your Apple menu and select "Get MacOS X Software...". It includes freeware, shareware, commerical, and updates. Pocket Tanks is a fun game. You won't find WinAmp but there is MacAmp.

WinAmp for Windows is a nice player but if you click the green button on iTunes, it will reduce the interface to a smaller screen footprint or the yellow button to minimize it on the dock while it's playing.

 

[oingoboingo]

I completely forgot about one of my favorites.

Since you are new to mac you probably don't have much knowledge of permissions. Ocassionaly, your system (due to its unix core) needs to fix its permissions. permissions is what your system applies to all files telling the system who owns what and who has read/write access to what (root, administrator, etc..).

Just something to note...I used Linux full-time for 6 years before switching to the Mac, as well as AIX and Solaris systems at work, and I've never once needed to 'repair' the permissions on these Unix systems. File permissions don't just randomly change, unless I've been messing around with something and broken it by accident. I'm still mystified as to why OS X requires permissions to be 'repaired' at all, and further intrigued by why this suggestion is always one of the first ones offered as a solution whenever anyone is experiencing odd behaviour from OS X. Can anyone claim that repairing permissions has actually solved anything?

Does Apple have any documentation which explains why OS X requires the permissions of various system files to be checked and reset from time to time?

On the topic of Unix underpinnings, OS X already includes a scheduler to launch tasks automatically at various times: good old Unix cron. Type 'man cron' at a Terminal window (without the quotes). It's free!

 

[MisterMe]

... You won't find WinAmp but there is MacAmp.

....

MacAmp became MACAST several years ago. MACAST development ended with the release of MACAST 1.0.1. It was a Classic application. After MacAmp's name change, NullSoft started development of WinAmp for the Mac. You may find the app on certain sites catering to old shareware, but the app is dead. NullSoft has a stray reference to it, but there is no final release. WinAmp for the Mac like MacAmp/MACAST was never ported to MacOS X. Clearly, developers made the determination that iTunes didn't need competition.

 

[MisterMe]

Just something to note...I used Linux full-time for 6 years before switching to the Mac, as well as AIX and Solaris systems at work, and I've never once needed to 'repair' the permissions on these Unix systems. File permissions don't just randomly change, unless I've been messing around with something and broken it by accident. I'm still mystified as to why OS X requires permissions to be 'repaired' at all, and further intrigued by why this suggestion is always one of the first ones offered as a solution whenever anyone is experiencing odd behaviour from OS X. Can anyone claim that repairing permissions has actually solved anything?

Does Apple have any documentation which explains why OS X requires the permissions of various system files to be checked and reset from time to time?

On the topic of Unix underpinnings, OS X already includes a scheduler to launch tasks automatically at various times: good old Unix cron. Type 'man cron' at a Terminal window (without the quotes). It's free!

Repairing permissions seems to be required after installing third-party software. The problem seems not to be MacOS X itself, but the installers developed by many of those vendors. There is also a flip-side. MacOS X provides the Receits mechanism to tell the OS what each file's permissions should be.

 

[PlaceofDis]

the only time i have ever had to repair permissions is when i updated iPhoto, it wouldnt launch, sure enough somehow the permissions were wrong and after a repair everything was back to normal

 

[MacAficionado]

I've never repaired permissions in two years. All is fine.

 

[advres]

I've never repaired permissions in two years. All is fine.

Try pulling down beta builds of 160 plugins several times a day and install them in your computer. Also, run them all day and have them crash your system relentlessly and tell me you don't need to repair permissions. With my job it is a nessessity to repair permissions a few times a month.

 

[whooleytoo]

Appleinsider.com
Thinksecret.com - Both of these for Apple rumours. (Usually end up here anyhow.)

Macosxhints.com - The best site I've found for hints & tips.

xlr8yourmac.com - If you're interested in add-ons and enhancements.

macintouch.com - For user reports of mac related bugs & issues.

macgamefiles.com - For game demos/updates.

macsurfer.com - For daily links to Mac news.

mac.the-underdogs.com - For lots of downloadable "abandonware" games.

 

[liquidxray]

My personal list:

ffmpegX -- Good video manipulator
MiniVLC -- sweet video player (better then quicktime)
Azureus -- Best Bittorrent App
HandBrake -- Great DVD Ripper
Netshade -- Proxy App
SubEthaEdit -- Great Text/Code Editor
Pacifist - Open and extract .pkg files
QuickSilver -- great way to open files/apps
WhatSize -- see whats wasting your disk space.

where can you get this WhatSize program ?

 

[liquidxray]

i got a question

in mac. when you download something thats .dmg
is that same as .zip as in windows

also how do you "zip" or extract the files into a folder ?

 

[whooleytoo]

Try versiontracker.com if you're looking for any specific piece of software.

Here

 

[whooleytoo]

i got a question

in mac. when you download something thats .dmg
is that same as .zip as in windows

also how do you "zip" or extract the files into a folder ?

A .dmg is a disk image. When you open one, a 'virtual' disk will mount on your desktop containing the software. They usually are contained inside archives. The most common Mac format is Stuffit (.sit), but various others are used as well. Stuffit Expander (which comes with every Mac) should open all of these.