Favorite OSX Goodies

Here's a few goodies to play with. I have used them all extensively. They are solid. I have paid for all of them but one (except for the freeware apps).

New to the list since 7-09-04:

• Witch
• you control: desktops
• Virtue
• SSHKeychain
• sunShield
• Platypus
• Sloth

http://www.codetek.com/php/virtual_pro.php
Excellent implementation of multiple virtual desktops. By far the best I've seen on any platform.

http://wsmanager.sourceforge.net/
Free implementation of a multiple virtual desktops.

http://www.obdev.at/products/launchbar/
The best app/URL/file/address/etc. launcher util ever! This is sortof a magically good version of the Windows "run..." command. Be sure to try the LaunchBar 4 beta - it does everything that QuickSilver does.

http://blacktree.com/apps/quicksilver/
This is slicker looking than LaunchBar and has lots more functionality (except LaunchBar 4 has feature parity) and is FREE. Check out the online manual link (second icon from left on top of webpage) - it is excellent and has lots of pictures. This app won't make a lot of sense unless you skim over the online manual at their website.

http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/menumeters/
Shows CPU/Network/Memory stats in the menu bar

http://www.stuffit.com/mac/deluxe/index.html
Deluxe version handles compression/decompression of tons of formats. Deluxe also adds context menu integration with the file browser.

http://unsanity.com/haxies/wsx/
Rolls windows up to just their title-bar. Can toggle window transparency.

http://unsanity.com/haxies/shapeshifter/
Implements GUI themes for OSX. My favorite themes:

• Digital Device
• Aluminum Alloy
• Mac OS XP
• SimpleX v2.0
• ProLCD
• ProLCD Blue

http://www.hornware.com/sharepoints/
Let's you share arbitrary directories via AFP or SMB.

http://www.balance-software.com/ittec/
Adds hierarchical menu disk drilling everywhere in the OS.

http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/iseek/
Adds a search field to the menu bar that accesses tons of internet search sites (customizable).

http://www.derman.com/KMremoteControl1.00/KMrC-Overview.html
Uses software/network to make your keyboard/mouse control any other OSX/Windows box on your local LAN. This is real handy if you have multiple computers sitting next to each other. It's like VNC without the screen display. There is a free app that only works between Macs that is even slicker - can't remember the name.

http://www.scriptsoftware.com/net_clipper/
If you need to copy/paste between the two macs sitting on your desk then this is NOT the app you want to use. There are free apps for that. However, if you want to copy/paste between the Mac and PC sitting on your desk then this is the only show in town. It works exceptionally well.

http://projects.tynsoe.org/en/stm/
Nice GUI for setting up your ssh tunnels. Be sure to grab the 2.0 version (currently beta).

http://www.glu.com/products/weatherpop/index.html
Shows weather forecast info in a menu bar item.

http://www.konfabulator.com/
Similar to Window's dynamic desktop only done in a really slick way. My favorite widgets:

• Mini Battery
• Mini Calendar
• Mini Digital Clock
• Mini The Weather
• Knocknock

http://www.adiumx.com/
AIM client with the best GUI ever. Also checkout Fire and Proteus clients.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/cotvnc
VNC client

http://www.redstonesoftware.com/vnc.html
VNC server

http://www.bresink.de/osx/NFSManager.html
GUI for setting up NFS connections and exports.

http://iterm.sourceforge.net/
Excellent terminal client. Features multiple tabs for each session and bookmarks.

http://freshlysqueezedsoftware.com/products/ftpeel/
This is my favorite FTP/SFTP/FTP-SSL client. It features a really slick way of mirroring files and directories to remote sites that I've never seen before. Also, it allows you to use an external editor to edit files on a remote site (if the editor supports a specific remote editing protocol).

http://www.rbrowser.com/DownLoad.html
Excellent SCP/SFTP/FTP/NFS/SSH file transfer client. Extremely solid. No mirroring, but allows you to remote edit anything on your remote site with any local app.

http://www.interarchy.com/main/
FTP/SFTP client that has some nifty network utils. Looks cooler than it actually is.

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx?pid=download&location=/mac/DOWNLOAD/MISC/RDC.xml&secid=80&ssid=9&flgnosysreq=True
Allows you to remotely control any Windows machine (like VNC).

http://www.rogueamoeba.com/audiohijackpro/
Allows you to record to MP3, AIFF, etc any sound being generated on a per application basis in OSX. Thus, you can play a WMA stream with Windows Media Player and be transcoding it into MP3 at the same time.

http://synergy.wincent.com/
Adds iTunes track controls to the menu bar and automatically displays cover art and track data in a floating/fading/transparent window each time the track changes.

http://www.cocoatech.com/
This is what I use instead of the finder to navigate and interact with the file system.

http://myndlink.com/renew.php
It checks your currently installed apps against an online database to determine if a new version is available. It can also download and install new versions.

http://freshlysqueezedsoftware.com/products/freeware/
Excellent FREE little app that displays any of your screensavers on the desktop. Currently only supports the main screen if you have more than one screen connected to your Mac.

http://www.gideonsoftworks.com/xback.html
Excellent shareware ($10) app that displays any of your screensavers on the desktop. This one supports multiple screen systems (unlike BackLight 2) and offers a few more options.

http://gimp-app.sourceforge.net
If you can't afford Photoshop then this is the next best thing. The interface is very non-standard - but it will get the job done. Note that this app runs in X11 so make sure that you are running 10.3 or have installed Apple's X11 for 10.2. This app is wrapped so that it launches and interacts with the OS just like a native OSX application. Pretty cool!

http://www.schubert-it.com/pluginpdf/
This is an excellent FREE plugin that compensates for a feature that is inexplicably missing from Safari (and all the other browsers that use the OSX web plugin architecture). This guy also has a plugin that displays word documents - but I'm not sure how good it works.

http://www.schubert-it.com/pluginword/
This is an excellent FREE plugin that displays Word docs within the browser window even if you don't have Word installed.

http://www.orange-carb.org/SBM/index.html
This one is more colorful and takes less space one the menubar than Apple's default battery menu item.

http://homepage.mac.com/dschimpf/
Well designed free program for keeping journals of entries that are secured via very strong encryption. I use it to keep my registration numbers, passwords, etc. in a secure place.

http://rubicode.com/Software/RCDefaultApp/
System Pref Panel that lets you take control of OSX's launch services. This allows you to easily associate apps with specific protocols, MIME types, File Types, and extensions.

http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/
Excellent preference pane that keeps track of any outbound traffic on a per application basis. It will tell you when any app attempts to make an outgoing network connection. You can then model rules that allow/disallow connections to this server or port. This is great when used in combination with tcpflow (below).

http://www.entropy.ch/software/macosx/welcome.html#tcpflow
Command-line util for sniffing and filtering network traffic on your computer.

http://projects.tynsoe.org/en/geektool/
Interesting pref pane that lets you place pictures (local or web), display live log files, or display the results of shell commands, AppleScripts, etc embedded into your desktop (kindof like Konfabulator). These items can be refreshed on a schedule and can have their appearance customized. I have the following command embedded in my desktop: netstat -anb -f inet | grep -i established | grep -v 127.0.0.1 | sort +4

http://freshsqueeze.com/products/pulpfiction/
Great news reader with a unique email-like interface. There is a free "Lite" version. But after seeing all the features in the full version, you'll want it.

http://www.objectpark.net/mc.html
A calendar that drops down from the menubar. It displays the iCal events with links and fly-over text on their corresponding dates.

http://www.codingmonkeys.de/subethaedit/
Excellent lightweight text editor with syntax coloring and an outrageously slick collaborative editing capability where multiple people can be editing a file simultaneously in real-time.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/software/Macintosh/osx/default.aspx
Sometimes you have to use this when a stream is only available in WMA.

http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnidictionary/
Cool (FREE) dictionary app that provides a service accessible from all other applications. Just hilite a word then hit cmd-=.

http://propagandaprod.com/dejavu.html
Great backup program implemented as a preference pane. It makes use of rsyncx to make backups between directories, drives, remote volumes. This is the backup solution that I use.

http://sveinbjorn.vefsyn.is/sloth
Nice GUI front-end to the lsof command that shows all the files or network ports that are currently in use by any application that the current user is running.

http://sveinbjorn.vefsyn.is/platypus
Creates GUI application wrappers around scripts, shellscripts, perl, etc. It will even optionally pop-up the authentication window in order to run your script with admin privileges.

http://www.sunprotectingfactory.com/sunShield/shield_features.html
Preference pane that manages the built-in firewall in OSX.

http://www.sshkeychain.org/
Besides hooking ssh into your keychain for passphrases, it also has a really good tunneling feature that does a great job of re-establishing tunnels after restart/sleep/network-hopping. This establishes an ssh-agent that allows you to simply type "ssh danlynn@danlynn.org" and any passphrases for ssh certificates are handled transparently. It also helps you create key pairs. (The public key needs to be appended to the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file in your home directory of the account on the remote server.)

http://virtuedesktops.sourceforge.net/
Enhanced version of Desktop Manager based on the same code-base.

http://www.yousoftware.com/desktops/
Slickest looking virtual desktops app yet (better than CodeTek even). However, it is a beta and I don't know how much it will cost when released.

http://www.petermaurer.de/nasi.php?thema=witch&sprache=english&kopf=labor
Essentially gives you a window switcher (opt-tab) that looks and feels exactly like the regular application switcher (cmd-tab). It allows you to switch between all windows regardless of application.

http://www.flip4mac.com/wmv_download.htm (click the big 'DOWNLOAD NOW' button)
This is a QuickTime plugin that allows QuickTime to play Windows Media files. This means that you no longer need to use Microsoft's lousy Windows Media Player.

http://www.versiontracker.com/