Returning to the fold

After many years in the wilderness

[photon]

I'm typing this on my new (to me) 17" G4 Powerbook. This is the first Mac I've owned in years. To give you some idea, the last Mac I owned was a IIsi; I had just recently upgraded it to System 7; and MacConnection still shipped same day (if you ordered before 3am) for a flat $3.

Having been away for a while, I no longer know what the cool, fun, and useful applications are for the Mac, nor where to download them. So my questions to you are:

1) Where are good sites to download Mac free/shareware? TUCOWS seems to have a pretty good library: where else?

2) What are you using for web development? I'm looking for an HTML-oriented text editor, similar to HTML-Kit or TextPad on Windows, with syntax highlighting, tag completion, etc. What FTP and other web-oriented applications do you use?

3) I'm using Opera and Firefox as my Windows browsers. How do their Mac versions compare to Safari?

4) Anyone aware of a Bluetooth enabled trackball?

5) Most importantly, does anyone know where I can get 3 in Three, the best computer game I've ever played, for OS X?

Feel free to pass along your favorite utilities, fun stuff, etc. Stickies are welcome if you feel the fun stuff doesn't meet the requirements of the forum charter.

Thanks!

[timster]

Yes, I remember it well, at the top of the MacConnection pages: "Same day shipping no longer a dream...how can that be it's plain to see...we ship overnight until 3:15" (I'm fogetting a line...) A friend had to point out to me that the headline was to the tune of the Beverly Hillbillies.

Anyway, down to business:

1) Where are good sites to download Mac free/shareware? TUCOWS seems to have a pretty good library: where else?

Version Tracker's my fav.

2) What are you using for web development? I'm looking for an HTML-oriented text editor, similar to HTML-Kit or TextPad on Windows, with syntax highlighting, tag completion, etc. What FTP and other web-oriented applications do you use?

BBEdit [bbedit.com ]

5) Most importantly, does anyone know where I can get 3 in Three, the best computer game I've ever played, for OS X?

Have you tried just running the game in "Classic" -- that is, running the original OS 9 game in OS X?

[the-underdogs.org ]

So do tell - what brought you back into the fold?

[microcars]

I am using Safari and Firefox equally as my primary browsers and use IE only for viewing doppler radar on weather.com

there are some dragndrop features I like about Safari that don't seem to work the same way on Firefox (like dragging jpgs to the desktop, in Safari, you see a transparent small image of what you are dragging, nice.. )

[photon]

Thanks for the responses. Version Tracker looks interesting. I'll investigate it more thoroughly this weekend. What are some of you favorite apps from there?

I've looked at the BBEdit web site, and it sounds great. But I'm having trouble convincing myself it's $179 worth of great, especially since I'm using a freeware program on my PC that has even more features.

I've been trying to use Safari exclusively on the Powerbook to give it a fair shake. I'm having problems figuring out how to open new sites in tabs instead of new windows. I may actually have to read the help file!

Excellent link to the 3 in Three site! That was the most fun I've ever had playing a computer game.

What bought me back? Well, I never stopped being a Mac fan. I just had PCs at work, and back then when it came time to get a new computer a PC was the easiest (and cheapest) thing to do.

But lately I've been wanting to get a lap top. It wasn't a necessity, just a hankering. And I've been seeing so much good stuff about OS X. So I decided that if I could get a decent price on a Powerbook, I'd go for it. Found one on eBay, and here I am. :)

[timster]

I've looked at the BBEdit web site, and it sounds great. But I'm having trouble convincing myself it's $179 worth of great

If you're looking to keep money in your pocket, jEdit is a solid, free text editor: [jedit.org ]

If you're looking for a little convincing about BBEdit, take advantage of the free demo:

[barebones.com ]

Here's another URL for OS X software:
[apple.com ]

[whoisgregg]

new sites in tabs instead of new windows

Do you mean when you click a link in a different application? That option is here:
Safari > Preferences > General > Open links from applications: in a new tab in the current window

Or do you mean when you click a link on a webpage? The keyboard shortcuts are described here:
Safari > Preferences > Tabs

Versiontracker is great for downloads. You might also check out [macosxhints.com...] You can do a lot "under the hood" now with OS X and that site keeps on top of neat ideas. :)

[mivox]

1) Where are good sites to download Mac free/shareware? TUCOWS seems to have a pretty good library: where else?

[osx.hyperjeff.net...]
Huge directory of OSX software... much of it free/open/shareware.

2) What are you using for web development?

BBEdit. BBEdit used to have a free "lite" version too... and an upgrade discount for Lite users.

3) I'm using Opera and Firefox as my Windows browsers.

Firefox is my favorite. Haven't bothered to try Opera in OSX. Never used the Windows version, but Firefox OSX is great. Personally, I really didn't like Safari.

[rjohara]

I second the nomination of BBEdit as a fantastic editor. It's the only one I use for all my webpages, and I hand code most everything. I didn't realize it had gotten that expensive, though (I've been on the upgrade route for some time). But you do get discounts on the next edition when it comes out, and you can get an excellent printed manual with it. And if you ever need tech service they are very good: one of their techs emailed me several times over a weekend to help figure out a bizarre memory problem (with my machine, not their program). Try their free download version and see if you like it.

BBedit includes ftp capability for text files, and I upload directly from it most of the time. For large-scale ftp the Mac program of choice is probably Fetch, which works very well.

[photon]

Again, thanks for more excellents links.

I'm definitely a hand-coding (vs. WYSIWYG) kind of guy. I'll download the trial version of BBEdit and take it out for a spin this weekend. Still, $179... :(

Bare Bones doesn't list BBEdit Lite on their web site any more (at least not where I could find it). It is available other sites. I wonder though, that if it's not on their site whether they're still offering the discounted upgrade price for the full version.

And what about those apps and utilities that seem uniquely Mac-like, the ones that may or may not be useful but are definitely quirky and/or fun. I discovered Konfabulator [konfabulator.com] last night. What else is out there to add to my Powerbook's personality?

[whoisgregg]

Here's a nice group of columns about some unique Mac apps:
[macobserver.com...]

[mivox]

[sticksoftware.com...]

Remember Eyeballs? The googly-eyes that sat in your top menu bar and followed the mouse? Stick Software makes Eyeballs for OSX, and has a spiffy virtual-refrigerator-magnet program, and other good stuff too.

[edited by: Macguru at 1:03 pm (utc) on July 9, 2004]
[edit reason] Linkless URL [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]

[Brad]

I have to agree I prefer Firefox over Safari for browsing. I like the way Firefox handles tabs, has the add-on web dev. extensions, and I can add more and different search engines to it.

[Leosghost]

<OT> For those of us on pc who are reading here ..and wondering about mivox's "eyeballs" ..you can find equally tastefull similar stuff at [mycorkboard.com...]

Why should macs be the only machines with a lavalamp on the front ;) </OT>

[timster]

What else is out there to add to my Powerbook's personality?

An old-timer like you might be interested in knowing that several "old favorites" now have OS X versions, such as Conan the Librarian X and
Talking Moose.

[macupdate.com ]
[zathras.de ]

(And with OS X you can install these dumb apps without worrying whether much if they'll make your Mac unstable.)

For additional quirkiness, you'll need custom icons for every file and folder on your hard disk:

[iconfactory.com ]

And good desktop pictures corrected for your gamma:

[macdesktops.com ]

Remember, free Java/Shockwave games run fine on OS X, even if they claim not to:

[candystand.com ]
[games.yahoo.com ]
[thinks.com ]

Eventually, of course, you'll have to get back to Web development.
If you really want to fiddle around with stuff, may I suggest tinkering around the the Terminal?

[macdevcenter.com ]

Installing MySQL: [entropy.ch ]
PHP: [entropy.ch ]
Apache 2 [laughingmeme.org ]

If you use Perl DBD::MySQL, watch out for this one:
[caseywest.com ]

Hope that's enough to keep you busy for a bit. :)

[photon]

I had forgotten about the Talking Moose! :)

And good call, timster: at some point I do want to set up a web server on the Mac, just to get experience with Apache, et al.

Thanks everyone for the links. This will keep my Powerbook and I busy over the weekend. Maybe it'll rain so I don't have to take time out to mow the lawn!

Leosghost: I often wonder about mivox's eyeballs. ;)

[mivox]

It's not my eyeballs people should be wondering about.