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The New Mac Thread: Still loving Leopard despite it's spots

syndalissyndalis Getting ClassyOn the WallRegistered User, Loves Apple Products, Transition Team regular
edited December 2007 in Games and Technology
Apple%20logo.JPG-thumb_273_205.jpg
THE OFFICIAL MACINTOSH THREAD.
for pretty much everything made by Apple that is not the iPod.
____________________________________________________________

So I made the original thread when I first got my iMac Core Duo. Since then I've pretty much figured out what you need to get everything up to snuff.

Video Playback:

VLC: This will cover pretty much everything except QT. EDIT: VLC now handles WMV like a charm, so yay!

Flip4Mac: Plug this into QT to handle all your WMV/wmv streaming needs.



Torrents:

TransmissionLoads better than this other shit, does pretty much everything, with some decent features.

Azureus: My personal favorite, with a great suite of options, and it seems to have more success in general at connecting to trackers.

Bits on Wheels: Kinda bare-bones, but completely native, if thats your thing.



[Chat] software:

Adium: My personal favorite chat program, and probably the only one you'll need besides...

Snak: mIRC for the mac. Yessir.



Miscellaneous:

Connect 360: If you have an XBOX360, but not a PC, and want music etc. on your BOX, this is your program.

USB Overdrive: If you don't use the mighty mouse (and who could blame you?) or even if you do, you will probably like this plug in.

MediaForkBased on HandBrake, which used to be the best at ripping DVDs. Now this is, though it's about to be reforked in HandBrake.

gDiskAllows you to use your gMail account for storing files. Good to have a secure backup, and could potentially be sued to share files ( I tihnk. I'm still working on the details)

WhatSizeShows your hard drive ina fancy tree view letting you know where all that space has gone.

Eobert adds: I demand that the OP replaces that piece of shit "whatsize" app which costs money and is ugly, with the beautiful (despite being java) Jdiskreport.


_______________________________________________________

Also make sure to check out Apple's site now and then, they put up nice streams of all their keynotes, and have some great support.


So, yeah, ... macs rule.

A real OP will be made shortly, i promise... but here is a general place for the Mac folken to come and discuss their gear, in light of the fact that the old thread was getting pretty big and cannot be posted in.

Anyone who has good info regarding Leopard tweaks, like Stacks icons and Dock skinning, PM me and I'll incorporate it into the OP.

SW-4158-3990-6116
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
syndalis on
«13

Posts

  • Cameron_TalleyCameron_Talley Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Anyone ever replaced the hardrive of a G4 Powerbook 15" 1.67? I've got an 80 gig drive that I'd like to bump up to 160 or more. The Powerbook's over 2 years old but I'm in no financial position to get a new computer. And no, I DON'T want just a cheap external...I've got one...I want an internal drive capable of holding more pictures...

    I've seen the guides on iFixit and it looks doable if slightly complicated. Anyone have any real-world experience, though? I don't want to fark up my laptop...

    Cameron_Talley on
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  • donquixotedonquixote Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    How do completely get rid of an installed program? Yeah, I know you can just drag it from the Applications folder to Trash but every so often I find a preferences folder or some other associated data for a program that I thought I was rid off long ago. What should I use to make sure that there isn't even an inkling that the program ever graced my Mac?

    donquixote on
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  • Dis_quietDis_quiet Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    donquixote wrote: »
    How do completely get rid of an installed program? Yeah, I know you can just drag it from the Applications folder to Trash but every so often I find a preferences folder or some other associated data for a program that I thought I was rid off long ago. What should I use to make sure that there isn't even an inkling that the program ever graced my Mac?

    Unless the program has an uninstaller (and most don't) there really isn't an easy way to do this. Do a search for files with that application's name. The most common place to find residual files is in your Home > Library folder. Look in there in the Preferences folder, Cache folder, etc.

    However, those little residual files generally don't hurt anything, so the only real reason to go searching for them is if you're just a neat freak.

    Dis_quiet on
  • Dis_quietDis_quiet Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    This is a timely thread for me. I just got a brand new iMac (20" 2.4 GHz C2D) and I'm loving it. I was a little nervous about the glossy screen, but it doesn't bother me at all. In fact, in a dark room, it looks better than a matte screen to me. And I'm totally digging the new Apple keyboard. I got the wired version, because I like my number pad. But it's very nice to type on. I don't know if you can use one on a PC, but if you can, I may have to buy another one to use on my work PC.

    So far, I'm liking Leopard, too. There are a few minor quibbles, but I'm hoping they either get fixed, or 3rd party fixes show up, as they are wont to do. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is that stacks suck. When I saw preview of this feature, I had high hopes, but they've really made it pretty useless. The dumbest thing about them is that you can't choose the icon for the stack in the Dock. It just automatically chooses the icon of the first item in that stack. Ugly.

    Dis_quiet on
  • RonenRonen Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Dis_quiet wrote: »
    This is a timely thread for me. I just got a brand new iMac (20" 2.4 GHz C2D) and I'm loving it. I was a little nervous about the glossy screen, but it doesn't bother me at all. In fact, in a dark room, it looks better than a matte screen to me. And I'm totally digging the new Apple keyboard. I got the wired version, because I like my number pad. But it's very nice to type on. I don't know if you can use one on a PC, but if you can, I may have to buy another one to use on my work PC.

    So far, I'm liking Leopard, too. There are a few minor quibbles, but I'm hoping they either get fixed, or 3rd party fixes show up, as they are wont to do. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is that stacks suck. When I saw preview of this feature, I had high hopes, but they've really made it pretty useless. The dumbest thing about them is that you can't choose the icon for the stack in the Dock. It just automatically chooses the icon of the first item in that stack. Ugly.

    Re: keyboards. I got the wireless version for my living room setup, and I now end up using it with both my Macs everywhere around the apartment. When I'm writing for long periods of time, I put my Powerbook off the side and just keep the keyboard on my lap. It's incredibly comfortable, and I'm actually considering buying a second one to leave in the living room and keeping the first one in my bed room (where the writing happens).

    As far as Stack icons, I used the transparent set and instructions posted on TUAW shortly after Leopard came out (can't find the post right now). While hardly an ideal solution, they work as advertised and look pretty great.

    Ronen on
    Go play MOTHER3

    or Brawl. 4854.6102.3895 Name: NU..
  • HooraydiationHooraydiation Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    I got a new Macbook around Black Friday because of the $100 off plus $100 off a printer deal. Unfortunately, I didn't look closely enough at the specs on the printer I picked and ended up selecting one that does 4x8 photos rather than full-size documents. Can someone with experience with Apple Customer Support tell me if it'd be possible to return the printer in exchange for a proper one without sacrificing the $100 rebate that only works if the printer is purchased at the same time as a Macbook? I called myself, and the guy who answered said no, but I'm wondering if maybe I could exchange the printer and ask for a new receipt containing the new printer and the new Macbook together*. I suppose I could also lie and say they sent me the wrong printer, but I don't really want to do that.**

    If not, should I just try to sell the printer after redeeming the rebate and put that money towards a new printer. If so, what's a good, compact printer (I only need to print documents, not photos)?

    Finally, what's a good mouse?

    *I don't want to call customer support and ask them this question, because I'm worried it'll sound kind of like I'm trying to bilk them out of $100 even though the error was mine and not theirs.

    **Less so if it's not guaranteed to work.

    Hooraydiation on
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  • AzioAzio Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Does anyone know of an alternative to iTunes that will just play files and playlists without importing them? Basically any decent music player that is as different from iTunes as possible.
    Finally, what's a good mouse?
    I use a Logitech G5, which works pretty well. Your best bet is to go to Best Buy and put your hand on a few models, once you find one you like you can log onto newegg.com or ncix.com and get it for less money. (Apparently BB doesn't price match websites anymore because they have no return policy, which is actually not true but that's their story and they're sticking to it.) People in this thread will probably tell you to get a mighty mouse but they are dumb.

    Azio on
  • HypertimeHypertime Arlington, VARegistered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Just went from a 12-inch PowerBook G4 1.5GHz to a 15-inch MacBook Pro 2.4GHz and ... man ... this new machine just screams. I finally got to check out Joost, being that it is Intel Mac only, and dug the hell out of it. Windows and VMWare are both getting installed tonight.

    Is there any other Intel Mac specific software that I may have missed out on as a PPC user since the switchover?

    Hypertime on
    Your mom.
  • HypertimeHypertime Arlington, VARegistered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Azio wrote: »
    Does anyone know of an alternative to iTunes that will just play files and playlists without importing them? Basically any decent music player that is as different from iTunes as possible.

    Play
    Cog

    Songbird is another alternative, but it's a lot like iTunes.

    Hypertime on
    Your mom.
  • DivebommahDivebommah Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    To uninstall proggies, I found AppZapper works well. Just drag and drop the app's icon to AppZapper and the proggy hunts for any related files and kills 'em. Not sure if it is catching EVERYTHING, but who knows anymore?

    Also, Syndalis -- Transmission? Can you edit your description, because you can indeed choose what files within torrents you want to eliminate, now. You just click the torrent and hit the "Inspect" button. Also, it's a lot faster and better at connecting to torrents that it used to be.

    Token Leopard comment: I'm enjoying it, but a little peeved that it takes twice as long for it to shut down/restart my computer as Tiger did, and I'm not sure why.

    Divebommah on
  • Radikal_DreamerRadikal_Dreamer Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    I'm also enjoying leopard so far. Spaces is pretty much essential for me now. And, yeah, my leopard takes quite a bit longer than Tiger did to start up.

    Radikal_Dreamer on
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  • ginguskahnginguskahn Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    I use iSquint on my Mac to convert my various movies so that they play on my iPod. I like it 'cos its small, easy to use and free. I have a Windows PC that I use as an encoding box for various other things, and I would like to pass on the conversions over to that. Does anyone know a good alternative to iSquint for XP?

    (I realize this question is the wrong way round for this topic really, but not worth starting another for such a small question)

    Thanks

    ginguskahn on
    ginguskahn360.png
  • bongibongi regular
    edited December 2007
    Does anyone know why my DVD player and Front Row absolutely hate Battlestar Galactica?

    bongi on
  • DarkHawkeDarkHawke Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    If you need a stopgap solution VLC will play more or less anything, including DVDs.

    Are you watching them on DVD, and is the disc from your region?

    DarkHawke on
  • cSpoogecSpooge Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    anyone using Quicksilver on Leopard? It seems to be locking my keyboard and trackpad when the display goes to sleep. Anyone else getting this issue?

    cSpooge on
  • ParkingtigersParkingtigers Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    So, I got myself a 2nd hand unlocked iPhone for £250 here in Hong Kong. I'm in love. Needs some kinks ironing out, but what it does do it does very well indeed. With so many wi-fi hotspots in a city like this, I'm never far from a quick surf or a check of my emails.

    Parkingtigers on
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  • Brodo FagginsBrodo Faggins Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Dis_quiet wrote: »
    donquixote wrote: »
    How do completely get rid of an installed program? Yeah, I know you can just drag it from the Applications folder to Trash but every so often I find a preferences folder or some other associated data for a program that I thought I was rid off long ago. What should I use to make sure that there isn't even an inkling that the program ever graced my Mac?

    Unless the program has an uninstaller (and most don't) there really isn't an easy way to do this. Do a search for files with that application's name. The most common place to find residual files is in your Home > Library folder. Look in there in the Preferences folder, Cache folder, etc.

    However, those little residual files generally don't hurt anything, so the only real reason to go searching for them is if you're just a neat freak.

    There is a program called Appzapper that will do this for you. You drag your unwanted app into the little window, and it'll automatically locate and place all the residual files into it. It's not free, but I can't live without it.

    There's a freeware alternative, but I can't remember what it was called. Just google "appzapper freeware alternative"

    Brodo Faggins on
    9PZnq.png
  • LoneIgadzraLoneIgadzra Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    This shit needs to go in the OP under video playback already:

    Perian - native Quicktime support for loads of popular codecs. Why not use VLC? Well VLC is kind of buggy and doesn't jog/shuttle as well as QT. Also, FrontRow. This isn't a replacement for VLC (since it doesn't play as much), but for the average .avi file it will do just fine.

    NicePlayer - a better Quicktime player. Quick and lightweight, and has most of the functionality I want from a video player (except for shortcomings already built into Quicktime, like inability to handle subtitles or multiple audio tracks).

    LoneIgadzra on
  • fearofsocietyfearofsociety Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Um...yeah. So, Stacks sucks.

    I've been using HierarchicalDock to get my Apps folder in the dock to be non-Stacksy, and I like it. It's not as great as it was in Tiger, but it at least kills some of Stacks horrible functionality on any folder where you don't need it (which for me is all of them). It's free, easy, and fixes the biggest problem I have with Leopard.

    edit: and in case you haven't seen it, this is the way Stacks was supposed to work. That would have made so much more sense.

    fearofsociety on
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  • ArminasArminas Student of Life SF, CARegistered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Someone needs to add this under picture viewing.

    Xee - A great viewer for folder albums. Why? Because I detest iPhoto and Preview may be a bit faster but I don't like having to drag things into the program to see them. Though quicklook isn't bad, Xee carries more functionality.



    ...and I like Stacks. :( But probably because I never had folders in my dock until Leopard forced me to try Stacks out. I also just access my applications by going to finder and just hitting cmd + shift + a. And stacks is purdyyy, hur hur

    Arminas on
  • LoneIgadzraLoneIgadzra Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Arminas wrote: »
    Someone needs to add this under picture viewing.

    Xee - A great viewer for folder albums. Why? Because I detest iPhoto and Preview may be a bit faster but I don't like having to drag things into the program to see them. Though quicklook isn't bad, Xee carries more functionality.

    Xee is also the best comic viewer for Mac that I can find. It's not dedicated to that purpose, but it has functionality like full screen, and keys to scroll or go to the next image in a folder that are missing in Preview. Preview also has (in Tiger at least) the old problem where it fucks up numerical sorting that Mac OS Classic used to have (while Xee sorts a folder correctly).

    LoneIgadzra on
  • HooraydiationHooraydiation Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    What's a good CDisplay Image Viewer equivalent for the Mac?

    Hooraydiation on
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  • Brodo FagginsBrodo Faggins Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Brodo Faggins on
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  • LoneIgadzraLoneIgadzra Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    What's a good CDisplay Image Viewer equivalent for the Mac?

    Xee works fine.

    LoneIgadzra on
  • WuckFarcraftWuckFarcraft Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Does anyone know of a free program that would work equivalent to this?

    http://stinkbot.com/Tubesock/

    Being able to download youtube videos/ audio files is basically what it does.

    WuckFarcraft on
  • bodiemabodiema Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Quick question I though I shouldn't start a new thread in h/a about:

    This morning my Macbook speaker output simply did not work. The previous evening it worked just fine when I plugged in headphones, and now no sound comes out. I've tried multiple headphones that work just fine, but no sound plays through the ear buds. When I plug in the headphones, they make that sort of click noise, but other than that, nothing. On the other head, the normal speakers on the Macbook work just fine. Is there any setting I may have unwittingly changd that would explain this? Thanks for any help!

    bodiema on
  • WuckFarcraftWuckFarcraft Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Does anyone know of a free program that would work equivalent to this?

    http://stinkbot.com/Tubesock/

    Being able to download youtube videos/ audio files is basically what it does.

    Shameless bump

    WuckFarcraft on
  • LednehLedneh shinesquawk Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Back in the day (Jan 2005 or so) I bought an iBook G4. I sold it in Feb 06 because I needed cash and I wasn't using it anyway. Plus, it was a slow piece of garbage, and the Firefox mac version was shit. Not to mention the whole Intel thing.

    Flash forward to today, and I've got enough spare cash for a new laptop (and I'm gonna need it soon, have business flights coming in a couple weeks). So I guess my question (no doubt answered with "yes"s from the Mac crowd but damnit I'll ask anyway) is: is the basic, 13" Macbook a good laptop for getting work done, mostly Internet browsing and maybe a little bit of game playing (I'm thinking of Dwarf Fortress and City of X here, but in the general sense)?

    How's the screen? I've heard they finally changed to a glossy instead of a matte finish, which I love in theory, but how does it pan out?

    And in a more general question, how good is the Windows support via Bootcamp or Crossover or whatever the fuck it's called?

    Last one, is it still vaguely UNIX-y? I liked having familiar linux/UNIX commands at my beck and call on the iBook back when.

    Thanks folks :)

    Ledneh on
  • eobeteobet 8-bit childhood SwedenRegistered User regular
    edited December 2007
    I demand that the OP replaces that piece of shit "whatsize" app which costs money and is ugly, with the beautiful (despite being java) Jdiskreport.

    eobet on
    Heard the proposition that RIAA and MPAA should join forces and form "Music And Film Industry Association"?
  • apotheosapotheos Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited December 2007
    I edited the OP to remove the bit about Transmission not getting individual files out of Torrents because it totally does that now.

    apotheos on


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  • apotheosapotheos Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited December 2007
    eobet wrote: »
    I demand that the OP replaces that piece of shit "whatsize" app which costs money and is ugly, with the beautiful (despite being java) Jdiskreport.

    Done. Please leave a contribution in the little box.

    apotheos on


    猿も木から落ちる
  • ben0207ben0207 Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Not my OP any more, and I wrote it ages ago.

    ben0207 on
  • FaricazyFaricazy Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    arg a piece of the grey plastic on my macbook is cracking off in the very front

    apple store will fix this right

    Faricazy on
  • bongibongi regular
    edited December 2007
    DarkHawke wrote: »
    If you need a stopgap solution VLC will play more or less anything, including DVDs.

    Are you watching them on DVD, and is the disc from your region?

    Yes and yes.

    bongi on
  • KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Does anyone know of a free program that would work equivalent to this?

    http://stinkbot.com/Tubesock/

    Being able to download youtube videos/ audio files is basically what it does.

    Shameless bump

    If you use Firefox, there's an extension called Download Helper that will let you dl youtube stuff. You can use ffmpegx to convert them to whatever you need once you've downloaded the .flv file.

    KalTorak on
  • DarkHawkeDarkHawke Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    bongi wrote: »
    DarkHawke wrote: »
    If you need a stopgap solution VLC will play more or less anything, including DVDs.

    Are you watching them on DVD, and is the disc from your region?

    Yes and yes.

    Could be the disc is slightly scratched or something then. I've had rental DVDs that won't play in my mac but will play in regular DVD players - I guess the mac is a bit more sensitive to damage. Maybe.

    All I can think of if it doesn't work in VLC.
    KalTorak wrote: »
    Does anyone know of a free program that would work equivalent to this?

    http://stinkbot.com/Tubesock/

    Being able to download youtube videos/ audio files is basically what it does.

    Shameless bump

    If you use Firefox, there's an extension called Download Helper that will let you dl youtube stuff. You can use ffmpegx to convert them to whatever you need once you've downloaded the .flv file.

    There's also KeepVid, a web service that'll pull down .flvs. And Perian has FLV support built in, so provided you only want to view the videos on your mac you should be golden from there. Otherwise, use FFMpegX as Kal suggested.

    DarkHawke on
  • lordswinglordswing Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Faricazy wrote: »
    arg a piece of the grey plastic on my macbook is cracking off in the very front

    apple store will fix this right

    Yes, and they will probably suggest buying a Marware Protection Pack to help prevent that from happening in the future. I caved, and after using it for almost 6 months now, haven't seen any cracks. Don't forget you need to schedule an appointment, silly me thought I could just waltz in there and get my MacBook fixed.

    http://www.marware.com/PRODUCTS/Apple-Laptop-Products/Protection-Pack-for-MacBook

    lordswing on
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  • syndalissyndalis Getting Classy On the WallRegistered User, Loves Apple Products, Transition Team regular
    edited December 2007
    Oh, and if you guys want anything added to the OP, just PM me and I'll make it happen.

    Sorry for not being really speedy on this... y'know, work and all. ;-)

    syndalis on
    SW-4158-3990-6116
    Let's play Mario Kart or something...
  • FaricazyFaricazy Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    lordswing wrote: »
    Faricazy wrote: »
    arg a piece of the grey plastic on my macbook is cracking off in the very front

    apple store will fix this right

    Yes, and they will probably suggest buying a Marware Protection Pack to help prevent that from happening in the future. I caved, and after using it for almost 6 months now, haven't seen any cracks. Don't forget you need to schedule an appointment, silly me thought I could just waltz in there and get my MacBook fixed.

    http://www.marware.com/PRODUCTS/Apple-Laptop-Products/Protection-Pack-for-MacBook
    yeah, i've been there plenty of times already with my ipod troubles

    gotta find time to go there though

    dang finals

    Faricazy on
  • ChorazinChorazin Lancaster, PARegistered User regular
    edited December 2007
    lordswing wrote: »
    Faricazy wrote: »
    arg a piece of the grey plastic on my macbook is cracking off in the very front

    apple store will fix this right

    Yes, and they will probably suggest buying a Marware Protection Pack to help prevent that from happening in the future. I caved, and after using it for almost 6 months now, haven't seen any cracks. Don't forget you need to schedule an appointment, silly me thought I could just waltz in there and get my MacBook fixed.

    http://www.marware.com/PRODUCTS/Apple-Laptop-Products/Protection-Pack-for-MacBook


    Yeah.....no. I bought a Marware protection pack the day I got my MacBook and the cracks still happened. It was a specific manufacting date range that had the flaws in the bottom plastic cover. It took them two weeks to get the part in, which was a huge inconvenience. When you take it in ask them to see how long it will take to get in stock, and if you can just bring it back when it's in.

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