03 September 2007

TabletPC Software

Links to software that I install on my TabletPC so that I don’t have to spend hours looking for them when I wipe and reinstall - on top of the hours spent installing and configuring:

InkSeine (get it here)
A prototype ink application from Microsoft Research, designed to have a user interface uniquely tailored to pen input.

Send to OneNote for FireFox
Microsoft hasn't provided a method for sending data to OneNote from any web browsers except their own (Internet Explorer), so anyone using FireFox must use a third-party solution called ClipNote (FireFox 2.x) or 'Send to OneNote' (FireFox 3.x).
- download for FireFox 2.x (use my instructions below)
- instructions & download for FireFox 3.x

The steps I used for hacking ClipNote to work with FireFox 2.x:
- using a zip utility like winzip, winrar, or 7-Zip, open ‘clipnote.xpi’ rather than unzipping it since decompression results in an installation error after you make the necessary changes
- Edit the ‘install.rdf’ file with notepad INSIDE the archive
- change the ‘maxversion’ value (search for “1.5″) to “3.1″
- close notepad and save the change
- drop ‘clipnote.xpi’ onto the FireFox Add-On window and install.

GeckoTIP for FireFox (get it here)
An add-on that makes FireFox work a lot better in a pen-based environment.

7-Zip (get it here)
A free (de)compression utility for Windows (Vista and XP).

TightVNC (get it here)
A free remote access utility.

Windows Mobile Device Center (get it here)
Software to allow Vista to communicate with mobile devices.

Microsoft Reader (get it here)
Make sure to install Windows Mobile Device Center before installing Microsoft Reader - figuring that out only reminds me of the hours I’ll never get back.

OneNote PowerToys (get them here) (get them here too)
PowerToys are small utilities that help incorporate Microsoft OneNote into your existing workflow.


Install: PHP & MySQL (Mac OS X 10.4)

I've used the PHP package provided by Mark Liyanage for years. Refer to his site for complete instructions on how to set everything up properly.

- Download the MySQL installer here and Mark's PHP installer here. Many thanks again to Mark Liyanage for all his efforts.
- Be sure to double-click the file called MySQL.prefPane to install the preference pane into your System Preferences; also click the automatically start MySQL tick box in that new pane.
- Add these two lines to .bashrc in the root of your user folder if you are using Panther or Tiger. You will likely have to create the file first using pico .bashrc:
alias mysql=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql alias mysqladmin=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqladmin
- Set the root password for MySQL using this, replacing 'new-password' with the password you wish to use: /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqladmin -u root password new-password
- Create a php file containing the following and put it in your site folder; load it up to test that PHP is working properly: <? phpinfo(); ?>


Programs on my Mac

I'm maintaining the list of programs (apps) below so I don't have to search for them every time I format and reinstall my Macs. Click ∞ to visit the developer's website for further information or to download.

1Password
Securely store my credit card numbers, usernames/passwords – fills them in on form-based web pages automatically.

A Better Finder Rename
For selecting and renaming multiple files.

ArCHMock
CHM-format viewer

Audio HiJack
Capture streaming audio from any application

BetterZip
Collection of compression utilities; doesn't support Stuffit but thats covered by downloading the free Stuffit Expander

Blue Crab
Webpage/Website downloader

BookIt
Manage bookmarks between multiple browsers.

Burn
Free CD writing utilities for Mac

Calibre
eBook converter

Camino
Web browser using the same engine that Firefox uses but developed for Mac's only - meaning it maintains all the Mac's User Interface functionality (which Firefox does NOT).

Classic Menu
Provides the functionality of classic Mac OS’s Apple Menu – if you have to ask what Classic MacOS is, bite me. If you think Mac OS X’s Apple Menu & Dock are groovy, then bite me.

CocoThumbX
Create thumbnails or simply resize images – for posting to the web or otherwise.

CopyWrite
Writing utility.

CyberDuck
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Client.

Delicious Library
Uses the webcam built into my Mac to scan the code on books, cds, dvds etc - consults amazon's online database of products and catalogs the item with a photo of the product and all its pertinent information.

DEVONthink Pro Office
Personal document management software. Stores web clippings, all QuickLook-supported file formats and more and works VERY well with my Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 scanner.

Disco
CD writing utility for Mac

DVDRemaster
DVD ripping and resizing.

EagleFiler
Web clipping notebook for Mac

eBook Studio
Using it I build eBooks to read on my iPhone using the free eReader app.

Evernote
Web clipping notebook that backs up/syncs everything to ‘the cloud’. Native Evernote versions for Mac, iPhone, Windows and Windows Mobile all sync to ‘the cloud’ and thereby maintan the same content across all copies of Evernote running on all platforms.

FairMount
On-the-fly DVD decryption.

Fetch
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Client.

FireFox
Web browser with extensive collection of add-ons/extensions providing functionality like bookmark synchronization between browsers.

Xmarks for Safari/Firefox (used to be Foxmarks)
Add-on for Safari and FireFox which syncs my bookmarks to 'the cloud' across multiple browsers so all my browsers on all my Macs have the same bookmarks.

Handbrake
An all-purpose video converter.

HoudahSpot
Provides a search facility independent of Mac OS X's Spotlight

iCHM
CHM-book-format viewer

Intego VirusBarrier
Best Anti-Virus app I've found for the Mac

iPhone Backup Extractor
Allows me to mine the iTunes backup archive for bits and pieces of my iPhone content

iSkysoft Media Converter
Converts video into many formats; since VisualHub went away this takes care of my efforts to put episodes of Jeeves & Wooster on my iPhone.

iWeb Buddy
Provides additional functionality to Apple's iWeb - like multi-site publishing (though this is now available in iWeb 2009)

Jers Novel Writer
Writers utility.

Kameleon
Modifies my Mac's theme to make the aqua blue and red-yellow-green buttons grey.

KeyCue
Keyboard and menu shortcut utility

Layers
Allows me to make screenshots but magically places all the windows of all the currently running apps on their own layers so I can move them around like layers in Photoshop.

LiquidCD
Free CD writing utilities for Mac

LIT Converter
Converts Microsoft’s ebook LIT format files to .html

Little Snitch
Network intrusion monitoring utility

Live Mesh
Mac client for Microsoft's Live Mesh 'cloud' facility.

MacDjView
Viewer for the DjView format

MacJournal
Writers utility / diary / journal app

MacTheRipper
Rips DVDs to your hard disk for encoding using Handbrake or iSkysoft iMedia Converter

MAMP
Installs Apache, MySQL, & PHP independently of those that ship in OS X, in a simple to use environment controlled by a simple Mac application. Saves me from having to install, configure and maintain separate installs of each. I install Joomla, Mambo and WebEdition into it so I can develop and test websites. Its available (as WAMP) for Windows too.

Missing Sync for iPhone
Allows me to back up/extract my calls and SMS archives.

Neo Office
Free alternative to Microsoft Office.

Notetaker
Clip articles (incl images) from web pages.

OmniFocus
To do list, task management, Getting Things Done (GTD) ready app that syncs to MobileMe so you can keep the iPhone version up-to-date.

Parallels
Run Windows on your Mac - without rebooting. Entourage allows me to participate in every feature of our Microsoft Small Business Server-based communications network except Task management - so I have to use Outlook 2003. Thanks to Parallels, it operates right alongside all my other Mac applications - almost as though its a native app!

Path Finder
Replacement for Mac OS Finder.

Pear Note
Note taking app

PhoneView
Allows me to back up/extract my calls and SMS archives.

Picasa
Googles iPhoto competitor.

Picasa Web Albums Uploader
Plug-in for iPhoto so you can easily upload pictures to Google's Picasa.

PTHPasteboard
Provides multiple pasteboards (also called clipboards) across all apps - the Pro version even allows syncing pasteboards across multiple Macs!

Remote Desktop Connection
Microsoft’s remote desktop client for Mac.

Scrivener
Writers writing utility.

Service Scrubber
Maintenance utility for the Mac OS Service Menu; not working under Leopard

SimplyBurns
Free CD writing utilities for Mac

Sound Studio
Audio editing app; I use it to cut recordings of seminars into individual speeches and convert them to mp3; provides an extensive collection of filters to help clean up the audio.

Stanza
eBook creator/reader for Mac and iPhone

Stuffit Expander
Free decompression utility for Stuffit files.

SunnyMenu
Provides the functionality of classic Mac OS’s Apple Menu – if you have to ask what Classic MacOS is, bite me. If you think Mac OS X’s Apple Menu & Dock are groovy, then bite me.

SuperDuper
Best backup utility for Mac - works in conjunction with Time Machine

Switcheroo
Adds a Windows Task Bar to your Mac; whereas the Dock uses icons, the Taskbar uses words. Glancing at the Taskbar, in one step I process the information and click the desired application name. Glancing at the Dock, I have to do the same in two steps: remember what the icons symbolize, then select the one I want. The TaskBar gets me there much faster. Either I'm dimwitted or there's actually more 'mental' processing going on when dealing with the Dock. Maybe they both amount to the same thing.

TextWrangler
ASCII text editor meant for programmers but since its early days as BBEdit Lite I’ve used it to work magic on text; removing formatting before posting text to the web or inserting into QuarkXPress/eReader Studio.

Things
To do list, task management, Getting Things Done (GTD) ready app that syncs with the iPhone version to keep both stores up-to-date.

Transmission
Native Mac BitTorrent client.

Typinator
Automates the process of inserting frequently used text and graphics and it also auto-corrects typing errors.

UnRarX
Free utility for decoding .rar files.

VLC
Free video player supporting pretty much every format out there.

VMWare Fusion
Allows me to run Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7) and/or Linux virtually on my Mac.

xACT
Free utility for decompressing lossless codecs like .flac and .shn

xCHM
Free reader for .chm format files.

Xmod
Activate hidden preferences in Mac OS X