Good Stuff

I’ve got an appropriate apple-related rant, which involves me yelling about data loss and the like – but I’m saving that for a special day (or, at least, a day that’s not this one).

Anyway, today I thought I’d give you a list of software that rocks my socks! This list is pretty useless to anybody not using a Mac. Anyway, it’s a list of really cool software!

1. GeekTool. Jose pointed me at GeekTool a while ago, and it’s one of the greatest things ever! Currently, I’ve got it displaying outputs from random unix commands on my desktop. It’s handy! and really cool looking!
2. Desktop Manager. I found Desktop Manager through the Darwin Ports Tree. It gives you multiple desktops in OSX. And it does it in a manner that one could only call “snazzy.” It doesn’t alter the operating system at all, so if it starts acting all fooey (which it apparently does – as the author calls it alpha software) , you can simply turn it off. Stanek has been playing with Space, which also looks pretty snazzy. I’ll have to give it a try sometime.
3. SideTrack. SideTrack is a replacement mouse driver for Apple laptops. It gives you side scrolling and corner taps. I’ve got it working with both Exposé and the Desktop Manager – the top two corners trigger Exposé, and the bottom two cycle through desktops!
4. X-Tunes. X-Tunes lets you bring up a simple translucent controller for iTunes. You use a key combination to bring up the controller, and then use a few simple key commands to do things like control the volume, change track, or stop/play.
5. Markdown. Markdown isn’t OS specific – it’s a text-to-HTML plugin for blogs. I’m using it with Blosxom. One of the nicest things about it is that it seamlessly lets you drop back to HTML when you feel like it. This is the first entry I’m writing using Markdown.

I figured that since I’m using all this great freeware, I should at least give a nice plug for the authors. So, I did!