Equivalent Replacement Windows Apps for a "Switcher"
fromablueplanet
First let me apologize if any or all of these questions have been asked
before ad nauseum.
After over 20 years of MS-DOS and Windows, I've switched.
But before I complete my transition, I need to find equivalents to
Windows applications and utilties that I use on an almost daily basis.
I'm currently evaluating some but I could use a little help from the
experts here.
In the categories below, I list what I currently use in Windows XP.
Please feel free to comment on your favorite equivalent in Mac OS X.
Thanks for your help!
BROWSER: NetCaptor (www.netcaptor.com) -- one of the very first
tabbed-based browsers for Windows, going as far back as 2000. I've
played with Camino and I've heard that OmniWeb is even better. Is
there another even better than these two?
E-MAIL: Micrsoft Outlook --- I think it's more full-featured than the
Mail client that comes with OS X, so what is the best for the Mac.
MUSIC PLAYER: Winamp (www.winamp.com) --- Quite honestly, I do not
like iTunes for Windows, and I'm sure it's the same feature set for
Mac. I can drag and drop folders of MP3s to AND from the iPod using
Winamp and a special plug-in (www.mlipod.com)
TEXT EDITOR: UltraEdit (www.ultraedit.com) --- probably the most
popular and powerful editor for Windows, period.
PC SYNCHRONIZATION: Beyond Compare (www.scootersoftware.com) --- I have
a Dell desktop and laptop at home, plus a machine at work that I keep
all synchronized to my ftp server through a file and folder
compare/synchronization tool called Beyond Compare. This is
INDISPENSABLE.
DISK BACKUP: Norton Ghost (www.symantec.com) -- another indispensable
tool is Norton Ghost which does a FILE or SECTOR copy of an entire
partition to a single image file. This is critical for me -- I do not
want to clone my startup disk to another physical disk. I created 4
partitions on my physical drive for APPS, DATA, MEDIA and ARCHIVE.
Ideally I would like to backup the APPS partition to an image file that
is saved on the ARCHIVE partition. (The DATA and MEDIA partitions are
mirrored on the ftp server). Therefore, if the APPS partition ever
crashes, I can restore it cleanly without being forced to restore the
rest of my data files.
Thanks again for your help,
Roland
William Mitchell
> partition to a single image file. This is critical for me -- I do not
> want to clone my startup disk to another physical disk. I created 4
> partitions on my physical drive for APPS, DATA, MEDIA and ARCHIVE.
> Ideally I would like to backup the APPS partition to an image file that
> is saved on the ARCHIVE partition. (The DATA and MEDIA partitions are
> mirrored on the ftp server). Therefore, if the APPS partition ever
> crashes, I can restore it cleanly without being forced to restore the
> rest of my data files.
Why do you assume that only one partition will be affected when you
disk goes? When the disk dies, the whole thing dies.
--
Bill Mitchell
Dept of Mathematics, The University of Florida
PO Box 118105, Gainesville, FL 32611--8105
mitc...@math.ufl.edu (352) 392-0281 x284
AES
> Windows applications and utilties that I use on an almost daily basis.
> I'm currently evaluating some but I could use a little help from the
> experts here.
Not necessarily an expert -- but why should that
keep me from having opinions?
> E-MAIL: Micrsoft Outlook --- I think it's more full-featured than the
> Mail client that comes with OS X, so what is the best for the Mac.
As noted elsewhere, I like Eudora.
> TEXT EDITOR: UltraEdit (www.ultraedit.com) --- probably the most
> popular and powerful editor for Windows, period.
Very much a matter of taste -- and tastes vary widely (as do the
Mac editors that are available).
BBEdit, TextWrangler, Nisus Express, Emacs, all have their fans.
(But NOT Apple's TextEdit or -- god forbid -- AppleWorks)
> DISK BACKUP: Norton Ghost (www.symantec.com) -- another indispensable
> tool is Norton Ghost which does a FILE or SECTOR copy of an entire
> partition to a single image file. This is critical for me -- I do not
SuperDuper! is simple but very good and fast for straightforward
Finder-readable and bootable backups.
Retrospect is longstanding, complex, powerful, wide range of
capabilities -- but, complex.
sbt
fromablueplanet <roland...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> First let me apologize if any or all of these questions have been asked
> before ad nauseum.
>
> After over 20 years of MS-DOS and Windows, I've switched.
>
> But before I complete my transition, I need to find equivalents to
> Windows applications and utilties that I use on an almost daily basis.
> I'm currently evaluating some but I could use a little help from the
> experts here.
>
> In the categories below, I list what I currently use in Windows XP.
> Please feel free to comment on your favorite equivalent in Mac OS X.
>
> Thanks for your help!
>
> BROWSER: NetCaptor (www.netcaptor.com) -- one of the very first
> tabbed-based browsers for Windows, going as far back as 2000. I've
> played with Camino and I've heard that OmniWeb is even better. Is
> there another even better than these two?
>
Safari (Apple's supplied browser) is also a popular tabbed browser.
Just turn tabs on in Safari's preferences.
> E-MAIL: Micrsoft Outlook --- I think it's more full-featured than the
> Mail client that comes with OS X, so what is the best for the Mac.
>
EMail clients are a very personal choice. Outlook, for example, on
Windows is more than just an email client, it is also a (fairly
basic/limited) nntp client, a contact manager, a calendaring app, ...
Microsoft offers Entourage (part of MS Office for the Mac) possessing
similar features, other than the Exchange Server hooks, which probably
aren't an issue for a personal user. Apple offers Mail, iCal, and
Address Book as separate apps, covering the non-Exchange Server and
nntp features.
> MUSIC PLAYER: Winamp (www.winamp.com) --- Quite honestly, I do not
> like iTunes for Windows, and I'm sure it's the same feature set for
> Mac. I can drag and drop folders of MP3s to AND from the iPod using
> Winamp and a special plug-in (www.mlipod.com)
>
Take a look at vlc. Personally, I like iTunes a lot better than WinAmp,
but that's probably because I used SoundJam (the basis for iTunes) way
back when and one tends to prefer the familiar. BTW, with the
scriptability of iTunes on the Mac, it offers a lot more than the
Windows version.
> TEXT EDITOR: UltraEdit (www.ultraedit.com) --- probably the most
> popular and powerful editor for Windows, period.
>
BBEdit ($$) and TextWrangler are both very popular. Of course, if you
install the Xcode tools (Developer stuff that is on your OS X Install
disc), the Xcode editor is also quite good.
> PC SYNCHRONIZATION: Beyond Compare (www.scootersoftware.com) --- I have
> a Dell desktop and laptop at home, plus a machine at work that I keep
> all synchronized to my ftp server through a file and folder
> compare/synchronization tool called Beyond Compare. This is
> INDISPENSABLE.
>
Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper are probably the most well-regarded
tools in this category and for disk backup/cloning. A lot of basic
synchronization (such as just your Home directory or the like) can be
handled by the built-in system tools or by Apple's "Backup" utility
(part of the .mac package).
> DISK BACKUP: Norton Ghost (www.symantec.com) -- another indispensable
> tool is Norton Ghost which does a FILE or SECTOR copy of an entire
> partition to a single image file. This is critical for me -- I do not
> want to clone my startup disk to another physical disk. I created 4
> partitions on my physical drive for APPS, DATA, MEDIA and ARCHIVE.
> Ideally I would like to backup the APPS partition to an image file that
> is saved on the ARCHIVE partition. (The DATA and MEDIA partitions are
> mirrored on the ftp server). Therefore, if the APPS partition ever
> crashes, I can restore it cleanly without being forced to restore the
> rest of my data files.
>
> Thanks again for your help,
The above recommendations just touch the surface, but they're probably
the most well-regarded.
--
Spenser
Sander Tekelenburg
"fromablueplanet" <roland...@gmail.com> wrote:
> First let me apologize if any or all of these questions have been asked
> before ad nauseum.
Not that much, I think. But you could use Google's archive to check if
they have been.
[...]
> In the categories below, I list what I currently use in Windows XP.
> Please feel free to comment on your favorite equivalent in Mac OS X.
>
> Thanks for your help!
>
> BROWSER: NetCaptor (www.netcaptor.com) -- one of the very first
> tabbed-based browsers for Windows, going as far back as 2000. I've
> played with Camino and I've heard that OmniWeb is even better. Is
> there another even better than these two?
There is no "better" without a definition of "better". I would suggest
you also give iCab a serious try. It's my favourite, for its standards
support and configurability and just the general approach of leaving the
user in control. And of course there's Opera too.
> E-MAIL: Micrsoft Outlook --- I think it's more full-featured than the
> Mail client that comes with OS X, so what is the best for the Mac.
There is no "better" without a definition of "better". I would suggest
Eudora. Also look at Powermail and Mailsmith.
> MUSIC PLAYER: Winamp (www.winamp.com) --- Quite honestly, I do not
> like iTunes for Windows, and I'm sure it's the same feature set for
> Mac.
Make sure before you are sure ;) iTunes on Mac OS X can make use of what
Mac OS X has to offer, which for obvious reasons it cannot under
Windows. For that reason alone it *has* to be different than the Windows
version. (Personally I think iTunes is one of the more mature ones of
the free Apple apps. Not that I'm saying it's perfect.)
[...]
> TEXT EDITOR: UltraEdit (www.ultraedit.com) --- probably the most
> popular and powerful editor for Windows, period.
BBEdit. (Its free version is called TextWrangler.)
[...]
> DISK BACKUP: Norton Ghost (www.symantec.com) -- another indispensable
> tool is Norton Ghost which does a FILE or SECTOR copy of an entire
> partition to a single image file. This is critical for me -- I do not
> want to clone my startup disk to another physical disk. I created 4
> partitions on my physical drive for APPS, DATA, MEDIA and ARCHIVE.
That's a very silly backup strategy IMO. If your disk dies, you lose all
your backups with it. I backup everything to another physical disk,
preferably to one on another 'puter.
I see no reason to bother cloning disk sectors. In all the backup
discussions we've had here I've never noticed this approach come up.
What's the use of that? (You can create a bootable clone with Mac OS X's
Disk Utility, or if that doesn't fit your needs, with third-party tools
like CarbonCopyCloner or SupderDuper.)
As to partitioning: the consensus is that for most uses it makes no
sense to partition disks under Mac OS X, that it will likely 'backfire'
(partition turns out to be too small at some point: problem).
Btw, especially Apple's apps expect to live in /Applications. You can
put them elsewhere, but you should then be prepared to be aware of the
potential consequences (updates not working correctly, the apps
themselves not even working correctly, etc.).
<http://macupdate.com/> is a decent enough site to find the software
mentioned.
--
Sander Tekelenburg, <http://www.euronet.nl/~tekelenb/>
Mac user: "Macs only have 40 viruses, tops!"
PC user: "SEE! Not even the virus writers support Macs!"
fromablueplanet
William Mitchell wrote:
> "fromablueplanet" <roland...@gmail.com> writes:
>
> > Therefore, if the APPS partition ever crashes, I can restore it cleanly without
> > being forced to restore the rest of my data files.
>
> Why do you assume that only one partition will be affected when you
> disk goes? When the disk dies, the whole thing dies.
>
> --
> Bill Mitchell
Bill,
Very good question -- I assume nothing. Actually, I deliberately
simplified the purpose of backing up the APPS partition to the ARCHIVE
partition for the sake of brevity. I like to keep my machine "lean",
without extraneous and unnecessary files and apps clogging it up. But
I also constantly evaluate new software to see if they can improve my
experience. (I'd like to think that others think the same way I do.)
Of course all that installing would lead to software that I don't like
and need to find a way to dispose. How to cleanly revert to a previous
state? Well, in Windows XP, there is a built-in feature called "System
Restore" but for reasons I won't go in here (not appropriate forum), I
never liked it. The best alternative is to do a full snapshot of the
APPS partition, which I do with Norton Ghost.
*IF* in my experimentation I do manage to crash my PC, no worries, I
don't have to rely on hoping that uninstalling the offending
application really does remove all the files and modifications to my
Windows registry. Simply restoring the APPS partition puts my machine
back to its original state.
To answer your original question if my entire disk dies, again no
worries there -- I back up all my data to an external on-line disk
(Buffalo Tech LinkStation) that is in turned mirrored across to a Dell
home desktop, Dell home laptop and my desktop at work. Finally, the
entire drive (all partitions) is cloned to a 80GB external USB drive
that I back up once a week and then store in a fireproof safe.
And, no, I'm neither anal nor paranoid. (Honest.) I like the
convenience of having access to all my data no matter which machine I'm
at; and knowing that it's backed up in multiple places actually gives
me plenty of peace of mind.
(FYI, the MacBook will replace the Dell laptop. I'm keeping the Dell
desktop mainly because it's a powerhorse for playing graphically
intensive games.)
Roland
fromablueplanet
Sander,
Thanks for the software suggestions; I'll definitely check them out.
Just a quick reply to yours -- in the previous message, I replied more
fully the reason why I backup my application partition to an archive
partition.
To your point re: cloning disk sectors -- in every comparison I've done
(on Windows, of course) with "file copy" vs "sector copy" methods, the
latter was always significantly faster. Also, a "sector copy" will
backup critical sectors such as the Master Boot Record which is
required for booting Windows, whereas a "file copy" won't.
If my entire disk does really crash and burn, I can buy a new drive,
boot from a recovery CD running Norton Ghost, re-create all partitions,
restore the boot partition, and copy all my data back to their separate
dedicated partitions. In fact, this is exactly what I did when the
drive in my Dell desktop had an unexpected head crash last year.
Total down time was two days (had to wait for the replacement drive to
arrive) and total time to restore all data was about two hours. I
never sweated because I had no reason to.
I don't debate the reliability of one OS over another when it comes to
a hard drive. Since it's a mechanical device, it's eventually going
to deteriorate and crash regardless of the OS running on it. Thus all
I do is preparation for that eventuality.
Regards,
Roland
scfundogs
been using it for many years. I've been a Mac user since 2003. I love my
Macs but I'm not afraid to say I also love my Win boxes. Having said that I
also went through this issue 2003. Here's what *I* like:
Browser: Firefox (tried Opera, Camina, used Safari for over a year)
Email: I'm don't email much on my Macs but I've finally been weaned onto
Mail & iCal. I'd go back to Entourage in a heartbeat if I were to start
emailing regularly. Its not that I dislike Mail because I have learned to
like its simplicity & design over Entourage but, being someone who lives by
Outlook, I prefer to find my tasks/to-do/notes/calendar & email all in one
place. I basically bought Office X for Mac within a week of buying my first
Mac.
I use iTunes on both OSs. Someone indicated there's probably a positive
difference in iTunes on OS X but I haven't seen it. It does the same &
looks the same to the scriptless user not someone employing/writing
scripts). I used MusicMatch Jukebox for years before iTunes so I don't
think I can help you with this.
I don't use a text editor, sorry.
Backup: I use Retrospect by Dantz. I liked it so much that I bought the
Windows version as well. I've used SuperDuper! on my Macs but wanted the
features and security that come with Retrospect.
--
Tara
Erik Richard Sørensen
fromablueplanet wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> First let me apologize if any or all of these questions have been asked
> before ad nauseum.
>
> After over 20 years of MS-DOS and Windows, I've switched.
>
> But before I complete my transition, I need to find equivalents to
> Windows applications and utilties that I use on an almost daily basis.
> I'm currently evaluating some but I could use a little help from the
> experts here.
>
> In the categories below, I list what I currently use in Windows XP.
> Please feel free to comment on your favorite equivalent in Mac OS X.
>
> Thanks for your help!
You don't mention to which Mac you've switched, but if it's an Intel
based, you can just download 'BootCamp' from Apple and still use your
Windows apps, until you find replacement for them.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/publicbeta.html
Or if you won'øt run Windows XP as a bootsystem but just as an emulated
system, then the shareware/commercial program 'Parallels Desktop' will
allow you to run Windows within OS X.
http://www.versiontracker.com/php/search.php?mode=basic&action=search&str=parallels&plt%5B%5D=macosx&x=0&y=0
> BROWSER: NetCaptor (www.netcaptor.com) -- one of the very first
> tabbed-based browsers for Windows, going as far back as 2000. I've
> played with Camino and I've heard that OmniWeb is even better. Is
> there another even better than these two?
Stand-alone browsers.
Apart from those you already have mentioned, there are two more real
good and fast programs like Opera and Firefox. Both support tabbed browsing.
Opera 9.x
http://www.opera.com/download/
Firefox 1.5.x
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
> E-MAIL: Micrsoft Outlook --- I think it's more full-featured than the
> Mail client that comes with OS X, so what is the best for the Mac.
Stand-alone mail clients... Here are those, I like best, and which also
are full-featured.
NisusEmail X 1.6.1, unfortunately no longer direfctly available, but you
can contact www.nisus.com and ask for it. It works fabolous on 10.4.7.
Thunderbird 1.5.x
http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/
QuickMail Client/Server 3.5.x
http://www.versiontracker.com/php/search.php?mode=basic&action=search&str=quickmail&plt%5B%5D=macosx&x=0&y=0
Combined applications - browser+mail client in one program
I've been using the WaMCom X 1.3.1 for years now, and I still find it
the most stable and fastest all-in-one internet program on the market.
WaMCom is a German development of Mozilla, and it is made with German
solidity.
waMCom X 1.3.1
http://wamcom.org/latest-131/
Mozilla 1.7.13
http://www.mozilla.org/products/mozilla1.x/
Both WaMCom X and Mozilla support tabbed browsing in the browser part.
> MUSIC PLAYER: Winamp (www.winamp.com) --- Quite honestly, I do not
> like iTunes for Windows, and I'm sure it's the same feature set for
> Mac. I can drag and drop folders of MP3s to AND from the iPod using
> Winamp and a special plug-in (www.mlipod.com)
itunes 6.x for Mac is far much better than the Windows version, though
it has it's limitations in fx. playing WMA files.
A good and infact real reliable alternative as a stand-alone music
player could be 'MusicMaid 1.x', it's shareware. NOTE, MusicMaid doesn't
support iPod libraries.
http://www.hyperbolicsoftware.com/404.html
converting from WMA to mp3. Here the absolute best is MusicMan 1.7.6.
http://www.mireth.com/pub/mpme.html
> TEXT EDITOR: UltraEdit (www.ultraedit.com) --- probably the most
> popular and powerful editor for Windows, period.
Pure text editors. Here I find the BBEdit and TextWrangler both from
barebones.com the best tools, but even the built-in TextEdit is among
the better editors. Another real fine app here is the 'Tex Edit Plus'.
The commercial of BBEdit is also fine as one of the absolute best HTML
writers at all. The fine thing with BBEdit Lite is that it's also
possible to use many of the BBEdit plugins in the lite version.
BBEdit Lite 6.1.2 (freeware)
http://www.barebones.com/products/bblite/index.shtml
BBEdit 8.x (commercial)
http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/index.shtml
TextWrangler 2.x
http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/
Tex-Edit Plus 4.9.x
http://www.tex-edit.com/
> PC SYNCHRONIZATION: Beyond Compare (www.scootersoftware.com) --- I have
> a Dell desktop and laptop at home, plus a machine at work that I keep
> all synchronized to my ftp server through a file and folder
> compare/synchronization tool called Beyond Compare. This is
> INDISPENSABLE.
Hm, here I'm not sure to say which would be the best - maybe
'retrospecht'...?
http://www.versiontracker.com/php/search.php?mode=basic&action=search&str=retrospect&plt%5B%5D=macosx&x=0&y=0
> DISK BACKUP: Norton Ghost (www.symantec.com) -- another indispensable
> tool is Norton Ghost which does a FILE or SECTOR copy of an entire
> partition to a single image file. This is critical for me -- I do not
> want to clone my startup disk to another physical disk. I created 4
> partitions on my physical drive for APPS, DATA, MEDIA and ARCHIVE.
> Ideally I would like to backup the APPS partition to an image file that
> is saved on the ARCHIVE partition. (The DATA and MEDIA partitions are
> mirrored on the ftp server). Therefore, if the APPS partition ever
> crashes, I can restore it cleanly without being forced to restore the
> rest of my data files.
Well... The Finder in OS X can do some of the same things... I agree
with you that nothing can be compared to Norton ghgost, and we indeed do
miss such an application for the Mac. I use two different programs for
making backups. RsyncX 2.1, which also can make a bootable backup. There
are two versions, one to run directly from the system, and one to run
from a bootable CD - RsyncXCD 2.1. For more normal bnackup and synch I
use the Qdea Synchronize! Pro X, which is the best scheduable
backup/synchronisation app on the market, - but it's also rather
expensive. There are also cheaper versions of synchronize!, but these
can't make bootable backups. Demos are available on the Qdea website.
RsyncX 2.1 / RsyncXCD 2.1
http://www.versiontracker.com/php/search.php?mode=basic&action=search&str=rsyncx&plt%5B%5D=macosx&x=0&y=0
Synchronize! Pro X
http://qdea.com
You don't mention textprocessors and other officeprograms, but here of
course you can use the MSOffice 2004 for Mac OS X, but if you want
freeware software, I can indeed recommend the new versions of
'NeoOffice'. There are now also a new ver. for Intel based Macs. Other
similar apps are the Abiword 2.4.4, which was originally developed to
open and convert WordPerfect files, but now has developed into a very
fine text processor. - and then also of course the OpenOffice projects.
But on OS X OpenOffice requires X11 engine to run.
NeoOffice 2.x
http://www.planamesa.com/neojava/en/index.php
Abiword 2.4.4
http://www.abisource.com/download/
OpenOffice 2.x
http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/
If you're working with multiple languages in the same docs, there are
two programs that will do this natively without any extra tools. These
are NisusWriter Express 2.7 and Mellel. Sometimes though I find that
Mellel are somehow 'limited' in some features, features that NWE does do
real fine and fast. Also NWE supports _any_ two-byte languages like all
the Asian languages, which Mellel doesn't...
NisusWriter Express 2.7 (demo available)
http://www.nisus.com/Express/
Mellel 2.0.8 (demo available)
http://www.mellel.com/
Hope you can use some of thiss information.
Cheers, Erik Richard
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
KMLDenmark by Erik Richard Sørensen, Member of ADC
<kmldenmark_NOSP@M_stofanet.dk>
*Music Recording, Editing & Publishing - Also Smaller Quantities
*Software - For Theological Education - And For Physically Impaired
*Nisus - The Future in Text & Mail Processing <http://www.nisus.com>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
groopie
fromablueplanet wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> First let me apologize if any or all of these questions have been asked
> before ad nauseum.
I learned from your peace-of-mind backup scheme! thanks.
>
> After over 20 years of MS-DOS and Windows, I've switched.
What took you so long? ;-)
>
> But before I complete my transition, I need to find equivalents to
> Windows applications and utilties that I use on an almost daily basis.
> I'm currently evaluating some but I could use a little help from the
> experts here.
>
> In the categories below, I list what I currently use in Windows XP.
> Please feel free to comment on your favorite equivalent in Mac OS X.
>
> Thanks for your help!
I have just a few suggestions concerning the apps. I use often...
>
> BROWSER: NetCaptor (www.netcaptor.com) -- one of the very first
> tabbed-based browsers for Windows, going as far back as 2000. I've
> played with Camino and I've heard that OmniWeb is even better. Is
> there another even better than these two?
Apple's Safari is probably the smoothest browser. It has a feel, and,
of course, tabs. A great Activities monitor that comes often handy. I
use it to trace URLs and then d/l movies etc. with Interarchie or
Transmit.
My son wanted to chat on google and I had to install Firefox. I like it
a lot. It has a different feel. I just copy and rename Bookmarks and
they work identical, down even down to the Bookmarks Bar.
Off topic: For OS9, the only tabbed browser that is updated is ICab!
>
> E-MAIL: Micrsoft Outlook --- I think it's more full-featured than the
> Mail client that comes with OS X, so what is the best for the Mac.
I wouldn't know if there is Outlook for OSX because I have a MS phobia.
I am using Eudora since it belonged to the U of Illinois. And I still
love it for it's filters, spam killer, stability and lightening-fast
search functions.
> MUSIC PLAYER: Winamp (www.winamp.com) --- Quite honestly, I do not
> like iTunes for Windows, and I'm sure it's the same feature set for
> Mac. I can drag and drop folders of MP3s to AND from the iPod using
> Winamp and a special plug-in (www.mlipod.com)
iTunes for Mac can do all that, just drag and drop. It does not do well
on ogg files, and I use VLC Media Player to get better response time
(the codec for iTunes sucks) and improved fidelity of sound.
>
> TEXT EDITOR: UltraEdit (www.ultraedit.com) --- probably the most
> popular and powerful editor for Windows, period.
For little notes and letter's I use TextEdit. For more control
TexEditPlus. And because I have to, Word, which turned out to be a
PageMaker substitude for me.
>
> PC SYNCHRONIZATION: Beyond Compare (www.scootersoftware.com) --- I have
> a Dell desktop and laptop at home, plus a machine at work that I keep
> all synchronized to my ftp server through a file and folder
> compare/synchronization tool called Beyond Compare. This is
> INDISPENSABLE.
Well, I am a believer in Retrospect. Full version will backup over LAN
and from and to PC and over the Internet. There is nothing more
flexible that I have found. If they just would not use their own
jargon, its a bit of a learning curve. But once you have it down, it
will backup (incrementally) or duplicate like clock work.
> DISK BACKUP: Norton Ghost (www.symantec.com) -- another indispensable
> tool is Norton Ghost which does a FILE or SECTOR copy of an entire
> partition to a single image file. This is critical for me -- I do not
> want to clone my startup disk to another physical disk. I created 4
> partitions on my physical drive for APPS, DATA, MEDIA and ARCHIVE.
> Ideally I would like to backup the APPS partition to an image file that
> is saved on the ARCHIVE partition. (The DATA and MEDIA partitions are
> mirrored on the ftp server). Therefore, if the APPS partition ever
> crashes, I can restore it cleanly without being forced to restore the
> rest of my data files.
Again, Retrospect will do all that. You can pick each file or folder or
partition you want to backup and within what intervals and exactly
when, to whatever backup media.
All is well,
groopie
Stan Horwitz
"fromablueplanet" <roland...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> First let me apologize if any or all of these questions have been asked
> before ad nauseum.
>
> After over 20 years of MS-DOS and Windows, I've switched.
>
> But before I complete my transition, I need to find equivalents to
> Windows applications and utilties that I use on an almost daily basis.
> I'm currently evaluating some but I could use a little help from the
> experts here.
>
> In the categories below, I list what I currently use in Windows XP.
> Please feel free to comment on your favorite equivalent in Mac OS X.
>
> Thanks for your help!
>
> BROWSER: NetCaptor (www.netcaptor.com) -- one of the very first
> tabbed-based browsers for Windows, going as far back as 2000. I've
> played with Camino and I've heard that OmniWeb is even better. Is
> there another even better than these two?
There are tons of web browsers available for the Mac that support tabbed
browsing. Check out Safari that comes with Mac OS X and Firefox.
> E-MAIL: Micrsoft Outlook --- I think it's more full-featured than the
> Mail client that comes with OS X, so what is the best for the Mac.
You need to buy MS Office 2004, which has Entourage. Entourage is very
similar to Outlook, but it only comes with MS Office. Microsoft has a
free trial that comes with most Macs or you can download it via the web.
> MUSIC PLAYER: Winamp (www.winamp.com) --- Quite honestly, I do not
> like iTunes for Windows, and I'm sure it's the same feature set for
> Mac. I can drag and drop folders of MP3s to AND from the iPod using
> Winamp and a special plug-in (www.mlipod.com)
I suggest you at least try iTunes for the Mac. It costs nothing to try.
You can drag and drop mp3s to iTunes just fine.
> TEXT EDITOR: UltraEdit (www.ultraedit.com) --- probably the most
> popular and powerful editor for Windows, period.
There are tons of text editors available for the Mac. Mac OS X has a
built-in text editor, plus you can find others at
http://www.versiontracker.org
> PC SYNCHRONIZATION: Beyond Compare (www.scootersoftware.com) --- I have
> a Dell desktop and laptop at home, plus a machine at work that I keep
> all synchronized to my ftp server through a file and folder
> compare/synchronization tool called Beyond Compare. This is
> INDISPENSABLE.
>
> DISK BACKUP: Norton Ghost (www.symantec.com) -- another indispensable
> tool is Norton Ghost which does a FILE or SECTOR copy of an entire
> partition to a single image file. This is critical for me -- I do not
> want to clone my startup disk to another physical disk. I created 4
> partitions on my physical drive for APPS, DATA, MEDIA and ARCHIVE.
> Ideally I would like to backup the APPS partition to an image file that
> is saved on the ARCHIVE partition. (The DATA and MEDIA partitions are
> mirrored on the ftp server). Therefore, if the APPS partition ever
> crashes, I can restore it cleanly without being forced to restore the
> rest of my data files.
You can use the disk copy feature that's built into Mac OS X's Disk
Utility to do a clone of any disk. I use it to clone my boot drive once
a month and it works fine. There are also tons of free or shareware
applications that do backups and synchronization such as Carbon Copy
Cloner and SuperDuper. Check http://www.versiontracker.com to see what's
available that interests you.
Sally Thompson
(in article <1153714352.4...@s13g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>):
>
> William Mitchell wrote:
>> "fromablueplanet" <roland...@gmail.com> writes:
>>
>>> Therefore, if the APPS partition ever crashes, I can restore it cleanly
>>> without
>>> being forced to restore the rest of my data files.
>>
>> Why do you assume that only one partition will be affected when you
>> disk goes? When the disk dies, the whole thing dies.
>>
>
<snip>
> I also constantly evaluate new software to see if they can improve my
> experience. (I'd like to think that others think the same way I do.)
>
> Of course all that installing would lead to software that I don't like
> and need to find a way to dispose. How to cleanly revert to a previous
> state? Well, in Windows XP, there is a built-in feature called "System
> Restore" but for reasons I won't go in here (not appropriate forum), I
> never liked it. The best alternative is to do a full snapshot of the
> APPS partition, which I do with Norton Ghost.
<snip>
As a recent switcher myself, I understand your caution. However, one of the
real beauties of a Mac over a Windows PC is the ease of installing and
uninstalling software. To uninstall, all you normally need to do is just
drag it to the Trash and it's gone. None of that messing about with the
Registry, or bits and pieces left here and there all over your system.
--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
bed and breakfast near Ludlow: http://www.stonybrook-ludlow.co.uk
Burne-Jones/William Morris window in Shropshire church:
http://www.whitton-stmarys.org.uk
Calum
> As a recent switcher myself, I understand your caution. However, one of the
> real beauties of a Mac over a Windows PC is the ease of installing and
> uninstalling software. To uninstall, all you normally need to do is just
> drag it to the Trash and it's gone. None of that messing about with the
> Registry, or bits and pieces left here and there all over your system.
That somewhat depends how you installed it, to be honest... you're right
if you installed the app by dragging an icon into your Applications
folder (although even then it'll probably still leave a Preferences file
behind when you delete it). But apps with a proper installer usually
require an uninstaller (or a bit of educated poking around) to get rid
of everything.
Sally Thompson
(in article <ea8e4r$di2$1...@reader01.news.esat.net>):
Mmm, well thanks for that, I didn't know that. In fact I think I have only
ever installed an app by dragging the icon into my Applications folder so
perhaps I have been lucky. (I still think it's a better system than
Windows<g>)
Leonard Blaisdell
Calum <com....@scottishwildcat.nospam> wrote:
I disagree. Apps as varied as MT-Newswatcher, GraphicConverter, and
Eudora simply get dragged to the trash. No uninstaller. That takes care
of everything except, as you said, an orphan pref file of little disk
space and no importance. I'd poke around for those when I'm bored in
general.
I would make no such assumption of Microsoft products on the Mac. I
don't use them. Nor of the occasional UNIX apps I install.
But an entire UNIX subfolder /sw can be created with everything I want
to use, and if I get bored with that, I can delete /sw and it's gone.
I realize that core UNIX apps are more difficult and easily can be
dangerous to get rid of. I have no interest in dumping vim or emacs,
although I dumped emacs on Linux several years ago. Then I searched for
accidentally deleted but needed emacs libs and such for a while.
But a well packaged Mac app has everything associated with it tied into
an executable icon with the exception of the damned aforementioned pref
file or folder.
But I'd be interested in comments to show my folly.
leo
Calum
> In article <ea8e4r$di2$1...@reader01.news.esat.net>,
> Calum <com....@scottishwildcat.nospam> wrote:
>
>> Sally Thompson wrote:
>>
>>> As a recent switcher myself, I understand your caution. However, one of
>>> the
>>> real beauties of a Mac over a Windows PC is the ease of installing and
>>> uninstalling software. To uninstall, all you normally need to do is just
>>> drag it to the Trash and it's gone. None of that messing about with the
>>> Registry, or bits and pieces left here and there all over your system.
>> That somewhat depends how you installed it, to be honest... you're right
>> if you installed the app by dragging an icon into your Applications
>> folder (although even then it'll probably still leave a Preferences file
>> behind when you delete it). But apps with a proper installer usually
>> require an uninstaller (or a bit of educated poking around) to get rid
>> of everything.
>
> I disagree. Apps as varied as MT-Newswatcher, GraphicConverter, and
> Eudora simply get dragged to the trash. No uninstaller. That takes care
> of everything except, as you said, an orphan pref file of little disk
> space and no importance. I'd poke around for those when I'm bored in
> general.
Um, MT-Newswatcher doesn't have an installer (or v3.5 doesn't anyway),
so you're not disagreeing at all :) (Unless the other two apps you
mention need one-- have never installed those, but if they do and they
install nothing but a .app file and a prefs file, then shame on them for
making the install experience more painful than required.)
Leonard Blaisdell
Calum <com....@scottishwildcat.nospam> wrote:
> Um, MT-Newswatcher doesn't have an installer (or v3.5 doesn't anyway),
> so you're not disagreeing at all :) (Unless the other two apps you
> mention need one-- have never installed those, but if they do and they
> install nothing but a .app file and a prefs file, then shame on them for
> making the install experience more painful than required.)
Perhaps I did misread. I thought you were extolling the virtues of an
installer over dragging an image where you want it and trashing it when
you don't want the app any more. None of the applications I mentioned
had an installer. Hmm, Eudora might have. Too long ago.
leo
hfig...@gmail.com
> Other
> similar apps are the Abiword 2.4.4, which was originally developed to
> open and convert WordPerfect files, but now has developed into a very
> fine text processor.
Erik,
That is exactly how urban legends are developped. And this is plain
wrong.
WordPerfect import was not part of the plugin package before version
2.0 (if my memory server correctly for the versions and date) in 2003,
thanks to the libwpd project (actually the authors of both are the same
and committed the OpenOffice plugin too).
AbiWord was already available and actually the goal of AbiWord was to
write an Open Source and cross-platform... word processor. Yes you read
it. A word processor.
The first Makefile commit is from November 1998.
In doubt, the excellent Wikipedia will help you. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AbiWord
Cheers,
Hub