Chiperoni ku Basel

Category: mac

  • GIMP and GraphicConverter and more

    The newness of my MacBook is decreasing rapidly. I’ve installed GIMP (works nice and zippy), GraphicConverter (useful for quick resizing of images), TextWrangler (an editor), MS Office 2004 (although I’m considering to install NeoOffice and use MS Office via Parallels only).

    I had a look at the websites of Scribus and Inkscape, but I think I’ll wait before installing them.

    I’ve installed the Subversion command line client and a little plugin (aargh, can’t remember the name) that allows you to upload and commit files from the finder. I didn’t like SvnX much.

    I like the size of my MacBook. Much easier to lug around. Quicksilver is very useful.

    (update) The SVN plugin is called SCPlugin.

  • CVS and CVL and others

    Here are some quick notes on installing a CVS client on my MacBook (for my own future reference):

    1. Install CVS, if you haven’t done so already. It’s part of the Apple developer tools on Mac OS X Install Disc 1 called XcodeTools. To test if it’s installed, open Terminal and type cvs to get a typical Unix app welcome screen.
    2. Install a GUI for CVS. I’m trying out CVL which is available for download here.
    3. Select Tools > Repositories. Click New… and add your CVS repository details.
    4. Click Modules to see all CVS modules available to you.
    5. Click Checkout… to get a local copy of the CVS files.

    ਠvoila. A console window shows the files being checked out to your hard disk. Work Area shows you an overview of the new or modified files.

    First impression: It’s more like WinCVS and less like TortoiseCVS.

    Disclaimer: I’m a low and humble content developer and use CVS and Subversion for versioning at my day job. If I get something very wrong or if you have useful tips, please leave a comment. I’m moving from Windows to Mac and documenting my experience.

    Regarding version control:
    I used an older version of Visual Sourcesafe a couple of years ago and IMHO, CVS and Subversion are easier to use once you’ve got past the install hurdle. Subversion’s next on my install list.

    SSH is pre-installed on the Mac: Open Terminal and type ssh followed by your username@hostname.

    As you can see I’m having a lot of fun.

  • Mon Mac à  moi

    My new MacBook arrived last Monday. And I’ve started installing software and exploring. Slowly. A new laptop is like getting a new exercise book at school. An empty book equals an empty hard disk. And a new operating system is a new learning experience.

    Software installed so far:

    • Firefox and Thunderbird
    • The latest version of Safari
    • Quicksilver – looks like a really powerful tool. There’s a whole series of articles at Lifehacker.
    • Cyberduck
    • Parallels and MS Office 2000 for Windows
    • Skype
    • Canon digicam software – ImageBrowser, EOS Utility, CameraWindow
    • Flickr Uploadr – I’m missing some kind of integration into a file viewer and the possibility to rotate imgs before uploading them. Any tips regarding a photo viewer with integrated Flickr upload functionality? Would be cool if I could use Flickr upload functions in an image browser. What are you using?

    And here’s the list that I’ll still need to add:

    • Subversion and CVS tools
    • GraphicConverter (by Lemke Software)
    • MAMP or XAMP for Mac (see also this thread at Metablog.ch)
    • Tomcat
    • GIMP
    • TextWrangler
    • TextMate (maybe)
    • NeoOffice (maybe)

    I found some useful articles at Tao of Mac, which I’d like to share:

    BTW, I’m planning to set up an Ubuntu laptop soon… on a separate machine.

    Photo credit