Software to get

N

Noonster

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As you may have read in the other post i should be getting my iMac G5 very soon...

Never owned one before but know quite abit about them apart from the software side....

So what software do people recomend for

Downloading
Picture editing
Compressing Files
CD / DVD Burning
etc.. etc...

Also i know they rarely get virus's but what software should i get to prevent them??
 
Norton Anti Virus is also well worth the money.

Pic editing: I'm a professional graphic designer and swear by Adobe Photoshop. They also do a cut-down version called Photoshop Elements which is obviously a lot cheaper. So I guess it boils down to how much you want to spend and how advanced you are.

Compression: http://www.allume.com/mac/index.html Get Stuffit.

CD/DVD burning: Well there's Toast, but I've never seen the need to use anything more than Apple's built-in software that comes with the System. It's intuitive and easy to use.
 
Correction to Zammy's post:

The virus scanner's name is Virex. My University provided me with a copy of it, but I quickly realised how useless it is. There are no viruses for Macs. There ARE malicious programs, but if you're even slightly careful, you won't come across any.

As for Downloading programs, nah; Safari is more than capable of downloading things (and resuming them if need be). iGetter has had some praise, but I've never used it.

Picture Editing (at a consumer level) is best left to Graphic Converter, which will likely come with your computer. Above that, there are a number of good ones, but I use Adobe Photoshop, whose price is prohibitive for most.

OS X has file compression built in. Use .ZIPs (Ctrl+Click the file and choose "Archive"), or disk images (.DMG) (in Apple's Disk Utility, which you'll find in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder).

CD and DVD burning is personal preference. OS X is capable of it, but for more extensive options, Firestarter FX is a good free program for CDs, anyway. Most people use Roxio Toast. For video DVDs, iDVD is your best bet.


Most functions you'll want are built into the OS. Things that aren't are very easily found online.

http://www.versiontracker.com is going to be an indispensable resource to you, undoubtedly.
 
Great Mac apps (can find them with a simple Google search)
  • GIMP - Image editor
  • Transmit - FTP client
  • Skype - Voice over IP
  • Wiretap - Allows you to record any sound played by your computer. A very nice app with 1001 uses e.g. recording iChat AV conversations for making podcasts
  • VueScan - Scanner software (if you have a scanner)
  • BlueJ - A nice Java IDE for computer science students

Kap
 
Noonster, I hate to disagree with some of the previous posters, but I would not bother buying any anti-virus or maintenance software AT ALL. These are more likely to cause problems than resolve them, and you'd just be wasting your money.
In the PC world, it might be necassary to install a number of system & drive utilities (such as Norton Utilities) but on a Mac it really is just a waste of effort.

Downloading -- If you mean P2P file sharing, we can't help you there. Sorry.
Picture editing -- Depends a bit on what you need, but GraphicConverter is a good-value all-rounder image editing program. Try the shareware version and see how you go. Oh, and don't forget, you've already got iPhoto :)
Compressing Files -- You could use Alladin's StuffIt, but there are plenty of file-compression tools already included standard that will do nicely.
CD / DVD Burning - Roxio Toast is pretty good, though you'll find the built-in stuff is up to the task.
 
Keep FAR FAR away from any OS X based Norton product. They're nothing but trouble. If you look through past threads you'll find quite a few similar opinions from others on Norton products for the Mac.
 
They include Graphic Converter with new Macs these days? Cool! A pity I won't be buying a new one any time soon (unless my current one dies; touch wood).

Here's one I can suggest - it could have saved my wife and me some grief if we'd known about it about three months ago...

SMARTReporter - it's a little free app (donation if you like) that just periodically checks your hard drives' hardware self diagnosis reports. As long as the menubar icon is green, no error reported; if it turns red, run don't walk to the store and buy a new one, yours is on the way out.

After my wife's disk perished, as I was trying to get most of her files onto a new disk, I installed that little app, and sure enough, it detected the problem. Would it have predicted the failure a long time in advance? I have no idea, but maybe...
 
Thanks for all your help..

I have looked on - http://www.versiontracker.com as suggested and its defo going to be useful ;)

Will stay away from virus protection then - i knew there wasnt many (any) virus's for the mac, but just wanted to keep completly protected - anyways will save me some money :D

Photoshop - Used the trial version on the PC... very good program but too expensive... will see how i get on with iPhoto - Learning experiance.

Zip and burning already built in sounds good to me :D

Thanks again
 
A cheaper alternative to Photoshop is Adobe Photo Elements. Doesn't have all the features of Photoshop, but then who needs all the features unless you're a professional?

Virus scanners aren't really necessary. If you're still interested in running one, a FREE virus scanner called ClamXav is available from Versiontracker. See http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/24449&mode=feedback&vid=160785 for more information.

OS X comes with additional programs for compressing files. StuffIt is pretty good and comes with the computer. Just make sure you upgrade to the latest version (free upgrade).
 
While there are no known viri that effect macs at the present time,
you can still pass on viri to windows users - so if you frequently collaborate with windows users, you should have some sort of
anti-virus detection.
 
^^ I will be talking and probably sending a few things to windows users...

Will have to give this some consideration i think ;)
 
Viro said:
A cheaper alternative to Photoshop is Adobe Photo Elements. Doesn't have all the features of Photoshop, but then who needs all the features unless you're a professional?

Virus scanners aren't really necessary. If you're still interested in running one, a FREE virus scanner called ClamXav is available from Versiontracker. See http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/24449&mode=feedback&vid=160785 for more information.

OS X comes with additional programs for compressing files. StuffIt is pretty good and comes with the computer. Just make sure you upgrade to the latest version (free upgrade).
Click to expand...

Thanks alot for the helpfull info (again) :D

Im thinking that website is going to be more usefull than i first thought....

As soon as i get the machine - getting it upto date will be the first priority before i do ANYTHING else...
 
etc etc etc... should probably include word processing, spreadsheets and the like.

Surprised that no one has offered the Java version of Open Office. You can run it in X11 but NeoOfficeJ is a bit more refined. It misses some of the nice bits of OpenOffice like creating pdfs but the print dialog in Panther will do that for you.

It's beta, but at least as stable for me as Word.

http://www.planamesa.com/neojava/en/index.php

just saw that the project is progressing - pdf creation is in the next alpha release.
 
I think no one mentioned OpenOffice because it really isn't that good. It's slow, clunky, a memory hog and if you're really desperate for a Free office suite, you're better off with AbiWord (free word processor, native OS X version available), GnuMeric( installable with fink, needs X11), and then you might try OpenOffice for Powerpoint functionality.

On my Linux box, I've pretty much given up on OpenOffice. It's too slow, bloated, and the other apps fit my needs just fine.
 
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