Lookin’ for tools (call for help)
So, as I’m transitioning to a new gig, I figured I might as well make the switch, too. I’ll be moving from my current XP desktop to a PowerBook (17"!). Thing is, I’ve never really used a Mac before so I need a little help finding some suitable replacement applications.
I figure I can use Quicksilver to help get me over my ActiveWords habit, but there are a couple of other apps that I use daily that I need to replace.
I need a nice text editor–I’ve been using CrimsonEditor, which is free but it’s been doing weird things lately, so I’ve been on the cusp of coughing up the scratch for TextPad. So I’d prefer a nice free editor, but I’m definitely open to paying for one. Is BBEdit the way to go? I don’t need massive programmer-type functionality. I need column select and I need to do some simple regex find/replace actions and I insist on a tabbed interface.
I need an sql editor query tool thingy. I’ve been using the very excellent Query Tool and this is probably the thing I’m most stressed about losing, since I have no idea how to replace it. What I like about it is that it’s a direct ODBC connection and I can create, edit and run queries in a three-pane window (tables on the left, query in the middle and results at the bottom). And I can save a whole library of queries. I’m gonna miss it. Any ideas? I’d love a free solution, like Query Tool, but this is important enough that I won’t quibble about paying for a replacement.
Those are the biggies. FireFox does mac, so I’m cool there. I’m sure I’ve got a blind spot here, so are there any other tools that I should be thinking about?
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20 opinions for Lookin’ for tools (call for help)
Lorenz
Jul 15, 2005 at 12:28 am
About the editor: I’ve tried them. All of them. On Windows and Mac OS. And now that I’ve read the “Pragmatic Programmer”, I can tell you this: “Use one editor well.” Download vi or emacs.
Deal with the vertical learning curve for one week, and you’ll have a great cross-platform editor experience forever. I had to force myself to NOT use a GUI editor very often during that week, but now (after two weeks) I really wonder, why I didn’t do that before. Vi is just so powerful, once you know all the commands for the simple things.
Oh, they’re both free, too. And they will be forever. And there’s more plugins then trees in the forest. And they have all (ALL) the features. And then a couple thousand more.
Karen
Jul 15, 2005 at 12:41 am
For SQL take a look at DBVisualiser http://www.dbvis.com/products/dbvis/. It’s java based so is cross platform and works well with all the RDBMS that I’ve used it with (DB2, Oracle, MySQL). Have never tried Query Tool so can’t do a comparison, but it sounds like the free version would more than meet your requirements.
Neil Ford
Jul 15, 2005 at 1:13 am
On the editor front, vi comes as standard on OS X.
If you prefer a graphical application, then my personal reccomendation would be SubEthaEdit - http://www.codingmonkeys.de/subethaedit/ - free for persoanl use.
CAn’t help on the SQL stuff though.
Antonio Deroma
Jul 15, 2005 at 1:28 am
My choices:
1. free: smultron (http://smultron.sourceforge.net), multipanel, light and fast
2. TEXTMATE (http://www.macromates.com) my choice, the best 40$I’ve ever spent for binary code)
3. TextWrangler, free as in beer, is junior brother of BBEDIT
Ah, don’t forget to try TINDERBOX (www.eastgate.com): it’s not really a text editor but it is simply amazing!
Thanx a lot for your useful blog…
Bryan
Jul 15, 2005 at 5:17 am
Bren, being someone who switches daily from OSX to XP to OSX I can offer you this: As an activewords user, Quicksilver’s instantaneous feedback mechanisms will blow you away, if you’re doing MySQL then CocoaMySql (http://cocoamysql.sourceforge.net/) is a lightweight solution for building queries that I find quite useful, and though it is billed as an HTML editor, I’m a big fan of Taco HTML Edit (http://tacosw.com/) as it handles multiple open files QUITE well.
Garrett Taylor
Jul 15, 2005 at 6:42 am
SQL - Advenio Software’s (http://www.advenio.com/) SQL Grinder. Don’t let the silly icon put you off. It’s not a tri-pane system, but you can keep the table schemas, SQL saved queries, and the statement/result windows opened and positioned as you like. I use it regularly and jump between MySQL and Oracle.
Enjoying the blog,
JV
Jul 15, 2005 at 7:18 am
I have to second what Bryan said about Quicksilver vs. ActiveWords.
I came across QS for use on the Mac at home. I was dying to have something remotely similar on my PC at work, so I installed the AW trial. I almost never use it. Nearly every time I open ANYthing, it bugs me to add a word. It makes me stop what I’m doing to figure out what word to use. Then I have to remember later what word I picked, and move my hands away from the home row to find F8 and hit it. The interface looks like it was written in VB 5. Yeah, I know I can hide the bar.
Don’t get me wrong. Once I have internalized a shortcut for a particular app (I have maybe two or three that I can remember so far after 3 weeks of trial use), it’s faster to use AW than to click start, wait 10 seconds for my programs menu to populate, and then hunt for it. But I’m not convinced it’s worth paying for.
Quicksilver, OTOH, is invisible unless I call it up with the super quick two-thumb hotkey. I start typing and it shows matches while I type. No shortcuts to remember, except for Cmd-space. The more I use it, the faster it gets, because it learns from me. And it does so much more than just open apps or folders. And it’s FREE!
OK, that does it… I’m ruined for the rest of the day, wishing I could use a Mac at work.
JASon
Jul 15, 2005 at 7:49 am
I’ve actually heard from some Mac users that prefer Mozilla’s Camino over Firefox. They’ve stated that Camino just responds better/quicker than FF on OSX. IMHO, having never worked with Camino, FF is a great cross-platform browser for anyone to use, but…if Camino is a FF-type browser built specifically for OSX it’s worth trying out the beta. And as William Shattner is prone to say recently, “Shop and compare?!?”
Greg Hoffman
Jul 15, 2005 at 8:56 am
Somebody’s talkng about you at the Security Awareness Blog…Check out the Mad as Hell series.
Michael Jones
Jul 15, 2005 at 6:31 pm
Camino is generally quicker and imported my bookmarks better than Firefox. I use it regularly, using Firefox or others when it hits annoyingly uber-special non-standard Web bits, which is rare.
I’ve only started using TextWrangler, but for my purposes it’s been OK - not sure about yours, but it’s free and similar to BBEdit (which is very good…) I enjoy my sanity too much to learn vi or emacs, but they’re both around…and learning a few Terminal tricks never hurt anyone. GUIs are great, but CLI still rocks for some basic things.
James
Jul 15, 2005 at 11:15 pm
Since I started using QuickSilver, I’ve been wishing for an equivalent on Windows. The closest I’ve found is AppRocket. (http://www.candylabs.com/approcket/) But AppRocket is simply too slow/resource intensive for my PC to handle.
Like QuickSilver, you can just start typing in AppRocket and it will do a filter/search like QS. But it doesn’t underline or highlight the letters you’ve typed, so sometimes you get a result that doesn’t seem to have any relation to what you type.
I’ve read the raves on ActiveWords on the blogs listed on http://www.officezealot.com/gtd. The reason I don’t like it is I don’t want to create, then memorize more shortcuts. With QS, you don’t need to “learn” what your shortcuts are. You just type, and it finds it. QS lets the computer do the work, instead of making me do it.
However, I can definitely see the value for certain types of often-repeated actions. Maybe I’m just not the target market.
Nathan
Jul 16, 2005 at 4:11 am
http://www.michaelhyatt.com/workingsmart/ has just made the switch recently (and is into personal productivity software). I presume you are already aware of Merlin (http://www.43folders.com/) who is big into GTD and regularly reviews supporting software. SubEthaEdit does something more than just editing — it lets you _group_ edit (think a live/real-time wiki). I must admit I use vi too…
Scott Rose
Jul 17, 2005 at 6:53 pm
Be sure to bookmark VersionTracker (www.versiontracker.com) — you can search for just about every single piece of Mac software there!
Andrew Lombardi
Jul 17, 2005 at 10:31 pm
If you need a really great SQL tool that will connect to nearly everything, check out Aqua Data Studio: http://www.aquafold.com/
It even has auto-completion while building queries.
Paul Bx
Jul 18, 2005 at 6:10 am
I’m surprised that nobody has mentioned LaunchBar to you. It’s not free (whereas QuickSilver is, because it’s still in beta), but some people prefer it to QuickSilver for its cleanness and more sophisticated “learning” algorithms. Definitely try both.
And here’s some contrary advice: Don’t buy a 17″ PowerBook! Get a 15″ and a nice big DVI LCD display, like the Apple 20″ or similar. The 15″ is a pound lighter and will fit better in carrying cases, on airplane trays, and in your lap. And once you get the dual-screen religion you won’t want to go back. When you’re at your desk, you have lots of screen real estate, and when you’re traveling you have a more convenient package. I actually do this with a 12″ PowerBook, but the 15″ is a better fit for most people.
Shawn Levasseur
Jul 18, 2005 at 7:41 am
As far as text editing goes, give the apps that come with the machine a try before going out to buy others.
In addition to TextEdit, all macs come with AppleWorks free, so you may want to try that program’s word processor before trying anything else.
If you need something more Word-like and don’t want to pay for MS Office. I’d try NeoOfficeJ, which is an MacOS port of Open Office.
brandon
Jul 18, 2005 at 3:19 pm
I’ve been very happy with bbedit’s little brother text wrangler. It’s free and the multi-file find replace is a thing of beauty. http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/index.shtml
I second Paul BX’s 15″ powerbook + lcd monitor suggestion. The 17 really is unweildy (imho)
I have the 15″ setup with a 19″ samsung lcd and I gobs of screen real estate at the office and at home.
I also use one of these little stands for placing my powerbook next to my monitor: http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/icurve/
nice upgrade from the pile-o-books-next-to-the-monitor(tm).
stark raving calm
Jul 19, 2005 at 6:14 pm
ActiveWords vs. Quicksilver
Bren at Slacker Manager is finally switching to Mac. He’s a longtime ActiveWords user, and expressed hope that Quicksilver would be a decent replacement. I commented that Quicksilver eats ActiveWords’ lunch:
I almost never use [Active…
JED
Jul 26, 2005 at 8:37 pm
Have you looked at jEdit: http://www.jedit.org
I haven’t used it much but what I’ve seen I liked. I normally am a vi guy but the gui and ease (and you must look at the jedit plugins) is tempting me to give it more of my time.
nick
Aug 10, 2005 at 12:05 am
As a web developer, I needed a good editor for opening up multiple files at once, but in a tabbed interface, not seperate windows… jedit was fantastic, although I’ve actually been using Bluefish for day to day editing. Just install Fink & FinkCommander, and you’ll open the door to another 4500+ programs available for your shiny new Mac!!
For wordy processing, I love Pages (iWork) from Apple. Looks very simple, but has a heap of power under the bonnet, and will read & write Word documents with ease.
- QuickSilver is a must. Enough has been said about that here though.
- Adium if you are an IM user.
- Growl for motifications… works well with QuickSilver.
- ChronoSync for backups
- DeskTastic (from Panic)
- Transmit (if you need FTP)
- Desktop Manager!!! Essential!!
- NetNewsWire Lite for reading RSS feeds
- Clutter
Just a few of my favourite things! :^)