Ask HN: OS X first-timer

Posted by kompott on Sunday March 29, 2015 @07:48PM
from the ask-hn dept.

Hi there, after avoiding the hype for many years, i picked up my first computer with OSX yesterday: a 13" Retina MBP.

For the past 10 years i have been mostly using Linux (and a bit of Windows 7...) for my daily job: Python dev, some Frontend dev (HTML/CSS/JS), a bit of Photoshop and a bit of Ruby/Rails and PHP from time to time.

I already installed most of my must-have cli tools via homebrew.

What i seek now are some other developer-oriented guides to get me up to speed with OSX. What else to i need to know? Any hints, must-haves, best practices? I know this is a very broad question, but any input is appreciated.

( 7 comments | 8 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: OS X first-timer by sjs382 on Monday March 30, 2015 @09:33AM (#9289348)

The apps I use on a daily basis:

  * Ghostnote (created by a HN user)
  * Sequel Pro (Managing MySQL databases. Which Postgres has an app that was this good)
  * Sublime Text
  * SourceTree
  * Chrome & Chrome Canary
  * Filezilla (hate this app for FTP, but I find it strange to pay for something like a FTP client.
  * Airmail
  * iTerm
  * Photoshop
  * Keka (Zip & other archive formats)
  * Sunrise Calendar

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: OS X first-timer by ThomPete on Monday March 30, 2015 @12:55PM (#9290808)

Hey

Happy to see Ghotnote on this list. If you want to be a beta tester for our new version let me know.

Also if you are using iTerm you can add ghostnote support manually before the update comes out (finishing touches)

I just posted this blog post today

http://www.ghostnoteapp.com/blog/how-to-manually-add-new-doc...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: OS X first-timer by sjs382 on Monday March 30, 2015 @02:22PM (#9291462)

I think I've bugged you plenty on IRC. :)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: OS X first-timer by danielisz on Monday March 30, 2015 @09:57AM (#9289497)

Welcome in the club!

People mentioned: iTerm2 and SourceTree, these are indeed very good. I want to recommend a few must have editors: - Espresso, highly recommended for web development (http://macrabbit.com/espresso/ $75) - TextWrangler, very slick editor for all well known programming languages(https://itunes.apple.com/hu/app/textwrangler/id404010395?mt=..., free)

Something else: www.macports.org - it is like FreeBSD ports, you can install vi, mc, nmap and almost any application ported from Linux/BSD

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: OS X first-timer by schappim on Monday March 30, 2015 @04:50AM (#9288356)

It would be amiss not to mention:

- Brew (http://brew.sh/) - The missing package manager for OS X

- Alfred App (http://www.alfredapp.com/) - that lets you be more productive with hotkeys, keywords and file actions at your fingertips.

- Sublime Text (http://www.sublimetext.com/) - a sophisticated text editor for code, markup and prose.

- Navicat (http://www.navicat.com/) - a GUI for various databases.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: OS X first-timer by eivarv on Sunday March 29, 2015 @09:40PM (#9287245)

I don't really know if there is a good way to get up to speed with the OS, other than just using it. Familiarity will come with experience; At least I've always found that the best way to get familiarized with a new OS (or any software) is to acknowledge that I will probably not be as effective during the inevitable period of adjustment, and try to perform tasks that I knew how to perform with the preceding tool.

Here is a short list of various software on my mac I find very useful:

- AppCleaner (http://www.freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/): Removes files and preferences associated with applications you wish to uninstall.

- Amethyst (https://github.com/ianyh/Amethyst): The only fully functional dynamic tiling window manager I've found that works well under OS X.

- f.lux (https://justgetflux.com): Change display color temperature according to time of day.

- Moom (http://manytricks.com/moom/) [or Divvy/SizeUp/...]: Manage, move and resize window with keyboard.

- Menumate (http://zipzapmac.com/menumate): Trigger menu bar with hotkey.

- Shortcat (https://shortcatapp.com): Goto anything on the screen via keyboard, sort of a fuzzy finder for the UI,

- iTerm2 (http://iterm2.com): Alternative terminal emulator.

- MAMP (http://www.mamp.info/en/ Apache, MySQL and PHP stack.

- Coda (https://panic.com/coda/): Very nice editor, particularly for frontend webdev, as it includes page preview functionality, as well as some other tools. Alternatively, your editor of choice.

- Cakebrew (https://www.cakebrew.com): GUI for homebrew.

You should also check out brew cask (http://caskroom.io), which enables you to install binaries via homebrew.

P.S. As your question is very broad indeed, I think you might get more responses if you asked a few narrower questions or described some specific problem.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: OS X first-timer by kishansundar on Monday March 30, 2015 @04:43AM (#9288323)

Docker https://docs.docker.com/ Vagrant https://www.vagrantup.com/ Sketch http://bohemiancoding.com/sketch/ Ampps http://www.ampps.com/

[ Parent | on HN ]