Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

Freeware

Graphics

1. Vector graphics ("draw"): OpenOffice (Draw)
   • Lots more tools than basics: e.g., gradient shading, transparency, primitive 3D.
   • Retuns to Select tool after use of any other tool.
   • Uses click, click-&-drag, & double-click instead of left, middle, & right mouse buttons.
   • Includes text editor (Writer) that's better at reading MS Word files than TextEdit.
   • OpenOffice Aqua 3.0.0 due out October 13? (Beta version available now.)
   • Sun PDF Import Extension Beta will allow editing of PDF in 3.0 (but still buggy).
   Inkscape also can edit PDF files; uses X11. (Cocoa version should be ready when GIMP's is.)
2. 3D graphics (raytracing, etc.): Art of Illusion (Java); saves as JPG (e.g.), but Preview will convert to PDF
3. Bitmap graphics ("paint"):
   • Seashore (now with a cloning tool) or LiveQuartz (now with a background eraser tool, in Leopard).
   • Gimp X11 (also Cocoa version α: Help menu crashes it) is more powerful but more awkward.
4. Convert PDF to EPS (Mac OS X will do EPS → PDF & PDF → PS, but not PDF → EPS) with xpdf:
   In Terminal, type "pdftops -eps" or just drop the PDF(s) on the icon of Droppdftoeps (which I made with DropScript: see below).
5. Feynman diagrams: JaxoDraw (Java): draws (not plots). Now with PDF & SVG export.
6. STIX fonts have all the characters of TeX's Computer Modern fonts in a form that can be used in other programs, e.g., when making figures. ("STIXGeneral.otf" and "STIXGeneralItalic.otf" are the most important ones: TeX does math numerals as roman, math letters as italic.) Also, Computer Modern Unicode fonts (Latin/Greek/Cyrillic only; "cmunrm.otf" and "cmunti.otf" are the ones most relevant for math.)

Other

1. MacTeX installer, includes TexShop (simplest GUI front end for TeX): ⌘-click on input/output to find same spot in other window; now improved with SyncTeX. (Modeled on TeXShop, TeXworks will be avilable soon on all platforms.)
2. Safari AdBlock, an InputManager (but Apple may soon discontinue use of InputManagers).
   (Custom filter "@@/DartShell*" under Safari's Preferences>AdBlock allows BBC's videos to play.)
3. MacFusion allows mounting (s)ftp volumes as the Finder should, so you can add files, & edit with TextEdit or iWeb.
4. Screensavers:
   • Really Slick (especially Hyperspace, Helios, & Lattice)
   • System 47 for those who like Star Trek; Leopard runs it, but not the installer, which installs just this one file.
   • Uniqlock/Dry in Motion defies description: mostly dancing.
   • RandomExtra chooses which screensavers to randomize.
5. Radar in Motion: weather widget
6. Apply shell command(s) to files by drag&drop: Drop shell script on DropScript to make it an application. Also, Platypus.
7. Fortran & related stuff; CERNLIB & other HEP.

Tips

Safari 3.1

1. For the latest, install both the latest Safari and Webkit β, then use the Webkit β.
2. Indexes text of websites browsed in previous few weeks.
3. Email link with ⌘-I or whole page with ⌘-i .
4. Recent menu additions:
   1. History>Reopen Last Closed Window, Reopen All Windows From Last Session (for crashes or mistakes).
   2. Bookmarks>Add Bookmark For These <n> Tabs... (to save everything).
   3. Preferences>Advanced>Show Develop menu in menu bar.
5. Preference changes that can be made in Terminal (then restart Safari):
   1. Single-window mode:          defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool true
   2. Open PDF's in Preview:          defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitOmitPDFSupport -bool YES
   3. Full-page zoom (in recent Webkit β):          defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitDebugFullPageZoomPreferenceKey 1
      (but Safari 4.0 has new option View>Zoom Text Only to turn off)
6. JavaScript bookmarklets for your Bookmarks Bar so you can click them while viewing a relevant page:
   1. One for translation.
   2. QTYouTube replaces the Flash view of the flv with a Quicktime view of the mp4 (when it exists).
   3. Get YouTube video adds a link to allow you to "Download Linked File As..." an mp4.

Text

1. Option-delete deletes words.
2. Control-click on selected word(s) to look up in Dictionary, Google, or Spotlight; hold control-⌘-D to go from word to word for Dictionary.
3. Control-clicking on a typo to choose a correct spelling is easier than retyping; control-T between 2 letters to transpose them.
4. Click & drag to select text as contiguous letters, double-click & drag to do it with words, triple-click with paragraphs.
5. Character Palette for all Unicode characters (e.g., math in Mail): "Edit>Special Characters...", or add directly to Title Bar by selecting in "System Preferences...>Personal>International>Input Menu". (See also my Unicode page.)
6. Xcode (install separate from System) includes FileMerge (or opendiff in Terminal): Compare 2 files (etc.) with nice interface.

Finder

1. Screen Sharing (also in iChat) allows remote control of your Mac (even over the internet).
2. Put date into Menu bar (along with time): In System Preferences>International>Formats, use Customize, copy & paste stuff from Dates into Times (Medium). (But this will double the date in some other places.)
3. ⌘-Shift-4 to select portion of screen for snapshot, or hit space for camera to select window (or dock, menu bar, or desktop for all).
4. When Finder refuses to delete a file, claiming it's still in use, I use Secure Empty Trash.

Mail

1. Data Detectors: Click on address to look up on map or add person to Address Book, or on date to add to iCal.
2. Move between mailboxes with ⌘-(number of mailbox).

Preview

1. Alpha channels: Instant Alpha makes colors of region you select transparent; Extract Shape does similar by drawing outline.
2. Thumbnails in Sidebar can be used to delete or re-order pages (even between files).
3. Bookmarks

Spotlight

1. To search by filename, type name:
2. Does Dictionary & Calculator.
3. For Boolean searches, use AND, OR, NOT (instead of Tiger's more obscure equivalents | and -), with parentheses; also - for AND NOT.

Other

1. News/rumors: AppleInsider (RSS), MacBidouille (RSS), MacNN (RSS), MacRumors (RSS), Ars Technica (RSS).
2. Grapher (in Applications>Utilities) also does equations nicely; for arithmetic, just delete the "x=" (or whatever) & type.
3. TeXShop preference I missed: To get Preview Window Magnification to work, you need to set After Window Resize to Fixed Magnification.
4. Turn picture into icon in Terminal with "sips -i". (Cut & paste icons in Finder with Get Info.) Useful to give icons transparency.
5. If a program gives some weird error message doing something it did fine the day before, and seems to run fine otherwise, restart it.