This list is not a top 10 apps I prefer, but a reminder that whenever I am going to reinstall my OS X drive (due soon, again because bootcamp needs an unpartitioned drive to function):

• QuickSilver (productivity enhancing application launcher)
• SuperDuper (backup utility)
• OmniGraffle (best diagram drawing tool I know)
• ToDos (not a todo-list manager, provides an overview of all OS X apps installed)
• Growl (notification utility)
• adium (multi protocol chat client)
• skype
• colloquy (provides access to ##wicket @irc.freenode.net)
• textmate (a decent text editor)
• svn client
• xcode (provides cvs commandline functionality, web objects, etc. editor for Java seems obsolete with Eclipse)
• iBackup (backup utility)
• iWork’06 (keynote and pages)
• iAlertU (alarm for those moments you have to leave your notebook alone)
• pzizz (get those refreshing naps)
• SSH Agent (no more password reminders)
• transmit (FTP client)
• YourKit (the best Java profiler
• sidenote (stickies but then to the side of your screen)
• scrivener (screenplay, notes taker, etc)

Note that I don’t use all programs at a regular basis. For instance, I don’t use, haven’t used scrivener much, though I do like the idea and think I wouldn’t mind using it.

After a full new reinstall on my Mac Book Pro (first gen), I decided to create multiple partitions and take on backing up my data. Fortunately, Mac OS provides a ton of good backup tools: iBackup and SuperDuper!.

The former (iBackup), is great for the casual backup: it backs up all settings and data from applications. Restoring is very easy and convenient. I had my MBP up and running in no time using this tool. I don’t like that I am not able to easily create bootable disk images using this tool.

For creating (bootable) disk images I discovered that Super Duper! works great. I am seriously considering to shell out the necessary $$$ to use this program. Especially for trying out drivers and updates it has a great solution: sandbox images. I suggest you try both of these apps, because making a backup never has been easier: all you need is a place to store your data.

The 100GB 4200RPM harddisk (G in gibi, not giga) in my MBP is now partitioned into 3 partitions: 1 boot OS X, 1 data and 1 bootcamp (winxp). The latter still has to be installed though, as I haven’t got a slipstreamed SP2 Windows XP disk around. For backup purposes I use an external USB2 drive (320GB, 7200RPM), and that works great. It is fast, easy and very convenient to add my other drives in cases of transferring large amounts of data.

Though I love my Mac Book Pro, I wish I could enlarge the harddisk and make it speedier: 120GB or 160GB spinning at 7200RPM would be very, very welcome. Unfortunately the current offerings in these sizes are available in 5400RPM only.

I’m used to working on a Windows XP box, and one of the first things I do is either install the powertoys, and especially the Open Command prompt here plugin for the explorer. This plugin basically does the following.

It allows you to navigate to a folder using explorer, and when you click using the right button on the folder, you are given the possiblity to open a command prompt box (dos box) with the prompt waiting in that directory. This is quite a time saver since you don’t have to navigate yourself to that directory using those dreaded ‘cd’ commands.

This was one feature that I missed after I started using OSX on my power mac. But just a couple of minutes ago, I Googled for “osx finder terminal here” and got to an article that specifically targetted my problem.

And yes: it works great! No more ‘cd’ typing, just open terminal here.

My powermac with ATI 9650 video card has a strange problem. If you look at this blog style, you should see a grayish background on top of a white background.

When I look at my blog I see just a white background. The light grayish background has disappeared in white.

I tried looking with other browsers (Camino, Firefox and Safari) but they give the same results: white background. I tried calibrating my display card, but that also gave the same results. My 23″ cinema display and my 17″ Ilyama display both give the same result: white background.

I also captured a screenshot from my laptop computer that doesn’t show this problem and looked at it on my mac: white background. So it isn’t some HTML rendering problem.

So I guess it is a problem with my 9650 card that I find hard to solve. Has anyone had this experience also?

UPDATE

I just disconnected my secondary monitor and now I have the gray background back! It seems that this is a power problem of the card.

And now that I have switched the connectors, I can use both displays at once without having gray problems. This really was bugging me for a while, so I’m glad I figured this one out. Lesson learned, back to work.