Getting Comfortable with Mac OS X

My main experience using a UNIX-type system in the past few years is running RedHat Linux, the new Mac OS X is similar in many ways but also different. This article gives a few pointers on setting up Mac OS X to get a little more comfortable with it.

These are only suggestions, use what you want:

• Download Apple Upgrades and New Stuff
  Check out the Apple sites for new downloads, such as iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto and other goodies. Also check your "System Preferences : Software Update" for the latest updates. Software Downloads for OS X Recommended downloads: Safari and X11
• Replace the default tcsh shell with bash
  OS X Tips: How to Install Bash (See Fink Tip below)
  Note: Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) now comes with bash in /bin/bash
  You can set your default shell using NetInfo Manager. See this Mac OS X Hint
• Use OS X Package Manager to Manage Packages
  The OS X Package Manager is a Cocoa Package Manager Install-Create-Delete from the desktop not the terminal it is the result of a OSXgnu.org GUI project
  http://www.osxgnu.org/software/Utils/OSXGNU/
• Check out Marc Liyanage Site for Pre-built Packages
  Marc Liyanage provides many very useful binary packages for OS X including Apache, PHP and MySQL all working together. Great stuff, Thanks Marc!
  Check out Marc's OS X Page
• Install GNU Utilities for familiar ls, ll, du and df
  This installation installs the utilies in /usr/local/bin so you will need to add aliases to the programs or update the path to have it ahead of /bin.
  Install GNU File Utilities
• Use Fink for Package Install/Management
  Many people like using Fink to manage packages, it has never really worked for me. Your mileage may vary. The Fink project makes almost all GNU software available on Darwin. Fink uses the Debian package management tools to download, install and build any packages.
  Fink Home on Sourceforge

What's In My Dock?
Here's a few of the top OS X apps that I use (non-Apple):

• Chimera - Web Browser based on Mozilla
• Vim for Mac OS X - Text Editor
• VueScan - Scanner Software
• Acquisition - Music, File Sharing Client
• wClock - Calendar Utility