Mac OS X Howtos & Tips

Documentation on using Mac OS X, biased towards the command line. For more tips, try Mac OS X Hints.

• Using automount on Mac OS X - how to mount remote filesystems.
   
• Using CFEngine on Mac OS X - plus other tips on automating OS X systems.
   
• How to configure a custom Domain Name System (DNS) server.
   
• mfw - command line utility to manage multiple firewall configurations.
   
• Presentation Terminal - how to setup a large Terminal window for use in presentations (fills 1024x768 display, large font, non-hostile colors).
   
• Quota support - how to enable and use quota support on Mac OS X.
   
• Shell tips on OS X.
   
• Tips on backing systems up with Retrospect.

Utilities

For more software and reviews, consult VersionTracker.

• Adium - chat program. I dislike the wasted space in iChat chat windows: Adium supports space saving display templates and tabbed windows. Though mostly I run irssi via a screen session elsewhere.
   
• Audio Hijack - the “perfect tool to record any audio on your computer”. Also consider LineIn.
   
• BBEdit - text editor I like, in addition to vi(1). For those on a budget, consider the free TextWranger.
   
• NetNewsWire Lite - freeware Really Simple Syndication (RSS) reader, good keyboard-based reading of news.
   
• Omnigroup Software: I use OmniOutliner Pro, OmniGrafflePro, and OmniWeb.
   
• play - command line sound playing utility.
   
• Quicksilver - keyboard completion for application, documents, and other resources. Also allows keyboard shortcuts, for example to lock the screen or open or bring forward a specific application.
   
• teleport - keyboard & mouse sharing software. Better than the various flavors of synergy.
   
• UnicodeChecker - search for, display, and convert Unicode character data.
   
• VideoLAN Client (VLC) - open source video player.