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* still doesn't show my network transfer speed. Occasionally, I'm moving 5+ GB files between my computer and NAS, I would like to know if there's a bottleneck somewhere.

MenuMeters is free, quick to install and configure, and is absolutely essential for anyone who likes to keep an eye on vital stats without leaving a window hanging around.

I've installed it immediately on every system I've used over the last 8 years, and now it feels like I'm "working blind" when I use a system that doesn't have it!!

And if you're on OS X, you should get Little Snitch and Menu Meters!

In addition to drive activity lights, you can choose from memory usage, up/down data rates, and CPU utilization displays for the right side of the menu bar. Each of the displays can be independently enabled/disabled and configured to your taste; I have all four enabled and they occupy only about 250 pixels' width on my menu bar.

MenuMeters includes disk activity indicator. Solves the 'problem' for me.

for as long as I've had my iBook G4 I've used SideTrack to make the top right corner right click (it supports different tasks for all 4 corners) and the top and right edges as horizontal and vetical scrollbars.

Give it a go:

http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/sidetrack/

For example: I am currently making my living as a Ruby on Rails programmer. I love RoR. But the "IDE" (it isn't really) of choice on the Mac is Textmate. Textmate does a lot of things really well, and very simply. But much of that is done via plugins, and it does not do some other things well or at all. In contrast, RadRails (now Aptana) is not as snappy, but does a better job as an IDE. And Aptana is "free" open-source. Textmate is not.

I don't get it. Aptana runs on Macs. So... You're complaining about the fact that some Mac programmers prefer Textmate to Aptana? You want an OS where Textmate is not available so everyone would have to use Aptana?

I'm not sure I understand your argument.

Also, for the disk activity light, try this or this.

So you're saying the one time I got kernel crashes due to an unsupported, beta (at the time) mouse driver, and I fixed by looking at a simple to understand kernel log, is analogous to every Windows BSOD caused by every 3rd-party Windows driver, which you absolutely have to install in order to have reasonable performance... right.

I didn't remember at the time what it was called, but it was SideTrack by Raging Menace. It was a different time.... after all, I had a Powerbook.

That's a fantastic post that accurately describes my feelings on my recent switch to OS X. Despite some initial discomfort, I, too, have quickly grown to love my new Mac Pro.

I hate Finder almost as much as I the Dock. They're both useless for any sort of development environment. The Dock is quickly overwhelmed by sheer numbers, as you must mouseover the icons to get any sort of textual description. Worse, you only get 1 icon per application, regardless of how many windows it has open. The result is cumbersome application switching. Finder, on the other hand, just comes across as a bit half-assed. You'll probably prefer the shell for anything but the most basic of file operations. (No cut & paste for files? C'mon, you're going to make me open a second Finder window, browse to the other folder, then come back here and drag the files over?)

Fortunately there are some fantastic pieces of shareware and freeware to (mostly) fix these issues. I almost never even see the dock any more.

If you haven't already, get QuickSilver, NOW. ...seriously, go get it. I'll wait.

...good.

Now get DragThing. This will replace the dock. You can make sliding drawers, floating panels, or something in between that can hold icons and folders. It also provides panels for a list of all the windows and/or apps that you currently have open, with or without text. I bought DragThing without thinking twice.

Witch is free and crucial for application switching, too.

With these two apps, I'm just as fast moving from one application to the next as on windows. Also, PathFinder seems to be okay as a semi-replacement for Finder. I'm still in the shareware trial period...haven't decided if I'm going to buy it yet though.

You can watch system resources with Menu Meters. I find that OS X does a fantastic job of splitting work up among my 4 processor cores; much better than windows.

Oh, and if you still have to administer windows machines, Microsoft makes a Remote Desktop Client for OS X. Also, Microsoft Entourage is good (maybe better than Outlook) if you still have to use an Exchange server.

And use PullTab if you want to activate which with Apple-Tab (normally reserved by the Dock for the app switcher.)

If you're pin-wheeling a lot, I recommend opening up Activity Monitor (in /Applications/Utilities), a GUI front-end for top and see what's running. If you prefer just running top, fire up the terminal and do so. If it's the same process that's causing you to hang (applications that aren't responding are listed in red), then do some investigating about that process. As much as I hate to say it, you might have just gotten a wonky install, and backing up and reinstalling might work some of this out. There's an "archive and install" option on the install disk that does that pretty well for you.

I'm a big fan of MenuMeters ( http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/menumeters/ ) for showing different loads on my system.

Also, Apple's website has a huge knowledge base about all the internals of the system. There's a good amount on specific differences between what they do and general linux principals.

Not so with a built-in trackpad. As to it not being a requirement to function in the OS, perhaps you can tell me how to get a list of suggestions for an incorrect spelling without using it. Of course, this issue doesn't exist in the newer machines, which allow you to control-click by holding two fingers on the trackpad...

I see that you've gotten a few answers already, so I'll only post mine where they differ. (In other words, my complaints. I'm generally happy with OS X, though - enough so that I ordered a new MacBook Pro when I saw the announcement this morning.)

3) How stable is it. Macs are traditionally easy to use, but as I've owned dozens of Macs (and used to sell them too) I can attest that they were not the most stable machines out there (up until the first OSX spin). But browsing the knowledge bases and user forums (the BEST place for info) I see lots of issues.

Pretty good. If your hardware is working, the kernel will be solid.

Finder will be pretty unresponsive if a network drive has stalled - pretty normal for a Unix system, since non-blocking IO is unfortunately not supported on regular files. (The only system I've seen get around this is KDE with its ioslave design.) You can force quit it and it'll come back.

Some stuff takes up annoying amounts of CPU time. Safari will suck down all my CPU (and thus battery life) when on some pages, presumably because of a Flash or JavaScript interaction. Mail + Spotlight really get lost in some massive "Public Folders" hierarchies on my employer's Exchange server. I really wish they had a way of honoring IMAP subscriptions or telling it not to locally cache certain paths. You'll want to run with MenuMeters always visible so you can spot this before discovering that your battery is dead only an hour into the flight.

4) How much Free software is available? Can GNU/Open/Free programs be compiled easily and natively? I'd think because it's more consistent than the hundreds of Linux distros, this would be true...

Fairly easily. The compiler and linker arguments around dynamic libraries are a little weird, but the fink package system (like *BSD's ports) will generally patch things for you, and libtool-based stuff won't have a problem. I basically just type fink install foo and whatever I want shows up.

5) How solid is the workmanship. Hey, I get mocked at work because of my Dell, but it was cheap and it's fast. That's usually all I need. My Thinkpad is better built, but the $600 price difference was not worth it. What makes the Mac worth the extra $1K?

I don't think their laptops are really any better-constructed than the next guy's. I find all laptops to be pretty fragile - I've had way more problems with them than with desktops. I'm not normally an extended warranty guy, but I'd recommend it on any laptop. AppleCare is quite nice. You can also buy it at any time up to the last day the normal one-year warranty expires.

7) How does the two-finger trackpad stack up against real buttons? I.e., it's software to emulate two physical buttons. I've not used it before. Any drawbacks?

I didn't know about this feature, but on a later PowerBook, I used the two-finger scrolling. It works wonderfully.

• Use the edges of the trackpad as scroll wheels
• Add "click corners" that can act as 2nd, 3rd, etc. mouse buttons
• Set trackpad taps be the left or right mouse button, and set the actual trackpad button to the opposite
• Have corner taps execute keystrokes (like key combos to change tabs in Firefox or Safari) globally or for specific apps, etc.

It may cost an extra $15, but I've been using Sidetrack for the last three years to turn my 3.5 year-old TiBook trackpad into a five-button trackpad with trackwheel. It's very smooth and I've never had a problem with it. (Left-, Right-, Middle-clicks, two Expose functions, and vertical scrolling. Plus drag-lock, and an improved acceleration curve.) I also have a graphics tablet, a 3B+wheel pocket mouse, and the iGesture tablet for input devices.

I'm considering whether to buy USB Overdrive ($20) to get the full 10-button support for my new laser mouse at work..

Point is.. there's simple work arounds for minor annoyances, just like there are third-party replacements for Windows Media Player, and replacements for the gawd-awful Explorer and Finder. So I think you're being silly if you let the one-button default be a deal-breaker. Not able to run your company's CRM app? --that's a deal-breaker. :)

For better USB Mouse control try SteerMouse: http://plentycom.jp/en/steermouse/

For laptop trackpads, try SideTrack: http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/sidetrack/ind ex.html -- It even has a setting called "Redmond switcher acceleration."

Many of my switcher friends have been very happy with these two applications. Heck, I've been using Macs since 1990 and I like the acceleration from these two apps better than Apple's.

The VM Size listed in Activity Monitor is not the size of the swapfiles. I'm running on a machine with 1 GB RAM, my VM size is 6.53 GB, but I only have 128 MB of swapfiles. You might find it interesting to intall MenuMeters http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/menumeters/ to keep track of what's going on.

Two-finger scrolling is a "new" feature, first added to the 4th or 5th gen of Powerbook G4's, as well as MacBooks and MacBook Pro's, if I remember correctly. So it does depend which Powerbook G4 you have, you may have one that predates this, probably under 1.6GHz. If so, and you still want two-finger scrolling, you can give this a go:
http://iscroll2.sourceforge.net/

Be aware that it's still in relatively early development; it may work fine but may not, and I'd suggest not trying it unless you're comfortable enough using "beta" driver software. Check your hardware is supported using the supplied script first, and read the documentation thoroughly for any caveats. If you do have any problems, such as kernel panics on boot-up, you should be able to bypass the driver by holding shift down during boot-up, then uninstall iScroll2 by running its uninstall procedure or the supplied uninstall script.

Alternatively, and without two-finger scrolling but with a wealth of other options, is Sidetrack:
http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/sidetrack/

It's not compatible with the iScroll2, so don't try and install both at the same time, but is worth checking out if you want scrolling on the edges, tap-to-click, etc.

Neat idea. There's also SideTrack, a third party driver for the trackpad that let's you set aside scroll areas, multiple-button click areas, and so on.

And the whole thing can be implemented in a driver update.

And it has been, killer. For, like, years now.

It's called SideTrack. It'll do all you said and way, way, more.

You could try SideTrack by Raging Menace - that allows for extensive modification of the trackpad including horizontal scrolling, and hot corners. At the moment, they say that they're still working on a MacBook Pro version. It has decent try before you buy period as well.

I don't work for them, just a satisfied customer.

Here's a link http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/sidetrack/

Regards

Charlie

www.ragingmenace.com/software/sidetrack/

Now that Apple have introduced multi-button support in their OS, we can use them.

Did someone recently uncomment the mod_troll line in your httpd.conf file? =P (Support for multi button mice is not recent. I'm not sure but, but I think it's been around at least ten years. Come on, man! Are we going to get the kottke troll next?)

However, your point about the PB lacking a second button is valid. Until Apple rectifies this (if they ever do), I suggest looking at Sidetrack, a utility/pref pane that will give you the functionality that you desire.

I had the same problem with my new iBook when i first got it. Turns out, Fn-Delete does backspace and Sidetrack (http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/sidetrack/) will help with the right click issue.

• Read - Russell Beattie
• Read - Macteens
• Read - White Girl Suicide Bomber
• Read - Macrumours forums
• Read - theory.isthereason
• Read - Macworld first impressions

I've recently switched to using OS X, and it'd be nice if Apple were to add an optional multi-button functionality to its laptops (beyond [ctrl][click], which requires two hands to be done comfortably). This program looks like a work-around, though I haven't tried it yet.

Personally, I never understood the big deal about one vs two buttons on the Mac. Apple has supported two buttons via any cheap 3rd party mouse for some time. While my 3-year-old has no problem using a two button mouse, my father in-law has never grasped the concept. I'm a sysadmin and some of the users I support get that deer-in-the-headlights look when I tell them to right-click (these are the same users that don't understand directory hierarchy... but thanks to things like Spotlight, they wont need me to find their files anymore).

So IMHO the one-button mouse is not as stupid and out-dated an idea as some seem to think. I wont be buying a Mighty Mouse, but Apple has provided an elegant solution that allows both power users and novices to work of the same computer.

You obviously can't emulate two buttons with the button bar on current PowerBooks, but Sidetrack will let you emulate it using the track pad. In fact, if you are so inclined you could fully emulate a 6 button mouse with both horizontal and vertical scrolling areas using just your existing trackpad and single button!

http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/sidetrack/ind ex.html

I guess it can be split apart, but damn! If that's how big it is, I'm not going to bother.

Now put the info in the size that MenuMetersuses (or slightly bigger), and I'd be far more likely to use it.

I understand that these should be big enough to grab your attention, but not giant and ballooned like a two week corpse.

It seems that most of the 3rd party widgets all need to go on a diet. I've already grabbed some and shrunk them down to a size more befitting of a PB screen - but save me the trouble, already.

You can emulate a 2 or 3 button mouse with SideTrack. It takes some getting used to, but it's well worth it.

Yeah, and I still haven't heard of smooth (as opposed to notched) mouse wheels *searches Google to make sure*

Actually, these exist. I distinctly remember buying a crappy PS/2 mouse at Clas Ohlsonwhich featured a notchless scroll wheel like you describe. I'm not 100%, but I think it was manufactured by A4Tech.

It was pretty annoying though. It wouldn't let you scroll pixel by pixel. The "notches" were still there, but implemented by software.

Not to mention, I prefer a mouse that doesn't scroll just because I look at it the wrong way. It'd be way too easy to scroll by mistake.

Another idea I've seen, is a mouse (also made by a cheap company, Typhoon. It used a trackball for 2-d scrolling. God, that was annoying! It was rather uncomfortable to get that scrolling straight and not jumping left and right all the time. Also notchless, and thus way too easy to trip.

My conclusion? Notchless is a bad idea if you want to implement a scroll wheel. The notches are there for a reason. Actually, I'm pretty much sure that you could modify several popular scroll mice to make them notchless, as the few I've opened actually was using optical sensors to detect motion rather than switches, anyway, and the notches are only there to prevent spurious scrolling.

The best scrolling mechanism I've used is on my iBook. I use a third-party tool called uControl to enable scrolling using my touchpad. Unlike SideTrack or similar Windows drivers, uControl will let you use your trackpad for mostly stepless 2D scrolling, when depressing the Fn modifier key (or other modifier key of choice.) Very handy.

Hope this helps! :-)

Check out SideTrack. I'd prefer 2 or 3 buttons also, but this a pretty good alternative.

I wonder, has anyone used this function in conjunction with the new drivers?

So I wonder if they actually have a new trackpad, or if they have simply updated their software?

BTW, you can get third party drivers to enable the features that Apple isn't using, and more. For example, SideTrack gives you vertical and horizontal scrolling, corner taps for more buttons, and more.

For those of us who don't have the $$$/limb/child for a new PBook, you can download a very nifty app called the SideTrack, it does side scrolls, mapping corners for functions such as expose.

I think this is a great feature to have. For those interested in such a feature on an older PowerBook (which I was), check out SideTrack, software that will allow you to set the edge of your trackpad to be a scrolling area. Good on Apple to include this standard, and the two-finger idea seems neat.

You should check out this shareware app. Allows you to set up up to 4 buttons on the pad (plus the built-in). Also let's you ad scrolling (top/bottom and sides). It's called SideTrack. You can get it here.

You're looking for the software called Sidetrack.

This software lets you map hot corners on your trackpad, as well as scroll alleys. I've got a nice right click set up in the lower left corner, which works great for me. Several friends of mine use the scroll alley features, though it drives me nuts. I've been using it for several months on my Powerbook and it has changed my mousing experience entirely. I've got hotcorners for doing expose tasks like show all windows, etc. You can set them to do about anything you like.

Enjoy that.

Taking your idea one step furthuer: If it came with a clicker that supported 2 buttons, but by default had a trim piece that used both as one, that would be neat. Then we uber-users could just pry the button off and snap on the 2-button trim. Another alternative is having a 2-button pad as a BTO option.

That would be neat. I don't think it will happen though, and only having a single button is not enough to keep me away from this beautiful hardware and platform. It really is just a joy to use.

Thankfully, there are work-arounds as you say. I'll just plug one for anyone interested, it's called SideTrack. It lets you use the physical button for right-click and touchpad tap for left. This is how I used my PC laptop anyway, so it was a comfortable switch.

Look into Sidetrack, which is a replacement driver for the PowerBook's trackpad.

It let's you set up taps as clicks and assign different buttons to the corners of the trackpad. I use tap as LClick, Top-right tap as RClick, bottom right as MClick, and the others to control Expose.

After using it for a while, I only wish I could remove the 1 button that's still left and just go w/ the trackpad.

In fact I am typing this on an iBook, with my Apple bluetooth mouse sitting beside me. Before getting the iBook, I only used Unix's for years (lucky me) and I always thought a real mouse had three buttons. But I have to say, now I am quite happy with my one-button mouse world. It sits so pretty beside me---the mouse is one big button, and if I peer really hard at it, I see white text on its white surface which reads "Don't Panic."

...SideTrack:

SideTrack is a replacement driver for the Apple PowerBook and iBook trackpads. With SideTrack installed your standard trackpad becomes a powerful multi-button scrolling mouse.

Leave your external mouse at home and take full control over your trackpad:

- Vertical scrolling at left or right edge of pad.
- Horizontal scrolling at top or bottom edge of pad.
- Map hardware button to left or right click.
- Map trackpad taps to no action, left click, left click drag (with or without drag lock), or right click.
- Map trackpad corner taps to mouse buttons 1-6 or simulated keystrokes.
- Extensive control over accidental input filtering.

SideTrack is multiuser aware and fully compatible with MacOS X 10.3 fast user switching (FUS). Every user on your PowerBook can have different settings depending on their needs.

Useless for you, you mean. For those who just have to have their contextual menus on the button--despite the fact that all the same options are available from the menubar, despite the fact that you can just control-click--there's SideTrack. (Yeah, I'm one of those too.)

SideTrack lets you assign different functions to trackpad tap vs. button press. I've got my tap assigned to regular mouse click and button press assigned to right click. Of course, some people find this annoying too...

Can't fix your extra buttons, but this replaces my scroll wheel nicely...

Wow, mods are asleep today, +5 for a troll. Don't believe me? Let's dissect:

but the single button that forces her to memorize somekey+mouseclick to do basic things the rest of us do with the right mouse button and, in the case of us Linux/*BSD folks, the middle mouse button.

Carefully avoids that due to the one-button-centric design of the Mac, NOTHING requires use of a second button, much less a middle one. If she *wants* to use it that way, she can. Unlike Windows and UNIX, there is no functionality hidden that only a multi-button mouse can get at.

So yes, it is a FLAW, a big, huge, honking flaw the designers and their apologists steadfastly refuse to admit, probably for reasons of pride and irrational fandom.

So all of the posts discussing HCI reviews, simplicity of interface, lack of "hidden" multibutton options (yes, I'm talking about Windows' inconsistent use of contextual menus for EVERYTHING); all of this means nothing? Nothing rational in scientific studies of users, designing all user interface options to be immediately accessible and in-view (so you're not right clicking everything looking for an option), and keeping things simple?

I use a multi-button scrollwheel mouse on Windows. I've seen what it can do to an interface (quick, do you left or right click your taskbar icons to bring up options - you never know!). Things like "right-click drag" and contextual menus really are beyond most people. I'm more than happy to use a single button mouse on my Mac.

And everyone I know who has a mac absolutely hates the one-button mouse, again without exception

Without exception. Right.

Meanwhile, I will feed the troll by offering a solution to the theoretical girlfriend's problems: SideTrack.

I would like to see a hardware hack involving a two-button upgrade for Apple laptops, but it should come from the bitch'n'moan crowd, not from Apple.

so people like myself and my girlfriend are stuck with Apple's terrible design decision

Except SideTrack has already been mentioned.

$15 is less than a quality external mouse with all the features that you somehow need. And don't blame Microsoft's poor design on Apple.

Rag on Apple for not even giving the option of ordering a multi-button mouse in Apple styling when you order your system, instead of the single button mouse.

Well, considering you can't figure out how to use Google maybe you're not advanced enough to use a PowerBook.