Solipsus

As said in previous posts, I had begun playing Tibia as a way to pass the time in Summer meaning all my duties as a member of Snark, webmaster of Solipsus, and a friend were put to the back of my mind - until 2 days ago and my parents finally got back from their 2 month trip to Spain.

I got fed up with having a nice, fast, and expensive MacBook, and not being able to use it. Why? Tibia is a 2D MMPORG which only has a Windows or Linux client, meaning I have been using Apple BootCamp to run Windows on my MacBook. So as a ‘Welcome back to using your Mac’ (hey! that somewhat rhymes), I began downloading fun applications left, right and centre.

So seeing as I have not blogged in a while, and as a way to break back into habits I thought; Why not start things off with a geeky blog about MacBook applications which I downloaded?

As I said above, I was using Windows more than my Mac, so I had to find a way to use my Windows applications whilst running my Mac OSX. The obvious choice was either Parallels or VMware Fusion and in the end I decided that because VMware Fusion was still in beta, and Parallels was in their 3rd release I thought it would be better to go with them. So far it is great. With using it’s ‘Coherence’ mode, it is easy to forget that the applications are Windows run and blend in nicely with my Mac OSX applications. My only problem is the graphics in Tibia, are a bit messed up, but liveable with. Though once out of beta, VMware may be the better option; Parallels is here now, is easy to install, use and re-liable.

The next Mac application on my list, is Sticky Windows. This application allows you to drag and drop any application window to the corner of your screen at create tabs. I have found this application to be very useful in keeping my desktop organised and clutter free. I can now easily pull up a window I have without have to minimise/drag through other applications. This also allows you to save space in my dock! Though it is shareware, every-so-often a message pops up asking if you wish to purchase a license. Of course, when I get some money in the bank, I will be purchasing the license as it is not very expensive at all ($15.95/£8) to stop the message from popping up, but mainly because I find this application to be a ‘must-have’ for any Mac User.

Finally, for today at least, I have to include this well-known IM application; Adium. After MSN for Mac crashing on me numerous of times, and screwing up my contact list, I searched for a new and easily customised IM application, and I found this. With this I can sign into any account I want, ranging from MSN, AIM, Yahoo, ICQ to Google Talk and even LiveJournal Talk! This application is of course, free to use and easy to use. With the integration to Growl (very simple to do), you can get different styled notifications much like MSN.

As a list of all the applications which I use, and did not manage to talk about in this post, I created a list at iusethis for all you Mac users to refer to when looking for an application to install! So feel free to check my list out, and for each programme you can see what other people have thought about the programme aswell.

I now officially love my MacBook to bits, (more then I did before, which I didn’t think possible) and plan to give it a thorough clean out sort - the keys are getting a bit sticky, and mucky, with dust gathering everywhere else! It is blasphemy to let such a beautiful thing go to such a waste.

Ben