Open Source
"Free software" is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of "free" as in "free speech," not as in "free beer."
Create cross-platform synergy with Synergy.
If you ever use more than one computer on the same desk, you need Synergy. Synergy is a protocol that allows several computers to seamlessly share the same keyboard and mouse. It's cross platform: I use it to control my Mac laptop, a desktop PC running Windows and a Linux box. I plop my laptop down on the desk, it automatically connects to my desktop computer, and I can use it just as easily as I would a second monitor.
The protocol is really slick. Once it is configured, move your mouse to the edge of the screen and the cursor jumps to the next computer. Keyboard control and window focus follow the mouse. It even shares your clipboard—you can copy something on one computer and paste it on the next. On most platforms Synergy can synchronize screen savers and sleep as well. Check out this quality illustration of the idea:
Image source: synergy2.sourceforge.net
Since Synergy is a protocol rather than a program, there are quite a few apps to use with it. I wouldn't use the official Synergy application on any platform other than Windows. Here are some great alternatives:
On a Mac, I recommend installing SynergyKM. It provides an easy to use preference pane, a graphical tool for aligning displays, and sweet keyboard remapping, so your ⌃, ⌥, ⌘ and Windows keys get along, no matter which keyboard or operating system you're using. It supports multiple profiles, so you can set your laptop up for home and work. It even claims to use Bonjour to automatically configure client computers1.
Linux configuration can get a bit tricky. The command line version gives you the greatest control, but takes a .conf file or two to get going. If you're not feeling up to that, check out QuickSynergy, a GTK 2 app that makes configuring Synergy a breeze. To automatically start Synergy when you boot up (or log in) check out this guide.
QuickSynergy sources and distro-specific instructions here
Image source: quicksynergy.sourceforge.net
And for the unfortunate Windows users, check out the official Synergy2 application. It works great on anything >= Windows 95, so if your computer has a mouse you should be set…
- 1. But that hasn't worked out for me yet. YMMV.
You need Growl notifications.
If there's one utility that should be installed on every Mac, it is Growl. Growl provides a unified system notification interface. By itself, it does nothing. But it allows all other apps to interact with the user in a clean and consistent manner. Growl is inherently Maclike, as it creates a consistent, attractive and unobtrusive way to let you know what's going on with your whole system.
Growl settings are almost too customizable, allowing each user to define exactly how notifications should appear and act. Notification styles range from small bezel windows to giant marquees to synthesized speech. Notifications can even be enabled, disabled or customized on a per-application basis. Check out some of the stock Growl themes. If none of those quite do it for you, choose from an extensive collection of third-party skins, or even create your own!
But just because you can tweak it doesn't mean you need to. Apps that use Growl "just work" out of the box. Once you install Growl you will be surprised how many of your applications already support it. The list of applications currently supporting Growl is huge: everything from download notices to incoming messages to update notifications are delivered via Growl. Growl "Extras" also exist for Mail.app, iTunes, hardware notifications1 and lots of other system apps.
- 1. HardwareGrowler saves you from yourself by growling when your flash drive has finished mounting or unmounting.
Jumpcut keeps your clipboard around a little longer.
One of my biggest problems with the "clipboard" paradigm is that it only holds on to the last thing I clipped. I'm forever forgetting that I just clipped something I wanted, and haphazardly replacing it by copying something new1.
Jumpcut gives the OS X clipboard a healthy sense of history. It's a simple little menu extra2 that keeps track of a configurable amount of recent clippings, just a hotkey or a mouse click away. If the top of the screen is too far, you can hit ⌃⌥V to pop up a bezel window that pages through all your recent snips. This slick little app has become an indispensable part of my workflow.
