My Favorite Apps ・ お気に入りの諸アプリです

07 November 2023 - 9 mins read time
Tags: Personal

“or how I stopped worrying and loved using Mac and Windows (did you like that Dr. Strangelove reference?) • Also [56K Warning]”

My main computer is a fifteen inch MacBook Pro from 2015. It’s November of 2023 and I still cannot let go of this laptop, but I do know that one day I’ll have to move on and upgrade. After seeing the new M3 Max (and its ridiculous price), I think I can wait one more year for M4, but until then, let me share how I survive using both macOS and Windows. Plus touch a little on a few of my favorite applications and programs.

Syncing Files

So, one of the most important things for me involving syncing files between operating systems is:

I’ve tried many applications over the years and never found one, besides rsync, that was seemless and transparent between operating systems. I eventually decided to stick with good ol’ rsync since it did what I needed, but then everything changed when I purchased a Synology NAS. I know it’s not free, but the investment really helped get this site, Jellyfin, and data storage up and running seamlessly.

Just for fun, I decided to check out their Synology Drive application, and, to my amazement, it actually managed to check all three criterias (besides the cost of the unit and hard drives). Like Fry from Futurama, I was shocked! Like they say, sometimes the best things in life are unexpected. Even as I type this on my Mac, when I save this Markdown file, it gets sent to the NAS automatically and my PC grabs the file and updates it. Also, when I use Jekyll to compile this website, since the _site folder is already on the NAS, I can move it anywhere using a BASH script (basically, all I have to do save this markdown file, and compile with Jekyll, then the site gets updated automatically every few days).

Cross-platform

Here’s a few apps that I cannot live without that exist on macOS, Windows, and Linux

Joplin

I have a lot of notes, and having those notes synced between all my devices is extremely important to me. It’s open source and can syncronize using a WebDAV server (or pretty much any server). You use markdown to type and can embed any file to your note. I like having helpful programming videos alongside my code snipets, and with plugins from the community, you can expand the functionaltiy of Joplin to help fit your needs. What’s even more cool is that they have a terminal version too!

Anki

I use to make flash cards for studying Japanese back in high school, but I eventually had over one thousands cards, and carrying them in my backpack was often difficult. Fortunately Anki exists to help with that problem, and it makes it super convient to also have it on your phone as well!

Handbrake

Makes converting videos, or your Blu-ray collection cough, to AV1 and other codecs pretty easy.

86Box

My first computer, or should I say family computer, was a Packard Bell Windows 95 PC that my mom bought at Micro Center long ago. I use this program to help relive those awesome moments gaming and gazing at the lovely file icons. As for now, I’ve purchased a few games recently at Suruga-ya, and I’ve been messing around just having fun. Maybe I should replay Half-Life this way…

Discord

Ah… The modern day IRC program. I mostly use it to chat with other developers, friends, and retro video game communities. If you want to chat, feel free to send me a message!

macOS

CotEditor

I love that it’s open source and launches very quickly, however, above all else, you can make the window transparent! This is extremely important to me, and why I never really moved on to VS Code completely. Trust me, I tried to find a way, but until that day happens, I’ll continue using this little text editor. Back then TextMate had a transparent window, but it was removed and I had to move away from it. CotEditor is really worth checking out if you have a Mac, it can definitely replace TextEdit if you still want to keep using VS Code.

Notability

Sometimes you have to jot things down by hand versus typing it out. This is especially true for learning a language, but regarding this app, I would avoid it in its current state. I love how simple it is with its handling of file organization and their pencil tool, but, unless you have purchased Notability before they started using a subscription model, it can be pricey now. As for the app itself, you can backup your notes to a WebDAV server, which is nice, and it offers seemless intergration between iOS and macOS. This was very handy during college, but now I basically only use this to study Japanese. If you don’t want to pay monthy, which I don’t blame you, I’ve heard GoodNotes and CollaNote for iPad is great!

Cog

I always have some kind of noice in the background, whether its ambient rain sounds, electronic music, or, in this case, video game music. Cog is a music player that can play a ton of different music formats, but I mostly only use this for playback of video game soundtracks in either .PSF or .ADX format.

It even has a mini player!

Reeder

It’s tough keeping up to date with the news, and often times I stumble upon an awesome blog too. That’s why Reeder had been great with keeping up to date with the ever growing web. Plus it also has an iOS and iPadOS version on the App Store with iCloud syncing. I really like that I can save articles that I’ve read and its data consumption is very low, perfect for someone like me rocking a 256kb mobile data plan.

Simple Comic

I’ve used this app for a long time, and I still can’t believe there are compiled versions for PowerPC, x86-64, and now Apple Silicon Macs. Besides being just a .cbz and .cbr comic book reader, it can make the first page into a thumbnail in Finder and works great with QuickLook.

IINA

For its back-end, IINA uses mpv to play almost every media file in existence, and you gotta love that modern UI design (rounded corners, and what’s this, no stoplight on the top-left of the window?). It has cool features like Picture-in-Picture and, did I tell you, it’s open source!

MacTeX

I consider any papers that I type to be important, and over the years I’ve learned one thing switching between macOS, Windows, and Linux. That using either Office or Apple’s Pages will tie you down to an ecosystem that can become expensive. For me, I mostly only care about typing papers, and fortuantely many free alternatives exists like LibreOffice, Google Docs, and LaTeX. LaTeX has a learning curve but it nice to know I can use it on pretty much any operating system. If you want my recommendation, use whichever tool is most comfortable to you, any will get the job done, but Apple’s suite of productivity, and those apps being updated, are tied to the operating system. So if your Mac is no longer being updated, neither will those apps too. Plus no Windows or Linux version exists, so you’re forced to use iCloud on the web to edit and view.

Fetch

This is a paid app, but I was able to get a key from my university to help me use this app to transfer my code to their servers. I remember seeing their dog logo long ago, and, sure enough, I was right. Fetch first released on System 6 and is compatible on old 68K Macintosh computers. Whoa!

Windows

Visual Studio Code

Not much can be said that hasn’t already been said. The extensions are really cool and makes this text editor incredibly powerful. On Windows, I use pretty much only this editor with the WSL extension.

foobar2000

I enjoy listening to video game music in their original format, but playing them back on Windows is a pain compared to macOS now. But this application has a bunch of awesome extensions (components) to make this audio player much more powerful. I can playback all my VGM music and access my Japanese 70’s ~ 90’s internet radio with its nice tabbed interface. The person who did the VGM components for foobar2000 went on to work on Cog for macOS (which can be seen above).

Ambie

While focusing on getting something done, I tend to dislike environments that are quiet. That’s where this program comes in! Created by a Microsoft engineer, you can listen to all kinds of sounds such as rain, wind, rainforest, etc. Check it out, it might be your next favorite program!

WSL

ffmpeg

Ah… ffmpeg is hands-down the first thing I always install. You can convert to and from literally almost media format. Super convenient!

micro

This is a text editor that has no dependencies and supports a mouse. If two people are arguing which is better, vim or emacs, I’m that third dude that’s like, “micro?”. That’s how you stop a fight.

yt-dlp

Let’s you download videos from various websites. I mostly use this alongside Joplin for notes.

WSLg

cool-retro-term

I don’t have a CRT monitor for any of my modern computers, but fear not! This cool program (like that pun?) solves that issue by emulating a CRT monitor to give your terminal experience that nostalgic feel. Long ago there was another app like this on Mac OS X called Cathode, but it has been really hard to find, and the developer disappeared. I hope they’re doing well… cool-retro-term is also available on macOS.