[Ruahrc]

I am going through my HD and cleaning off the stuff that Apple Installed but I wll never need to free up disk space. I have come across an "Installers" folder in my applications folder, and in it are two things- filemaker 6 Demo and XCode tools.

Filemaker I am not sure what it does exactly, but I figure if it is important and useful I'd have heard of it already? XCode I gather are the developer tools? Are there any neat tools/utilities in there that I should know about before I go and erase the 600MB installer folder?

Also I have two other applications, Art Director's Kit 4 and GraphicConverter. What to these apps do?

Thanks

Ruahrc

[cpac]

you can always just google these products to find out more about them.

Briefly:

Filemaker is database software. It's extremely powerful, but if you've never heard of it, you probably don't need it.

XCode is indeed developer tools. There are lots of neat things in there, but you can always re-install them if you need them. Delete away!

Graphic Converter does what its name implies - it converts graphics between a huge variety of formats. It also includes basic (and not-so-basic) editing tools - it can be a nice substitute for Photoshop for the casual user. I'd keep this one.

Art Directors Toolkit according to VersionTracker: "Designed for Creative Professionals (Graphic & Web Designers), this stand-alone application is packed with features--Search through thousands of color swatches in industry-standard libraries, view characters and keyboard equivalents of Fonts, sample colors on-screen, convert fractions/decimals/units of measure, calculate file sizes and much-more... "

[TETENAL]

Filemaker is a database. You can delete the demo. Xcode tools are the developer tools. You can trash them as well. You can later install them from the restore CD if you want to (may require Pacifist).

GraficConverter is an app to open and convert images in every possible format. Art director kit I don't know what it is. Read its help files or documentation.

[Millennium]

The XCode tools are developer tools. If you ever plan on getting into anything with Unix you'll want to keep these. You may want to keep them around anyway; they have their uses.

Definitely keep GraphicConverter. It imports just about every graphics file format known to mankind, and exports a fair number of them. It even works as a surprisingly able paint program. If Apple installed this then it should also be a fully-registered version (normally GC is shareware), so deleting it would just waste a perfectly good license. You won't break the system if you delete it, but don't look a gift Swiss-Army-Chainsaw in the mouth.

Art Directors' Kit is a small collection of utilities (once again, the license is on Apple's tab). I haven't used it much, but it can be a useful little set of tools if you're into graphics or other kinds of design.

If you don't use database software, you can trash the FileMaker demo.

By the way, what model is this? It sounds like you got this Mac recently (my PMG5, which I got in January, came with older versions of some of these). Do you really need to free up disk space yet?

[Ruahrc]

It's a brand new (ordered beginning of Sept) PB 15"

It only has modest specs (1.33GHz, 64MB VRAM, 60GB HD, although I upgraded to 1.25GB RAM) because the higher end (would have liked the 1.5GHz and 128MB RAM was too much money. I am very happy with it so far though since it plays War3 perfectly and now with 1.25GB RAM the OS really moves along.

Anyhow it's not really a matter of disk space but more a matter of a clean disk, free of clutter and useless junk I never need. I guess I have a thing about HD clutter so I like to keep things bare and clean.

I think I'll keep the GC, dump the rest. BTW If I do need these XCode utilities again how do I go about retrieving them from the restore CD? I put it in and saw a package that says "Install Classic support and Applications", so I guess if I ran that it would reinstall everything, and then I would need to re-delete the programs (like filemaker) that I erased already right?

Ruahrc

[patman600]

You could burn the files to a cd, so if you need them later you can just pull them off the cd, you don't need to reinstall the operating system or anything.

[cpac]

Originally posted by Ruahrc:
IBTW If I do need these XCode utilities again how do I go about retrieving them from the restore CD?

You could do it as you suggested, but better would be to use a utility called Pacifist which allows you to pick and choose what you want to install. (do a quick search on versiontracker to download a copy).

Also, if it's just the XCode you're worried about, you can always download that direct from Apple's website.

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by cpac:
Also, if it's just the XCode you're worried about, you can always download that direct from Apple's website.

Not only this, but sometimes the version on Apple's site ends up being more recent than the version that came with your Mac.

http://connect.apple.com/

[Ruahrc]

Yeah I thought of the burning to a CD, I'm going to do that.

Nice that I can DL them from Apple though too!

Ruahrc

[Jasoco]

The first thing I do when I get a new Mac is reinstall the OS. That way I can customize the installation, turn off what I don't need and save time and space. Then the second thing after logging in for the first time is install DeLocalizer and free up even more space by removing all the unneeded languages.

[jocker]

And you're all the kind of guys who are obviously obsessively compulsively disorded, and will have no need for Tiger Spotlight.

[Ruahrc]

Yeah pretty much

How is spotlight really different from the little search bar that's currently in the Finder window?

Ruahrc

And one more random question about Tiger- is the dashboard basically the exact same thing as Konfabulator- so it would not be worth it to get Konfabulator since the next Apple OS will have it built right in?

[Jasoco]

Originally posted by Ruahrc:
Yeah pretty much

How is spotlight really different from the little search bar that's currently in the Finder window?

I suggest you watch a demo. They are completely different. SpotLight searches EVERYWHERE. Find searches the Finder. SpotLight has the ability to search inside applications and databases and everything your little developing heart can desire.

And one more random question about Tiger- is the dashboard basically the exact same thing as Konfabulator- so it would not be worth it to get Konfabulator since the next Apple OS will have it built right in?

COMPLETELY different in many many ways.

Go to www.konfabulator.com and find one of the threads. There are tons of reasons to get Konfab. I'd say Konfab is a complement to Dashboard rather than a predecessor. They work completely different.

[Ruahrc]

Aah I see. Although yeah I don't see much use for me with Spotlight as I don't really lose things on my computer. Maybe it'll help when I'm learning the software (i.e. searching for DNS in the SysPrefs) but once I learn where things are I won't need to search for them again

Been reading some threads on the whole Konfabulator thing- and I can tell it's a cult in the mac community hehe.

Don't want to start a flame war there have been enough of those I can presume- but I don't see how Apple has done any wrong. I think it's a bunch of bitter people who spent $25 for Konfabulator and now learn that it will be included in the Tiger OS update that they would have bought anyways.

Bottom line though, I still don't see how they are any different? From an end-user standpoint, what functionality does or will Konfab offer that I can't get with Dashboard? Apparently to me they are the exact same thing- little widgets written in JS that pop up on your desktop or the Dashboard. I personally see no reason to buy Konfabulator now that I know I will be getting the same thing with Tiger.

Ruahrc

[Jasoco]

Originally posted by Ruahrc:
[B]Aah I see. Although yeah I don't see much use for me with Spotlight as I don't really lose things on my computer. Maybe it'll help when I'm learning the software (i.e. searching for DNS in the SysPrefs) but once I learn where things are I won't need to search for them again

It's hard to keep track of stuff when you're a pack rat like me. I have so many files unfiled in a bunch of folders labeled "Off the Desktop" and "Crap that has no home." Spotlight will make it so much easier to weed through it and hopefully find homes as I go along. As well as Smart Folders, the other big reason for me to want Tiger. I for one am going to buy Tiger based on these two features alone. You should see my iTunes playlists. They're ALL Smart ones. It's just so much more convenient. I can't wait for Folders.

Don't want to start a flame war there have been enough of those I can presume- but I don't see how Apple has done any wrong. I think it's a bunch of bitter people who spent $25 for Konfabulator and now learn that it will be included in the Tiger OS update that they would have bought anyways.

Bottom line though, I still don't see how they are any different? From an end-user standpoint, what functionality does or will Konfab offer that I can't get with Dashboard? Apparently to me they are the exact same thing- little widgets written in JS that pop up on your desktop or the Dashboard. I personally see no reason to buy Konfabulator now that I know I will be getting the same thing with Tiger.

Konfab Widgets can be on the desktop at all times if you want them to. Dashboard ones cannot. That is the main difference right there and the one reason Dashboard is a Complement. I will get a lot of use from the Calculator Widget. But that is probably the only DB Widget I will use. There is still plenty of reasons to buy Konfab. Especially since competition drives progress. The more Dashboard does, the more Konfab will do.

And I too wish all the whiners at Konfabulator.com Forums would just shut the hell up about the whole thing. Konfabulator wasn't even the FIRST app to do this!

[mattyd]

Originally posted by Jasoco:
The first thing I do when I get a new Mac is reinstall the OS. That way I can customize the installation, turn off what I don't need and save time and space. Then the second thing after logging in for the first time is install DeLocalizer and free up even more space by removing all the unneeded languages.

you can do both of these in one step.

if you're reinstalling the OS you can customize the install to only include certain languages.

[tooki]

Originally posted by patman600:
You could burn the files to a cd, so if you need them later you can just pull them off the cd, you don't need to reinstall the operating system or anything.

No need to waste a disc backing up those installers -- they're already part of the system restore disc.

tooki

[Jasoco]

Originally posted by mattyd:
you can do both of these in one step.

if you're reinstalling the OS you can customize the install to only include certain languages.

That doesn't count inside Applications. Trust me, the languages are there.