Dominic Yu, a friend of Kude Labs, has just released a new piece of software that we'll call LargeType2. Its a handy little service that just blows up selected text. It is really easy to use in 10.6 Snow Leopard, where services are accessible from the right-click contextual menu.

I know I'll be using it for things like chatting in Chinese, where small fonts make characters hard for me to distinguish. Thanks to Dominic for releasing this to the public. We look forward to more great software.

I upgraded my Mac OS X Leopard to Snow Leopard a couple days ago. Everything seems to be fine, system runs faster than before in general. But a couple of softwares doesnt work compatible with SL.

The 1st one is mysql, after upgrading, it's completely gone, I just cannt find it. Then I try to reinstall it with macport, but zlib doesnt work with SL too! So, install mysql manually may be the best way.

Solution: Compiling MySQL on Snow Leopard

The 2nd one is mysql-gem. When I wanna reload db, it shows "uninitialized constant MysqlCompat::MysqlRes" error. To fix this, specify ARCHFLAGS when you install the 'mysql' gem:

sudo env ARCHFLAGS="-arch x86_64" gem install mysql -- --with-mysql-config=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_config

refer to: Error: uninitialized constant MysqlCompat::MysqlRes

The 3rd one is thin-gem. Well, easy to fix:

sudo gem update thin

Check out svn project in Mac

Are you guys just transfer from Windows to Mac, which need to check out project from svn? If yes, this post may help you when checking out project in Mac by using terminal.

• Step 1: Maybe better to build a folder which can save your project

jack-pandemacbook:~ Jackchen$ mkdir workspace/

• Step 2: Then go to the folder which you just created, and the project will be saved in this folder later

jack-pandemacbook:~ Jackchen$ cd workspace/

• Step 3: Get project from svn by enter: svn co svn+ssh://example.com/..., which ”...” is your project where located

jack-pandemacbook:~ Jackchen$ svn co svn+ssh://example.com/code/firstproject

• Enter command with username:

  jack-pandemacbook:~ Jackchen$ svn co --username jacket@example.com svn+ssh://example.com/code/firstproject

• Change the username in .ssh, also there are several steps to do it: Before go to .ssh, you have to back to the root by: cd ..
  1. Then go to .ssh: cd .ssh
  2. Then type: pico config
  3. Then type: User jacket
  4. Then save and exit by using Ctrl+O and Ctrl+X

• Step 4: OK, right now, you can enter your password without warning “Permission denied, please try again.” , and enjoy!

原址文章 – English Version

这篇文章的灵感来自于我们公司越来越多的Mac追随者, 至今为止, 已经有5个人在使用并享受其中.

Mac本身自带有不少很好的软件, 但仍然不足以满足我们的需求. 例如中文输入法就是其中一个, 它在MacOS X里的表现平平. 另外一个表现逊色的就是播放不同格式的video. 然而幸运的是, 现在有很多免费的小软件都可以弥补它的这些不足. 我认为以下软件都是不错的选择, 不过如果你有更好地选择或者有任何建议, 请慷慨地给我们留言.

中文输入法

Fun Input Toy – 这个拼音输入法明显优于MacOS X内置的ITABC拼音输入法. 如果你需要智能的中文输入法, 那FIT Input Toy无疑是你首选. 同时, 基于iPhone的中文输入软件WeFIT也是由这个团队开发的.

IMQIM – 黄金标准的中文输入法. 这个软件要16美元(RMB109.2元), 不过它真的很不错, 它拥有智能整句输入, 能够帮助你快速输入. 因此, 对于大部分时间都在输入中文的人来说, 这是值得投资的.

播放视频

Perian – 这个插件使自带的Quicktime Player更加强大. 当安装完perian以后, 几乎所有的视频格式都可以播放. 这相当棒, 因为QT Player集成在OS里面, 同时也是最好的播放器之一, 而perian又作为QT Player的插件, 因此它们的结合是相当完美的.

Video Monkey – iPhone 最大的缺点就是不能播放你现有硬盘上的大部分视频, 其中包括AVI 和 WMV 格式视频文件. 然而Video Monkey可以帮助你解决这个难题, 它通过简单的方法转换成可以被播放的格式. 它可以转化大部分格式同时将视频文件转成iPhone或者iPod正好可以显示的size. 它甚至还可以将转换的文件直接导入iTune当中, 以便同步.

VLC – 当上面的视频工具对你来说都失效的话, VCL奏效. VCL能够播放任何东西. 但Quicktime Player的用户界面更加友好, 所以我并不建议把VLC作为首选, 除非实在是没有其他的办法.

压缩文件

UnrarX – 基于某些原因, RAR已经成为中国标准的压缩文件的格式. UnrarX就是可以打开这种格式的应用程序. 这种短小精悍的软件绝对能够达到你的要求.

除此之外, 还有很多不错程序适用于Mac, 而且会越来越多的中国软件开发人员会发现, 支持Mac用户是一个很好的举措. 我记得Apple电脑曾经是一个传奇, 很少人会使用甚至看到Apple电脑, 只是某些人会偶尔听说关于它的消息. 在过去的5年里, Apple公司发生了爆炸性的变化, 那就是从iPods面世和风靡开始, 进而是iPhone和Macbook. 我期待着更多有用的软件能在这里诞生, 同时期待你的建议.

View the Chinese Version of this article – 中文版

This post is inspired by the growing number of Switchers in our office. At this point we have 5 people using macs full time and loving it!

The Mac comes with some great software out of the box, there are still a few missing pieces. Chinese input, for one, is poor in MacOS X. Another issue is playing videos in various formats. Luckily, many of these holes can be solved with small pieces of free software, I hope to list the best ones here. Feel free to add more suggestions in the comments.

Chinese Input

Fun Input Toy – Developed in Beijing, this pinyin input system is much better than the built in ITABC pinyin that comes with MacOS X. A MUST download if you want to type in Chinese. This is brought to us by the same team that makes the WeFIT chinese input system for the iPhone.

IMQIM – The gold standard in chinese input. This one does cost $16, but it is really nice, with full intelligent sentence generation for super fast typing. For anyone who spends a lot of time typing in Chinese, this is worth your investment.

Playing Video

Perian – This is a plugin that makes the built in Quicktime Player a powerhouse. After installing perian, pretty much any video format you can throw at it will just play without any fuss. This is great because QT Player is integrated into the OS, and has all the best scrubbing capability of any player out there.

Video Monkey – One of the biggest drawbacks of the iPhone is its refusal to play the videos that you actually have, namely the AVI and WMV files that you have on your hard drive that you may want to take with you. Video Monkey takes care of this by proving an easy way to reformat video. It can take almost any format and convert the file into the right size and format for your iPhone or iPod. It will even put it into your iTunes library for easy syncing.

VLC – when all else fails, VLC to the rescue. VLC can really play anything. The user interface for Quicktime Player is much better, so i don’t recommend using VLC full time, just when it won’t play anywhere else.

RAR Files

UnrarX – For some reason, RAR has become a standard file format within China. UnrarX is the app to open up those files. Its a great little app that does exactly what you would expect.

There are many other excellent programs for the Mac, and finally more and more Chinese software developers are finding that supporting Mac users is a good move. I remember a time when Apple computers were a legend, something that some had heard of but few had ever seen. In the past 5 years, there’s been an explosion of Apple gear, starting with iPods and moving to iPhones and Macbooks. I look forward to seeing many more useful apps in this space, and to hearing your suggestions.