Essential software?

[mr_a500]

OK, here are some utilities I'd say you MUST get - or at least give a try. These are the best I've found after much experimentation:

ABCdir - totally awesome (surprisingly underrated) file manager
Visual Prefs - for customizing total look of Workbench
LoadCMAP - to lock the WB palette so it doesn't stupidly change
DrivePrefs - stop that annoying drive click
ModePro - to promote & modify screens
SimpleFind 3 - the best file finder
DiskSalv 4 - the good disk salvage / undelete tool (hard to find)
Scout - the ultimate system monitor (get ver. 37.249)
Hex - old but good binary editor
ScreenShell - full screen shell (make a double height autoscroll screen with ModePro!)
MuchMore - super smooth scrolling text viewer
Fjpeg - fast jpeg viewer
Visage - nice, fast multi-format image viewer
v41sound.datatype - very nice sound datatype
NISClock - best title clock
PowerSnap - clip text anywhere (almost)
Voodoo-X & xadmaster - extract almost any archive
Zoom - nifty little magnifyer that works on any screen

... and there are lots more like TitleShadow, WindowToFront, Iconify, MFR, VersionWB, DoIcon, RunFromWB, Clip, ASLtoRT.

[mr_a500]

Quote:
"If you happen to have enough money, then get yourself a scandoubler that allows to you see the Amiga on a regular PC monitor. Trust me, games look better on a 19" than on a 14""



I think you're wrong there! I bought a scandoubler for my Amiga 500 thinking it would look better and I was horribly disappointed. Everything ends up looking chunky and dull. Scan-lines on those old 1084 monitors actually improve the look of the low-res graphics in non-interlaced modes. Also, because they are less crisp than modern monitors, colours blend together for a smoother look. There is a nice glow to pixels on the 1084 that modern monitors don't have.

[mr_a500]

Quote:
"Nobody seems to have mentioned ImageFX yet... damned powerful image manipulation software - just takes a while to learn the interface."


Yes, ImageFX is great! If we're talking about applications now, here are some good ones (freeware/shareware):

MiamiDX - best TCP-IP/dialer
YAM - best email
OSS & Protracker 4 - the best mod trackers (don't get OSS 2)
SongPlayer - nice multi-format sample player with playlists
DSound - nice little stereo sample player
SampleZ - great sample editor/converter (edit huge samples!)
DiamondGUI & Mpega - best MP3 for slow systems - allows buffering
EaglePlayer - multi-format music/SID player (for game music)
STfax 4.1 - best fax software
PPT - image editor/converter - not as good as ImageFX, but free
APDF - good PDF viewer (but may crash with some PDFs)
XBaze - very nice database/GUI
TotalCalc - best scientific calculator


Some utilities I forgot:

FF - FastFonts from WB1.3 - get rid of that damn topaz!
AddTools - add items to WB Tools menu
MagicMenu - nice menu enhancer (but turn non-blocking OFF!)
Env-handler - copies only necessary files to ENV (saving memory)
ColorCatch - creates executable colour palettes for screens


And some neat little programs I love:

klide - super fast line drawing demo
rainbow - put a copper rainbow on screens (I've got it on MuchMore screens, GoldED and ABCdir - neato!)


...and I'm sure I forgot lots of awesome & useful (free) programs.