Choose A MindMap Tool

I’ve tried XMind and FreeMind, but I cannot compare these two fairly. As for FreeMind is a free open source software, although XMind also has a free version, yet I even cannot export a PDF version of my mind map for the free version. There is some cracks for XMind, see Do Something and Hacklog, which is hated by the developers of XMind, they even inserted a f__king sentence. Finally, I choose to use FreeMind only for mind mapping. For retina display the suite of icons are not that clear, which is a bit pity hoping it will be updated soon.

Choose A Flow Chart Tool

Yes, XMind can draw some flow chart, considering the export limitation, I replaced it with other software. I list some of them:

  • InkScape: it depends on XQuarz so the UI is bad for a retina display.
  • Dia: it also depends on XQuarz, since it is designed for vectored flow chart, I think it is better that InkScape.
  • LibreOffice: its Drawing tool is good with colors and effects.
  • yEd: it can organize the relations between your items, and also support UML.
    So, I finally choose yEd as my flow chart tool.

Choose A PDF Tool

I need to read some scientific papers and add some notes on the pdf files, I test 4 tools:

  • Preview
  • Skim
  • Adobe Acrobat
  • PDF Reader X

Finally, I kept the first 3 tools, and mainly use Preview to read some books and papers, if I need do a deep search on one paper, I will open it with Skim, which provide me better mark and note functions. If I need edit the pdf file, I have to open it with Adobe Acrobat, although I have the bought license for it, I would not like to use it, cause the 9 version does not support retina.

Choose A Text Editor

I don’t want to say much about that, cause there are so many famous editors for different usages. The better tools are those you are familiar with, so I choose to install three editors:

  • Emacs: do all of my write stuff, only in terminal
  • TextWrangler: check and read any text file quickly
  • Sublime Text 2: read and write source code

I used to edit files with MacVim, and I am familiar with its shortcuts. However, I don’t think it is a good editor to write something comparing to its ability to wondering around in a document.