How I configure a new MacOS machine

Edits to System Settings

  
Trackpad > Scroll & Zoom > Uncheck Natural  
         > More Gestures > Swipe between pages > Swipe with three fingers  
         > Point & Click > select Tap to Click  
Keyboard > Keyboard > Key Repeat > Fast  
                    > Delay Until Repeat > Short  
                    > Press globe key to > Show Emoji & Symbols (this makes cmd+ctrl+space work to open emoji view)  
                    > Customize Control Strip > Remove Siri  
                                              > Remove Keyboard brightness  
                                              > Remove launchpad  
                                              > Add lock screen  
                                              > Add do not disturb  
                    > Keyboard Shortcuts > Modifier Keys > Map Caps Lock to Control  
                    > Shortcuts > Select 'Use keyboard navigation to move focus between controls'  
                                > Spotlight > change 'Show Spotlight search' to opt+space (clears cmd+space for quicksilver)  
                                            > unselect 'Show Finder search window' (why? I didn't do this the last time)  
                                > App Shortcuts > Add 'Google Chrome'  
                                                    Back ctl+h  (overrides default of cmd+[, helpful for deindent in online editors)  
                                                    Forward ctrl+l (overrides default of cmd+], helpful indent in online editors)  
                                > Accessibility > Invert colors with cmd+opt+ctrl+8  
                                > Function Keys > Use F1, F2, etc. as standard function keys  
         > Text  
                    > Uncheck 'correct spelling'  
                    > Uncheck 'capitalize words'  
                    > Uncheck 'add period with double-space  
                    > Uncheck 'touch bar suggestions'  
                    > Uncheck 'use smart quotes'  
                    > Remove 'omw' from shortcuts  
Mouse > Scroll direction: Uncheck natural  
          > Secondary click > Click on right side  
          > Increase tracking speed  
              > More Gestures > Turn off Swipe between full-screen apps w/ two fingers  
       > Turn off mission control with double tap  
Touch ID > Add a fingerprint  
         > Use Touch ID for unlocking your Mac and password autofill  
Spotlight > Search Results > unselect all except 'Applications', 'System Preferences', and 'Definition'  
                           > unselect 'Allow Spotlight Suggestions in Look Up' (this is now called 'Siri Suggestions')  
Dock > Position on screen > Right  
     > Automatically hide and show dock  
     > Do not animate application opens  
Sound > Sound Effects > Turn down alert volume to 3/4  
Siri > Uncheck 'Enable Ask Siri'  
Display > Uncheck automatically adjust brightness  
Dock & Menu Bar > Clock  
    > Digital  
    > Use 24-hour clock  
    > Display time with seconds  
    > Show date: always  
General > Show Scroll Bars > Always  
General > Uncheck 'Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices' for work computer  
Bluetooth > Show Bluetooth in menu bar  
Battery > Uncheck 'slightly dim the display while on battery power'  
        > Bump "Turn off display after" to 5 min  
        > Show in Menu Bar  
        > Show Percentage  
        > Put hard disks to sleep when possible: Never  
Input Sources > Uncheck 'select the previous input source'  
              > Uncheck 'select next source in input menu'  
              These shortcuts conflict with Xcode's autocomplete (ctrl+space)  

Edits to Finder

  
Finder > Settings > Advanced > Unselect 'Show warning before changing an extension'  

Creating my ssh key

ssh-keygen -b 4096 -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa4096_gold -o -a 100  
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa4096_gold  
cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa4096_gold.pub | pbcopy  

Paste public key into email to myself
Add public key to github.com/settings/keys
Add public key remote at ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
Add to ~/.ssh/config

Host <my-domain>.com  
HostName=<some-ip>  
User=ec2-user  
IdentityFile=~/.ssh/id_rsa4096_gold  
Port=5083  

Make Mission Control behave like Exposé, turn off Spaces

  
System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Mission Control > Uncheck 'Move left a space'  
                                                                  > Uncheck 'Move right a space'  
                                                                  > Uncheck 'Switch to Desktop'  
                > Desktop & Dock > Uncheck all Spaces related options of Mission Control  
                                 > Click wallpaper to show desktop items > Only in Stage Manager (whatever that is)  
  
                > Desktop & Dock > Hot corners > set bottom left to Mission Control (don't use a top corner because the cursor will automatically expand the huge 'desktop' unnecessary bar)  
                                               > set bottom right to Desktop  

Come back to these to see if anyone helped: link

Make bash the default shell

In term:

chsh -s /bin/bash  
echo "export BASH_SILENCE_DEPRECATION_WARNING=1" >> ~/.bash_profile  

Fix dictionary and other apps staying in background with Term in foreground

Open Terminal > Terminal (menu bar) > turn off ‘Secure Keyboard Entry’.
If this is on, apps like Dictionary do not come to the foreground when opened. Terminal retains focus

Improve screenshot behavior

Turn off screenshot delay:
Cmd+shift+5 > Options > uncheck ‘show floating thumbnail’

Turn off screenshot shadow:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool true  

Clone my repos for notes and snippets

Clone my various repos for notes:

cd ~  
git clone ssh://gitbox:/srv/git/repos/notes.git  
cd ~/dev  
git clone ssh://gitbox:/srv/git/repos/snippets.git  
git clone ssh://gitbox:/srv/git/repos/system_config.git  
cd ~  
ln -sv /Users/lzell/dev/system_config/homedir/.vimrc /Users/lzell  
[repeat for all dotfiles in system_config/homedir]  

Configure Term

Use my saved configuration for term:

open ~/dev/system_config/lz.terminal  

Make terminal settings stick:
- Type cmd, to open terminal settings
- Select Profiles > lz
- Tap on “Default”
- Enter in shell:
sudo chown $(whoami):staff ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Terminal.plist

Change /usr/local ownership:
sudo chown -R $(whoami):staff /usr/local/*

Configure Desktop

Right click on desktop and select ‘Show View Options’
Stack by: none
Sort by: name
Icon size: 32x32
Grid spacing: middle
Text size: 16
Label position: right

Install latest Xcode

developer.apple.com/downloads/more

Install various pieces of software

Install firefox. Follow instructions in my firefox note

Install quicksilver at https://qsapp.com/. Follow instructions at ~/notes/quicksilver.txt

Install homebrew: https://brew.sh/
Install rvm: https://rvm.io/

rvm install ruby-3.2.2  
ruby -v  

Install pyenv

brew install pyenv  
pyenv install 3.8.17  
pyenv global 3.8.17  
python -V  

Install with homebrew:

ack  
ag  
awscli  
bash-completion  
emacs-plus@28 --with-native-comp  
fd  
ffmpeg  
fzf  
ghostscript  
git  
git-gui  
gnu-tar  
graphviz  
imagemagick  
jq  
mysql  
nginx  
pandoc  
parallel  
pyenv  
ripgrep  
shellcheck  
stripe/stripe-cli/stripe  
tmux  
tree  
universal-ctags  
vim  
wget  

Install Spectacle App:
Set cmd+shift+opt+(direction) to left half, upper half, etc.
Disable all ‘upper left, lower left, etc’ keys as they interfere with helpful Xcode shortcuts
Select “Launch Spectacle at login”

Install gitx-dev, a fork of gitx that works on MacOS. (update 2022-04-12: the download page for this doesn’t work anymore)
Once installed, GitX > Enable terminal usage

Install Chrome:
Disable spell check at chrome://settings/languages
Turn off ‘offer to save passwords’ at chrome://settings/passwords

Install cdto:
https://github.com/jbtule/cdto
Drag it into /Applications, then cmd+drag it into the finder bar

Install printer software:
Download the “BrotherPushScanTool” from the web
Download the “Brother iPrint&Scan” application from the app store
Restart the printer

See my opensnoop notes for disabling SIP