Setting up a new Mac
Every time I setup a new Mac system I wonder “what else do I have to set/configure” so I decided today while setting up a new Mac that I will write down the (imho) most important steps, settings and applications. Thus I have a step by step list next time I set up a new Mac (:
This post is subject to change without prior notice.
System Preferences
General
- Ask to keep changes when closing documents
- Close windows when quitting an application
Mission Control
- Show Dashboard as a space
- Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use
- Set up hot corners
Language & Text
- Remove unneeded languages
Security & Privacy
- Require password “5 seconds” after sleep or screensaver begins
- activate “FileVault”
- activate “Firewall” (and/or set up pf)
Notifications
- Mail -> Alert && in the Mail application set only VIP send notifications
Display
- [ ] Automatically adjust brightness
Energy Saver
Set sleeping times
- Wake for network access (For laptops off)
Keyboard
- Adjust keyboard brightness in low light
- All controls
- Map “Tab” to “Ctrl”
- higher Key Repeat rate
Network
- [ ] Ask to join new networks
Sharing
- Remote login
Software Update
- Install system data files and security updates
Applications
Finder Preferences
- New Finder windows show: home
- Show these items in the sidebar -> add your home folder
- Show all filename extensions
- Remove “All My Files” from Sidebar
- Show Path Bar
- Show Status Bar
Contacts
- Default Account
- Adress Format
iTerm2
- set scrollback buffer higher
- Right option key acts as +ESC
Applications needed
- iTerm2
- Adium
- AppCleaner
- Evernote
- Chrome
- Firefox
- sublime2
- Xcode
- install simulator
- install documentation
- tunnelblick
- flux
- nvALT
- Trim Enabler
- Xee
- Pester
- Caffeine (TODO: Rewrite that tool)
- XQuartz
- Tunnelblick
- Dash
- Timingapp
- DOSBox
- puu.sh
- ReadKit
- TestFlight
- Crashlytics
- CoverStory
- SQLite Professional
- Liya
- Spectacle
- VLC
- texstudio
- Tyme
- Spotify
- 1Password
- Keyboard Cleaner
- Sourcetree
- Caffeine
- Shiori
- Marked 2
- Pixelmator
- DayOne
- PaintCode
- Anki
homebrew
- wine (put it up here, so it will install deps with -universal)
- hydra (nikto)
- dsniff
- htop-osx
- metas*****
- mplayer
- ngrep
- nmap
- p0f
- smartmontools
- unrar
- wget
- wine
- wireshark
- colordiff
- appledoc
- git (the version in brew is much better then the XCode version)
- duply
- openvpn
- sshfs
- sloccount
- mmv
- git-cal
- mpv (needs extra repo)
- cmake
- curl
- ddate
- dos2unix
- figlet
- toilet
- fortune
- geoip
- hexedit
- jq (nice json parser)
- svg2png
- tcpflow
- tcpreplay
- mitmproxy
- class-dump
- arpoison
- pngquant
- mpv
- sntop
- sslscan
- fasd
- ag
Other
- cocoapods
- homebrew
- copy over your ~/Library/Keychain
Config files to copy
- .vim*
- .screenrc
- .mplayer
- .mpv
- .lldbinit
- .zsh*
- .oh-my-zsh
- .ssh
- .git*
- .ssh*
- Library/lldb
- Library/Services
- Library/Saved\ Searches
- Library/PDF\ Services
- other important folders:
- Music, Movies, Pictures, Documents, Desktop
- src, wichtig, script
plist files and other hacks
#!/bin/bash
##
# defaults write
##
# iTerm2 testing
# defaults write com.googlecode.iterm2.plist SetCtype -bool true
# Make Safari’s search banners default to Contains instead of Starts With
defaults write com.apple.Safari FindOnPageMatchesWordStartsOnly -bool FALSE
# Prevent Safari from opening ‘safe’ files automatically after downloading
defaults write com.apple.Safari AutoOpenSafeDownloads -bool false
# Enable Safari’s debug menu
defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeInternalDebugMenu -bool true
# Enable the Develop menu and the Web Inspector in Safari
defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDevelopMenu -bool true
defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitDeveloperExtrasEnabledPreferenceKey -bool true
defaults write com.apple.Safari com.apple.Safari.ContentPageGroupIdentifier.WebKit2DeveloperExtrasEnabled -bool true
# Speed up Mission Control animations
defaults write com.apple.dock expose-animation-duration -float 0.12
# Make Dock icons of hidden applications translucent
defaults write com.apple.dock showhidden -bool TRUE
# Enable highlight hover effect for the grid view of a stack (Dock)
defaults write com.apple.dock mouse-over-hilite-stack -bool TRUE
# Remove the auto-hiding Dock delay
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay -float 0
# Remove the animation when hiding/showing the Dock
# defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -float 0
# Finder: allow text selection in Quick Look
defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableTextSelection -bool TRUE
# Finder: show all filename extensions
defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleShowAllExtensions -bool true
# Finder: show status bar
defaults write com.apple.finder ShowStatusBar -bool true
# Finder: show path bar
defaults write com.apple.finder ShowPathbar -bool true
# When performing a search, search the current folder by default
defaults write com.apple.finder FXDefaultSearchScope -string "SCcf"
##
# chflags
##
chflags nohidden ~/Library/
##
# power management
##
# Disable the sudden motion sensor as it’s not useful for SSDs
sudo pmset -a sms 0
killall Dock
killall Finder
# for app in "Activity Monitor" "Address Book" "Calendar" "Contacts" "cfprefsd" \
# "Dock" "Finder" "Mail" "Messages" "Safari" "SizeUp" "SystemUIServer" \
# "Terminal" "Transmission" "Twitter" "iCal"; do
# killall "${app}" > /dev/null 2>&1
# sources:
# http://secrets.blacktree.com
# https://github.com/mathiasbynens/dotfiles/blob/master/.osx
Updated
- 2013 06 01: Some apps and plist tweaks added
- 2013 11 20: More homebrew stuff + lots of Mac apps (mostly dev. stuff)
- 2014 02 14: More homebrew stuff
- 2014 08 06: More apps and plist
2013-02-01