Difference between revisions of "Macbook Air install log"

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These are the first things I do with a new MacBook (Air) given my experience with the older 2011 MBA, based on what worked well for my environment and what not.
This is what I do with a new MacBook given my experience with the older 2011 MBA


* Open the box, unpack stuff, got upset that the power supply has a new MagSafe adapter - this means my old power brick will not serve without an adapter.
* Open the box, unpack stuff, got upset that the power supply has a new MagSafe adapter - this means my old power brick will not serve without an adapter.

Revision as of 03:50, 27 August 2013

This is what I do with a new MacBook given my experience with the older 2011 MBA

  • Open the box, unpack stuff, got upset that the power supply has a new MagSafe adapter - this means my old power brick will not serve without an adapter.
  • Charge the battery. Set up the basics and register the Mac.
  • Log in for the first time. Change the background, make the dock smaller.
  • Set the trackpad to the tap mode - I prefer light tapping to strong clicking.
  • Remove some apps from the dock that I rarely use: the stock email reader, FaceTime, Contacts, etc. Many of these are integrated in Google apps.

Tweaks

  • Fix Safari (and Chrome) settings to not save passwords, and start with my favorite start page.
  • Move Terminal shortcut to the Dock
  • Terminal->Properties->Settings->Shell-> change "When the shell exits" to "Close if the shell exited cleanly"
  • Terminal->Properties->Window change width to 120 - I wan to see long messages.
  • System Preferences -> Languages and Text; also in Keyboard, and add and enable options for Latvian text input support.

AppStore

Install some apps from the AppStore:

  • TextWrangler - the text editor
  • Evernote - take notes, save in cloud
  • Numbers, Pages, Keynote - Apple office
  • MplayerX - play videos nicely
  • SmartConverter Pro - convert most any video formats to common target formats
  • The Unarchiver - easy zip file management
  • Caffeine - Turn off screen saver
  • Sketchbook Express - drawing program by AutoCad
  • Kindle - read books from Amazon
  • Xcode - for development and command line tools


Other Apps

Install some apps from other sources, or directly from the developer.

  • LeapMotion - because I have the gesture input gadget

Wine / Windows apps

  • Irfanview - the easiest photo editor and viewer

ToDo

  • Microsoft office
  • Parallels
  • Handbrake
  • Python Launcher?
  • Keyspan Serial Assistant
  • Gimp
  • Google Drive
  • Arduino, Tinkerkit
  • Waspmote?
  • smcFanControl
  • VirtualBox?
  • VLC?
  • EagleCAD
  • DiskRing?

To-not-Do

There are some things that I have decided to stay away based on previous experiences or storage and other restrictions.

  • No MacPorts for now. Will see, how long can I stay this way.