Macbook Air install log

This is what I do with a new Mac or MacBook based on my experience and needs.

Last update: 2013-2014.

• 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->Preferences->Settings->Shell-> change "When the shell exits:" to "Close if the shell exited cleanly"
• Terminal->Preferences->Settings->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.
• System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts -> Full Keyboard Access: in windows and dialogs... [x] all controls

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
  • Xcode->Preferences->Downloads-> install Command Line Tools

Other Apps

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

• Google Chrome
• KeyRemap4MacBook - to rearrange the keyboard. Here are some of my favorite mappings:
  • Control+Arrow to Option_L+Arrow, to get the control to skip words, not desks.
  • Command_R to Option_R, or else I keep pressing command+a to get 'ā' for my Latvian text, but it selects everything instead, and kills the text with the next stroke.
  • Option_R to Forward-Delete, to get my Del key back and close.
  • Z+X to Left click (to make drag and drop easier with the touch pad)

• Winebottler - like Wine on Linux
• DropBox
• TotalFinder - makes the Finder suck less
• CyberDuck - for SFTP and other file transfer protocols
• X11 by XQuartz - X-windows (that are NOT bundled with OS X since Mountain Lion)
• FUSE and SSHFS for OSX - to mount my remote (linux) drives over ssh

• Sketchup - easy 3D modeling
• CoolTerm - serial port terminal

• Homebrew - the missing package manager for OS X

• LeapMotion - because I have the gesture input gadget

Wine / Windows apps

• Irfanview - the easiest photo editor and viewer

Experimental

There are a few things I am not sure will stay long term, but anyway, there they are:

• nginx - webserver for development needs. Yes, Mountain Lion still has Apache somewhere within, although the enabling checkbox has been removed from the system settings. So, I will try the nginx.
• node.js - for some experiments.

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.