Operating Systems

New Apple Mac Cheat Sheet

This is a cheat sheet for Linux users who have just unwrapped a new Mac. It’s an ongoing battle but this may help you.

Saving Screenshots to a Folder instead of the Desktop

If you want to do this with Shift Command 4, you’re on your own.

If you want to do this with Shift Command 5, here is a guide:

https://www.tomsguide.com/how-to/how-to-change-the-screenshot-location-on-mac

Brew or Otherwise

One dilemma you’ll face is software can be installed by Brew or downloaded. It seems there is quite the difference at times so choose your poison wisely. Generally brew seems to be close to apt and yum so I tend to go with it rather.

Installing Brew

 /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
(echo; echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"') >> /Users/eugene/.zprofile\n eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"
sudo chown -R your-username /opt/homebrew/var/log
chmod u+w /opt/homebrew/var/log

Brew Classics for Linux Users

brew install mysql
brew install wget
brew install mc
brew install ncdu
brew install pwgen
brew install redis
brew services start redis
brew install telnet

Uninstalling Brew

You might find yourself in a knot and want to start over. Here are instructions for uninstalling brew:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/uninstall.sh)"
rm /opt/homebrew/.DS_Store
sudo rm -rf /opt/homebrew/Cellar
rm -rf /opt/homebrew/Frameworks
sudo rm -rf /opt/homebrew/etc
sudo rm -rf /opt/homebrew/include
sudo rm -rf /opt/homebrew/lib
sudo rm -rf /opt/homebrew/opt
sudo rm -rf /opt/homebrew/sbin
sudo rm -rf /opt/homebrew/share
sudo rm -rf /opt/homebrew/var
sudo rm -rf /opt/homebrew

PHP

You can install PHP using brew or using Laravel Herd. We prefer Herd:

https://herd.laravel.com/

Visual Studio Code

Extensions:

Turn on Auto-Save
Rust-Analyzer
- brew install libiconv
- brew install cairo

Network

Change Mac hostname

Avoid Process completed after closing terminals.

In Terminal Preferences, in Profiles pane select the Profile you use (should say “default” under it’s name), select sub-pane Shell and change «When the shell exits:» to «Close if the shell exited cleanly». It will not hide the [Process completed] message, but will close the window if exit code was successful.

Add

.composer/vendor/bin to path

Essentials

Anydesk

ZSH

Oh My

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

Slack

Chrome

PhpStorm

Keyboard Mappings

If you’re coming from a PC to a Mac the thing that will frustrate you most is the keyboard shortcuts. Although a Mac has some remapping tools, it’s a frustration to use and you might have to revert to third-party tools such as Karabiner-Elements. At some stage you might end give up and decide to study the Mac keyboards shortcut documentation.

On a Mac the “Command” key is super important. It’s clearly marked on a Mac keyboard and it’s larger than any such key on a PC keyboard. The ideal candidate for remapping this “Command” key on on a PC keyboard is the Windows key, however, bear in mind the Windows key is small and using it often can be frustrating and lead to mistakes. However, since the Command key is super important this is probably the first key you want to remap.

On a sunny morning in September 2023 I accidently uninstalled Karabiner-Elements and I lost all my key combinations that I had been using for months. This nearly made me cry.

Most important keyboard mappings to change

Control C and Control V
Home and End
Control right arrow and control left arrow
Control Z

Swapping Windows Key and Control

Control C on a Windows keyboard is conveniently located for the averaged size human hand to quickly copy something. If you decide to use the Windows key for command on a Windows keyboard, you’ll get frustrated by the short distance to “c”. So I like to swap Control and the Windows key:

https://www.macinstruct.com/tutorials/how-to-switch-the-control-and-command-keys/

Making End and Home Work

This is hard. On a PC keyboard pressing the End key jumps to the end of the line. I’ve yet to get this right on a Mac. To see how complicated this is, check this outdated post:

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/16135/remap-home-and-end-to-beginning-and-end-of-line

Here is one futile attempt to get this working in Karabiner-Elements:

Even trying this using ChatGPT is so wrong:

https://chat.openai.com/share/e6e3e7ae-d814-4d0f-ac1e-49f638c6e4dc

This GIST summarized it for you:

https://gist.github.com/jamietre/6457204045dce85476a693d21142edc3

Remap Alt Tab

Don’t. Just use Command tab.

Shift End

It’s very hard to live without this one.

Remap Control-C / Control V

Don’t. Use Command-C / Command V.

Remap Control and the Windows key

Karabiner-Elements Screenshots

This will either make you weep or cry. This software is powerful but so overengineered.

I’m not saying the above screenshot worked. Nothing worked until somewhere else in Mac settings I changed back from Karabiner to Dell Keyboard.

Change Mouse Orientation

It’s called Natural Scrolling in Settings. Turn it off.

Remap End Key

TBA

Set default programs to Chrome

Do it in Chrome

Remap control right arrow for scrolling over words

To be figured out

Getting a Mac to stop putting random full stops when typing

To be added

New Apple Mac Cheat Sheet