Setup notes for getting a new macOS machine set up from scratch.
Create a primary user account with iCloud login as usual during setup, then once installed:
- Set up an
Administrator
account and demote the primary user created during installation to a regular user for personal use - Set up further standard user accounts for clients/projects
Change the default DNS by using a configuration profile from my preferred DNS provider (this may need to be downloaded as a regular user to be able to log in, and then installed as the admin user).
Homebrew needs to be installed as the administrator user. Follow the instructions on the Homebrew website.
As the admin user, clone the dotfiles to a convenient location (e.g. ~/Developer/punkt
), then
install Homebrew dependencies using the provided Brewfile. The cloning should be done using the
HTTPS (not git://
) repo URL as the admin user won't be logged in to 1Password.
brew bundle --file ~/Developer/punkt/Brewfile
Note: This needs to be done before setting up the dotfiles for the admin user (as otherwise the dotfiles dependencies won't be installed).
I use Bash, not the macOS default zsh. This is installed through Homebrew and needs to be set up as an acceptable shell before macOS will allow the standard user accounts to change their default shell to it.
echo "$HOMEBREW_PREFIX/bin/bash" | sudo tee /etc/shells
This is required for SSH keys for Git. Sign in to 1Password and enable SSH agent.
chsh -s $HOMEBREW_PREFIX/bin/bash
(You will need to close any terminal apps to start new sessions.)
This sounds a bit weird as a directory name, but gets a fancy icon from macOS.
git clone [email protected]:csutter/punkt.git $HOME/Developer/punkt
Create a $HOME/.rcrc
file as follows (adding additional tags if appropriate):
EXCLUDES="_docs Brewfile LICENSE README.md"
DOTFILES_DIRS="$HOME/Developer/punkt"
UNDOTTED="bin Brewfile Library"
Run rcup -f
to set up the dotfiles.
One day this might be automated - for now, I don't do it often enough to be worth automating.
- Remove superfluous icons from Dock
⚠️ TODO: Adapt to new Ventura "System Settings" app
- General
- Set appearance to auto, choose colours as desired
- Desktop & Screen Saver
- Pick a nice wallpaper
- Dock & Menu Bar
- Reduce dock size
- Untick "Show recent applications in Dock"
- Configure menu bar (show battery percentage, hide WiFi)
- Mission Control
- Untick "Automatically rearrange Spaces"
- Siri
- Disable completely
- Spotlight
- Disable superfluous options
- Touch ID
- Set up
- Keyboard
- Keyboard: Set touchbar to show F-keys (on legacy MacBook Pros), tick "Use F keys as standard function keys on external keyboards"
- Text: Remove default text replacements
- Input Sources: Set to US and disable UK
- Add a shortcut to disable
Cmd-Q
for Safari:- In Shortcuts > App Shortcuts, add
Cmd-Ctrl-Q
as a shortcut for "Quit Safari"
- In Shortcuts > App Shortcuts, add
- Trackpad
- Disable "look up & data detectors"
- Enable "tap to click"
- Dial up tracking speed
- Disable "natural scrolling"
- Set "swipe between pages" to "swipe with three fingers"
- Set "Mission Control" to "swipe up with four fingers"
- Display
- Set up Night Shift
- Battery
- Configure "turn off display after" for Battery and Power Adapter
- On Power Adapter, enable "Prevent computer from sleeping automatically"