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My favorite MacOS initial setup

Key switching: right Command and Option, aka Polish characters like on Windows

If you're used to typing Polish characters using a key right next to spacebar (like on Windows/Linux), use the following script to switch places of right Command and Option

⬇️ download 

#!/bin/zsh
FILEPATH=~/Library/LaunchAgents/pl.zarajczyk.RightCommandOptionKeyRemappings.plist
if [ -f $FILEPATH ]; then
  echo "File $FILEPATH already exists" && exit 1
fi

tee $FILEPATH << EOM
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.nanoant.KeyRemapping</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/bin/hidutil</string>
        <string>property</string>
        <string>--set</string>
        <string>{"UserKeyMapping":
    [
        {"HIDKeyboardModifierMappingSrc":0x7000000e7,"HIDKeyboardModifierMappingDst":0x7000000e6},
        {"HIDKeyboardModifierMappingSrc":0x7000000e6,"HIDKeyboardModifierMappingDst":0x7000000e7}
    ]
}</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>
EOM

echo "Done, please reboot the system"
Note:

Key switching: tilde and paragraph

Switching places of tilde ~ and paragraph § buttons, for people used to US keyboard layout forced to work on EU keyboard.

⬇️ download 

#!/bin/zsh
FILEPATH=~/Library/LaunchAgents/pl.zarajczyk.TildeParagraphKeyRemappings.plist
if [ -f $FILEPATH ]; then
  echo "File $FILEPATH already exists" && exit 1
fi

tee $FILEPATH << EOM
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.nanoant.KeyRemapping</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/bin/hidutil</string>
        <string>property</string>
        <string>--set</string>
        <string>{"UserKeyMapping":
    [
        {"HIDKeyboardModifierMappingSrc":0x700000064,"HIDKeyboardModifierMappingDst":0x700000035},
        {"HIDKeyboardModifierMappingSrc":0x700000035,"HIDKeyboardModifierMappingDst":0x700000064}
    ]
}</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>
EOM

echo "Done, please reboot the system"
Note:

Buttons Home, End, Page Up i Page Down - like on Windows

On Windows pressing Home/End when entering a text in a website moves the caret position to the beginning/end of text field. On MacOS, it will scroll the entire webpage.

⬇️ download 

#!/bin/zsh
FILEPATH=~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict
if [ -f $FILEPATH ]; then
  echo "File $FILEPATH already exists" && exit 1
fi
if [[ $SHELL != '/bin/zsh' ]]; then
  echo "Please set ZSH as your default shell" && exit 1
fi

mkdir -p ~/Library/KeyBindings
tee $FILEPATH << EOM
{
  "\UF729"  = moveToBeginningOfParagraph:; // home
  "\UF72B"  = moveToEndOfParagraph:; // end
  "$\UF729" = moveToBeginningOfParagraphAndModifySelection:; // shift-home
  "$\UF72B" = moveToEndOfParagraphAndModifySelection:; // shift-end
  "^\UF729" = moveToBeginningOfDocument:; // ctrl-home
  "^\UF72B" = moveToEndOfDocument:; // ctrl-end
  "^$\UF729" = moveToBeginningOfDocumentAndModifySelection:; // ctrl-shift-home
  "^$\UF72B" = moveToEndOfDocumentAndModifySelection:; // ctrl-shift-end
}
EOM

## Additional steps for iTerm2
echo "bindkey '\e[H'    beginning-of-line" >> ~/.zshrc
echo "bindkey '\e[F'    end-of-line" >> ~/.zshrc

echo "Done, please reboot the system"

Key repeating on long key press

⬇️ download 

#!/bin/zsh
defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false
echo "Done, please reboot the system"

Homebrew & coreutils & command line tools installation

  • Homebrew - must-have package manager for MacOS
  • coreutils - GNU version of coreutils; MacOS is shipped with custom version of some of coreutils, but they work in a slightly different way than the GNU ones
  • other software of my choice

⬇️ download 

#!/bin/zsh
if [[ $SHELL != '/bin/zsh' ]]; then
  echo "Please set ZSH as your default shell" && exit 1
fi

if [ $(command -v brew) ]; then
  echo "brew already installed"
else
  /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"  ## from https://brew.sh/
  echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> ~/.zprofile
  eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"
fi
brew install coreutils
brew install watch
brew install wget
brew install screen
echo 'PATH="'$(brew --prefix coreutils)'/libexec/gnubin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
echo "Done, please reboot the system"

Python installation

Using pyenv

⬇️ download 

#!/bin/zsh
if [[ $SHELL != '/bin/zsh' ]]; then
  echo "Please set ZSH as your default shell" && exit 1
fi

# docs: https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv#basic-github-checkout

brew install pyenv
eval "$(pyenv init --path)"
eval "$(pyenv init -)"
echo 'eval "$(pyenv init --path)"' >> ~/.zprofile
echo 'eval "$(pyenv init -)"' >> ~/.zshrc
# choose newest, f.ex. 3.10.0
NEWEST=$(pyenv install --list | grep -E "^\s*\d+\.\d+\.\d+$" | sort -V | tail -n 1 | xargs -I{} echo {})
echo "Will install Python $NEWEST as default"
pyenv install "$NEWEST"
# use it
pyenv global "$NEWEST"
# verify
python --version
echo "Done, please reboot the system"

Java installation (JDK 11 and 17 at once)

⬇️ download 

#!/bin/zsh
if [[ $SHELL != '/bin/zsh' ]]; then
  echo "Please set ZSH as your default shell" && exit 1
fi

brew install openjdk@11
brew install openjdk@17
sudo ln -sfn $(brew --prefix openjdk@11)/libexec/openjdk.jdk /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/openjdk-11.jdk
sudo ln -sfn $(brew --prefix openjdk@17)/libexec/openjdk.jdk /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/openjdk-17.jdk
echo 'alias java11="export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 11); java -version"' >> ~/.zshrc
echo 'alias java17="export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 17); java -version"' >> ~/.zshrc

Docker

See:

Disable "drag to top" opening Mission Controll

MacOS 13 Ventura

Go to System setting > Desktop and Dock Scroll to Mission Control Uncheck "Displays have separate Spaces" then log out and back in again.

Before MacOS 13 Ventura

Go to System Preferences > Mission Control Uncheck "Displays have separate Spaces" then log out and back in again.

Software

Interesting Chrome Extensions

Other interesting MacOS Apps

  • BetterTouchTool allows customizing almost everything in MacOS, including TouchBar.

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