What should I do after getting my first new MacBook?

Question

Hi HN, I come from a Linux background and have been using Manjaro with i3. After all I decided to switch to MacBook what should I do to setup that as my dev machine.Any suggestions would be appreciated

bnchrch · Accepted Answer

Oh man! Heres a few things you should install first:
- brew
- brew cask
You use brew to install any packages you need and brew cask to easily install applications like slack, zoom, etc...
A couple applications i'd recommend:
- Spectacle (window management)
- iterm2
- caffenie (keeps your mac from falling a sleep)
- Rocket (slack like emoji's everywhere )
- ngrok
- vscode
You should also know that the shortcut for spotlight (cmd+space) is the best way to open applications quickly. If you end up liking the workflow go and pickup Alfred, its that type of functionality on steroids.

ahtaarra · Answer

I would get rid of Stocks, TV and Home apps but for that you apparently need to disable System Integrity Protection from Recovery. Also, I'd rather enable applications from all sources permitted to be run because you already get prompted when running those for the first time (using `sudo spctl --master-disable` which is reversible). I do not download apps from random sources or use pirated stuff so I'm less willing to put up with that sort of restrictions. Also `AppCleaner` is something I think is a must-have on a system because of files being left over when an app is deleted.

speedgoose · Answer

If you need or prefer to develop in a Linux environment on your Mac, you can test visual studio code remote, which allows you to develop from your new Mac but using a Linux virtual machine, a server, or a managed cloud environment.https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/remote-overview

leejoramo · Answer

Make bootable backups part of you backup tool set. Both Carbon Copy Cloner and Super Duper are good apps for this purpose.
Such bootable backups can boot any other system of the same CPU family. And can be use to copy your full system to a new machine. Files, apps and configurations.
(It may take a little time for all of to work with ARM but it should get there soon)

atmosx · Answer

On the security side, LittleSnitch and ClamXav is what I use and I am pretty happy with it.For command line package manager I prefer MacPorts to brew.Make sure you configure backups.

O_H_E · Answer

Linux user here. I definitely heard good things about Alfred.

What should I do after getting my first new MacBook?

Hi HN, I come from a Linux background and have been using Manjaro with i3. After all I decided to switch to MacBook what should I do to setup that as my dev machine.
Any suggestions would be appreciated

If you need or prefer to develop in a Linux environment on your Mac, you can test visual studio code remote, which allows you to develop from your new Mac but using a Linux virtual machine, a server, or a managed cloud environment.
https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/remote-overview

On the security side, LittleSnitch and ClamXav is what I use and I am pretty happy with it.
For command line package manager I prefer MacPorts to brew.
Make sure you configure backups.

Linux user here. I definitely heard good things about Alfred.