macOS

2022-11-02
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MacOS_wordmark_(2017)

Software > Apple > Operating Systems / Operating environment >

(on Wikipedia)
https://www.apple.com/macos

The operating system and environment for Apple desktop computers.

  • Formerly called Mac OS X or OS X

See also:



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Table of Contents [hide]

Software to try ∞

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Other possibilities:

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Utilities ∞

  • Automator (built in)

  • (possibly) Script Editor (built in)
  • https://etrecheck.com/en/index.html

  • https://objective-see.org/products/blockblock.html

  • $ – Pacifist

    • Opens Mac OS X .pkg package files and allows you to extract individual files and folders out of them.
    • This is useful, for instance, if an application which is installed by the operating system becomes damaged and needs to be reinstalled without the hassle of reinstalling all of Mac OS X. Pacifist is also able to verify existing installations and find missing or altered files, and also has the ability to optimize your system’s performance by updating prebinding information on your hard disk.

  • $ – Shush

    • Cough button

  • https://www.quicklookplugins.com/

    • A directory of Quick Look Plugins for Apple’s OS X

  • $ – extFS for Mac, by Paragon Software

    • Provides support for ext2, ext3 and ext4
    • exFAT is natively supported; this name is old.

  • Marcel Bresink Software-Systeme [ 1 ]

    • Bresink Software Updater
    • $ – NFS Manager
      — Network File System client or server.
    • $ – TinkerTool (for 13.x Ventura)
      — Access additional preference settings, or activate hidden features in the operating system and in some of the applications delivered with the system.
    • $ – PrefEdit
      — Inspect and edit all preference settings for Mac OS X applications. (Note that this is different from the “System Preferences” application which controls the operating system settings only.). Can clean up unused entries of applications that have been uninstalled.
    • $ – Sync Checker
      — Check if two folders or disks are perfectly synchronized
  • $ – SwitchResX

  • $ – Almighty

    • More configuration options. The free version might be non-nagware and have decent features.

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  • CloudClip – sync the clipboard across iCloud to another device like a phone

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  • DockDisks 1.0b5.2

    • Abandoned by the author (charlessoft.com)
    • Makes disks appear in your Dock when you insert them, allowing you to reduce clutter on your Desktop.

Utilities: Management of windows, mouse, touchpad ∞

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  • $ – Grid Window Manager

    • Window organization.

  • AfloatX

    • Always on top/bottom, transparency, click-through, etc.

  • $ – Swish

    • Window management with a trackpad.

  • $ – Better Window Manager

    • Application-specific and global window states, shortcuts, etc.

  • $ – Divvy

    • Section the desktop to automatically position and resize windows.

  • $ – Cinch

    • Move windows to the edges to position.

  • $ – SizeUp

    • Resize and reposition with hotkeys.

  • $ – Mosaic

    • Resize and reposition windows.

  • Shiftit (abandoned)

    • Manipulate window position and size using keyboard shortcuts.

  • was afloat

Alarms ∞

Emulation / virtualization / etc. ∞

(Emulation, Virtualization)

X11 ∞

Tips, tricks, troubleshooting, HOWTO ∞

Taking a screenshot ∞

To create a .png on your desktop:

  • command-shift-3 – The full screen.
  • command-shift-4 – Select a portion of the screen.

  • command-shift-4 then space – Select an application.

    • Unfortunately you cannot select just the popup window of an application; it will take the popup and the whole background of that popup’s main application.

To only copy the screenshot into your clipboard (but not create a file), you use the above hotkeys and also hold control.

Installation, reinstallation, upgrading ∞

Boot options ∞

See Apple#boot_options

Managing Mac programs (“apps”) ∞

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/install-and-uninstall-other-apps-mh35835/mac [ 6 ]

Installing an app ∞

  1. Find it.

  2. If it looks like an open box, then you can double-click it.

  3. (See Open a Mac app from an unidentified developer if you need)

Uninstalling a program ∞

  1. Find it in the Applications folder

  2. Select it

  3. Move it to the Trash bin (at the end of the Dock)

    • or Menu > “Move to Bin”
    • or command-backspace

  4. (It’s just a file, so when you empty the bin it will be permanently deleted just like any other file.)

Or:

  1. Open the app’s folder to check for an Uninstaller.

  2. If Uninstall <App> or <App> Uninstaller is shown, double-click it, then follow the onscreen instructions.

Or:

If it’s from the App Store, use Launchpad.

Force-quitting an app ∞

  • option-command-escape to pull up the task manager.
  • Select

  • “Force Quit”

2022-11-22 – macOS 13 (Ventura) – This does not list tray applications.

Fixing macOS permissions for downloaded apps ∞

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/example.app

Autostart an app ∞

Open items automatically when you log in on Mac

Apple Menu (top-right) > System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items

or

osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to make login item at end with properties {path:"/Applications/APP_NAME.app", hidden:true}'

Temporarily disable autostart for all programs by holding shift when you click the initial Login button.

control-cursor to hop words ∞

By default, control-left/right is assigned to Mission Control and it is option-left/right to hop words.

To change that:

  • System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts

    • Uncheck the Mission Control shortcuts

Information ∞

Stress testing / burn-in ∞

  • (Terminal) yes > /dev/null

    • You can open multiple terminals to run this, to stress out more cores/threads
  • (Terminal) cat /dev/urandom | gzip > /dev/null
  • With Chess — File > New Game > Players > Computer vs Computer

  • Turbo Boost Switcher

    • For Intel Mac
  • Prime95
  • stress-ng – (homebrew) brew install stress-ng

  • http://www.xbench.com/

    • As of 2022-11-14 the latest release is 1.3 from 2006-08-13

(Re)installing macOS ∞

macOS reinstallation

Installing a newer macOS on unsupported hardware ∞

Use OpenCore Legacy Patcher

Safari goes missing ∞

Safari

Keep Macbook on (do not sleep) when closing the lid ∞

TODO – which app? – The only way to keep a MacBook awake with the lid closed without connecting to a monitor is to use a third-party app.

With a monitor you can do:

System Preferences > Battery > Energy Saver > Power Adapter, and move the slider to Never

Trackpad customization ∞

One-finger left-click ∞

2022-11-18 on macOS 10.15.7 Catalina

TODO – It’s just a trackpad preference.

Two-finger right-click ∞

2022-11-18 on macOS 10.15.7 Catalina

TODO – It’s just a trackpad preference.

Three-finger middle-click ∞

https://github.com/artginzburg/MiddleClick [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ]

2022-11-18 on macOS 10.15.7 Catalina

Three-finger title moving ∞

2022-11-18 on macOS 10.15.7 Catalina

TODO – It’s just a trackpad preference.

Linux-style alt-drag to move windows on macOS ∞

Linux-style alt-drag to move windows on macOS

Resources ∞

Communities ∞

Other ∞

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Footnotes


  1. was http://www.bresink.com/osx/index.html [ ↩ ]
  2. In this case it’s https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/7.0.2/VirtualBox-7.0.2-154219-OSX.dmg[ ↩ ]
  3. was https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/24801/virtualbox [ ↩ ]
  4. was http://xquartz.macosforge.org/ [ ↩ ]
  5. Just like the olden days of DOS [ ↩ ]
  6. was https://support.apple.com/en-us/guide/mac-help/mh35835/mac [ ↩ ]
  7. was https://github.com/artginzburg/MiddleClick-Sonoma [ ↩ ]
  8. was https://github.com/artginzburg/MiddleClick-Ventura [ ↩ ]
  9. was https://github.com/artginzburg/MiddleClick-BigSur [ ↩ ]
  10. was http://www.macosxhints.com/ [ ↩ ]
3 comments

3 comments on “macOS”

  3. holy crap it took some doing to figure out what that funny “globe” symbol is in a keyboard shortcut reference for making a quick note..

    Reply

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