Standard steps for making Mac OSX 10.x usable for a person who is comfortable with a Linux desktop and/or may use virtualization to run Linux Desktops.

Mainly, I keep this for my own reference, but others may enjoy it as well.

For some of these reference hardentheworld.org

Setup Screensaver

• System Preferences ⇒ Screen Saver Enable Screensaver:
  • Start after 2 minutes
  • Hot corner: bottom right corner locks screen
  • Click on [preview] and change message to not identify yourself
• Require a Password after sleep or Screen Saver — I set it to Require after 5 seconds (not immediately)

Fix Toolbar & three-finger click

• I just use BetterTouchTool (add-on):
  • Setup a mapping of three-finger-tap to middle-click
  • I remap my toolbar

Fix keyboard keys/shortcuts:

• Flip Command/Alt keys so they work like the rest of the PC world.
  • Preferences ⇒ Keyboard ⇒ Keyboard ⇒ Modifier Keys
• Common PC/Linux keyboard shortcuts
  • Preferences ⇒ Keyboard ⇒ Shortcuts ⇒ App Shortcuts:
    • "Find..." ^F
    • "Copy" ^C
    • "Paste" ^V
    • "Cut" ^X
    • "Print..." ^P
  • Preferences ⇒ Keyboard ⇒ Shortcuts ⇒ iTerm:
    • "Find..." %F <- This re-enables ^F in iTerm
• Control-Arrow in Terminal

  • In Preferences ⇒ Keyboard ⇒ Shortcuts ⇒ Mission Control

    • Move Space Left: ^%←
    • Move Space Right: ^%→

  • And add to your .bashrc the lines:

        bind '"\e[1;5C": forward-word'
        bind '"\e[1;5D": backward-word'
    

Note: Control-Arrow is an invaluable terminal cursor movement feature (one word at a time instead of per character). But MacOS took this key combination for switching desktops. Readjust.

Other apps:

• Display Menu — switching resolutions @app store
• Slack — chat
• Clementine — Not Itunes
• Darktable — Adobe Lightroom copied this ;)
• Gimp — Bitmap Image Manipulation
• Inkscape — Vector Image Editing
• LibreOffice — Decent Office Suite
• Scribus — Book Layout
• Minecraft
• VLC
• ScreenHero — Got to: yourteam.slack.com/screenhero
• VMware Fusion / Parallels — don't waste time with vbox
• Skitch — available in apple app store
• Audacity
• Docker

Kill the dashboard. Dead.

Because I am not a fan

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES && killall Dock

Install iTerm2

Still not gnome terminal, but getting closer. iterm2.com. Also set in app preferences:

• Preferences ⇒ Default ⇒ Keys ⇒ [+] and add Ctrl-Shift-N to spawn a new window (like in Linux)
• Preferences ⇒ Default ⇒ Terminal ⇒ Unlimited Scrollback
• Set default terminal width to be 120 characters.

Java

If you must.

Install homebrew

MacOS really just needs DNF/YUM, but homebrew does a decent enough job. Details at brew.sh.

Then install some useful packages:

brew install htop # darwin's default top is brain dead
brew install gnupg2 # GPG
brew install ffmpeg ghostscript lame mpg123 mplayer
brew install nmap wireshark # networking tools
brew install youtube-dl # because who doesn't?
brew install geoip # geo ip lookups
brew install python3 # useful

Set a good hostname

Tired of the "XXXs-MBP" hostname?

sudo scutil --set HostName newhostname

Separate non-Store apps

Create (if it isn't there already) an /User/yourname/Applications folder in your home. Put your own downloaded apps there, rather than the system /Applications/

Fix quarantine whine:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Users/Applications/darktable.app

Automount Local file share:

/etc/auto_master add:

/share  -fstype=nfs,noowners,nolockd,noresvport,soft,bg nfs://x.y.0.10/share

and run:

automount -cv

General Security:

• Enable Filevault — System Preferences ⇒ FileVault
• Set a firmware Password
• Enable Firewall — but selectively allow inbound (rather than blocking everything).
• Require an admin password
• Disable Spotlight Suggestions
• Disable Handoff
• Disable Guest User
• Show when Localization is used
• Disable Diagnostics
• Disable Creation of Metadata Files
• Save to Disk not iCloud
• Show Filename Extensions

A good reference for dual boot:

http://anderson.the-silvas.com/2014/02/14/fedora-20-on-a-macbook-pro-13-late-2013-retina-display/