OS X Guide for Power Users

Command-line Interface

• OS X, being Unix-based, has a bash shell, accessible via the Terminal app
  • I recommend switching to the “Pro” theme (Terminal > Preference > Profiles)
  • You can even setup a ~/.bash_profile (equivalent of .bashrc)
• The file system is also very similar to Ubuntu

Package Manager

• OS X doesn't come with a package manager
• Install Homebrew via the one-line Terminal command 🍺
  • OS X comes with Ruby (and Python btw), so don’t worry about the ruby command
  • However, you do need the “Command Line Tools for Xcode”:
    • On OS X 10.9 and up, you can do: xcode-select --install
  • If you’ve already installed another package manager (e.g. MacPorts) then do not mix them
• Example of usage:

brew update
brew upgrade
brew info git
brew install git

• Unlike Ubuntu's apt-get, never use sudo with Homebrew
• Refer to the FAQ for more details
• For even more command line goodness, check out Homebrew Cask as well

Installing Third-Party Apps

• By default, OS X only allows installation of apps from the official App Store
• There are two more options, under System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General
• I have mine set up to “Mac App Store and Identified Developers"
• If it still doesn’t let you install something, temporarily set it to “Anywhere”, finish installation, run the app once, and then set it back to a more conservative option.

Recommended Apps (free)

• These are in addition to the obvious apps, like Skype, Dropbox, etc.
• Sublime Text or some other full-featured and hackable text editor.
  • Atom from Github is brand new, modern, and very popular.
  • Of course, you can also use Vim or Emacs, which you can install via Homebrew.
• VLC Media Player because Quick Time doesn’t like some video codecs
• XtraFinder adds a bunch of features that OS X’s Finder (directory browser) lacks
• TheUnarchiver or UnRarX because there’s always that one person that sends you .rar or password-protected archives
• SmartGit if you prefer to manage Git repos via a GUI as opposed to the command line
• gfxCardStatus if you have a Macbook Pro with two GPUs (integrated and discrete)
• In my opinion “Preview”, which comes with OS X, is far superior to Adobe Reader and even has some Acrobat Pro features. So I don’t think you have to worry about getting a new PDF viewer.

LaTeX

• LaTeX deserves its own subsection 😁
• Install the MacTex distribution (essentially TeX Live)
  • I think this comes with a bunch of handy utilities like BibDesk (bibliography editor)
• Then download an editor. I like TeXShop (free).
  • There are fancier editors on the App Store 💰

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Coming soon!