Moving from Linux from Mac

This is the first Mac I’ve used I’ve been using Linux and Windows before that. I have to say the build quality of the 2017 Macbook Pro is far better than any other laptop I’ve had.

The keyboard to me feels great to type on to me. I’ve never been one to bash keys hard so it suits my typing style well. The Mac specific keys, shortcuts and layout are a bit annoying but I’m sure I’ll get used to them fairly quickly.

I’ve added spotlight to the Touch Bar which makes starting applications and changing settings quick and easy. So far I like the Touch Bar but then I don’t normally use the function keys much. I mostly use ctrl/alt shortcuts using the regular keys.

The setup was fairly simple although it did have to restart twice to install updates taking ~15 minutes each time. Compared to the last time I used windows this seems quite good. I’m more used to packages updating and then restarting in Linux without big delays although more of a pain to upgrade Linux between releases.

Setting up for development

First thing to install is brew:

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
brew doctor

Then to install Git, Node and Yarn for web development:

brew install git
Brew install node
Brew install yarn

and a few bits from cask:

brew cask install keepassx
brew cask install iterm2
brew cask install macdown

I downloaded these from the websites:

Annoyingly the app store doesn’t seem to have many apps which is a shame as would be easier to setup a new machine if it did. Not a massive issue but something I miss from Linux.

Setting up ZSH and the cobalt2 ZSH theme

To install ZSH:

curl -L https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/raw/master/tools/install.sh | sh

The to install the Cobalt2 theme:

cd ~/.oh-my-zsh/themes/
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesbos/Cobalt2-iterm/master/cobalt2.zsh-theme > cobalt2.zsh-theme

Save the file https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesbos/Cobalt2-iterm/master/cobalt2.itermcolors

Then open iterm2 preferences then go to profiles -> colors -> color presets and select the saved cobalt2.itemcolors file.

Finally install the powerline fonts:

git clone https://github.com/powerline/fonts.git --depth=1
cd fonts
./install.sh
cd ..
rm -rf fonts

The change profiles -> text -> font to Inconsolata for Powerline

Done!

Final Thoughts

One thing I’ve discovered is closing windows doesn’t close the application. You have to use command+q or select Quit from the menu which is a bit different. I think I’m starting to like this behaviour though.

The only annoying thing is the keyboard layout which I think is going to be a pain switching between Mac and PC. I really wish they would use a standard keyboard.

So far though I really like the MacBook Pro 2017 and MacOS. That might change once I start using it heavily but so far the learning curve seems to be small and coming from Linux I definitely prefer MacOS to Windows 10.

Comments