Howto properly set up a new macintosh computer
From How2s
I got myself one of those brand new MacBooks (http://www.apple.com/macbook/) and am now setting it up from scratch. Here you find the steps needed to get it the right way:
| Table of contents |
[edit]
First Steps
- Get all the software updates by the software updater
- Create a "Download" folder in your "Documents" directory so the downloads do not clutter your desktop
- Download Firefox (http://www.mozilla.org/firefox) and make it your standard browser
- Set the standard download directory to the downloads folder you have just created
- Make the terminal suit your needs, I changed it to bash and changed the colors to green on black
[edit]
Download Essential Programs
- Download Cyberduck (http://www.cyberduck.ch) (FTP/SCP)
- Download Adium (http://www.adiumx.com) (Messenger)
- Download Growl (http://growl.info) (System Message Notifier)
- Download Skype (http://skype.com) (Internet Telephony)
- Download TextMate (http://macromates.com/) (Proper Text Editor)
- Download VLC (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/) (Multimedia Player)
- Download MPlayerOSX (http://mplayerosx.sourceforge.net/) (Another Multimedia Player)
- Download MenuMeters (http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/menumeters/) (System Monitoring via Menubar)
[edit]
Download Essential Widgets
[edit]
Download Essential Firefox Extensions
In case you don't want to migrate the whole bunch of settings from the old to the new computer, the following extensions are recommended:
- Sage (RSS Reader)
- StumbleUpon
- WebDeveloper
- Google Blogger Web Comments
- Google Notebook
- DownThemAll
[edit]
Download additional Plugins/etc
- Download the GnuPG Plugin for Apple Mail
- Download iAlertU (http://www.ialertu.com) (Anti Theft Software)
- Download the British PC Keyboard Layout (http://www.gyford.com/phil/writing/2005/11/20/using_a_british.php) to swap around @ and " as well as \ and `. This is useful if you are using PC and Mac at the same time and do touchtyping.
- Download and install DarwinPorts (http://darwinports.opendarwin.org) to have packages available easily that have been ported to *nix to Darwin.
- Download and install GnuPG Plugin for Mac OS X Apple Mail
[edit]
Migrating Settings
[edit]
Cleaning Up
- After importing the iPhoto library, I decided to clean the database from all the duplicates that have piled up. Therefore I boutght a little application that seems to do the job very well: DuplicateAnnihilator (http://www.brattoo.com/propaganda/index.php?s=1148847404&action=software)
[edit]
