Setting up `MacBook Air M1 2020` in 2022

Harianto van Insulinde -

It’s new year 2022 and you decide to upgrade your system and this time you want to be fan-less, and the promising M1 Silicon MacBook Air will hopefully do the job for your career as a Frontend Developer. Also you have bought a Synology NAS treating your Air (as MacBook Air M1) as a to-go portable work station. Also you eagerly waiting for the new M2 so you could easily replace.

When my ‘Toy’ arrived I felt like a little kid, things I want to do with it comes to mind.

Start Your M1 Mac Up in Recovery Mode

New Mac OS installation comes as Case-Insensitive and as a developer I felt like I need to turn back to Case-Sensitive. So I have to format the hard-drive as a APFS Case-Sensitive.

To do this, you have to complete shutdown your Air. Then press down and hold the Power Button

Press and hold the Power Button until you see ‘loading startup options’ under Apple logo. Select Options and click Continue. Choose an administrator account and enter its password.

Format Hard Disk as APFS (Case-Sensitive)

  • Choose ‘Disk Utility’ and click Continue.
  • On ‘Internal’ choose ‘Macintosh HD volumes’.
  • On right top menu buttons choose ‘Erase’.
  • A new window pop-up ‘Erase APFS volume group “Macintosh HD”?’
    • Name: Macintosh HD
    • Format: APFS (Case-sensitive)
    • Then press Erase
After formatting Recovery Mode will automatically reboot system.

Update your OS

  • On the apple icon () go to: About This Mac
  • An Overview will shown then press: Software Update

Install Command Line Tools

xcode-select --install

Generating a new SSH key

ssh-keygen -t ed25519
This creates a new SSH key, using the system user and system name
More info find here: Generating a new SSH key
# view .pub file
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

# copy file to clipboard
pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

# check content from clipboard
pbpaste

Optional

In GitHub add New SSH key

Install system softwares

Install Apps

Optional Apps

Configurations

ZSH

Append some lines

# Connect VPS
alias vps='ssh root@xxx.xxx.xxx.xx'

# Docker commands
alias docker.kill='docker rm -f $(docker ps -a -q)'
alias docker.dangling='docker images -q --filter "dangling=true"'
alias docker.remove-untagged-images='docker rmi -f `docker.dangling` > /dev/null 2>&1 || echo "Nothing to remove"'
alias docker.ip='docker inspect -f "{{range.NetworkSettings.Networks}}{{.IPAddress}}{{end}}" $1'
alias docker.down='docker-compose down --remove-orphans'
alias docker.up='docker-compose up --build -d'
alias docker.restart='docker.down && docker.up && docker-compose logs -f'

# NVM config
export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
[ -s "/opt/homebrew/opt/nvm/nvm.sh" ] && \. "/opt/homebrew/opt/nvm/nvm.sh"  # This loads nvm
[ -s "/opt/homebrew/opt/nvm/etc/bash_completion.d/nvm" ] && \. "/opt/homebrew/opt/nvm/etc/bash_completion.d/nvm"  # This loads nvm bash_completion
File: ~/.zshrc
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"
File: ~/.zprofile

iTerm2

Assign a Hotkey to bring terminal with ease.

Setting Hotkey

  • In Preferences go to Keys / HotKey / Create a Dedicated Hotkey Window, then a new window appears.
  • Activate Double-tap Key: and set to CMD, and OK.
  • Activate Pin hotkey window.
  • Activate Animate showing and hiding.

Display Menu

Sometimes you just want the full resolution (2560x1600) instead of retina (1680x1050) as workspace. It's easier to switch resolution between monitors.

MonitorControl

Strangely MacBook only work with single Master Volume and I really want to control volume on my external monitor. At least this will work for me.

Moom

Working with external 4K monitor, I want 3 columns window instead of 2. This is good enough, but I rather have those features on my PopOS Gnome Extension called gTile. Using Hotkeys combo to bring up a panel then reorder all your windows.

Side load a mini browser for live stats.

Forklift

It’s a two-panel Finder to manage your files.

Synology Drive Client

It’s like a DropBox but private.

MacBook Accessories

  • LetsSwipeThat - cloth; between keys and screen, mainly to protect the screen when closing the lid.
  • Magnetic USB-C Adapter 4K - bring back MacSafe

Ideas