Macbook Air install log

I got a new MacBook Air. These are the first things I do with it given my experience with the older 2011 MBA, based on what worked well for my environment and what not.

• Open the box, unpack stuff, got upset that the power supply has a new MagSafe adapter - this means my old power brick will not serve without an adapter.
• Charge the battery. Set up the basics and register the Mac.
• Log in for the first time. Change the background, make the dock smaller.
• Set the trackpad to the tap mode - I prefer light tapping to strong clicking.
• Remove some apps from the dock that I rarely use: the stock email reader, FaceTime, Contacts, etc. Many of these are integrated in Google apps.

Tweaks

• Fix Safari (and Chrome) settings to not save passwords, and start with my favorite start page.
• Move Terminal shortcut to the Dock
• Terminal->Properties->Settings->Shell-> change "When the shell exits" to "Close if the shell exited cleanly"
• Terminal->Properties->Window change width to 120 - I wan to see long messages.

AppStore

Install some apps from the AppStore:

• TextWrangler - the text editor
• Evernote - take notes, save in cloud
• Numbers, Pages, Keynote - Apple office
• MplayerX - play videos nicely
• SmartConverter Pro - convert most any video formats to common target formats
• The Unarchiver - easy zip file management
• Caffeine - Turn off screen saver
• Sketchbook Express - drawing program by AutoCad
• Kindle - read books from Amazon
• Xcode - for development and command line tools

Other Apps

Install some apps from other sources, or directly from the developer.

• Google Chrome
• KeyRemap4MacBook - to rearrange the keyboard
• Winebottler - like Wine on Linux
• DropBox
• TotalFinder - makes the Finder suck less
• CyberDuck - for SFTP and other file transfer protocols
• [ X11] - X-windows are NOT bundled with OS X since Mountain Lion
• Sketchup - easy 3D modeling
• CoolTerm - serial port terminal

• LeapMotion - because I have the gesture input gadget

Wine / Windows apps

• Irfanview - the easiest photo editor and viewer

ToDo

• Microsoft office
• Parallels

• Handbrake
• Python Launcher?
• Keyspan Serial Assistant
• Gimp
• Google Drive
• Arduino, Tinkerkit
• Waspmote?
• smcFanControl
• VirtualBox?
• VLC?
• EagleCAD
• DiskRing?

To-not-Do

There are some things that I have decided to stay away based on previous experiences or storage and other restrictions.

• No MacPorts for now. Will see, how long can I stay this way.