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+date = 2021-02-19
+title = "macOS: Testing Out A New OS"
+description = "My personal experience with macOS, from the perspective of a Linux junkie."
+draft = false
++++
+
+## Diving into macOS
+
+After spending nearly 15 years working with Windows and 8 years on Linux, I 
+have experienced macOS for the first time.
+By chance, my spouse happened to buy a new MacBook and gifted me their 2013 
+model.
+Of course, I still consider my Linux desktop to be my daily driver and keep 
+Windows around for gaming needs, but over the past week I've found myself using
+the MacBook more and more for things that don't require gaming specs or advanced
+dev tools.
+
+## Initial Thoughts
+
+Before I move on to the technical aspects of my set-up, I want to take some time
+and express my thoughts on the overall OS.
+
+![macOS Desktop](https://img.0x4b1d.org/blog/20210219-macos-testing-out-a-new-os/macos-desktop.png)
+
+As expected, the initial computer setup is a breeze with Mac's guided GUI
+installer.
+
+The desktop itself reminds me of GNOME more than anything else I've seen: even
+Pantheon from [ElementaryOS](https://elementary.io/), which people commonly
+refer to as the closest Linux distro to macOS. The desktop toolbar is great and
+far surpasses the utility of the GNOME toolbar due to the fact that the
+extensions and icons _actually work_. I launch macOS and immediately see my
+shortcuts for Tresorit, Bitwarden, and Mullvad pop up as the computer loads.
+
+Even further, the app dock is very useful and will be yet another familiarity
+for GNOME users. I know many people like panels instead of docks, but I've
+always found docks to have a more pleasing UI. However, I had to disable the
+"Show recent applications in Dock" preference; I can't stand items taking up
+precious screen space if I'm not currently using them. On that same note, it's
+taking me some time to get use to the fact that I have to manually quit an app
+or else it will still stay open/active in the dock, even if I've closed out all
+windows for that app (e.g. Firefox).
+
+Overall, I'm having a lot of fun and for users who spend a large majority of
+their time performing basic tasks like web browsing, writing, watching media,
+etc., macOS is a fantastic option.
+
+The rest of this post explains the technicalities of how I set up my CLI
+environment to make me feel more at-home, similar to the environments I set up
+on Fedora, Ubuntu, etc.
+
+## Making it Feel Like Home
+
+If you're someone who uses Linux primarily, no doubt your first thought when
+booting macOS will be the same as mine was: "Where is the terminal and how do I
+set up my favorite utilities?"
+
+Luckily, macOS hasn't completely hidden away the development tools from the
+average user. You can easily find the Terminal app in the Launchpad area, but
+it's probably not what you're used to. I was surprised (and happy) to see that
+the default shell is `zsh`, the shell I use on all of my Linux distros. However,
+the commands are not the same - even the ones you may think are native to the
+shell. Commands like `dir` do not exist, so other native commands like `ls -la`
+or `pwd` are more useful here.
+
+With only a few minutes of installing and tweaking a few packages, I was able to
+recreate a terminal environment that I feel very comfortable using. See the
+image below for a preview of the iTerm2 app with a split view between my macOS
+desktop shell and an SSH session into my server.
+
+![iTerm2](https://img.0x4b1d.org/blog/20210219-macos-testing-out-a-new-os/iterm2.png)
+
+## Xcode
+
+My first step was to search the web for any hints on how to get `zsh` back up to
+the state I like, with extensions, themes, etc. My first step was to install the
+CLI tools for [Xcode](https://developer.apple.com/xcode/), Apple's suite of
+development tools.
+
+```sh
+sudo xcode-select -r
+```
+
+```sh
+sudo xcode-select --install
+```
+
+## Homebrew
+
+Next up is to install [Homebrew](https://brew.sh), a nifty package manager for
+macOS.
+
+```sh
+/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
+```
+
+I ran into a permission error when installing Homebrew:
+
+```sh
+Error: Failed to link all completions, docs and manpages:
+    Permission denied @ rb_file_s_symlink - (../../../Homebrew/completions/zsh/_brew, /usr/local/share/zsh/site-functions/_brew)
+Failed during: /usr/local/bin/brew update --force --quiet
+```
+
+I found that the following permission modification worked like a charm. However,
+I noted that some users online discussed the fact that this solution may not
+work if your system has multiple users who use Homebrew.
+
+```sh
+sudo chown -R $(whoami) $(brew --prefix)/*
+```
+
+Next up is to ensure Homebrew is updated and cleaned.
+
+```sh
+brew update
+```
+
+```sh
+brew cleanup
+```
+
+## iTerm2
+
+Now that I've installed the basic utilities for development, I moved onto
+installing iTerm2, a much better terminal than the default.
+
+```sh
+brew install --cask iterm2
+```
+
+I also used the `Make iTerm2 Default Term` and `Install Shell Integration`
+options in the iTerm2 application menu to make sure I don't run into any issues
+later on with different terminals.
+
+We will also install `zsh` so we can use it in iTerm2.
+
+```sh
+brew install zsh
+```
+
+## Oh-My-Zsh
+
+I've shown the great aspects of [Oh My Zsh](https://ohmyz.sh) in other blog
+posts, so I'll skip over that speech for now. Simply install it and run an
+update.
+
+```sh
+sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/master/tools/install.sh)"
+```
+
+```sh
+omz update
+```
+
+Finally, restart the iTerm2 application to ensure all changes go into effect.
+
+## Oh-My-Zsh Themes
+
+Let's change the theme of the terminal to make it a little more friendly.
+
+```sh
+open ~/.zshrc
+```
+
+The third section of this file should contain a line like the code below. Change
+that theme to
+[any theme you want](https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/wiki/Themes), save the
+file, and exit.
+
+```sh
+ZSH_THEME="af-magic"
+```
+
+After changing the `.zshrc` file, you'll need to close your terminal and re-open
+it to see the changes.
+Optionally, just open a new tab if you're using iTerm2, and you'll see the 
+new shell config.
+
+## Oh-My-Zsh Plugins
+
+Of course, my customization of `zsh` would not be complete without
+[zsh-autosuggestions](https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions). This
+will bring up commands you've run in the past as you type them. For example, if
+you've run `ssh user@192.168.1.99` before, the terminal will show this command
+as soon as you start typing it (e.g. `zsh u`), and you can hit the right arrow
+to autocomplete the command.
+
+```sh
+git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions
+```
+
+```sh
+open ~/.zshrc
+```
+
+```sh
+# Scroll down the script and edit this line to add zsh-autosuggestions
+plugins=(git zsh-autosuggestions)
+```
+
+Remember: After changing the `.zshrc` file, you'll need to close your terminal
+and re-open it to see the changes. Optionally, just open a new tab if you're
+using iTerm2, and you'll see the new shell config.