Mac Tips and Great Apps

Table of contents

Apps

1. Homebrew
2. Karabiner-Elements (I am using microsoft Nano Transceiver v2.1 wireless keyboard, map application key (keys in pc keyboards -> application) to fn key (modifier keys -> fn) to switch input languages)
3. OneMenu (window management, keyboard cleaning, external monitor brightness, and clipboard history)

Homebrew

list all installed packages, optionally can add the package_name parameter

$ brew list [package_name]

Case Sensitive Volume

Some code may depend on case-sensitive naming as permitted with linux file system. How to create a case-sensitive volume on a Mac?

With Mac Sequoia (macOS 15), we could use disk utility.

1. Select where you want to create the case-sensitive volume, recommend creating in the “Macintosh HD” volume container
2. use menu, Edit > add APFS volume, type name
3. select “APFS (Case-sensitive)” or “APFS (Case-sensitive, Encrypted)” from the format dropdown
4. click size options and type in the reserve size (min start size) and quta size (max size)
5. click add

For older mac OS

1. use menu, File > new image, blank image
2. provide save as name “code.dmg” and select save location
3. provide name, size, format can select “Mac OS extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)” or “APFS (Case-sensitive)”
4. add the image to log-in items so the image can be automatically mounted at OS startup.

Keyboard Shortcuts

1. ctrl + k to delete till the end of line, vim d, $
2. cmd + backspace or cmd + shift + left, delete delete to the beginning of the line
3. alt + left-arrow to move cursor word by word, b in vim, ctrl + left-arrow in windows.
4. cmd + left-arrow to move to the beginning of the line, home key in windows