Overview

My first new years resolution. Rebuild my daily driver laptop.

Rebuild Details

• Before starting the rebuild:
  • Validate iCloud drive sync is functioning properly. Log into the web interface to spot check a few files.
  • Validate TimeMachine has recently run a backup.
  • Unmount all external backup disks.
  • Dump list of /Applications: ls -al /Applications
  • Dump list of software installed with brew: brew list
  • Make sure the software list is backed up or synced with iCloud before rebooting.
• Shutdown and power off.
• Press the power button.
• Immediately press and hold: <command>+r.
• Connect to the Internet by selecting the wireless network in the upper right corner.
• Select Disk Utility
  • Note: There is no turning back from the following steps, all existing data will be deleted.
  • Delete all existing partitions (Macintosh HD and Macintosh HD - Data).
  • Create a new single partition.
  • Erase the new partition with an APFS file system.
  • Exit Disk Utility
• Select: Reinstall macOS (reinstall a new copy of macOS)
  • Unfortunately, this method will not install the latest OS. You must install the same macOS version that came with the system originally first.
• Post Installation:
  • Create the local user account.
  • Don’t enable iCloud at this point.
  • Install all the latest patches.
• Start the upgrade to the latest macOS version.
• System Preferences
  • Enable firewall, it is off by default.
  • Swap <control> and <cap-locks>.
  • Setup keyboard short cuts to switch desktops with <control> + ##
  • Uncheck automatically rearrange space in Mission Control settings.
  • Enable TimeMachine and display in menu bar
  • Accounts: Enable Google Contacts
• Enable iCloud
  • Enable iCloud Drive and sync Documents folder.
  • Note: iCloud drive may take hours for files to start showing up. Give it time.
  • Enable KeyChain - it will prompt for passwords.
• Change shell from zsh to bash (chsh -s /bin/bash)
• Setup dotfiles:
  • Symlink .ssh (ln -s ~/Documents/dotfiles/.ssh ./)
    • Fix permissions on private key: chmod 600 id_rsa
  • Symlink .bash_profile (ln -s ~Documents/dotfiles/.bash_profile ./)
• Software installation:
  • Brew
    • hugo
    • sipcalc
    • autossh
    • pandoc
    • basictex (brew cask install basictex)
    • gs
    • grepcidr
    • wget
    • tor
    • torsocks
    • mosh
    • gpg
    • jq
    • python-yq
    • iperf3
    • telnet
    • coreutils
    • mtr
    • pv
    • exiftool
    • pstree
    • htop
  • LastPass (macOS and plugins)
    • Allow LastPass to monitor input from keyboard
  • iTerm2
    • Enable terminal logging (plain text)
    • Set unlimited scroll-back
    • Mouse follows focus: prefs -> pointer -> general
    • Don’t adjust window when changing font size: prefs -> general -> window -> font
  • Chrome
    • Sign in and enable sync
  • Teams
  • Slack (from AppStore)
  • Discord
  • Notion
  • OneNote
    • Open Notebook: Jason’s Notes
  • Zoom
  • vscode
    • Login with GitHub account
    • Enable Configuration Sync
    • Extensions:
      • Markdown All in One
      • Python
      • Spell Right
      • Paste Image extensions
      • Foam for VSCode
      • GitHub Pull Requests and Issues
      • GitLens - Git supercharged
      • Jupyter
      • Markdown Notes
      • markdownlink
      • ToDo+
  • Ansible
    • python3 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate && pip install --upgrade pip && pip install ansible
• Firefox
• ProWriting Aid
• BoxDrive (not BoxSync, have to reboot after install)
• OmniGraffle
• Microsoft Office Suite: https://portal.office.com/account/
• Tor Browser
• Wireshark
• Duet
• Etcher
• Postman
• imagemagick
• Microsoft Remote Desktop
• Burp Suite

Post Installation Notes:

• python3 is installed by default on Big Sur, I will try this out before installing python3 with brew.
• I will no longer pip install anything outside of a python virtual environment .venv