Boot Into Recovery

Press ⌘ Command + R

Boot Drive Selection Menu

Press ⌥ Option key on boot

Apple Diagnostics/Hardware Test

Hod D key while machine boots

Reset NVRAM

Hold ⌥ Option + ⌘ Command + P + R while booting

NVRAMNonvolatile RAM is how your Mac saves specific preferences when it is powered off. NVRAM handles volume, resolution, time zone settings, and startup disk.

Reset the SMC

Resetting the SMCsystem management controller can help with many hardware issues. If your fans are running even when your Mac is idle is a good example. It also addresses issues with sleep, the ambient light sensor, and keyboard backlight. It may fix some issues with your Mac’s battery charging.

The instructions for resetting the SMC were copied verbatim from Apple Support

For Macs with a T2 chip

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. On your built-in keyboard, press and hold all of the following keys. Your Mac might turn on.
   • Control ⌃ on the left side of your keyboard
   • Option ⌥ on the left side of your keyboard
   • Shift ⇧ on the right side of your keyboard
3. Keep holding all three keys for 7 seconds, then press and hold the power button as well. If your Mac is on, it will turn off as you hold the keys.
4. Keep holding all four keys for another 7 seconds, then release them.
5. Wait a few seconds, then press the power button to turn on your Mac.

For all other Macs

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. On your built-in keyboard, press and hold all of these keys:
   • Shift ⇧ on the left side of your keyboard
   • Control ⌃ on the left side of your keyboard
   • Option ⌥ on the left side of your keyboard
3. While holding all three keys, press and hold the power button as well.
4. Keep holding all four keys for 10 seconds.
5. Release all keys, then press the power button to turn on your Mac.

Verbose Boot

Hold ⌘ Command + V while booting.

Safe Mode

Hold ⌃ Shift Key while booting.

Single User Mode/Boot Into Shell

Hold ⌘ Command + S while booting.

This drops you to a command line with root privileges.

Target Disk Mode

Hold T while booting.

If you want to copy data off of a Mac, Target Disk Mode is useful. Hold T when booting your Mac and then connect your Mac to another Mac using a Thunderbolt, Firewire, or USB-C. You can then use Migration Assistant or even Finder to copy the files that you need. This mode has a somewhat limited application, but it is one that can be helpful.

Features

• 11 digital input/output pins, all pins have interrupt/pwm/I2C/one-wire supported(except D0)
• 1 analog input(3.2V max input)
• a Micro USB connection
• 1MB Flash Compatible with Arduino

Technical Specs

Board Components

Board Pinout

Schematic and pinout images from EscapeQuotes

Highlight Temporary Data

Temporary files such as app downloads, receipts, and screenshots have a way of multiplying in number super fast. Yes, you need to keep them for a while, but they often get in the way. Mark such future junk files with a temp (“temporary”) tag.

Highlight Task-Related Data

Setup an “Action” tag for files that need relatively quick action. Like renaming, sharing, organizing, and the like.

Install Quick Look Extensions

Markdown Preview

Install QLMarkdown extension:

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brew cask install qlmarkdown

To enable text selection in QLMarkdown, run:

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defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableTextSelection -bool TRUE; killall Finder

Video Thumbnail Preview

QLVideo adds support for more video types.

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brew cask install qlvideo

Add Support for More Text Files

QLStephen will allow quick look to show more file types.

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brew cask install qlstephen

Install Applications

• Visual Studio Code (snap)
• Spotify (snap)
• Mailspring (snap)
• Docker (snap)
• Dropbox (deb)
• Enpass (deb)
• Kitematic (deb)
• Private Internet Access (deb)

Install Support for ExFat

By default the linux kernal doesn’t ship with support for ExFat. The ExFat filesystem allows you do have files larger than 4GB on a drive and is supported by more systems than EXT or NTFS. I use ExFat on all of my USB drives for this reason.

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sudo apt install exfat-fuse exfat-utils

Install earylyoom (Early Out Of Memory) Daemon

View on  GitHub

Earlyoom kills processes faster than the kernels oom-killer when the system is running low on memory. This helps keep the system responsive, preventing you from sitting in-front of a computer that has slowed to a crawl while you wait on the kernel to kill the out of control process.

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sudo apt install earlyoom && \
sudo systemctl enable earlyoom && \
sudo systemctl start earlyoom

Finish Docker Snap Setup

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    sudo addgroup --system docker && \
    sudo adduser $USER docker && \
    newgrp docker && \
    sudo snap connect docker:account-control :account-control && \
    sudo snap connect docker:home :home && \
    snap disable docker && \
    snap enable docker && \
    newgrp docker-snap

Setup Dropbox clipboard sync

I created a custom script to use Dropbox (or really any file sync service) as a clipboard sync system. It only supports text, but that’s the main thing I need. I am planning on putting up instructions on how to set this up for MacOS, IOS, and Android soon. It makes a nice universal clipboard sync system.

Install dependencies:

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sudo apt install xclip xdotool notify-osd yad

Create keyboard shortcuts:

Create a keyboard shortcut with “ctrl+alt+v” with command:

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bash "/home/cody/Dropbox/Bash Scripts/clip" --copy-from

Create a keyboard shortcut with “ctrl+alt+c” with command:

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bash "/home/cody/Dropbox/Bash Scripts/clip" --copy-to

Create a keyboard shortcut with “ctrl+alt+b” with command:

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bash "/home/cody/Dropbox/Bash Scripts/clip" --open-in-browser

Setup Resilio Sync & set permissions for the notes directory

Download The Deb

Enable in Systemd and adjust permissions & groups for the Notes folder:

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sudo systemctl enable resilio-sync && \
sudo usermod -aG $USER rslsync && \
sudo usermod -aG rslsync cody && \
mkdir /home/$USER/Notes && \
sudo chown -R $USER:rslsync /home/$USER/Notes && \
sudo chmod g+rw /home/$USER/Notes

Goto the web interface and setup Resilio sync:

Remember to logout of the DE and back in before finishing setup!!

Don’t forget to unlink the identity first, and link it to the unified identity.

Open the Web Gui to finish Resilio sync setup.

Setup Typora for Notes

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wget -qO - https://typora.io/linux/public-key.asc | sudo apt-key add - && \
sudo add-apt-repository 'deb https://typora.io/linux ./' && \
sudo apt-get update && \
sudo apt-get install typora -y && \

Open preferences and:

• General
  • On Launch: Open custom folder
    • ~/Notes
  • Save & Recover: “Auto Save” = true
• Image
  • When Insert…
    • Copy image to custom folder
    • ~/Notes/images
    • Apply above rules to local images = true
    • Apply rules to online images = true
    • User relative path if possible = true
    • Allow upload …. = false
    • Auto escape …. = false
    • Image uploader = none

Select the theme:

Close Typora and type this in the Terminal.

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cp -a ~/Notes/Themes/. ~/.config/Typora/themes/

Open Typora

Select the Ursine Umbra theme from the “Themes” menu.

Setup the custom .desktop files for Nautilus and VS Code

This allows you to have custom actions when you right click app icons in the GUI. I have set these up with my favorite locations, however when you open the files customizing them should be self explanatory. The launcher files need to be placed in “~/.local/shere/applications/".

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cp ~/Dropbox/Ubuntu\ Customizations/Custom\ Launcher\ Files ~/.local/share/applications/ 

Install Sushi

View on  GitHub

Sushi is a quick preview app for Nautilus. Similar to the quick preview in Mac OS. You just hit the space-bar to preview a file.

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sudo apt install gnome-sushi

Install Yaru Dark theme for VLC

View on  GitLab

The Yaru Dark theme makes VLC look like a native app.

To enable the theme:

Download Theme Here

Open VLC and go to Preferences > Interface, click the radial button that says “Use Custom Skin,” and select the “YaruDark.vlt” file.

Then restart VLC and the skin will be active.