Okay here we go into MacOS land I guess????

One nice thing on Mac is that you can install the OS from scratch with nothing. Hit power-on, and hold one of these:

• Command-R: Start up from the built-in macOS Recovery system.
• Option-Command-R: Start internet-based recovery, install latest MacOS that's compatible.
• Shift-Option-Command-R: : Start internet-based recovery, install the MacOS that it came with.

Why not have the above just ask you with a nice menu what to install and how? No goddamn clue. Anyway, other boot-time keys are here.

: If you have a 2015-era Mac and you try to install the latest MacOS, it may fail cryptically with an error like "5101f". The issue here is boot firmware. Due to stupid, the only way to update the firmware is to update OS. So in that case, you have to install the original MacOS it came with (e.g. Mojave), then update OS from within.

In this walled garden nightmare world, you have to have an AppleID to make just about anything work. So go do that.

These idiot goblins forgot what numbers are, so look up whatever dumb set of words equates to the latest version. To update OS, you may or may not find a nice software update button in preferences. If not, google "app store <dumb-macos-name>" to find a page that will link you into the store to give you an update button to that OS version.

If updating from "Mojave" or similar, the app store may not understand multi-factor auth, and you'll get cryptic errors repeatedly with no feedback or hope of success. Ensure MFA is set up (by going here if needed).

Then, and I can't stress enough how magically stupid this is, when you login to the app store, do it normally once and have it fail, then put in your password and concatenate the MFA code you just got. Then you can actually login and get the OS update. The new OS will be aware of MFA.

It's apt-get for osx.

Run the command listed here: https://brew.sh/

This is basically the cygwin list adapted for brew:

$ brew install lynx links nano wget rsync unzip vim openssh screen gcc gdb make bash-completion git python3 

This info is old. Might be useful, might not.

Do this stuff to get bash 4.x:

$ brew install bash bash-completion
$ sudo -i
Password:  
# echo "$(brew --prefix)/bin/bash" >> /etc/shells
# exit
$ chsh -s $(brew --prefix)/bin/bash

The shell is now changed, but if you type "bash" by itself, it still launches that ridiculous dinosaur shell that Apple ships. To change the path order to prefer installed alternatives, add this to .bashrc:

export PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH

Import this profile, or make a new profile based on "Basic" with:

• Correct colors (background=black, font=greyish, bold=lighter-greyish, and pull the blue brightness up a bit)
• Decent default shell size (~100x30)
• In 'Shell' tab, "When the shell exits" → "Close if the shell exited cleanly"
• Set profile as default & startup

Resist the urge to start with 'Pro' (which is light-on-dark), as they think Pro means no antialiasing and a tiny font.

My environment kit does work on OSX. You just need modern Bash (see above) and modern base64:

$ brew install base64

Then deploy kit per usual.

Shell settings may not be deployed automatically – in this case, add "source ~/.mybashrc" to ~/.profile (creating this file if it doesn't exist).

• Change ls alias from "ls –color=auto" to "ls -G" in .mybashrc
• Remove bin/clear

I can't understand why, but standard one-finger tap-then-drag isn't enabled by default. Weirdly, the option is NOT under "Trackpad", but rather in the trackpad part of the Accessibility options. See here for details.