I grew up using Macs, was forced back to Windows for a job, worked on Ubuntu for a while, and now have finally landed back in the Mac realm. After having been around the block on just about every platform, I can safely argue that Mac’s are better for a developer who’s serious about Linux but doesn’t want to sacrifice a quality UI.
One of the hardest things about setting up a new box is figuring out all the quirky setup nuances that make your box shine. This post is the chronicle of my most recent, most ultimate setup yet.
This was all performed on a fresh MacBook Air, but really anything running Mavericks works.
Ingredients
- iTerm2 replaces the stock Terminal app
- Alfred replaces the default Mac Spotlight
- Homebrew manages all your command line packages
- Solarized Colors makes your command line pretty
- Vim the best, and hardest, text editor and IDE that is worth learning if you are serious about computers
- jVim my personal vim, and extras, setup
- Tmux manages windows within your terminal. It lets you open up and resize several terminal windows without leaving the keyboard and reaching for that dirty mouse.
- Zsh a better shell that is bash backwards compatible
- Oh my zsh some nice default settings and themes for zsh
Getting Started
Installing
Start by downloading and install iTerm, Alfred, Homebrew, and Solarized
(imported into iTerm2 from this file). Once you have that done,
setup your iTerm2 profile to use your newly imported Solarized Dark theme.
Also make sure your “Report terminal type” is set to xterm-256color. Then
let’s keep going on the installation by hopping into iTerm2 and running some
shizz.
Homebrew installs stuff in /usr/local/bin so let’s add it to our path by
modifying ~/.bashrc and ~/.zshrc this might not be required
echo PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:$PATH | tee -a ~/.bashrc ~/.zshrc
Install zsh, vim, tmux, and something to connect your Mac’s clipboard to Vim:
brew install zsh tmux vim reattach-to-user-namespace
Tell your mac to permit your custom shell:
echo /usr/local/bin/zsh | sudo tee -a /etc/shells
Change your default shell:
chsh -s /usr/local/bin/zsh $USER
Move a folder to account for some Mac bug:
sudo mv /etc/{zshenv,zshrc}
Install oh-my-zsh:
curl -L http://install.ohmyz.sh | sh
Install jVim to your home directory:
git clone https://github.com/jondlm/jvim.git ~/.jvim
cd ~/.jvim
git submodule update --init --recursive
./install.sh bonus
Restart iTerm2.
Install some more stuff with brew:
brew install vim tmux reattach-to-user-namespace
Fire up Tmux:
tmux
Setup vim:
vim
# ignore errors for now
:BundleInstall
Interlude…
To be honest, I started writing this article several months ago and never finished it. I suspect these steps are correct, but your mileage may vary.
Fin.