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This is a mandatory install on macOS for me (one of many). The suite of extra software utilities required to make the base OS usable is ridiculous, but I'm glad
by idle_zealot 3y ago
This is a mandatory install on macOS for me (one of many).
The suite of extra software utilities required to make the base OS usable is ridiculous, but I'm glad to see open source maintainers working to keep my mouse working.
- ahstilde 3y agowhat are your other mandatory installs?
- ajdude 3y agoNot the parent, but one of the first things I usually install on new Mac is Karabiner-Elements. Absolutely needed if you're using a non-mac keyboard.
- c-hendricks 3y agoWhat do you use it for? I use a non-Apple keyboard and just switched the options / command key in System Settings.
- sharikous 3y agoSay you have a laptop and a PC keyboard and want to have different settings for the internal and the external keyboard
- klausa 3y agoThe settings in System Settings.app are per-keyboard, so you don't need anything external for that.
- lobstrosity420 3y agoIt already lets you have different settings for the internal en external keyboards by default. I use it just like that - vanilla settings on my MacBook built in and for the external keyboard I switch command and option, since it’s a windows keyboard. I don’t want to be inflammatory, but the amount of baby duck syndrome when people say MacOS and Linux are unusable is crazy. Just try to go vanilla for 2 weeks before you install two dozen utilities.
- spectre3d 3y agoI use it to map caps lock to a hyper[1] key, whether it’s an Apple keyboard or not. [1] When I hold caps lock, the computer responds as if I’m holding Command + Option + Control + Shift. (In the “Complex modifications” tab, choose “Add rule” and enable “Change caps_lock to command+control+option+shift.”) LinearMouse seems great, nice that it’s being offered through homebrew as well as a dmg.
- programmertote 3y agoNewbie Mac user here. I just did what you suggested (I believe it's basically what's suggested in this article: https://9to5mac.com/2016/03/17/how-to-remap-windows-keyboard-buttons-match-mac-layout/ https://9to5mac.com/2016/03/17/how-to-remap-windows-keyboard...), but I don't think Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V works on browsers; I still have to use Alt+C and Alt+V to copy paste when using Chrome/Firefox browsers whereas Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V works in PyCharm. What am I missing? Thank you in advance for your suggestion/reply!
- majormajor 3y agoIf you run through that guide I think the intended result is that "Alt-C" is going to be your copypaste. E.g. the keys work in the Mac order: CTRL / OPT (ALT) / COMMAND instead of the Windows order (CTRL / WINDOWS / ALT). So using Alt-C should trigger Copy, matching Mac-user muscle memory. Perhaps PyCharm is set to Windows keymappings or such?
- cpleppert 3y agoThe mac doesn't use ctrl modifiers to use copy paste. If you remapped Alt/option and windows/command keys on a windows keyboard alt-c & alt-v (i.e. the keys to the right/left of the spacebar) would be recognized as cmd-c and cmd-v on the mac. PyCharm supports a windows and linux keybinding that lets you use ctrl-c and ctrl-v to copy paste but the mac generally uses the cmd key as opposed to the ctrl key. If you want to use ctrl-c and ctrl-v you can remap both of those pretty easily using karabiner elements to cmd-c and cmd-v.
- sorahn 3y agoright-option to forward delete on the internal laptop keyboard. I used to use it to remap capslock to control, but apple has since added that to macOS itself.
- hibbelig 3y agoI use it to have hybrid modifier and regular keys: if I hold down caps lock like a modifier key and strike another key then it behaves like control. If I tap caps lock like I would a letter key then it behaves like escape. Return is another hybrid between itself and control (my keyboard does not have a right control key). Space is another hybrid with a whole lot of bindings when held down. With s it generates space so that I can have key repeat for space (don’t need that often). With hjkl it generates the cursor keys. Does this help?
- c-hendricks 3y agoOkay that's a great suggestion. I didn't mention it but I do also change my caps lock to an extra escape key.
- reboot81 3y agoI use Caps lock as backspace. Go back a webpage, delete last character. Use it all the time. WHO NEEDS TO SHOUT?
- siriusfeynman 3y agofor some reason apple think that the backslash and backtick keys are the opposite of what they actually are on british pc keyboards
- faitswulff 3y agoRectangle for window management
- baq 3y agohttps://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/ https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/
- pantulis 3y ago- BetterTouchTool - Folder Peek
- AlexSW 3y ago+1 to BetterTouchTool! I'm mostly a keyboard person (typical 'vim' user etc.) but being able to switch tabs using a two-finger tap left and right on the touchpad is so pleasant that I find it worth the investment for BetterTouchTool alone. Configuring this for the different keybindings of different programs flexibly is really great. And it's a one-time payment including fixes and improvements - I've had it for years.
- guiambros 3y ago+1, I can't live without BTT on Mac. From keyboard shortcuts, window management, controlling apps, overall customizations, HUD messages, and much, much more. I wish BTT were multi-OS, so I could just copy the configuration across platforms, instead of having to recreate from scratch (Linux), or not at all (ChromeOS).
- wdb 3y agoCleanshot X and Swish [2] I really like the gestures that Swish adds. [1] https://cleanshot.com https://cleanshot.com [2] https://highlyopinionated.co/swish/ https://highlyopinionated.co/swish/
- nicwolff 3y agoZooom/2 even though it's abandonware.
- billbrown 3y agoAlfred, Karabiner-Elements (for the hyper key functionality), Shortcat, TextSniper, Moom, Sublime Text, iTerm 2, my .bash_profile. These are all apps for which I have long-standing muscle memory. If I use a new computer, I'm still pressing the keys but nothing happens and I have to remember how to do the things the normal way.
- thehigherlife 3y agoNever heard of Shortcat before, it reminds me of that vim shortcut that used to be popular for firefox back in the day. I can see how that would be really powerful.
- gergi 3y agoEach of the features provided by the above apps would also require an app to be installed for Windows, too. Not sure how this can be leveled as an OSX criticism.
- bluSCALE4 3y agoI use SizeUp which gives keyboard shortcuts for what Win key + arrow keys accomplishes. There's probably something better but I'm used to it.
- idle_zealot 3y ago- Karabiner-Elements, primarily to map caps lock to ctrl when pressed with other keys and escape when pressed alone, although I also like to bind right command + asdfhjkl to cursor movement keys home pgdown pgup end left down up right respectively. - yabai/skhd for window management - brew/mas for package management - linearmouse to disable cursor acceleration, scroll acceleration, and inverted scroll direction for mice while keeping all those things on for trackpads. There are other things that I install on my Macs, but these are the programs that I use to fix behavior that I find unacceptable. Additionally I maintain a script of about 50 `defaults write ...` commands so that I don't have to dig around in the settings menus of system applications to configure them to behave sanely (show file extensions and paths, don't reorder Spaces, disable autocorrect, etc).
- fatboy 3y agoCould you post that script somewhere for us? I'd be interested to see if there are annoyances I'm just living with in there.
- idle_zealot 3y agoSure. It's definitely opinionated, but perhaps our opinions align! https://gist.github.com/idle-z/7fc3d3950b02c441ab522a094e5f4350 https://gist.github.com/idle-z/7fc3d3950b02c441ab522a094e5f4...
- fatboy 3y agoThanks!
- ris58h 3y ago- MiddleClick to middle click with 3 fingers. - Touch-Tab to switch apps with 3 fingers. Both are free and open source.
- insin 3y agoEasy Move+Resize for moving and resizing windows from anywhere in the window
- tambourine_man 3y ago>The suite of extra software utilities required to make the base OS usable is ridiculous Use Windows or Linux. Good luck and have fun!
- LoganDark 3y agoWindows isn't Unix, which is one of macOS's biggest selling points for developers and hackers (remember which website you're on). Recommending it as the solution whenever someone complains about macOS is counterproductive, because in many cases it's not a suitable substitute for macOS. WSL isn't a solution to this problem, especially ever since they gave up adding support to the actual Windows kernel and just used a virtual machine. I shouldn't have to wait for all my software to add support for putting the WSL wrapper around all of their commands. I should be able to just run them on bare metal. This is why JetBrains IDEs can do profiling, valgrind etc on macOS but not Windows.
- tambourine_man 3y agoIt's tiring to read almost everyday on HN: “the amount of work required to make this circle into a square is ridiculous”. Some of us enjoy circles. Use whatever you like, but complaining A is not B is annoying.
- LoganDark 3y agoYou clearly missed the point of my comment, which is not to say that Windows should be Unix, but that the fact that it is not means that you probably should not be recommending it as a universal cure-all to people who probably use macOS for a reason. In other words, it only sounds "annoying" because you seem to not understand why people would use a Unix operating system, and why Windows is not a suitable substitute. (This is assuming they use macOS for its Unixness, but enough people use it for that reason that you probably shouldn't be telling people to just use Windows and "have fun". To your credit, you did also list Linux.)
- tambourine_man 3y ago
- jonny_eh 3y ago> This is a mandatory install on macOS for me Would you mind expanding on that? I'm not sure what I'd improve about my touchpad experience on my Mac.
- thesuitonym 3y agoNot the OP, but for one thing, natural scrolling is just an awful idea for mouse users, it was designed for touch screens, and translates pretty well to trackpads (Although it broke with over a decade of user experience), but it's completely unnatural on a mouse. Unfortunately, if you're a user who switches between a mouse and the trackpad, Mac OS only let's you pick one.
- Toutouxc 3y ago> natural scrolling is just an awful idea for mouse IMO there’s no objective reason why. Natural scrolling is not what a lot of people are used to with a mouse, but it’s perfectly usable and even more consistent if you’re using the Magic Mouse, which uses a touch surface instead of a mechanical wheel. I, for example, always make my Windows and Linux machine use natural scrolling like I’m used to from my Mac and my life isn’t any better or worse because of it.
- arghwhat 3y agoUnlike for touch devices, it is no better or worse - but as scroll wheel operation already is incredibly well established, most already have an intuitive assumption of behavior and switching forcing the user to switch only annoys them. It is even part of our language: you "scroll down".
- joshspankit 3y agoAs an “ambidextrous” scroller, it’s just a matter what you’re scrolling: Are you scrolling the scrollbar down, or the content of the window? I think regardless of the direction you move your fingers, “scroll down” means the same thing: “scroll to a lower part”
- ayemel 3y agoOn the flip side, this is exactly how I feel with Windows in order to get the base OS usable.
- theon144 3y agoNot sure what you mean; Windows doesn't force mouse acceleration.
- tredre3 3y agoWindows (without additional utilities) allows you to disable mouse acceleration, change scrolling direction, change scrolling speed, and even invert buttons. Sure MacOS' stock behavior might be fine for you, but that's a different conversation, we're talking about giving the user choice without resorting to hacks here.
- ayemel 3y ago> Windows allows you to…change scrolling direction Within the last 5 years this wasn’t always the case since that’s when I last setup a Windows machine and this definitely was not a setting and I had to edit the registry. Trust me that was not my first choice—I would have much rather used a setting like you can on macOS for scroll direction. Of course that’s not to say macOS is perfect either. Sounds like they are just now getting around to adding a setting for mouse acceleration. Now, this has always been possible with a “simple” (when compared to the multiple registry edits I had to do on Windows) terminal command—no need to resort to a an additional utility as you imply. Obviously both of these “hacks” as you say are not anything regular consumers are going to be able to do. With all that said, macOS is closer aligned to how I would do an OS “out of the box”.
- kitsunesoba 3y agoLinux too. None of the DEs are all that close to what I'm looking for, and of course building my own desktop from scratch with a window manager, bars, takes as much work as adjusting a DE and then a bunch more.
- frou_dh 3y agoFunnily enough, they've just added a toggle to disable pointer acceleration in this year's macOS Sonoma: https://i.redd.it/rezxi3gfwf4b1.png https://i.redd.it/rezxi3gfwf4b1.png