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* MacPorts: Everything you need to make Apple Unix equivalent to a Linux box, plus more. Works with the Apple OS, not against it. Doesn't put things in weird pl

by rswail 2y ago

* MacPorts: Everything you need to make Apple Unix equivalent to a Linux box, plus more. Works with the Apple OS, not against it. Doesn't put things in weird places or expect to disable SIP etc. Updates the old versions of CLI stuff that is in the standard MacOS (eg bash, GNU utilities etc). * iTerm2: Awesome terminal * Karabiner/Elements: Set up keyboard mappings with more flexibility than the standard settings. https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/ https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/ In terms of MacOS stuff to enhance the out-of-the-box: * Bartender to control what shows on the menu bar https://www.macbartender.com/ https://www.macbartender.com/ (note, it has recently changed hands and people are suggesting to use "Ice" instead) * Rectangle: To control windows and screens via the keyboard * Arq: Better than Time Machine, allows selective backups and supports multiple destinations (OneDrive, NAS, etc) * Monitor Control: Controls brightness across multi-screen setups https://github.com/MonitorControl/MonitorControl#readme https://github.com/MonitorControl/MonitorControl#readme * Stats: Puts various meters in your menu bar (CPU, fans, network etc) https://github.com/exelban/stats https://github.com/exelban/stats * Spotify Notifications: Uses standard notifications to show latest spotify track playing etc https://www.spotify-notifications.app/ https://www.spotify-notifications.app/ * Dash: Awesome documentation tool for development, integrates with multiple other tools. https://kapeli.com/dash https://kapeli.com/dash

8fingerlouie 2y ago
You mentioned Arq being better than Time Machine. How do you actually use it ? My personal use is Time Machine for local backups, and Arq for remote backups. My reasoning is that TM is built in, and allows me to rapidly restore my machine in case of disk failure. I've always found Arq to have a rather clumsy restore dialog, and you need to create a temporary user account to restore your normal user account, or at least you needed to do that last time i checked.
- rswail 2y ago
  I backup using Arq to a local NAS and to OneDrive because I got free storage there as part of an Office 365 sub. <fingers crossed> haven't had to restore, but have verified the backups. The problem I had with Time Machine is that I wanted to configure what to backup and avoid some things like work vs personal etc.
  - 8fingerlouie 2y ago
    I do pretty much the same thing, though i backup locally to a NAS via TM, and remote to OneDrive using Arq. Like you, i've also never had to restore, but i somewhat frequently (every 30 days) verify my backups, and i've never encountered a problem with Arq. TimeMachine also appears to have become a whole lot better at not corrupting your backups every n days, but i guess that's APFS at work for you. The one remaining thing i have left is to figure out the "proper" way to backup iCloud only storage. Currently i have an app on each users device that uploads photos to a NAS, and each users laptop then backs up that share on the NAS to the cloud when Arq runs (i use scheduled snapshots on the NAS so no backup NAS to NAS for local). While it "works", i don't completely trust it, and i would much prefer a better way. I'm aware i can put the photo library on an external drive and download originals, but that's not very practical for people that bring their laptops with them, and also access photo libraries on the go. The only other solution i've come up with, is to have a dedicated "always on" machine, where each user logs in through remote desktop, and have that download originals for all users, but it requires me to remember to ask each person to login to the machine every time it's rebooted, which again is a chore, and i much prefer something automated that runs on the persons own devices instead of a centralized setup.
    - rswail 2y ago
      I actually broke down and I'm paying the exorbitant Apple tax for the extra iCloud storage for photos etc to deal with syncing between phone/mac/ipad etc.
      - 8fingerlouie 2y ago
        Oh i'm paying that as well, i'm talking about backing up the photos stored in iCloud, and preferably in an automated way. Apple's official documentation[1] simply says to login manually to icloud.com, select the photos you want to backup, and download a ZIP file. I have 3.5TB photos in iCloud... It's enough that i can't even purchase a Mac that has the needed amount of storage, nor should it be necessary to mirror all data locally before backing it up. All i want is a way to backup my iCloud Photos locally without storing them twice (locally). It works for Documents in iCloud, and Arq handles those well, but because Photos is "special", when it stores "optimized versions" of your photos, it actually replaces your local versions with lower resolution images, so even if you backup your iCloud photo library, you still don't have all the data. [1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/108306 https://support.apple.com/en-us/108306

by rswail 2y ago

8fingerlouie 2y ago

You mentioned Arq being better than Time Machine. How do you actually use it ? My personal use is Time Machine for local backups, and Arq for remote backups. My reasoning is that TM is built in, and allows me to rapidly restore my machine in case of disk failure. I've always found Arq to have a rather clumsy restore dialog, and you need to create a temporary user account to restore your normal user account, or at least you needed to do that last time i checked.

rswail 2y ago
I backup using Arq to a local NAS and to OneDrive because I got free storage there as part of an Office 365 sub. <fingers crossed> haven't had to restore, but have verified the backups. The problem I had with Time Machine is that I wanted to configure what to backup and avoid some things like work vs personal etc.
- 8fingerlouie 2y ago
  I do pretty much the same thing, though i backup locally to a NAS via TM, and remote to OneDrive using Arq. Like you, i've also never had to restore, but i somewhat frequently (every 30 days) verify my backups, and i've never encountered a problem with Arq. TimeMachine also appears to have become a whole lot better at not corrupting your backups every n days, but i guess that's APFS at work for you. The one remaining thing i have left is to figure out the "proper" way to backup iCloud only storage. Currently i have an app on each users device that uploads photos to a NAS, and each users laptop then backs up that share on the NAS to the cloud when Arq runs (i use scheduled snapshots on the NAS so no backup NAS to NAS for local). While it "works", i don't completely trust it, and i would much prefer a better way. I'm aware i can put the photo library on an external drive and download originals, but that's not very practical for people that bring their laptops with them, and also access photo libraries on the go. The only other solution i've come up with, is to have a dedicated "always on" machine, where each user logs in through remote desktop, and have that download originals for all users, but it requires me to remember to ask each person to login to the machine every time it's rebooted, which again is a chore, and i much prefer something automated that runs on the persons own devices instead of a centralized setup.
  - rswail 2y ago
    I actually broke down and I'm paying the exorbitant Apple tax for the extra iCloud storage for photos etc to deal with syncing between phone/mac/ipad etc.
    - 8fingerlouie 2y ago
      Oh i'm paying that as well, i'm talking about backing up the photos stored in iCloud, and preferably in an automated way. Apple's official documentation[1] simply says to login manually to icloud.com, select the photos you want to backup, and download a ZIP file. I have 3.5TB photos in iCloud... It's enough that i can't even purchase a Mac that has the needed amount of storage, nor should it be necessary to mirror all data locally before backing it up. All i want is a way to backup my iCloud Photos locally without storing them twice (locally). It works for Documents in iCloud, and Arq handles those well, but because Photos is "special", when it stores "optimized versions" of your photos, it actually replaces your local versions with lower resolution images, so even if you backup your iCloud photo library, you still don't have all the data. [1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/108306 https://support.apple.com/en-us/108306