Mac, MacOS, and OS/X

Apple Macintosh operating systems are covered here.

3 minute read

Here’s what I have for Apple Macintosh operating systems, aka Mac, MacOS, OS/X, and so on.

It’s a bit of a grab bag at the moment. I’ll add additional material over time.

Finder

Finder hides system files (and folders) by default.

To view hidden files for the current Finder session, press Command + Shift + . (period). (This affects all open Finder windows.)

This is a toggle setting. Press the key to hide the files.

To always display hidden files, start terminal and then run:

$ defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles true`

To hide system files by default, run this command with false as the final parameter.

You need to restart all Finder instances to pick up changes. To do so quickly, run:

$ killall Finder

(This command is case-sensitive.)

Brew (formally Homebrew) is a popular package manager for macOS, generally run from the command line (Terminal).

Set up instructions are on the Homebrew site (brew.sh).

To keep everything up-to-date:

For best results, consider running brew doctor twice before starting this process. (There are times when it seems to help.)

To learn more, see the brew FAQs (brew.sh).

It doesn’t happen often, but apps can stop responding on Macs & iPads. Here a few quick reminders:

To close an unresponsive app:
1. From Apple menu (), choose Force Quit.
2. Next, select the unresponsive app and then select the Force Quit button to close it.
The keyboard shortcut is Command + Option + Esc on current Macs and Command + Alt + Esc on earlier devices.
If you prefer the command line, you can use top to determine the process ID (pid) of the app and then kill to stop its process. (For details, see the relevant man pages.)
On the iPad Mini:
1. Hold the Sleep/Power button until the “Slide to Power off” message appears
2. Release the power button
3. Quickly press and hold the Home button. After roughly six seconds, the active app quits.
If you do not release the power button in Step 2, the device restarts.
If you prefer to use Terminal commands, go for it.

Safari hides View Source and Developer tools by default.

To show them:

Start Safari and then use the menu to select Safari > Settings.
From the Advanced tab of the Settings dialog, place a checkmark next to Show features for web developers

When you do this:
- a Develop tab appears in the Settings dialog
- a Develop menu appears in the app menu

The Developer tools can help troubleshoot website issues.

To open the Console, for example, use the Safari menu to select Develop > Show JavaScript Console.