Check info:

# Current version of MacOSX
sw_vers -productVersion

# Check if XCode Command Line Tools is installed
xcode-select —install
# Should return "/usr/bin/xcrun"
# If there is any problem, try to install XCode from App Store!

# check if running on ARM or Intel
arch
# arm64 -> ARM
# i386 -> Intel (running with Rosetta)

Keyboard & Trackpad settings

Go to Keyboard Settings and then,

  1. Should choose "U.S." instead of "U.S. International" because with the latter, we have underline score below special symbols like "
  2. For Vietnamese input method, DON'T choose built-in VNese input options. Use GoTiengViet EVKey instead (Turn off Gatekeeper before installing by sudo spctl —master-disable. Then check by spctl —status → should return assessments disabled)! (Because there will be unconfortable underline when we type).
    1. Note 1: If you are going to use Bitwarden (a password manager, recommended), it will prevent sometimes the input method to work normally (including GoTiengViet and EVKey). In this case, you have to turn off Bitwarden (or restart it). 👉 Update 05 Nov 2021: With MacOS 12.1 Beta, it doesn't have this error anymore!
    2. Note 2: EVKey works better than GoTiengViet (and it's still maintained) in some cases, for example, when you wanna type "thử nghiệm" on the browser address bar, GoTiengViet gives "thuử nghiệm" instead.

More keyboard settings:

  1. Touch Bar shows: F1, F2, etc Keys.

  2. Press ... to: Do Nothing.

  3. Press and hold ... to: Show Control Srip.

  4. Tick on "Use F1, F2..."

  5. Click on Customize Control Strip and change. Below are my customization.

    Brightness - Keyboard Brightness — Media — Volume — Screen Lock — Night Shift — Screen Capture — Dictation — Siri

Other useful keyboard tips

  1. Map top-left keyboard to backslash/tilde symbols. Install Karabiner-Elements and setting up "non_us_backslash" to "grave_accent_and_tilde (`)". If you don't know the names of some keys, you can use installed Karabiner Viewer.
  2. Three fingers to drag (choose texts): System Preferences > Accessibility > Pointer Control > Trackpad Options... > Enable dragging (three fingers drag).
  3. Install AltTab HyperSwitch (and use ⌘ + ⇥ which replaces the default method on mac, be careful!!!) to switch between windows (instead of apps) like on Windows/Linux.
  4. For external keyboard K380: Download and install Logitech Options. Install this to use F keys by default. Remark: Don't open Bitwarden while using K380, otherwise, it won't work normally (for example, F keys).

Printers & Scanners

  1. Setting up printers (if available). You may need Gutenprint for an alternative driver for printers on chip M1. After installing the drivers, turn on your printer (connect to a common wifi or via an usb cable), then System Preferences > Printers & Scanners > Add printer and choose your own printer, don't forget to choose Gutenprint as driver!
  2. For scanner app: you can use VueScan (paid) if the current version of app doesn't support chip M1 yet!