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Maxime HEBRARD
Maxime HEBRARD

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Improved Shell (MacOS)

#macos #zsh #setup #terminal

MacOS comes with a default terminal, but it might be convenient to customized it to improve user experience.

Homebrew

Homebrew is a package manager for MacOS, we will use it to install all the software on Mac.

  • Open the web browser
  • Visite homebrew
  • Follow install instructions... 
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
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  • Proceed with installation
  • Follow instructions to add homebrew to your PATH 
echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> /Users/hebrardms/.zprofile
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"
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To install software using homebrew:

  • Open the web browser
  • Visite homebrew
  • Search for the software
  • Copy the recipe
  • Open 'Terminal'
  • Paste the recipe and run the command.
  • Follow installation instructions...

Git

Git is a version control software. It is also wildely use to distribure software.

  • Open 'Terminal'
  • Install git from homebrew 
brew install git
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  • Check git version 
git --version
# git version 2.30.1 (Apple Git-130)
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Fonts

We will change the default font of the terminal in preparation for the theme we will install later.

  • Open the web browser
  • Visit powerlevel10K - Fonts
  • Install the recommended fonts (MenloLGS)
    • Download the font files from the github links
    • Open Font Book
    • Click on '+' icon
    • Select the MesloLGS files
    • Click 'Open'

Color theme

Default terminal colors can be inappropriate. They do not play well with the theme we will install later.

  • Open the web browser
  • Visit tomorrow theme
  • Download the theme for 'OS X Terminal'
  • Open 'Terminal'
  • Navigate to the menu 'Terminal / Preferences...'
  • Navigate to the tab 'Profiles'
  • Below the list of profiles, click on '...'
  • Select 'Import...'
  • Select Tomorrow Night.terminal file
  • Click on 'Open'
  • In the list of profiles, select 'Tomorrow Night'
  • Click on 'Default'
  • Change font to 'Menlo LGS NF'

Oh My Zsh

MacOS come with a minimal terminal. In this section, we will configure the terminal to add some features and style using Oh My ZSH and the theme Powerlevel10k.

  • Open the web browser
  • Visite Oh My Zsh
  • Follow Install instructions... 
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"
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OMZ

Powerlevel10K

Theme that add useful infomation right in the prompt.

  • Open the web browser
  • Visite powerlevel10k
  • Follow Powerlevel install instructions... 
git clone --depth=1 https://gitee.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/themes/powerlevel10k
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  • Install zsh-autosuggestions plugin that provides autocompletion based on our previous commands 
git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions
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  • Install exa a modern replacement for ls. 
brew install exa
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  • Edit .zshrc to enable powerlevel theme 
vim .zshrc
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  • Press 'i' to enter insert mode
  • Uncomment options and edit file as follow... 
# ZSH_THEME="robbyrussell"
ZSH_THEME="powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k"

DISABLE_MAGIC_FUNCTIONS="true"

DISABLE_LS_COLORS="true"

ENABLE_CORRECTION="true"

COMPLETION_WAITING_DOTS="true"

DISABLE_UNTRACKED_FILES_DIRTY="true"

plugins=(git zsh-autosuggestions)

# Alias of ls using exa
if [ -x "$(command -v exa)" ]; then
    alias ls="exa --icons"
    alias ll="exa --icons --long"
    alias la="exa --icons --long --all --group"
    alias lt="exa --icons --long --all --group --git --tree"
fi
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  • Press 'esc' to exit insert mode
  • Press ':' and 'x' end 'return' to save and quit the file
  • Update Terminal 
source .zshrc
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  • Follow instructions to customise the prompt

EXA

Check Config

  • Install neofetch from homebrew 
brew install neofetch
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  • Check config 
neofetch
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fetch

Next, I suggest you follow Environment Manager - Conda.

Top comments (3)

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moopet profile image
Ben Sinclair •

Oh My Zsh is an alternative to the default shell

I'm being picky, perhaps, but Oh My Zsh isn't a shell, zsh is... and zsh has been the default shell on Macs for a while because Apple doesn't want to use copyleft software.

I bring this up because there are a ton of articles which say the same thing, and it's misleading for new users, who are already going to be confused between the terminal, the shell, the command prompt, etc.

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mhebrard profile image
Maxime HEBRARD •

Point taken. I edited the sentence for

"Oh My Zsh is a framework to manage the configuration of the shell and come with a collection of themes."

Hope that rectify the message.

Thanks for the feedback. Always open to suggestion for improvement

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sso profile image
Info Comment hidden by post author - thread only accessible via permalink
Sall •

🥷 🧙‍‍♀️ wiki.zshell.dev 🧙‍‍♀️ 🥷

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