mac apps

content/mac-apps.md

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+title: Useful Mac OS programs
+tags: macos, computers
+date: 2022-03-11 00:00
+---
+
+Somewhat recently I got a MacBook Pro for work. I already use other
+Apple products and I figured that being a UNIX based system it is
+going to be very much useable for work related things. And, of course,
+I was curious about their new M1 soc. At the end, I was a bit
+dissapointed with the user experience and the desktop environment,
+coming from Linux/X11.
+
+After some rudimentary research, I found the following programs to be
+very useful, and I highly recommend them for improving your
+interactions with the Mac OS. All of the programs below are free
+software and can be installed using Homebrew.
+
+For GUI/DE:
+- [Hammerspoon](http://www.hammerspoon.org/) for configuring keyboard
+  shortcuts for maximazing windows, snapping them around, etc. It is a
+  general-purpose "automation" tool, and it is scripted in Lua. You
+  can really do a lot of things with it, and I barely scratch the
+  surface with my [very modest configuration file](https://git.groupoid.moe/dan/dotfiles/src/branch/master/hammerspoon/.hammerspoon/init.lua).
+- [Easy Move+Resize](https://github.com/dmarcotte/easy-move-resize)
+  for moving and resizing windows like in Linux/X11 by using
+  Ctrl-Shift-right mouse and Ctrl-Shift-left mouse and dragging the
+  window. Super useful.
+- BackgroundMusic for per-app sound
+  control. I was really surprised this is not implemented by default
+  in Mac OS.
+- [Mos](https://mos.caldis.me/). A tool to fix the broken mouse
+  behavior on Mac OS. In Mac OS you can use two scrolling directions:
+  "natural scrolling" (which is great for touch pads) and the standard
+  scrolling (which is great for standard mices). Unfortunately, you
+  can only select one direction which applies to *all* of your
+  devices! So, you need to install Mos to implement the scrolling
+  properly.
+
+
+For LaTeX workflow:
+- Mitsuharu Yamamoto's [emacs-mac port](https://bitbucket.org/mituharu/emacs-mac/src/master/),
+  also available [via homebrew](https://github.com/railwaycat/homebrew-emacsmacport).
+  It beats the other Emacs ports for MacOS by integrating some
+  Mac-specific niceties like smooth scrolling, correctly registering
+  fullscreen, etc. You you install it from source, and you gcc and
+  libgccjit, you can enable native compilation for elsip.
+- [Skim](http://skim-app.sourceforge.net/) for PDF viewing. Works
+  flawlessly with Emacs/SyncTeX. Backwards search with
+  Shift-Command-click.
+
+Other useful utilities:
+- [Stats.app](https://github.com/exelban/stats) for monitoring
+  resource usage, fans, temperature, etc.
+- [IINA](https://iina.io/). Basically a frontend to `mpv`. Great media
+  player.
+- [iTerm2](https://iterm2.com/). Easy to use terminal emulator.
+- For unknown reason, stock MacOS does not support per-app volume
+  settings. Even as a frequent hater of the audio on Linux, I have to
+  admit that this just puzzled me. You need to donwload a separate
+  app, BackgroundMusic, and route all of your audio throught it.