What is the first thing you do when setting up a new computer?

When you get a new computer, what are the first things you do? Whether it's:

• Installing programs
• Adding shortcuts
• Disabling certain options
• Setting up new preferences
• Etc.

I'm eager to hear what you'd consider the must-do "first steps" for a new machine.

Comments

[Itachi Uchiha]

I install the following in each new installation or computer.

NodeJS
Yarn
.NET Core
PostgreSQL
Redis
VSCode
Insomnia
SQLite Browser
FileZilla

Telegram
Spotify
Notable
Discord App
Liferea (RSS Reader)
Anydesk
Vokoscreen NG (For Screen Recorder)
Flameshot (For Screenshots)

[Nguyễn Trọng Vĩnh]

I have to uninstall Spotify, use Spotify web instead, it takes nearly 30GB space even I disabled offline

[Itachi Uchiha]

There is no web thing works well in my Ubuntu. I don't know why. But every 10 minutes, I can't open websites on Ubuntu. For example, I tried to visit instagram.com, it wasn't open the first time. I refreshed the page it was open.

So, browser things aren't for me. :P

[perpetual . education]

Install Alfred.

Get rid of the doc and remove the low-hanging UI (while leaving the settings as stock as possible otherwise)

Set the right-click and two-finger tap to control+click

Download Google drive (back-up and sync)

Set Drive to only sync current projects (all files but git in drive)

Get Brew in place + Curl

download GitTower (git)... Sublime (editor)... Skitch (for markup up screenshots)... Affinity designer (to avoid adobe at first)...

In theory - we can toss our gear in a lake... stop by an apple store - and get back to work in under an hour (that's the goal).

We just bought a new computer - and are documenting the entire process from the perspective of students in our course. We don't install anything - until it's necessary for the class / so, the student sees us also start with a blank slate. We'll share the list in 3 months!

You can also totally write a bash script - that will install everything - in one go!

[Peter Kim Frank]

Alfred was one of my first installs today.

[Christina Gorton]

I go through all the steps to make sure the typical dev environment/tools I use are installed and work.

• Git
• Node
• various CLI's I use
• Visual Studio Code, etc.

And then, maybe a weird thing, but I choose which browser I want to use and set up and save all of the typical accounts I use like my email, Notion, Github, CodePen, CodeSandox, etc.

I also create collections and add my most commonly used websites to Toby. Like this:

[Ben Halpern]

Search DEV for ideas and help 😄

My Mac Setup

Nick Taylor (he/him) ・ Jan 12 '18 ・ 9 min read

#productivity #developertools #webdev

Setup your Mac for development, 2020 edition.

Frankie Valentine ・ Jan 1 ・ 15 min read

#webdev #mac #2020 #tutorial

My New Mac Setup

shawn swyx wang 🇸🇬 ・ Oct 31 '18 ・ 4 min read

#mac

[Judith]

Number one: take screenshot of the applications folder on my old machine

1. read the system info
2. change the general theme to my custom contrast theme
3. all the other stuff as quickly as possible

[Valentin Baca]

For macOS, I love strap: strap.githubapp.com/

When I had a new mac on the way, I realized that configuring an automated setup with strap would take as long as a manual setup, so it was a no-brainer.

Here's my strap setup scripts:

1. github.com/valbaca/dotfiles/blob/m...
2. github.com/valbaca/dotfiles/blob/m... This is probably what you're looking for

For Windows, I use ninite: ninite.com/

For Linux, it depends, but here's my EC2 setup script: github.com/valbaca/dotfiles/blob/m... I'm getting a new mini computer for linux, I'm thinking of putting Alpine, Arch, or Ubuntu on it, so I'll probably have a script for that soon.

Then, mapping Caps Lock to be Escape :)

[David]

I was hoping someone would mention this in a sea of manual set-ups. I rolled by own and wasn’t familiar with strap. Thanks for sharing. There also MAS for installing non-HB and non-casks applications from the App Store.

[pkoloveas]

1. Install vim
2. Import zshrc & vimrc
3. Check python version (upgrade if needed)
4. Import requirements.txt for pip installs
5. Install rust
6. Install latex (Tex Live)
7. Install Docker
8. Enable AUR
9. Install vscode
10. Import vscode extensions & settings
11. Install chrome
12. Possibly configure themes, window managers, etc (depending on what I need the machine for)

[Robin Kretzschmar]

I spot a fellow arch user and upvote 💪🏾

[pkoloveas]

This specific workflow is for Manjaro, which is currently my main dev distro (that's why there are no steps to install python, zsh or git). I usually go with Arch when I need something minimal to build with a bottom-up approach (no DEs, etc). But even with Manjaro, I'm still in the Arch family 😛.

[Jeff]

Before:

1. configure the new box's roles in my repo

During:

1. install vanilla minimal OS
2. local nftables blocking access except from install IP6.
   1. arp discovery and securing for IP4
3. run provisioning script via ssh which:
   1. generates customised nftables rules and installs them
   2. installs security tools
   3. installs libraries
   4. installs apps
4. run a quick pen-test from an untrusted IP
5. run a quick pen-test from a trusted IP
6. take an asset inventory snap-shop into repo
7. initialise rkhunter chkroot tripwire aide logcheck and other IDS tools.

After:

1. beer
2. watch syslogs for an hour
3. tune nftables and other security logs

[Robin Kretzschmar]

Thanks for sharing, logcheck was new to me :)

[Necmettin Begiter]

I wrote an install-on-setup script that installs homebrew, ohmyzsh, ~40 apps, fonts, and my own keyboard layout (that I created for coding in PHP). Also symlinks all my settings back to their latest, puts my SSH keys backs, and sets my Apache vhosts.

Also, two hidden gems for Mac users: Apptivate (lets to assign any key combo to any app, folder, or file) and Shuttle (lets you create a menu for scripts you run often).

[Robby Russell 🐘🚂]

are you using a Brewfile?

[Necmettin Begiter]

No, simple brew install and brew cask install commands.

[ab]

I keep a configuration file of applications I use on every computer and use a package manager to install them automatically every time. For windows this package manager is called Chocolatey, its really useful to make a setup from the ground up for any development environment based on the tools you need:

chocolatey.org/