OSX setup guide for exhibitions

• System preferences
  • Login & user
    • limit privileges
    • automatic login
    • start apps on login
  • Energy
    • prevent display from turning off
    • prevent hard disk(s) from sleeping
    • scheduled wake / sleep
    • handle power failure
    • prevent screensaver from turning on
  • Notifications & updates
    • prevent notifications
    • disable bluetooth keyboard/mouse auto-assistant
    • prevent updates
  • UI
    • autohide menu bar
    • autohide dock
    • hide desktop icons
    • setup a desktop background
• App handling
  • autostart app
  • handle app crash
  • disable app nap
• Misc
  • Useful apps
  • CLI
• Ressources
• License

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System preferences

Login & user

limit privileges

• open Users & Groups
• create a new user (not a guest) with standard privileges and no password

automatic login

• open Users & Groups
• Login Options > Automatic Login

start apps on login

• open Users & Groups
• go to the desired user
• open the Login Items tab
• a the desired app by clicking the + button

^{for more advanced startup options, see Autostart below}

Energy

prevent display from turning off

• open Energy Saver
• set Turn display off after to never

prevent hard disk(s) from sleeping

• open Energy Saver
• set Put hard disks to sleep when possible to false

scheduled wake / sleep

• open Energy Saver
• open Schedule...
• set Start up or wake to Every day at desired time
• set Sleep to Every day at desired time

handle power failure

• open Energy Saver
• enable Start up automatically after a power failure

prevent screensaver from turning on

• open Desktop & Screen Saver
• go to the Screen Saver tab
• set Start after to Never

Notifications & updates

prevent notifications

• open Notifications
• set Turn on Do Not Disturb to from to 00:00 from 23:59

disable bluetooth keyboard/mouse auto-assistant

• open Bluetooth
• go to Advanced...
• set Open Bluetooth Setup Assistant at startup if no keyboard is detected to false
• set Open Bluetooth Setup Assistant at startup if no mouse or trackpad is detected to false

prevent updates

• open App Store preferences pane
• set Automatically check for updates to false

UI

autohide menu bar

• open General
• set Automatically hide and show the menu bar to true

autohide dock

• open Dock
• set Automatically hide and show the Dock to true

hide desktop icons

• open Terminal.app
• enter defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool false && killall Finder

^{to revert it : defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool true && killall Finder}

setup a desktop background

• open Desktop & Screen Saver
• select a neutral solid color

---

App handling

autostart app

handle app crash

~/Library/LaunchAgents/APPNAME.restart.plist

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
        <key>RunAtLoad</key>  
        <true/>  
        <key>KeepAlive</key>
        <true/>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>APPNAME.restart</string>
        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
                <string>/path/to/APPNAME.app/Contents/MacOS/APPNAME</string>
        </array>
</dict>
</plist>

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/APPNAME.restart.plist && sudo shutdown -r now

• RunAtLoad will launch the application the first time launchctl runs this
• KeepAlive will restart it if the application quits (CMD+Q or crash)

disable App Nap

App Nap automatically reduces system resources to certain applications that are not currently in use. In some cases, it will prevent your app from running continuously.

• right click you app and click Get Info
• in General, set Prevent App Nap to true

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Misc

Useful apps

• TeamViewer
• Dropbox
• Github Desktop

CLI

• echo 'my message' | mail -s 'test' '[email protected]'

---

Ressources

• http://paulbourke.net/exhibition/automation/
• http://vormplus.be/blog/article/configuring-mac-os-x-for-interactive-installations
• http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/837/automatically-relaunch-a-closed-application
• https://github.com/laserpilot/Installation_Up_4evr
• https://www.tekrevue.com/tip/disable-app-nap-os-x-mavericks/
• https://sfpc.hackpad.com/rPi-run-4-ever-qFgafqYPM54

License

MIT.