OSX

Key repeat rate

• copied from http://www.thedumbterminal.co.uk/?action=showArticle&articleId=182

Even when setting the keyboard repeat rate to its fastest in the Mac OSX system preferences the rate the keyboard repeats is still not fast enough. The speed is set using an integer value, the lowest it can be set from the system preferences is "2" but it can be set to "0" or "1" from the terminal, as follows:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat -int 0

Disable foreign characters on hold

• copied from http://www.thedumbterminal.co.uk/?action=showArticle&articleId=182

Sometimes a side effect of setting this is that an IOS feature is turned on that allows you to select characters from different character sets rather than repeating the key, this can be fixed with the following command if you do not want this:

defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false

The changes will be applied next time you login.

Disable IPv6 (why?)

When you go to System Preferences -> Network -> (Ethernet / WiFi) -> Advanced -> TCPIP, you will see the IPv6 option has the default three Automatic Manual and Link-local only

If you want to add Off to the list and disable IPv6, go to Terminal.app and enter the following commands:

networksetup -setv6off wi-fi
networksetup -setv6off ethernet

Each one will popup an authentication dialog requiring you to enter an admin login for it to work but IPv6 will be disabled immediately.

Change OS screenshot location

In Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Documents

Then restart SystemUIServer:

killall SystemUIServer

(or logout and back in)

If the folder doesn't exist at the time of taking the screenshot, it will default back to ~/Desktop

Speed up TimeMachine backups

Mainly useful for the first backup since that's the big one usually. Run this command before/during the backup.

sudo sysctl debug.lowpri_throttle_enabled=0

But make sure that when you're done, you run this one.

sudo sysctl debug.lowpri_throttle_enabled=1