It’s been a little while since I have setup a brand new machine

[Andre Van berlo]

Thanks Bob! I do a clean install every now and then but never thought of doing it this way. I would just format the drive and then use Time Machine…

my Tube will arrive in February (sigh) and your suggestion is exactly what i’ll be doing!

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Bret Williams] “The little ones you need that require serial numbers and aren’t downloadable from the App Store like fetch for example.”

I broke down and repurchased Fetch from the App Store. It saves some hassle.

Now I just import the shortcuts, but have to re-enter the passwords.

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Mark Dobson] “what’s the spec of the machine?
“

Fully decked 15″ rMBP.

I thought I’d miss the 17″ real estate, but after scaling the screen to 1920×1200, I don’t miss it all and actually enjoy the 15″ form factor.

And, the mavericks “remote disc” feature seems like we finally have a viable solution to do disc installs over a network without much hassle, although most of my discs are imaged anyway for quick installs. It’s the next best thing to having cloud downloads. 😉

Clever folks over there at Apple.

[Andrew Richards]

[Bret Williams] “But what about the 3 years of OS and App updates? That clone would be completely irrelevant after 18 months. After cloning back, then updating all the apps and reinstalling plugins it would be just as fragmented as before.”

Here’s how the pros do that (condensed version):

• Set up a DeployStudio server
• Create .pkg installers for anything that doesn’t ship as one using JAMF Composer
• Use AutoDMG to create a custom OS X installer images to be used with DeployStudio
• Annually or biannually or quarterly create an up-to-date deployment image with updates applied

Whenever a clean install is desired, simply reboot the workstation with the N key held down to NetBoot off the DeployStudio server and re-install with the appropriate custom OS X image hosted on the server. Go to lunch and have a freshly installed and configured virgin workstation with all your apps and plugins when you get back. If you have an Open Directory server set up as well, your user folder contents can be stored independently so all your individual user preferences remain intact and get synched down the first time you log in.

Obviously, the effort to set this up and maintain it is going to be overkill for individuals and is a time commitment that only makes sense for a dedicated IT staffer at a facility, but I just wanted to share in case anyone might be interested. The only software in that list that costs any money is JAMF Composer at $99. DeployStudio and AutoDMG are free community-supported tools.

Best,
Andy

[Walter Soyka]

[Bret Williams] “It’s all the little extra apps that are the nuisance. The little ones you need that require serial numbers and aren’t downloadable from the App Store like fetch for example”

I keep installers for apps like these in a folder on my Dropbox, and I keep their serials in Evernote. I still have to install manually of course, but at least this way everything I need syncs to my computer.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Andrew Richards]

[Jeremy Garchow] “I broke down and repurchased Fetch from the App Store.”

Dude. Transmit. SOOO much better.

Best,
Andy

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Andrew Richards] “Dude. Transmit. SOOO much better.”

Yeah. I hear you.

I’ve been using Fetch since I was a teenager. I feel a certain bond.

It hasn’t been updated in a long time. It’s my connection to legacy apps. 😉

[David Lawrence]

[Jeremy Garchow] “And there’s this, which is a laptop boot drive:”

Sweet, isn’t it? I have the same machine and this week I’m setting up four similar ones for my partners in LA. Grinning ear to ear every time I reboot in under 15 seconds. Enjoy your new rocketship and happy holidays! 🙂

_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~research
propaganda.com
publicmattersgroup.com
facebook.com/dlawrence
twitter.com/dhl
vimeo.com/dlawrence/albums

[Jeremy Garchow]

Thanks so much, David.

Happy Holidays to you, too.

Jeremy

[Chris Harlan]

I’m bummed because I’m planning on a new Macbook pro, but Avid and Mavericks don’t play well yet. I’m hoping this will change soon, but…. Oh, well. I wish I could install Mountain Lion on it. Maybe I’ll run Win 7. Sigh.