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The Terminal app allows you to control your Mac using a command prompt. Why would you want to do that? Well, perhaps because you're used to working on a command line in a Unix-based system and prefer to work that way. Sonic aquarius force mac os. Terminal is a Mac command line interface. There are several advantages to using Terminal to accomplish some tasks — it's usually quicker, for example. In order to use it, however, you'll need to get to grips with its basic commands and functions. Once you've done that, you can dig deeper and learn more commands and use your Mac's command prompt for more complex, as well as some fun, tasks.
From the Apple menu in the corner of your screen, choose About This Mac. You should see the macOS name, such as macOS Big Sur, followed by its version number. If you need to know the build number as well, click the version number to see it. Which macOS version is the latest? In doing so, you will be able to move around the Mac OS more efficiently, and get more done in less time. In this tutorial and screencast, I will show you how to quickly and easily move from program to program while keeping your hands on the keyboard.
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Download FreeHow to open Terminal on Mac
The Terminal app is in the Utilities folder in Applications. To open it, either open your Applications folder, then open Utilities and double-click on Terminal, or press Command - spacebar to launch Spotlight and type 'Terminal,' then double-click the search result.
You'll see a small window with a white background open on your desktop. In the title bar are your username, the word 'bash' and the dimensions of the window in pixels. Bash stands for 'Bourne again shell'. There are a number of different shells that can run Unix commands, and on the Mac Bash is the one used by Terminal.
If you want to make the window bigger, click on the bottom right corner and drag it outwards. If you don't like the black text on a white background, go to the Shell menu, choose New Window and select from the options in the list.
If Terminal feels complicated or you have issues with the set-up, let us tell you right away that there are alternatives. MacPilot allows to get access to over 1,200 macOS features without memorizing any commands. Basically, a third-party Terminal for Mac that acts like Finder.
For Mac monitoring features, try iStat Menus. The app collects data like CPU load, disk activity, network usage, and more — all of which accessible from your menu bar.
Basic Mac commands in Terminal
The quickest way to get to know Terminal and understand how it works is to start using it. But before we do that, it's worth spending a little time getting to know how commands work. To run a command, you just type it at the cursor and hit Return to execute.
Every command is made up of three elements: the command itself, an argument which tells the command what resource it should operate on, and an option that modifies the output. So, for example, to move a file from one folder to another on your Mac, you'd use the move command 'mv' and then type the location of the file you want to move, including the file name and the location where you want to move it to.
Let's try it.
Type cd ~/Documentsthen and press Return to navigate to your Home folder.
Type lsthen Return (you type Return after every command).
You should now see a list of all the files in your Documents folder — ls is the command for listing files.
To see a list of all the commands available in Terminal, hold down the Escape key and then press y when you see a question asking if you want to see all the possibilities. To see more commands, press Return.
Unix has its own built-in manual. So, to learn more about a command type man [name of command], where 'command' is the name of the command you want find out more about.
Terminal rules
There are a few things you need to bear in mind when you're typing commands in Terminal, or any other command-line tool. Firstly, every character matters, including spaces. So when you're copying a command you see here, make sure you include the spaces and that characters are in the correct case.
You can't use a mouse or trackpad in Terminal, but you can navigate using the arrow keys. If you want to re-run a command, tap the up arrow key until you reach it, then press Return. To interrupt a command that's already running, type Control-C.
Commands are always executed in the current location. So, if you don't specify a location in the command, it will run wherever you last moved to or where the last command was run. Use the cdcommand, followed by a directory path, like in Step 1 above, to specify the folder where you want a command to run.
There is another way to specify a location: go to the Finder, navigate to the file or folder you want and drag it onto the Terminal window, with the cursor at the point where you would have typed the path.
Here's another example. This time, we'll create a new folder inside your Documents directory and call it 'TerminalTest.'
Open a Finder window and navigate to your Documents folder.
Type cd and drag the Documents folder onto the Terminal window.
Now, type mkdir 'TerminalTest'
Go back to the Finder, open Text Edit and create a new file called 'TerminalTestFile.rtf'. Now save it to the TerminalTest folder in your Documents folder.
In the Terminal window, type cd ~/Documents/TerminalTest then Return. Now type lsand you should see 'TerminalTestFile' listed.
To change the name of the file, type this, pressing Return after every step:
cd~/Documents/Terminal Test
mv TerminalTestFile TerminalTestFile2.rtf
That will change the name of the file to 'TerminalTestFile2'. You can, of course, use any name you like. The mv command means 'move' and you can also use it to move files from one directory to another. In that case, you'd keep the file names the same, but specify another directory before typing the the second instance of the name, like this:
mv ~/Documents/TerminalTest TerminalTestFile.rtf ~/Documents/TerminalTest2 TerminalTestFile.rtf
More advanced Terminal commands
Terminal can be used for all sorts of different tasks. Some of them can be performed in the Finder, but are quicker in Terminal. Others access deep-rooted parts of macOS that aren't accessible from the Finder without specialist applications. Here are a few examples.
Copy files from one folder to another
In a Terminal window, type ditto [folder 1] [folder 1] where 'folder 1' is the folder that hosts the files and 'folder 2' is the folder you want to move them to.
To see the files being copied in the Terminal window, type -v after the command.
Download files from the internet
You'll need the URL of the file you want to download in order to use Terminal for this.
cd ~/Downloads/
curl -O [URL of file you want to download]
If you want to download the file to a directory other than your Downloads folder, replace ~/Downloads/ with the path to that folder, or drag it onto the Terminal window after you type the cd command.
Change the default location for screenshots
If you don't want macOS to save screenshots to your Desktop when you press Command-Shift-3, you can change the default location in Terminal
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location [path to folder where you want screenshots to be saved]
Hit Return
killall SystemUIServer
Hit Return
Change the default file type for screenshots
By default, macOS saves screenshots as .png files. To change that to .jpg, do this:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type JPG
Press Return
killall SystemUIServer
Press Return
Delete all files in a folder
The command used to delete, or remove, files in Terminal is rm. So, for example, if you wanted to remove a file in your Documents folder named 'oldfile.rtf' you'd use cd ~/Documents to go to your Documents folder then to delete the file. As it stands, that will delete the file without further intervention from you. If you want to confirm the file to be deleted, use -i as in rm -i oldfile.rtf
To delete all the files and sub-folders in a directory named 'oldfolder', the command is rm -R oldfolder and to confirm each file should be deleted, rm -iR oldfolder
Just because you can use Terminal to delete files on your Mac, doesn't mean you should. It's a relatively blunt instrument, deleting only those files and folders you specify.
Another way to free up space
If your goal in removing files or folders is to free up space on your Mac, or to remove junk files that are causing your Mac to run slowly, it's far better to use an app designed for the purpose. CleanMyMac X is one such app.
It will scan your Mac for files and recommend which ones you can delete safely, as well as telling you how much space you'll save. And once you've decided which files to delete, you can get rid of them in a click. You can download CleanMyMac here.
As you can see, while Terminal may look scary and seem like it's difficult to use, it really isn't. The key is learning a few commands, such as those we've outlined above, and getting to know the syntax for those commands.
However, you should be careful when using Terminal, it's a powerful tool that has deep access to your Mac's system files. Check commands by googling them if you're not sure what they do. And if you need to delete files to save space, use an app like CleanMyMac X to do it. It's much safer!
- 1Netbooting Apple Mac
- 1.1Using stones (aka startup keys)
- 1.1.1ISC DHCP Server
- 1.2Using bless
- 1.1Using stones (aka startup keys)
Netbooting Apple Mac
Intel Macintoshs all use (U)EFI - where common PCs have a BIOS - to bootstrap and to some extent talk to hardware. Several different ways exist to make those Macs boot from network. Depending on your preference and setup choose whichever suites you.
Untested hint: Verbose Mac OS boot: sudo /usr/sbin/nvram boot-args='-v' (https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/macenterprise/y1RnrjpvSr4)
Using stones (aka startup keys)
On startup (when you hear the sound, before Apple sign comes up) you can hold down different keys to make the Mac boot from network. Apple uses a kind of special protocol called BSDP which is partly similar to the well known DHCP protocol. But there is more to it. Find a detailed explanation here if you want to dig into it. This method is called 'Using stones' as people use stones or other similar objects to boot a whole lab of Mac clients by putting a stone on the keyboard to hold down the 'n' key - but there are other ways to achieve this too!
ISC DHCP Server
To make a Mac client boot from network you need to extend your DHCP server configuration. Add the following option to your subnet section:
To issue special answers to Mac clients you also need to define a class:
Important note: This simple config might only work with older Mac OS clients like MacBook1,1, MacBook6.2 and others. For newer models you need the advanced config
Restart the DHCP server after saving the configuration. Then booting up your Mac client hold down the 'n' key and you will see a globe spinning instead of the usual apple sign. The Mac requests an IP from the DHCP server which advises it to load iPXE via TFTP and boot that up.
architecture
That was easy. So now we can go into the details of delivering different iPXE binaries for varying Mac platforms:
Important note: This simple config might only work with older Mac OS clients like MacBook1,1, MacBook6.2 and others. For newer models you need the advanced config
To lookup Mac models and their architecture/CPU this website comes in very handy!
fancy
Newer Macs also have a fancy version of network booting. Hold down the 'alt' key and you will see different disks and network images to boot from. To make this work you need to modify the class definition:
Important note: This advanced config is proved to work with Macmini5,2, Macmini6,2, Macbook1,1, Macbook6,1, iMac12,1 and Macbookpro9,2
For more information about the rows of hex numbers see this excellent example. And here you can find a even more advanced example configuration.
Startup Disk
When using a proper Mac OS X server one can configure a NetBoot device/server in System Preferences -> Startup Disk. See here:
Unfortunatelly our previously configured NetBoot ISC DHCP server is not showing up in that dialog. It's just one simple thing preventing that. Mac OS sends a DHCPINFORM broadcast message to enumerate NetBoot images on the network. Usually DHCP messages are sent from UDP source port 68. But not in this case - Startup Disk enumeration sends DHCPINFORM with a random source port smaller 1024 (don't ask me why!). Here you can find a patch to make ICS DHCP server answer those messages properly.
DNSmasq
As well as ISC DHCP also dnsmasq can be configured to serve as netboot server for Mac clients:
Note: Only works with old Macs like Macbook1,1 and Macbook6,1..
Add those five lines to your configuration, save and restart the service. Try booting one of your Macintoshs holding down the 'n' key while it comes up. You should see a globe - instead of the apple - on the screen!
The more advanced config for dnsmasq looks like this:
This still does not address the issue of selecting the correct iPXE binary for 32 or 64 bit.
Using bless
An Apple Mac can be 'blessed' to boot from whichever source you want via commandline. This setting is saved in NVRAM and not changed by cloning your Macs via FOG. I'd suggest activating SSH on your Macs and use clusterssh to bless all of them without having walk to and login to each and every client.
To 'bless' your Mac turn it on and let it boot up as usual. Login and open the Terminal App and run the following command (use a proper IP instead of x.x.x.x):
According to this website the bless command is part of Mac OS X since 10.4.5. Earlier versions probably don't work that way!
No special DHCP configuration is needed for this! BUT if your server ip changes for example you'd have to run this command on all your clients again.
Culprits
Newer Mac OS X releases do not allow blessing as is. You need to allow using the address with a tool called csrutil. See here for more details: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205054
iPXE for Macintosh
As noted earlier there is a fundamental difference between Mac-EFI and PC-BIOS. Not just with configuring network boot but also when it comes to the binary being loaded via TFTP and executed on the client. To make iPXE work on Macs a lot of work has been done in 2014. Check out this thread if you are interested in the details: http://forum.ipxe.org/showthread.php?tid=7323
The mentioned DHCP class should point the client to the correct iPXE binary (ipxe.efi). FOG includes this binary in current SVN development tree or you can download a binary from the repository if you are still using an older version of FOG: https://svn.code.sf.net/p/freeghost/code/trunk/packages/tftp/
Depending on the hardware you have this might work for you straight away. If not, please get in contact with us on the forums so we can work on it to find a solution!!
Working devices
Macbook1,1 ..
Macbook6,1 (W89452MK8PX), nVidia NForce MCP79 (PCI ID 10de:0ab0) - http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook/specs/macbook-core-2-duo-2.26-white-13-polycarbonate-unibody-late-2009-specs.html
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Macmini5,2 (C07G3W4ADJD1), Broadcom NetXtreme BCM57765 (PCI ID 14e4:16b4) - http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-core-i5-2.5-mid-2011-specs.html
Macmini6,2 (C07LR0UQDY3H), Broadcom NetXtreme BCM57766 (PCI ID 14e4:1686) - http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-core-i7-2.6-late-2012-specs.html
Notes from developers
Apple and its proprietary way of doing things. Simple explanation, netboot is not pxe boot. OS X is very picky about netboot. The efi iPxe file first must be named boot.efi as well as match the architecture of the machine that is booting (for you thats 64 bit) secondly not all ethernet or wifi adapters will be visible to iPxe after handoff. DHCP must point to that file as well as the boot file also.
Basically you have a few options but I will line out what we do. When I create an image, on the 'master' machine I create the smallest partition possible. In that partition I add the folders:/System/Library/CoreServices/
After that I add the 64 or 32 bit ipxe file naming it boot.efi. Again for you thats a 64 bit file
Now on reboot, hold down option and select that partition. If it is able to find your nics and boot to FOG then you are in good shape!!. If it works copy the partition you just created to a usb disk. Now use that to boot your machines. Realize that you can simply select the usb disk in the boot manager and once iPxe loads up pull it out, and use it on another machine (if you are doing multiple machines). Because of limitations in iPxe do not expect a pretty FOG Menu. No background picture and such.
If your nics are not visible to the efi iPXE then you will need to use the undionly.kpxe file.
Dig N' Jump Mac Os Download
Reference: https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/7358/cannot-boot-macbook-7-1-from-pxe/9
Dig N' Jump Mac Os X
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