Usage

Introduction

Particulars displays Mac system information. It shows computer name, model name, serial number, CPU/SoC, RAM, GPU, OS version, Server version, current user, uptime, disk space, and network configuration. It can be used in 3 modes: on the desktop, in the Shortcuts app, or at the command line.

Particulars provides up-to-date information and dynamically changes when the Mac changes. For instance, when switching Wi-Fi networks, Particulars shows the new network configuration immediately.

Particulars runs on macOS Big Sur 11 or later.

On the desktop

Running the Particulars application will show system information on the desktop. Particulars does not replace the desktop background image and is responsive to changes in spaces or display layout.

First run

On first run, Particulars presents a welcome window. Clicking Continue in this window hides other apps to display Particulars on the desktop. Particulars' preferences are then displayed.

Pressing Escape at the welcome window will close it and not open Preferences.

Holding down the Option key during the first run will skip the welcome and open Preferences.

Typical usage

In typical usage, after Particulars is launched, it will display system information on the desktop and simply wait to be referred to. The quickest way to see Particulars in typical usage is to use the Show Desktop feature of Mission Control.

Copying system information

Particulars can copy system information, either all information or individual pieces, to the clipboard. Copying can be found either in the Particulars application menu, the Dock icon menu, the menu bar item, or in the utility menu of the Preferences window if the Dock icon is hidden.

Preferences

When the Hide dock icon preference is set, the standard means of displaying preferences (Particulars menu->Preferences) is not available.

To display preferences while the Dock icon is hidden, either:

Shortcuts

Particulars provides Shortcut actions for use in the Shortcuts app in macOS Monterey 12 and later. To learn more, read the Shortcuts help.

Command-line interface

Particulars provides a command-line interface (CLI) for use in terminal applications and scripts. To learn more, read the command-line help.

Differences between Intel and Apple Silicon

In 2020, Apple started transitioning the Mac product line from Intel CPUs to Apple Silicon. Apple Silicon chips have CPU, GPU, and RAM in one chip package. When running on Apple Silicon versus Intel, Particulars has the following differences:

Currently, Particulars has the following limitations when running on Apple Silicon:

These limitations are expected to be addressed in future releases of Particulars as Apple makes the information available.


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