One thing that took me a while to get up to speed on was the different in alt+tab here switching between entire apps vs individual windows as on a PC. To be able to get that functionality back, install Witch http://manytricks.com/witch/
Ask HN: Moved from Windows to Macbook Pro – How can I get up to speed quickly?
11–20 of 37 posts
Re: Ask HN: Moved from Windows to Macbook Pro – How can I get up to speed quickly?
#12Memory Clean for memory optimization
Alfred for searching things on your Mac (better than Spotlight)
BetterSnapTool for window management (cheaper than Divvy)
GitHub for Mac and Atom are excellent as others have mentioned
Re: Ask HN: Moved from Windows to Macbook Pro – How can I get up to speed quickly?
#13Do you have to run OSX? Having spent years working in both OSX and Linux I've found the latter is much more usable as a developer - in terms of customisation, scripted setup, flexibility, UI[1].
If you're going to the bother of changing OS, I suggest trying Linux (I use Linux Mint) as well, and see which you prefer. My setup is here:
https://github.com/duncan-bayne/mint-setup/wiki
Using a tiling window manager like StumpWM[2] is a major win as you can almost entirely give up using the mouse. Plus a programmable window manager (again, like StumpWM) gives you the flexibility to tailor your environment to suit exactly the way you work, and keep changing it as your style develops.
OSX is miles better than Windows, I'll grant you, but it's still primarily a consumer-focused OS. Be a producer, not a consumer ;)
[1] The OSX GUI is great for discoverability. But as a developer, you might benefit more from a powerful, flexible, trivially programmable GUI.
[2] https://stumpwm.github.io/ ... see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do0DVxy4HBc for an intro
Re: Ask HN: Moved from Windows to Macbook Pro – How can I get up to speed quickly?
#14Do you have to run OSX? Having spent years working in both OSX and Linux I've found the latter is much more usable as a developer - in terms of customisation, scripted setup, flexibility, UI[1]. If you're going to the bother of changing OS, I suggest trying Linux (I use Linux Mint) as well, and see which you prefer. My setup is here: https://github.com/duncan-bayne/mint-setup/wiki Using a tiling window manager like S…
Most people moving from Windows need some applications that are not available on Linux but are available on OS X. If this is the case, then virtualbox on OS X with Linux VMs is a reasonable way to go.
Re: Ask HN: Moved from Windows to Macbook Pro – How can I get up to speed quickly?
#15Do you have to run OSX? Having spent years working in both OSX and Linux I've found the latter is much more usable as a developer - in terms of customisation, scripted setup, flexibility, UI[1]. If you're going to the bother of changing OS, I suggest trying Linux (I use Linux Mint) as well, and see which you prefer. My setup is here: https://github.com/duncan-bayne/mint-setup/wiki Using a tiling window manager like S…
Most people moving from Windows need some applications that are not available on Linux but are available on OS X. If this is the case, then virtualbox on OS X with Linux VMs is a reasonable way to go.
... or dual-boot if you've the hard drive space. Mint starts up in literally a few seconds on my hardware (a several year old ThinkPad L520).
Personally, I found that going cold-turkey worked for me when I switched from Windows for C development back in the day. Every time I ran into the "oh, I need a Windows app" problem, I'd stop and learn the Linux equivalent.
Fortunately there were no road-blocks; literally everything I needed to do as a developer could be done on Linux, and that was back in 2001 or so from memory.
These days there's little I can't do on a Linux box. There's an old Windows laptop knocking around the office to run Niagara Workbench; I suspect it'll work on Linux through Wine but due to licensing complexities I haven't tried. Probably will when that laptop finally shuffles off this mortal coil.
Re: Ask HN: Moved from Windows to Macbook Pro – How can I get up to speed quickly?
#16If you like speed as much as I do :
1. Total Space. Setup shortcuts and disable transitions
2. Disable (or speed up) OSX animation (I don't have the commands on my phone, just Google it)
3. iTerm and window splitting (Cmd d) and switch (Cmd [ or ])
4. And The REAL time saver : Keyboard Maestro Create at least one macro per app. I assigned shortcuts like
Cmd Shift L - iTerm
Cmd Shift / - Atom
Cmd Shift ' - Chrome
Ctrl Shift Ctrl Shift M - Mailbox
And so (Xcode, Slack etc.)
Then I pur each app in fullscreen (Ctrl Cmd F).
Now I have O(1) access over my computer \o/
Edit: disclaimer I'm a vim user
Re: Ask HN: Moved from Windows to Macbook Pro – How can I get up to speed quickly?
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most people moving from Windows need some applications that are not available on Linux but are available on OS X. If this is the case, then virtualbox on OS X with Linux VMs is a reasonable way to go.
... or dual-boot if you've the hard drive space. Mint starts up in literally a few seconds on my hardware (a several year old ThinkPad L520). Personally, I found that going cold-turkey worked for me when I switched from Windows for C development back in the day. Every time I ran into the "oh, I need a Windows app" problem, I'd stop and learn the Linux equivalent. Fortunately there were no road-blocks; literally every…
For development yes, but for the consumer apps you might be used to using (or have paid for) it could be difficult switching.
YNAB, Fluenz, & iTunes are things you might want a mac for.
Re: Ask HN: Moved from Windows to Macbook Pro – How can I get up to speed quickly?
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
... or dual-boot if you've the hard drive space. Mint starts up in literally a few seconds on my hardware (a several year old ThinkPad L520). Personally, I found that going cold-turkey worked for me when I switched from Windows for C development back in the day. Every time I ran into the "oh, I need a Windows app" problem, I'd stop and learn the Linux equivalent. Fortunately there were no road-blocks; literally every…
For development yes, but for the consumer apps you might be used to using (or have paid for) it could be difficult switching. YNAB, Fluenz, & iTunes are things you might want a mac for.
I'd have assumed that people would flee from iTunes given the chance :) Perhaps it's improved in the years since I last used it (bought an iPhone when they were the New Hotness here in Australia) but I doubt it.
When I migrated off iOS I encoded my iTunes music to .ogg, which was a pretty good experience. I don't know what the state of the art is now though.
According to the forums, YNAB runs in Linux on WINE. Also people have reported some success with Fluenz on WINE as well. For music I run Spotify, which has a good Linux client these days.
I'll grant you it isn't always easy, or even possible, but there are usually alternatives.
Re: Ask HN: Moved from Windows to Macbook Pro – How can I get up to speed quickly?
#19If you like speed as much as I do : 1. Total Space. Setup shortcuts and disable transitions 2. Disable (or speed up) OSX animation (I don't have the commands on my phone, just Google it) 3. iTerm and window splitting (Cmd d) and switch (Cmd [ or ]) 4. And The REAL time saver : Keyboard Maestro Create at least one macro per app. I assigned shortcuts like Cmd Shift L - iTerm Cmd Shift / - Atom Cmd Shift ' - Chrome Ctrl…
For the application shortcuts, is there an advantage over activating spotlight (cmd + space) and typing the first few letters of the application name?
I've been thinking about making screenflow workflows to open up a set of files, which could be quite powerful.
Re: Ask HN: Moved from Windows to Macbook Pro – How can I get up to speed quickly?
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
For development yes, but for the consumer apps you might be used to using (or have paid for) it could be difficult switching. YNAB, Fluenz, & iTunes are things you might want a mac for.
I'd have assumed that people would flee from iTunes given the chance :) Perhaps it's improved in the years since I last used it (bought an iPhone when they were the New Hotness here in Australia) but I doubt it. When I migrated off iOS I encoded my iTunes music to .ogg, which was a pretty good experience. I don't know what the state of the art is now though. According to the forums, YNAB runs in Linux on WINE. Also p…
I use iTunes mainly for podcasts. I don't know of a good alternative to that.
I also hate ruining a good linux installation with WINE. =)