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Switching from macOS: The Basics

blog.elementary.io

211–220 of 610 posts

Re: Switching from macOS: The Basics

#211
I try Ubuntu about once a year, in the hopes of getting rid of OSX. But each time, the reason for going back to Apple ID is interoperability: Try dragging stuff (images, fotos, links, files, formatted text ...) from one program to another, including the "dreaded" Finder; Works nearly always in OSX. While Ubuntu has come a long way with these things, I think it's still an even longer way away from what OSX can do.

So while I haven't tried Elementary, I'd be astonished if it's any better at interoperability than Ubuntu...

Re: Switching from macOS: The Basics

#212
post #45
post #39

I'm really hoping this is just a phase. Hoping that Apple will reduce prices of new laptops and we'll be back to normal. Right now everybody is using Macs. Walk into the Bay Area coffee shop, you see Macs everywhere. I love that. I build desktop software for Macs (focuslist.co). My apps are prettier than any others. They are easier and faster to use. This is the reason why people pay me $5 while they can get the job…

> Take Mac away and high quality desktop apps will go away. Well... no. Ubuntu, Gnome, KDE, XFCE; they are all high quality desktops. Don't mix the desktop with the applications you're running on it. > We'll have to endure multi-platform Electron stuff. Now that is indeed a real issue, and yes, ugh. Edit: I've misread the original, sorry, so adding a few things: if you're using the default apps or the ones built for…

> Well... no. Ubuntu, Gnome, KDE, XFCE; they are all high quality desktops. Don't mix the desktop with the applications you're running on it.

Sure, but since last time I've started KDE, I got a ton of segfaults errors coming from all over the place (and not just nepomuk)... Well, if the desktop is fine but the wifi interface or the notification tray is segfaulting, I'm just gonna throw the whole thing.

Re: Switching from macOS: The Basics

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish I had known that trick. I payed some money for it, which isn't unusual since I often donate money to open source or activism. But this time I regret every cent. Coming from Mac OS, or even Fedora, Elementary seems unpolished and unstable.

I really wish someone would start a paid OS based on Linux and OSS tools. I'd happily pay $100/y (year being, new versions/etc) for a stable and awesome UI/UX. As it is, my Macbook Pro Retina has been crashing a lot and doing weird things frequently since i upgraded to Sierra. Between that and the latest Macbook Pro notebooks, i just don't like Apple anymore. I'm pretty set on buying a highend laptop _(similar build…

As a daily Linux user I feel your pain, but have you considered Windows 10 with their Ubuntu coop install? I'm seriously considering it for user-space apps.

Re: Switching from macOS: The Basics

#214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish someone would start a paid OS based on Linux and OSS tools. I'd happily pay $100/y (year being, new versions/etc) for a stable and awesome UI/UX. As it is, my Macbook Pro Retina has been crashing a lot and doing weird things frequently since i upgraded to Sierra. Between that and the latest Macbook Pro notebooks, i just don't like Apple anymore. I'm pretty set on buying a highend laptop _(similar build…

I'm right there with you. The only thing that keeps me on a Mac is the combination of Unix + Half decent UX. If someone built a paid Unix/Linux distro that could run Mac Apps, I'd give away my extra kidney for it. Windows almost has me sold with their new Ubuntu subsystem.

Good luck porting the mac libraries to Linux [1] :P

[1] https://www.darlinghq.org/project-status/

Re: Switching from macOS: The Basics

#215
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on what you care about. If you want are willing to sacrifice a bit of performance for longer battery life and lower weight, then the XPS 13 wins handily. If on the other hand you're willing to sacrifice (quite a lot of) battery life and accept (a lot) heavier weight in exchange for performance, then System 76 will sell you some of the fastest laptops money can buy.

> If on the other hand you're willing to sacrifice (quite a lot of) battery life and accept (a lot) heavier weight in exchange for performance Then you're not really into this mobility thing?

Mobility is relative. Back when I split my time between two offices and occasionally worked from home I would have loved to have a decently powerful workstation that I could easily transport in a backpack.

Re: Switching from macOS: The Basics

#216
post #77
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Take Mac away and high quality desktop apps will go away. Well... no. Ubuntu, Gnome, KDE, XFCE; they are all high quality desktops. Don't mix the desktop with the applications you're running on it. > We'll have to endure multi-platform Electron stuff. Now that is indeed a real issue, and yes, ugh. Edit: I've misread the original, sorry, so adding a few things: if you're using the default apps or the ones built for…

Not really. GNU/Linux doesn't have desktop stack capable of matching Objective-C, Swift frameworks both in feature set and related GUI tooling.

GTK+ supports both of those languages. Also, macOS's "tooling" is XCode, so Linux's tooling is superior by default.

Re: Switching from macOS: The Basics

#217
post #124

I find Apricity OS (Arch Linux) much better suited for developers. In fact at work I switched from Ubuntu to Apricity. Through yaourt (paceman frontend) and AUR (Arch User Repository) it's a breeze to install the latest versions of literally everything you need be it Docker, Java or IntelliJ. I think it's comparable with brew. Plus Apricity looks so much better than Elementary in my opinion and almost manages to give…

That is pretty! I may have to give this a try when the time comes. By far the best looking Linux GUI i've seen yet. I can't wait to see an a GUI layer made for NixOS though. I really want to be done with stateful OSs, NixOS is so tempting.

From a previous discussion of Apricity: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11421395

Re: Switching from macOS: The Basics

#218
post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe elementary OS is the closest thing to what you're looking for. They're an LLC with the team that focuses on building a good looking UI and a nice UX. Pantheon is the only desktop environment which I wouldn't call outdated in the Linux world and somewhat stable and easy to get (Solus project is attempting to do the same, but I think they just don't have enough man power to pull it off).

I am not sure why you think that Pantheon is the only one in this category. Have you not seen the Cinnamon DE?

Really? :P

Re: Switching from macOS: The Basics

#219
post #39

I'm really hoping this is just a phase. Hoping that Apple will reduce prices of new laptops and we'll be back to normal. Right now everybody is using Macs. Walk into the Bay Area coffee shop, you see Macs everywhere. I love that. I build desktop software for Macs (focuslist.co). My apps are prettier than any others. They are easier and faster to use. This is the reason why people pay me $5 while they can get the job…

No offence intended but I took a look at your website (which is very neat and tidy BTW), and looked at the screenshots but I do not see how your app (consisting of mainly a listview control) is "prettier than any others". I can see how having a simple UI with few controls on it can sometimes be translated as "pretty" in certain circles, but simply having few features and few controls doesn't magically mean your app i…

Didn't mean to come out too proud.

Really this is just what users have been telling me last 6 months. "I bought it because it looks good."

Guess they're just used to worse.

Re: Switching from macOS: The Basics

#220
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on what you care about. If you want are willing to sacrifice a bit of performance for longer battery life and lower weight, then the XPS 13 wins handily. If on the other hand you're willing to sacrifice (quite a lot of) battery life and accept (a lot) heavier weight in exchange for performance, then System 76 will sell you some of the fastest laptops money can buy.

> If on the other hand you're willing to sacrifice (quite a lot of) battery life and accept (a lot) heavier weight in exchange for performance Then you're not really into this mobility thing?

Mobility is relative. They may want desktop level performance that can be moved more easily than lugging around a tower/monitor/keyboard/mouse. Not everyone needs (or cares about) the ability to work away from a power source for more than a few hours.
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