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Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

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Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#51

Post by wvenable »

Clubber wrote: post #12

>Note that I don’t currently consider Windows a viable alternative. For the work that I do (Rails) and tools I use something *nix based is the best choice for me. For what it's worth Windows 10 now has a bash shell based on Ubuntu available. http://www.howtogeek.com/249966/how-to-install-and-use-the-l...

I'm surprised this was downvoted -- the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is extremely powerful and well done.

It's a full Ubuntu userland and you can even run graphical (X) applications. I've used it for Pebble development, running the (python + ARM GCC) SDK and QEMU-based emulator all on Windows. I've run into a few minor issues but for the majority of tasks it works great -- I've completely stopped using my Ubuntu VM and do all my Linux tasks in WSL.

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#53

Post by wvenable »

notheguyouthink wrote: post #27
twblalock wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Macs at work, and I've been using Windows 10 at home since June, with my old Apple keyboard and everything. My impression is that both operating systems are very close to parity. I use the same apps on both, including a lot of Unixy stuff that now works fine on Windows. Even the Windows font rendering is a lot like the Mac's now. The Mac ecosystem still has a huge advantage in hardware quality, but I think Micr…

Except the stupid decision(s) they continue to make, like advertisements in my operating system. Seriously, i can't comprehend why they take a paying customer (me) and frequently think i want to see their ads my operating system is some kind of blog. (The ad in question is for me to try some new microsoft product.. i forget which one offhand, Office Live? no idea. I usually see too much red when it happens to even re…

I've never seen an ad in Windows 10 -- but then I did switch to classic shell for the start menu.

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#54

Post by delinka »

rectangleboy wrote: post #42
codeka wrote: post #20

> The first option I tried was an i3 based desktop. However whilst I wanted to like tiling window managers I decided it wasn’t for me. It took me a week or so to get used to i3, but once I did I can't see myself ever going back. I've been using i3 at work and at home for about year now, and every time I get on my (Mac Book) laptop it's a frustrating experience: I feel like I spend more time trying to figure out how t…

Similarly, I've been using AwesomeWM for a few years. Going back to OS X is frustrating to me because it's so languorous and lacking control. On Arch/AwesomeWM, I can instantly flip to the space I want, but Mission Control forces me to walk through each space, insisting on animating the sequence and taking it's time to swap in the applications as I go along.

"Mission Control forces me to walk through each space"

Try swiping up instead. That'll give you a list of spaces to choose from. Certainly not as direct as your non-OS X WM but faster than stepping through each one.

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#55

Post by grhmc »

zachrose wrote: post #49
grhmc wrote: post #25

Not even a mention of NixOS. May I ask why not? Edit: I'm appreciating the feedback for "why not?" and am sending it around to people in the community. :)

I've been running NixOS on a casual home desktop for about a year now. I'm in love with some of its big ideas, like per-project dependency files that mostly eliminate my need for VMs and container management tools, and being able to read my OS configuration in a single file. On the other hand, most of my work these days ends up as a Dockerfile and Docker images anyways, and the benefits of Nix package management coul…

Hrmm... if you have a bit of time to describe your bugs, I'd really appreciate it if you filed a bug on the issue tracker (github.com/nixos/nixpkgs.)

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#56

Post by guycook »

sudhirj wrote: post #39
nkozyra wrote: post #10

I'm full-time OSX user/developer, but if Rails is really your sticking point, shouldn't the linux subsystem make Win10 at least viable for a trial? Or, frankly, anything that can run VMWare or Virtualbox?

I switched to Windows hoping to use the WSL - looks great for the most part, but there are still lots of blocking bugs. Ruby and Git install, but not OpenSSL, which makes Rails development difficult. Lots of niggles here and there, basically. Should be great when it comes out of beta, though - a good terminal and we'll be all set.

If you haven't tried ConEmu [0], it's pretty awesome. I use it with the Git Bash that comes with the full windows git installer and it Just Works for most of my terminal needs. Haven't tried it with WSL but it can most likely be rigged up.

[0] https://conemu.github.io/

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#58

Post by sbov »

After the refresh of the Macbook Pro I decided to get a desktop replacement laptop.

Whether or not that is acceptable for your use cases depends. For me, I already have a Surface Pro 3 for ultra portable needs. Because of that, I found myself never using my Macbook Pro when I couldn't plug it in. And given how slowly cpus are gaining in performance these days, if plausible, it makes more sense to me to focus on performance over battery & weight.

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#59

Post by rectangleboy »

delinka wrote: post #54
rectangleboy wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similarly, I've been using AwesomeWM for a few years. Going back to OS X is frustrating to me because it's so languorous and lacking control. On Arch/AwesomeWM, I can instantly flip to the space I want, but Mission Control forces me to walk through each space, insisting on animating the sequence and taking it's time to swap in the applications as I go along.

"Mission Control forces me to walk through each space" Try swiping up instead. That'll give you a list of spaces to choose from. Certainly not as direct as your non-OS X WM but faster than stepping through each one.

Usually I'm not making the switch visually. On arch, I know what spaces each application is one and just switch to it instinctively. The visual search and movement to the trackpad ends up being slower and more annoying than a quick Super+3 or whatever it needs to be.

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#60

Post by daveFNbuck »

whyileft wrote: post #37

> The interface is clean and refined. Can we stop using the term "clean" to describe interfaces? Clean doesn't really mean anything in design and also is a one sided term without an opposite term that is not disparaging. Are all other interfaces that are not clean, dirty? Or unsanitary? Or cluttered? It becomes and absolute term like beautiful or professional which are all really just fluff terms for "good".

How many positive terms have antonyms that aren't considered disparaging? The opposite of clean in design is usually "cluttered".
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