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Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

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Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#71

Post by stiGGG »

rectangleboy wrote: post #59
delinka wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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.

You can configure shortcuts to jump to a specific desktop on macOS.

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#72

Post by tzs »

rickyc091 wrote: post #47
JohnTHaller wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The key is gone. The touchbar can be set to always show virtual function keys, though. Not the best option if you touch type, of course.

The ESC key being missing gets blown out of proportion. Every time I hit it, I'm amazed at how it just works. Apple has made it so hitting any where in that vicinity basically triggers the ESC.

Alternatively, couldn't one use CTRL-[ instead of ESC?

I doubt anyone is going to remove CTRL or [ anytime soon, so getting used to that would future-proof you quite well.

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#73

Post by twblalock »

rectangleboy wrote: post #50

Where's the commentary on FreeBSD? It certainly seems like the right idea (to replace OS X), but I want to know their experience.

I've used FreeBSD as a desktop OS, briefly. I've also used a number of Linux distributions as desktop OSes since the late 1990s.

The bottom line is that Linux tends to have better hardware support, especially for laptop hardware and power management.

When you run into problems, you'll usually have a much easier time finding vendor support or online community help for a Linux distribution than for FreeBSD.

Under the hood, FreeBSD is a lot simpler than Linux, and a lot of people like it for that reason. But if you want a generic Gnome/KDE/tiling WM/etc. desktop experience, and you don't need any BSD-specific features, I think Linux is the way to go. After all, we are talking about a replacement for MacOS here, which is pretty well integrated with the hardware and does not require a lot of tinkering to get working.

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#74

Post by wishinghand »

gantengx wrote: post #5
ericjang wrote: post #4

Another path you can take: build your own desktop and install a Hackintosh OS! Here's my build ( http://pcpartpicker.com/list/pYWQMp ), which runs into some driver issues but can be fixed with Kext utility. This setup allows me to do CUDA programming + Deep Learning stuff natively in OSX, while having access to pretty Mac software. It's great, I highly recommend it!

except that Hackintosh not exactly legal :-)

Has Apple ever prosecuted a violation of this terrible rule of theirs?

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#75

Post by wishinghand »

BuckRogers wrote: post #48

I don't understand the ports complaint. Or maybe it's others who don't understand their ports complaint. The USB-C connector is a physical connector, and Apple's implementation of it supports every useful protocol and function available. DisplayPort, USB3.1 and below, Thunderbolt3, charging and HDMI[0]. Just buy USB-C to whatever cables and you're done with it. USB-A to C transition complete. You don't need adapters…

There's still a huge confusion on what cables are legitimate USB 3 Type C cables, or Thunderbolt or some third option that I forget but bricking devices is a possibility with the current mix of options.

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#76

Post by cagey »

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…

The ads I've seen in Win 10 (Home): (1) (Don't I want to claim my) Free trial for Office 365? (2) MS Edge is faster/better than my (non-MS) default browser (and don't I want to try Edge?).

These seem to recur once after each Windows Update reboot. Anyone know of a way to permanently disable these?

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#77

Post by zachrose »

grhmc wrote: post #55
zachrose wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.)

Thank you! I'm honestly not sure which bugs should go with NixOS and which should go to some application or library that I can't figure out. A typical example: since installing a different video card, videos will play in Firefox but not Chrome.

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#78

Post by freshyill »

ericjang wrote: post #4

Another path you can take: build your own desktop and install a Hackintosh OS! Here's my build ( http://pcpartpicker.com/list/pYWQMp ), which runs into some driver issues but can be fixed with Kext utility. This setup allows me to do CUDA programming + Deep Learning stuff natively in OSX, while having access to pretty Mac software. It's great, I highly recommend it!

This is shockingly similar to the gaming PC I helped my kid build last year. We didn't build it with a mackintosh in mind, but it's nice to know we could do it if we wanted.

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#79

Post by whyileft »

daveFNbuck wrote: post #60
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".

An objective antonym to "cluttered" in design is "minimal".

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#80

Post by BuckRogers »

wishinghand wrote: post #75
BuckRogers wrote: post #48

I don't understand the ports complaint. Or maybe it's others who don't understand their ports complaint. The USB-C connector is a physical connector, and Apple's implementation of it supports every useful protocol and function available. DisplayPort, USB3.1 and below, Thunderbolt3, charging and HDMI[0]. Just buy USB-C to whatever cables and you're done with it. USB-A to C transition complete. You don't need adapters…

There's still a huge confusion on what cables are legitimate USB 3 Type C cables, or Thunderbolt or some third option that I forget but bricking devices is a possibility with the current mix of options.

I've read a bit about that. In general, just use what comes with the USB-C device you're using. Longterm, quality issues with cabling will be sorted out. I only have one anecdote with my own equipment. I have an external SSD case[0] that came with a USB-A cable and I simply bought a micro-B to USB-C cable[1] and it worked when I tried it without issue.

What most people seem to want other than ethernet is a HDMI cable (or port) and something like this[2] will work direct from a new MBP. When I was going to buy one, I was going to grab one of those just to keep in my bag.

[0]http://a.co/51jXxNK

[1]http://a.co/8FGPfnM

[2]http://a.co/ekyPXpD

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