Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X • Hacker News Board

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#111

Post by thesmallestcat » Tue, Jan 03, 2017, 8:40 AM UTC

HugoDaniel wrote: post #101

Reads and feels like a sponsored post trying to get the attention of people who are using OSX, Fedora and Arch into elementary OS. It presents a huge list of OSes but then it just says "After evaluating each I was left with a top 3." Without providing any reason as to why. To top it there is no QubesOS and no NixOS on the list. This in 2017.

I think it's just incomplete writing (and it's the guy's blog, so no big deal). Author also doesn't elaborate on why ElementaryOS based on FreeBSD would be ideal, though FreeBSD is certainly rad.

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#112

Post by gladimdim » Tue, Jan 03, 2017, 8:40 AM UTC

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 switched to Windows 10 (Microsoft Surface 4 Pro) after ~15 years of using Linux and 5 years of MacOS. In Bash (based on Ubuntu) 99% of utilities just work. I can use npm, install modules and they still work. For me in Windows 10 - everything just works.

Though I still miss: 1. MacBook's touchpad :-( 2. Emacs-like keybindings everywhere in OS (like MacOS has).

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#113

Post by Fnoord » Tue, Jan 03, 2017, 8:42 AM UTC

ixacto wrote: post #83

How about advertising for candy crush soda saga/minecraft, right on my start menu. Or the crazy invasive privacy settings on first boot. Destroy windows spying fixes most of this, but it's easier to just uninstall bill's shitty OS and use ubuntu.

> How about advertising for candy crush soda saga/minecraft, right on my start menu.

Try Classic Shell [1]

[1] http://classicshell.net/

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#114

Post by gladimdim » Tue, Jan 03, 2017, 8:43 AM UTC

mrweasel wrote: post #100

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 not exactly sure why this happens, but when I try to use Windows my hand (mouse hand) cramps up and I get angry and frustrated. In my view, Windows 10 is still miles away in consistency across the entire system, compared to macOS. Windows 10 actually made it worse, because it's trying to accommodate both Windows 7 and Windows 8 design. Currently I don't think we have alternatives to macOS. I understand that I sou…

I could agree with you one year ago. But after latest upgrade to macOS I got so many issues on my MacBook Air and MacBook Pro that I decided 'enough is enough' :)

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#115

Post by Fnoord » Tue, Jan 03, 2017, 8:46 AM UTC

rtnyftxx wrote: post #14

> Removing the Esc key you can switch back to default F1... keys > Removing all legacy ports necessitating the use of dongles for everything Somewhere have to start the transition > Prioritising thinness and weight over everything else Batterylife is the same Worst thing on the new rMBPs: No silent trackpad click option m( I use OS X just as an client.

> you can switch back to default F1... keys

Why not just set Caps Lock to Esc? Works well with Vim and you don't wanna use Caps Lock anyway.

I use Karabiner Elements to set it that way. Karabiner doesn't work with Sierra.

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#116

Post by khazhou » Tue, Jan 03, 2017, 8:52 AM UTC

rbanffy wrote: post #108

People worry too much about what they use to host text editors and terminal windows...

Sure, except that OSX's iterm2+Karabiner is so much better than any terminal on Linux. Awesome full-screen switching (⌘-Enter), easy shortcuts to create subwindows, natural clipboard support, great keyboard compatibility with Emacs (after futzing with keyboard settings and Karabiner mappings). On Ubuntu, all of these have been lacking. Hell, I can't even use the terminal for a single session without accidentally triggering the App Launcher several times.

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#117

Post by alkonaut » Tue, Jan 03, 2017, 8:53 AM UTC

rbanffy wrote: post #108

People worry too much about what they use to host text editors and terminal windows...

Exactly. If you do a lot of work over terminals and ssh anyway, does it really matter?

Most likely (hopefully, if you have a big powerful workstation) you use at least some big fat desktop application such as XCode, Visual Studio, AutoCad, Photoshop, Chrome, Mathematica, Office, ...

Just pick an operating system that works well with your hardware and your big fat desktop applications. All that terminal stuff will likely run anyway.

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#118

Post by severino » Tue, Jan 03, 2017, 8:57 AM UTC

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?

If Rails is his sticking point, then there's no point in paying for something when you can have it for free.

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#119

Post by thinkMOAR » Tue, Jan 03, 2017, 8:58 AM UTC

rbanffy wrote: post #108

People worry too much about what they use to host text editors and terminal windows...

Hear hear!!

"I’ve also run various Linux distributions and BSDs since around 2000, so am quite familiar with them"

Therefor i consider, it is not even a switch just more dedicated usage. Clickbait blogpost, if you ask me.

Re: Finding an Alternative to Mac OS X

#120

Post by mactunes » Tue, Jan 03, 2017, 8:59 AM UTC

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...

Switched to Win 10 after 20 years on the Mac. The bash was the last missing point for me. So far I'm really happy with the OS.