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So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

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Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#241

Post by atombender »

Aloha wrote: post #205
atombender wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All Mac apps use the Command (⌘) key for copy/paste. I've never encountered an app that uses Ctrl. A developer would really have to go out of their way to accomplish this in their app, since the copy/paste menus are provided by Cocoa; the keyboard shortcuts are essentially built into the OS.

Unless they're X11 apps, those use whatever they feel like.

Of course — the same can be said for terminal programs or Windows apps run via virtualization. Those are not "Mac apps".

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#242

Post by mbrock »

vesak wrote: post #71

Man, this is so weird. I used Linux from 1996ish to 2017 and then just moved almost everything to Apple. I don’t remember the exact reason, but probably it had something to do with Wayland taking forever to stabilize, and the community starting to smell bad. And I’m happy, probably happier than before. Sure, Apple’s stuff isn’t perfect, but it’s way closer to it than any Linux combination I ever tried. The only thing…

I've only been using GNU/Linux since around 2000. I started on Slackware 7, then I was on Red Hat for a while, had a Gentoo phase, and then Debian was my main choice for a long time, although I used Ubuntu on some computers...

When the first Intel MacBook came out I was 17 and bought one for all my savings. I thought it was really amazing to have a beautiful laptop running a polished desktop Unix-like. But I always had a stationary Debian computer too.

I never really liked GNOME or the other desktop environments. For most of the time I've just used Ratpoison (or stumpwm) with GNU Emacs and a few terminals. That way I feel way more efficient and less distracted; even on Mac OS I usually maximize everything into a separate workspace, or now occasionally use the new split-screen function.

Sometime right around when I started doing coding for a living, after university, I drifted away from GNU/Linux. I just used MacBooks and iPhones. Of course I still used GNU Emacs. But the Apple ecosystem was basically fine for my rather ambient computing needs at home. My workplaces used either Windows or Mac.

But then in 2015 I got my first GNU/Linux laptop and installed NixOS which I had used on some servers and fallen in love. NixOS pretty much reinvigorated my love for GNU/Linux, and I love it again.

I still have a bunch of Apple products. I treat them as separate lineages with different strengths and purposes. The NixOS machine is for serious hacking, and then I'm satisfied with letting the Macs handle photos, playing DRM movies, all kinds of random stuff. I use an iPhone and some Mac apps that sync with iOS, etc.

But my NixOS machines are awesome too, and they're the ones I really love — basically because of the freedom, in the FSF sense. I know they're not doing weird stuff behind my back, I know I can hack them freely, and I can configure them exactly like I want them.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#243

Post by geoka9 »

unfunco wrote: post #179

Anecdotal like other comments but I and a few others from my workplace have switched to Dell XPS machines and run Linux now, and it's because we're working with Docker, even with 16GB RAM and solid-state drives, the performance of Docker on MacOS is pathetic, and entirely unusable for our work. The XPS machines we have are ugly, they're flimsy, they have a grotesque carbon-fibre pattern on them, the keys leave imprin…

I started using X1 Carbon 6th recently and it's an amazing little machine. Extremely portable (a 14" that weighs 2.5 lbs and fits in a 13" sleeve), great keyboard, great Linux support, good display, and it runs very cool (the fan is never on, despite running multiple virtualbox instances in addition to regular work that causes sporadic CPU spikes - e.g. compiling).

It's also very pleasant to touch and hold in your hands, especially if you like the Thinkpad aesthetics.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#244

Post by thomastjeffery »

jwr wrote: post #48

I so wish the Linux community would get its act together and implement a working usable clipboard. It's the one thing I miss the most whenever I switch from Mac OS to Linux. On a Mac, you can cut/copy/paste using predictable keystrokes in any application, anywhere. And there is a single clipboard. On Linux, you have to deal with a multitude of behaviors (middle mouse button, Ctrl-C, others, and does it paste where th…

I suppose you could use your window manager to bind super+[xcv] to your favorite clipboard program.

Personally, I love that all the software I have used in Linux does nothing to encroach on my super+* keybindings.

I also love having a secondary clipboard that feels more permanent (ctrl+xcv), while having a quick and dirty one (select middle-click)

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#245

Post by FreeFull »

Tehchops wrote: post #62
number-sequence wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like terminal based music players when I’m doing work exactly because the terminal already feels like work, so it doesn’t feel as much like Tidal or Bandcamp or SoundCloud are open in the background and something I could get distracted by. For keeping it out of sight, tmux or any terminal multiplexer is great at that.

Is there one that works with Soundcloud and Spotify?

There are multiple terminal-based Spotify players, with the caveat that you need a paid Spotify account to use them (because they're incapable of playing ads)

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#246

Post by eeperson »

Lordarminius wrote: post #173
Waterluvian wrote: post #129

Hooking up three monitors, 2 of which are 4k onto Ubuntu is the most frustrating thing I've done with that OS. It just works on OSX though. Rough spots is a good way to describe it. Overall it works... But not without effort and competence.

> Hooking up three monitors... My exact same problem! How did you solve it ?

I've set this up before. How many video cards are you trying to use to connect these monitors? I've always had it just work if you are only using one card. In the past I've had to invoke xrandr with the --setprovideroutputsource flag (or was it --setprovideroffloadsink ?) to get multiple monitors to work with multiple video cards. Note, this only works with the open source drivers and you must be using an X server that supports randr 1.4.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#247

Post by amaccuish »

Hello71 wrote: post #119
jasondclinton wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's true: some things are easier on Mac. In particular, I'd say that using software that hasn't been packaged for your distribution is much easier on Mac. However, your example of fonts is definitely not one of those areas, anymore. Font rendering on Linux is as advanced and capable as any other OS including in the areas of kerning and hinting. It should just work without any user intervention and look great. I ag…

> Font rendering on Linux is as advanced and capable as any other OS including in the areas of kerning and hinting. It should just work without any user intervention and look great. This isn't entirely true. AIUI, Apple enables LCD filtering and subpixel rendering by default, because it knows that you're using an LCD and what the subpixel order is. However, these are usually toggleable via the GUI, and even without t…

Since Mojave, MacOS nolonger does subpixel rendering.

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2018/07/13/macos-10-14-mojave-remove...

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#248

Post by soperj »

Waterluvian wrote: post #129

Hooking up three monitors, 2 of which are 4k onto Ubuntu is the most frustrating thing I've done with that OS. It just works on OSX though. Rough spots is a good way to describe it. Overall it works... But not without effort and competence.

>But not without effort and competence.

Which most people in this forum have plenty of. This isn't a post saying "Linux is ready for everyone on every laptop", it's that it works for this person using a pre-approved set of hardware, just as MacOS is apparently terrible on other hardware.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#249

Post by loser777 »

I wish this post touched on some deeper reasons that the author was "disenchanted" with Apple. Having dabbled in tiling window managers, terminal music players, and many other /r/unixporn memes, this kind of infatuation with UI candy makes me think that the author's issues with Apple were only skin deep. Many of the things mentioned here (e.g., tiling WMs, emacs _REALLY?_) are not mutually exclusive with macOS.

I run GNU/Linux exclusively on my headless work machines, but I think moving to Linux on the laptop still makes you trade too much (battery life, system integration). I wonder if the author has realized that rebranded ODM hardware (Librem and System76) and a modern Macbook are unfortunately not in remotely the same league.

I DD'd a T420 with debian on it religiously throughout undergrad, and I'm not in a hurry to go back. (I do miss the keyboard sometimes though)

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#250

Post by rkangel »

ufo wrote: post #227
jwr wrote: post #48

I so wish the Linux community would get its act together and implement a working usable clipboard. It's the one thing I miss the most whenever I switch from Mac OS to Linux. On a Mac, you can cut/copy/paste using predictable keystrokes in any application, anywhere. And there is a single clipboard. On Linux, you have to deal with a multitude of behaviors (middle mouse button, Ctrl-C, others, and does it paste where th…

If you pretend that the "middle mouse button" clipboard doesn't exist (it is a feature that many are not even aware of) you then using the the regular one instead is a piece of cake. In Linux, all applications use Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V. The exception is inside the terminal, where you need to use Ctrl+Shift+C and Ctrl+Shift+V (due Ctrl+C already having a meaning there).

This is my experience too.
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