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So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

richardmavis.info

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Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#351

Post by akfanta »

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…

Docker performance outside of Linux is always going to be a problem since it will need to rely on VM. There is a big thread of discussion here for docker on Mac: https://forums.docker.com/t/file-access-in-mounted-volumes-e....

Our development environment has been with docker on Mac for a few years. It's definitely slow, but we found it acceptable. Do you happen to use a very large image with tons of IO work?

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#352

Post by int0x80 »

cmurf wrote: post #305
jasondclinton wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like you hit the point in Linux where this is painful: mixed DPI displays with mixed display scaling. Wayland fixes that. And soon, we'll finally have fractional scaling, too. GNOME is close to delivering that. So, it's getting better.

15" Laptop has a 1920x1080 display that's not quite hidpi. So I'm using layout.css.devPixelsPerPx value in about:config of 1.4, and in GNOME Settings > Accessibility, enable large text. This does make things a bit too big on the 24" external display which has nearly the same resolution, but it's not distracting. Some websites I use CTRL-+ and CTRL-- to change the scaling, or rather fine tune it, depending on more tha…

My bluetooth mouse (logitec) works very well. Never disconnects. But it does fail to properly suspend. I need to switch the BT off to suspend, because it will automatically restart the system when it is connected. I haven't searched for a solution, I'm sure there is one involving /sys and a pre suspend hook etc.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#353

Post by the_duke »

wpietri wrote: post #287
the_duke wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excellent analysis. After using i3 for about 3-4 years, I have to admit that I'm always a bit lost on floating WMs now and feel like an idiot for a few minutes until I'm somewhat comfortable again. To me tiling WMs are just vastly superior. Anecdotally, most people I know that have seriously tried to use a tiling WM usually end up sticking with them.

Is this true for you on a laptop as well? I could imagine this on something where I had a lot of screen real estate. But when I'm coding, in one virtual desktop I'll typically have the IDE, a few terminal windows, and a couple of browsers going. With a 14" screen, I can't imagine how I'd make a tiling window manager work.

Sure.

The great thing about i3 (and also other tiling WMs) is that they are very flexible and customizable to your preferred workflow.

Together with them being centered around the keyboard and easily scriptable, you can use them in a way that works best for your preferences and your environment.

For coding on my laptop, the active main workspace is split into three parts, with the editor taking the left half of the screen, and the right half split into browser and terminal (with the terminal being a TAB container with multiple terminals that I can quickly switch between).

When I need to focus on either the editor or the browser, I make them full screen (I have shortcuts to jump between full screen browser and full screen editor directly with one keystroke).

On other workspaces I have setups with music player, email, Jira/Bug tracker/etc that are always launched in the same configuration on boot and are also just a shortcut away.

So it works great on a laptop too, even if you spend a lot of time with one app maximized.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#354

Post by loudmax »

csomar wrote: post #301
naibafo wrote: post #85

There are different issues with OSX though, that colleagues of mine had, that never occur with Linux. E.g. the chore of somehow managing different software versions such as the outdated default one and a second one installed with homebrew. Almost all my colleagues struggled with setting up python 2 und 3 correctly at some point, whereas this just worked for me on Linux. Some struggled with font rendering between a 10…

I might be unlucky but Linux had been a nightmare on the few laptops I've tried it on. It is not that I have not tried. I did. Some of the problems I had: Very slow UI, not recognizing my Wifi Card, Chrome stopping support for CentOS, Problems with the Graphic Card and multiple monitors, problems with most printers I try, problem with my Bluetooth mouse... Linux and the multiple variants have been horrible. Also, you…

Your experience running Linux on a laptop is highly dependent on how well it supports the hardware that happens to be in your device. If you're able to research the driver support ahead of time, you may find that Linux runs flawlessly on the laptop you bought. If you install Linux on a random laptop, then getting wifi, audio, etc working can be hit or miss, depending on the drivers.

As far as installing apps, I guess it depends on what you're trying to install. In my experience installing apps is easier on Linux than on any proprietary OS, so long as you're installing open source applications and working within the package manager and keeping your system up to date. If you want to run proprietary software on your open source OS, then yeah it's more difficult since Linux distributions aren't really designed for it.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#355

Post by Wowfunhappy »

jasondclinton wrote: post #194
Hello71 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

People forget that subpixel rendering was a thing on CRT's before LCD's were around. Subpixel order is pretty universally standardized. Is there an EDID data element for pixel order?

I didn't know that! How does sub-pixel rendering work on CRT's, which (to my understanding) don't have a set matrix of pixels and subpixels?

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#356

Post by rmavis »

rkangel wrote: post #253

What are people's experiences with the build quality of these artisanal laptop builders? I have Thinkpad (running Fedora), but I like the solidity and maintainability. Do things like the Librem last in daily use?

The Purism forums show there's some variability but my experience has been great. The Librem 13 is the best-feeling laptop I've ever used. It's sturdy (unlike a Macbook Air) but thinner and lighter than my 10-year-old Macbook. It's in a very satisfying middle ground. The keys are great and the trackpad, though not quite as nice as Apple's, is very good.

My one complaint is with the color. Smudges definitely appear pretty quickly. On the other hand, I'm less likely to type with gross fingers now and I wipe down my machine more often (maybe a couple times a month), which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#357

Post by superbaconman »

acdha wrote: post #285
superbaconman wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work in an rpm shop, and we've been exploring switching to python. Could you expand on or link to some of the rpm&pyhton issues you've run into?

The main thing is understanding that the system python installation should be left alone and you should install each app/project in a separate virtualenv / venv so their versions of Python & installed packages are isolated from the system and each other. This also tends to get rid of about 99% of the times where someone try "sudo " before reading the error message. These days I tend to recommend using https://pipenv.…

I was looking at venv, but I guess not fully looking through into deployment. Do you know if venv works with setup.py bdist_rpm or is there nothing standard linking the two concepts?

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#358

Post by amyjess »

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…

Honestly, I hate middle-click paste and would much rather use the middle mouse button for autoscroll.

Middle-click paste has just made me terrified of ever pressing the middle mouse button for fear of sending PII to somebody.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#359

Post by ad_hominem »

BlackFingolfin wrote: post #147
ad_hominem wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On a Mac, you can cut/copy/paste using predictable keystrokes in any application, anywhere Interesting, because Linux is my daily driver, and when I borrow my spouse's MacBook one of the things I get tripped up on is some programs seem to use Ctrl+C/V and other programs use Command+C/V for copying/pasting

Interesting, I don't know a single program on OS X which supports Ctrl+C/V for copy&paste but does not support Command+C/V (indeed, I know only a tiny set of programs that support Ctrl-C/V at all, mostly cross platform software that is badly adapted to OS X). Out of curiosity, could you name an example or two?

Actually I was misremembering. I was thinking of the Terminal app and having to use Ctrl+A/E to go to beginning/end of line. But jumping words uses Alt+arrow keys. And copy/paste is Cmd+C/V. I find the mixing of the modifier keys really unintuitive as a Mac noob.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#360

Post by amyjess »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #23

I find the fetish for terminal-based music players a bit odd. I associate terminals with doing work , so the idea of having one whose sole purpose is playing music (presumably in the background while you do other stuff) to feel like a waste of screen real-estate and something I'm likely to accidentally pull up while trying to cycle between my other terminal windows where I'm doing stuff. I much prefer something that…

For me, no screen real estate is wasted. I keep about 40 tabs open in Konsole at all times, and if I'm not actively on a tab, I don't see it.

I'm so used to playing all of my media with mpv that using any kind of GUI app would feel like sludging through molasses.

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