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Running Linux on My MacBook

djhworld.github.io

171–179 of 179 posts

Re: Running Linux on My MacBook

#171

Tried to migrate from Mac to Linux half a year ago (before the 16" with the new keyboard was announced, because I hated the butterfly keyboard). Tried a bunch of dell and Thinkpad devices. Configured a t480s with ubuntu. First meeting where I had to share my screen and I recognized that Chrome is not able to share a dedicated screen of my three monitor setup. You need a script for that, which creates a "fake" webcam,…

I think the thermals on the 16” are the best thermals a MacBook Pro has ever had. Is there a model that had better thermals?

Yes. The macbook 15" 2015 was just running at 55°C with zero fan noise when "just" browsing the web.

The 16" runs at 67°C with 2500rpm when doing the same task. So its neither quite nor cool doing basic tasks. You can turn of turbo boost to get around it, but I was expecting something in the same ballpark in terms of coolness and fan noise for basic tasks without tweaking stuff like this myself.

Re: Running Linux on My MacBook

#172
post #2

I used i3 for a long time. After a while it didn't feel that fast. Yes switching was very quick but often it got in the way. So many applications have little windows that pop up. They didn't play nice with i3. I also had the issue of a limited keyboard and shortcut keys. I use a Kinesis advantage. I don't have a windows key. So I used alt as a super key. This meant that I often couldn't use application shortcuts. It…

For me it was remembering what my bindings were for every little thing. I’m a guy who built his own keyboard for extra macro keys. I have 12 extra off the left side. It worked out very nicely, and it was a pretty smooth experience. Until I was using my computer to laze about at 11pm with a slightly foggy mind. I just don’t want to think about how to move incredibly quickly around the computer. Easy point and click is…

Ha, I had a second keyboard for shortcuts at one point. I had little labels stuck to the keys. But I switched programs all the time and maintaining the shortcuts and the labels got old.

Re: Running Linux on My MacBook

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends a ton on what distro you are using. Some distros that now ship with wayland native desktops have tons of downstream patching to smooth out the experience. If you run Arch for instance, the default Chromium package is not ozone, and will run with XWayland (although chromium-ozone is available in the AUR). It's possible your distro is doing something differently.

I run arch, and the google-chrome-stable package appears to have sorted out it's hdpi scaling issues. I could be wrong though, a while back I did a lot of tweaks to beat the concept of hdpi and variable screen resolutions into my computer, so I don't exactly have a "clean" setup, and it could be something else, but the fonts look crisp on both the low res and high res screens. I can't say whether this is anything to…

I'd just like to correct my post above, it seems that chrome was running under XWayland, I think I'd just found an incantation of settings that made it look alright on both my high res/low res screens.

Re: Running Linux on My MacBook

#174
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Dell, Lenovo, System76 are just a few manufacturers who build MacBoook class hardware with Linux preinstalled Debatable. I have had an absolutely terrible experience with Linux on a new ThinkPad. System76 doesn’t have as great a build quality AFAIK. Dell is fine, but they don’t have anything with preinstalled Linux anymore.

Was that ThinkPad one of the Linux certified ones? Or was it again one random machine?

It was a non certified X390 Yoga.

Re: Running Linux on My MacBook

#175

Off topic maybe, but my Razer Blade 15" has been and absolutely wonderful replacement for my MBP. The build quality feels just as nice, and none of the weird touchbar issues. (Running Ubuntu 19.10 presently, only issue: had to disable the USB-C port to allow it to sleep). The arrow keys are also in a slightly wonky location. It's been very disruptive to have Apple quality tank, and I'm glad they finally went back to…

Razer Blade - which year? Heard 2020 is not nice with Linux as much as older models.

I got it in late 2019.

Re: Running Linux on My MacBook

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I run arch, and the google-chrome-stable package appears to have sorted out it's hdpi scaling issues. I could be wrong though, a while back I did a lot of tweaks to beat the concept of hdpi and variable screen resolutions into my computer, so I don't exactly have a "clean" setup, and it could be something else, but the fonts look crisp on both the low res and high res screens. I can't say whether this is anything to…

I'd just like to correct my post above, it seems that chrome was running under XWayland, I think I'd just found an incantation of settings that made it look alright on both my high res/low res screens.

There is an xwayland[0] patch out there to fix this properly. Could it be that you're using something like this[1]?

[0] https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/xserver/-/merge_requests...

[1] https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/sway-hidpi-git/

Re: Running Linux on My MacBook

#178
post #33

You might want to try https://github.com/rbreaves/kinto/ for mapping Mac style copy paste on Linux

Thanks for the plug, I am the author and I have recently made a few more updates. Speed improvements to the installer, better apple keyboard (added another driver detection for newer keyboards), also improved support for Ubuntu Budgie (probably the most mac like distro out there worth trying besides a couple of others such as Enso OS).

Re: Running Linux on My MacBook

#179

The trouble with almost every article that I read of this kind is that the author is either a writer or a coder. So their demands on Linux are relatively minor; a terminal, an IDE, something to mangle text with. I could probably make the full-time switch to Linux, if that was the bulk of what I did too. And I do a fair bit of writing and coding. But the majority what I do on my [OSX] computers is Art & Design related…

It turns out that a FOSS operating system largely maintained by volunteers does not meet your requirements, and you know what? That’s fine. No ones forcing you to use it. Giving people options is the whole point of Linux. We cannot compel other companies (such as NVIDIA) to support it anyway.

I wish I'd put a couple of quid bet on someone coming along and trotting out the obligatory "Free... Volunteers... Write your own..." reply. The response that someone always comes out with whenever anyone [even someone who likes Linux and uses it] dares to criticise.

And exactly the reason why it will NEVER be the 'Year of Linux on the Desktop'. It's the Linux equivalent of Steve Jobs's infamous "You're holding it wrong". If someone offers a valid criticism then blame the user. It's so much easier than actually addressing the problem, no matter how glaring.

I wasn't criticising some obscure edge case here, where someone hacks about and messes something up. This is the official GUI installer, which will actually recommend you install something that will, to all intents and purposes, brick your computer. How newbie-friendly can you get!

Even Steve Jobs might have thought twice, before blaming the user for that one!

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