Moving from Macbook to Linux • Hacker News Board

Re: Moving from Macbook to Linux

#221

Post by vr46 » Fri, Nov 20, 2020, 8:52 PM UTC

aaomidi wrote: post #46

vr46 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you use? I have tried this multiple times and always give up. I ran FreeBSD for a decade as a server in a datacentre and have a deep and abiding love for it, but it doesn't sound it makes a usable desktop these days. Ubuntu appears to be the desktop of choice, but I find it buggy, sluggish and tedious. I'd like a practical and speedy OS that is responsive and configurable. But I don't know enough :)

Not OP but I do recommend PopOS. It's worked really well for me. The sluggish performance you're getting is honestly probably related to CFS (the default linux process scheduler). Windows does an AMAZING job with scheduling for UI applications. You almost never feel like your computer is struggling because anything UI related gets scheduled first. CFS does not do this. I've found that changing the scheduler to someth…

Looks great. Let me try Arch this weekend and then give PopOS a try.

Re: Moving from Macbook to Linux

#222

Post by cafed00d » Fri, Nov 20, 2020, 8:52 PM UTC

bsaul wrote: post #25

The fact that many people reading this post title (including me) look at it with sarcasm is telling on how apple scored big points with its new cpu. Keeping up with mac OS and the trackpad was already quite hard, but CPU could be the killing blow. Which could lead us in a few years to a situation where mac developers will face the same fate as ios developers : forced to buy hardware to sign their app, forced to push…

If you think about it, _thats_ always been Apple’s MO. Back when they had 10% marketshare with macs in the ‘90s or even with 70% marketshare with iPods in the ‘00s.

The forcing function, for all the attributes you listed, over the last 10 years has been the iPhone.

Even the headway’s in 3rd app support that the Mac will get now, is funnily because of the iPhone. Can you imagine what it must look like to Bill Gates from 2003? “Wait you’re telling me that a not yet built device with zero support for existing apps is going to magically make macs have the most abundant catalog of apps in 17 years?!!”

There’s only way counter action to those problems — stop buying apple products.

/disclaimer: I love apple products. But I didn’t mean any of the above with sarcasm.

Re: Moving from Macbook to Linux

#223

Post by nikisweeting » Fri, Nov 20, 2020, 8:53 PM UTC

toastercat wrote: post #140

This page completely fails to load without JavaScript. :( It looks like just static content though?

Yeah sorry it's a home-grown blog platform and we're still working out the kinks. No-JS support is on our list but has been low priority.

Here's a static-friendly version: https://docs.monadical.com/s/SJagdPZ7w

Re: Moving from Macbook to Linux

#224

Post by mbgerring » Fri, Nov 20, 2020, 8:53 PM UTC

I did this in 2015, and then I switched back because I actually wanted to get work done instead of fighting with my tools. I wish the bet of luck to anybody who does this, but with time and maturity comes an understanding of the reasoning behind the trade offs Apple has made, and what the benefits are.

Re: Moving from Macbook to Linux

#225

Post by Cu3PO42 » Fri, Nov 20, 2020, 8:53 PM UTC

fabianhjr wrote: post #207

ur-whale wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Help port Linux to M1

Apple M1 processor is an ARMv8-a processor which is commonly known as AArch64. There are many distros that support AArch64. If Apple had created their own proprietary ISA then it is likely that almost nothing would be ported from the get go.

I imagine the post you are replying to is referring to actually getting the Linux kernel to boot (since there is no BIOS, UEFI, etc.) and writing drivers for all the possibly specialized hardware Apple put in there.

Re: Moving from Macbook to Linux

#226

Post by pantalaimon » Fri, Nov 20, 2020, 8:53 PM UTC

bsaul wrote: post #25

The fact that many people reading this post title (including me) look at it with sarcasm is telling on how apple scored big points with its new cpu. Keeping up with mac OS and the trackpad was already quite hard, but CPU could be the killing blow. Which could lead us in a few years to a situation where mac developers will face the same fate as ios developers : forced to buy hardware to sign their app, forced to push…

> Keeping up with mac OS and the trackpad was already quite hard, but CPU could be the killing blow.

The CPU is good, but it's not a miracle. Ryzen is still faster, what makes waves is that this is the first time an ARM CPU has beat Intel.

Re: Moving from Macbook to Linux

#227

Post by nikisweeting » Fri, Nov 20, 2020, 8:54 PM UTC

runjake wrote: post #139

Plot twist: It looks like they are back on the Mac. [1] And so it goes. You look at almost all of these "I'm switching from Mac to (Linux|Windows 10)!" blog posts and they're almost always back to the Mac within weeks/months. I've attempted to go back to Linux plenty of times, and while the kernel and userspace is top notch, every GUI I've tried just pales in comparison to even the trainwreck that is the current macO…

The screenshot is from my mac, the author is my colleague however who is still on Linux.

Re: Moving from Macbook to Linux

#228

Post by gorgoiler » Fri, Nov 20, 2020, 8:54 PM UTC

swalsh wrote: post #205

gorgoiler wrote: post #99

This is going to sound dumb or elitist but I am so much happier working since I ditched portable computing. I have a desk at home in an office. I have the same setup at work. I don’t carry my dev environment with me. When I need to work I go to the ’do work stuff’ place. Nice keyboard. Nice mouse. And a nice OS that, yes, took a whole day to configure but over which I have total control. (Full-screen focus-mode no-or…

That's easy to say in 2020 when mobility in general is non-existent. But if you travel even somewhat often, it's nice to have the ability to carry the environment with you. I used to take the train to work every day. I was never more productive then I was in that time on the train.

I’m also just old. Mobility, or rather a desire to be mobile, has ebbed.

Re: Moving from Macbook to Linux

#229

Post by nikisweeting » Fri, Nov 20, 2020, 8:55 PM UTC

brabel wrote: post #47

kowlo wrote: post #5

In my opinion: generally speaking, not yet! But of course, you are making your switch in 2021 which is great. I have tried every year and always end up going back to either Windows or MacOS. However, I'm fed up with Windows now, so I've invested in MacOS for now. I'm saying this from my i7 MacBook Pro 2018 with fans blazing because HN on Safari can be demanding.

> with fans blazing because HN on Safari can be demanding. You've got to be joking?! I have a MacBook Air from 2020, which should still be less powerful than a MacBook Pro from 2018 and even on huge websites full of crap the fans won't kick in, let alone on HN which is the lightest website I frequent often. The only time I hear the fan is when I compile a large project on my IDE or when the IDE re-indexes the JRE!

It's all whats in your tabs, comparing otherwise is useless.

I typically run between 100-200 tabs at any given time, most of them hibernated, but some readers only run 10 tabs.

Re: Moving from Macbook to Linux

#230

Post by 120photo » Fri, Nov 20, 2020, 8:55 PM UTC

anderspitman wrote: post #12

I got into Linux when I was younger because I thought it was cool, and I had plenty of time to fix it when things broke. It's been my daily driver for ~10 years now. But there's quite a bit too learn. If I were to try and switch from Windows or Mac today I'm not sure I'd succeed before giving up. But I'm grateful every day to have a machine that I have some semblance of control over. I use a rolling release distro. I…

It great until something breaks. I had a Arch Linux system going for a while and at some point (probably my own fault) broke graphics. I'm technical enough to where I could have probably fixed it on my own but honestly just did not have the time.

Not sure if something like this already exist (especially with ZFS and Btrfs) but it would be nice if there was a easy to use system restore manager you could boot into and restore your system to a last known working state. Again, keyword easy. Yes I'm technical enough to where I could fix it but I just don't have the time.