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Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop

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Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop

#311

Post by zozbot234 »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #167
jeswin wrote: post #142

If you're complaining about Linux drivers please do so after using a Laptop that supports Linux (Thinkpads for example). Just like it wouldn't be fair to complain about macOS on a Hackintosh - sound didn't work well and had to patch the DSDT. > but there are rough edges for the power user. > I am an extreme power user, ... > In the end, I was able to replicate most of my macOS power tools setup via input hooks and sh…

If you're complaining about Linux drivers please do so after using a Laptop that supports Linux (Thinkpads for example). So I Googled “laptops supported by Linux”. There is no official site. Ubuntu has a page. But it’s not on the first page of results. I only know about it because I’m familiar with it. Supporters keeps arguing people should jump through hoops. I’m on Linux right now, but people have better things to…

> So I Googled “laptops supported by Linux”. There is no official site.

https://linux-on-laptops.com/ has been around for a long time and it looks like it's still being updated. Though the official Linux-Laptop-HOWTO does need a lot of work to make it current.

Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop

#312

Post by petepete »

ungamedplayer wrote: post #236
one2three4 wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 I find it absurd that (some) linux supporters find it not only ok but even a must, to have to tinker around your machine in order to make everything work. I could understand it in the 90s but this is a very different era we're in. I get zero value from having to tinker with my x-org settings to make the external screen work (sometimes). I'm using a computer to create value elsewhere and having to even think about…

I find insane that people need to tinker with anything. My fedora lenovo just works. Lol.

Mine too. Even the fingerprint reader.

No tinkering required, the only change required to make it useable was to set desktop scaling for HiDPI, accessible via Displays area if the settings app. No terminal commands required.

Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop

#313

Post by tonyedgecombe »

nmlt wrote: post #298
read_if_gay_ wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The feature I miss most on Linux is hitting space to get a preview of any file.

Nautilus has sushi. It's not as good as Preview in MacOS but at least works similarily.

Preview is a gem on macOS, it's probably what I miss most when I use Windows.

Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop

#314

Post by tinus_hn »

hansel_der wrote: post #237
galkk wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I own Thinkpad X1 extreme, that I bought with my own money, and chose as working laptop Thinkpad Carbon. Both are not working well with linux. 1. Carbon, due to it's intel chip, can not drive 4K and 2K external monitors via thunderbolt adapter. 2. I need to authorize dock (Lenovo's thunderbolt dock) after every reboot. 3. The screen tearing sucks. 4. I need to have pulse audio volume control window opened all the tim…

> can not drive 4K and 2K external monitors via thunderbolt adapter. VGA ftw > screen tearing sucks it sure does. look into your os config for a compositor or drop the following into /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-intel.conf : Section "Device" Identifier "Intel Graphics" Driver "intel" Option "AccelMethod" "sna" Option "TearFree" "true" EndSection

Why does it have a ‘tearfree’ ‘false’ option?

Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop

#315

Post by flippinburgers »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #167
jeswin wrote: post #142

If you're complaining about Linux drivers please do so after using a Laptop that supports Linux (Thinkpads for example). Just like it wouldn't be fair to complain about macOS on a Hackintosh - sound didn't work well and had to patch the DSDT. > but there are rough edges for the power user. > I am an extreme power user, ... > In the end, I was able to replicate most of my macOS power tools setup via input hooks and sh…

If you're complaining about Linux drivers please do so after using a Laptop that supports Linux (Thinkpads for example). So I Googled “laptops supported by Linux”. There is no official site. Ubuntu has a page. But it’s not on the first page of results. I only know about it because I’m familiar with it. Supporters keeps arguing people should jump through hoops. I’m on Linux right now, but people have better things to…

Dell sells a fully supported laptop.

System76.

Librem. https://puri.sm/products/librem-14/

Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop

#316

Post by grey_earthling »

nmlt wrote: post #256
karateka wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Finder is unbelievably bad compared to Nautilus Whats so bad about finder?

Yeah, I am wondering about that too. Finder can rename multiple files and has a goto folder option. Edit: I couldn't find a goto option in Nautilus. I don't know how I missed batch rename in Nautilus... Still, if Nautilus has any advanced features, they're well hidden.

Yeah, typing a folder's address could be a bit more discoverable in Nautilus. You can press Ctrl+L (like a web browser), or just start typing a folder address that begins with / or ~ but you're right there's no visible clickable button.

My experience is the other way round: it took me several minutes and much frustration to find a way to type a folder address in Finder.

Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop

#317

Post by eertami »

I disagree. The hardware and build quality of the XPS13 is notably better than my MBP, except for better CPU performance which I do not notice at all in daily usage (I know all ultrabook keyboards are terrible but the MBP is an a whole other level of awful.)

Linux on the XPS has surprised me. I hadn't used desktop Linux for ~6 years, but I remember lots of tinkering to get what I wanted. Now... If I had to describe it in one word it would be "boring". Boring because it just works. Honestly, I have spent significantly more time fixing problems in OSX behaviour than I do fixing problems on Linux. Even just weird things like Terminal text rendering breaking after an OS update which I've never seen on Linux.

Admittedly I have never used the default Mail/Calendar apps on either OS. I appreciate I'm biased because I know how to use Linux fairly well, in spite of a 6 year hiatus. The writer can of course hold his own opinion, but I take it with a large grain of salt. It's also disingenuous to present his own problems as reasons not to use something. It's fine to have a preference but I don't see why he needs to try and influence other people's decisions.

Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop

#319

Post by Zardoz84 »

throwanem wrote: post #45
zmmmmm wrote: post #25

I would like to see someone do the equivalent experiment now with a Win10+WSL2 setup. I'm carefully watching Apple to see what the next line of Macbook Pros looks like. Esp. how well the M1 architecture fits into a development workflow that will still for the forseeable future center heavily on deployment to x86 architecture. We already are seeing significant time wastage from employees having to fight architecture i…

A couple Saturdays ago, I spent thirty minutes setting up WSL2 on a Windows 10 machine. Immediately afterward, I called Apple and spent a thousand dollars on an M1 Mac mini for same-day pickup. I've been running Linux devenvs on Windows, in Virtualbox, for something well over a decade now. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the vaunted WSL2 is literally just that, plus preinstalled OS images that save maybe a…

> I'd tolerate it if I had no better option.

Did you try to install a native Linux distribution. The experience is always better that running on a VM.

Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop

#320

Post by minimaul »

hansel_der wrote: post #237
galkk wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I own Thinkpad X1 extreme, that I bought with my own money, and chose as working laptop Thinkpad Carbon. Both are not working well with linux. 1. Carbon, due to it's intel chip, can not drive 4K and 2K external monitors via thunderbolt adapter. 2. I need to authorize dock (Lenovo's thunderbolt dock) after every reboot. 3. The screen tearing sucks. 4. I need to have pulse audio volume control window opened all the tim…

> can not drive 4K and 2K external monitors via thunderbolt adapter. VGA ftw > screen tearing sucks it sure does. look into your os config for a compositor or drop the following into /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-intel.conf : Section "Device" Identifier "Intel Graphics" Driver "intel" Option "AccelMethod" "sna" Option "TearFree" "true" EndSection

However, TearFree does murder performance and lead to some horrible screen lag at times, and as an extra bonus AccelMethod sna is still crashy years after being introduced :(

edit: there's also the modesetting driver + a reasonable compositor, but this can come with it's own set of bugs and issues in my experience.

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