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Impressions from a first-time Mac user

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Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#531

Post by saagarjha »

d3nj4l wrote: post #409
thanatos519 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, and the change that hurts me when I try to use a Mac is the fact that there are things that I can't change. I prefer focus-follows-mouse and no-raise on-focus, and those are apparently structurally impossible in macOS. "I can't change it to work the way I like it" is a totally legitimate complaint and Linux has a strong advantage in this regard.

FFM is completely possible on macOS (unless you mean something completely different). I use yabai for it: https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai

Yabai requires tiling windows, doesn’t it? This is far easier than general focus-follows-mouse support.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#532

Post by sofixa »

brimble wrote: post #155
sofixa wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Docker Desktop is relatively bad compared to native docker on Linux. If you spend your day doing that macOS is very stifling. Or if you want to change a keyboard shortcut Apple don't allow you to, like cmt+tab.

Ah—I've done a lot of Docker on Mac, but just with the command line tools, so I don't know how Docker Desktop is (on any platform). > Or if you want to change a keyboard shortcut Apple don't allow you to, like cmt+tab. The only keyboard customization I do is something that Mac makes at least as easy as Linux (use Caps Lock as an extra control) but I bet it is frustrating if you want to customize stuff outside the cas…

To run Docker on macOS you need Docker Desktop or any of the alternatives. The docker CLI is really slow compared to native, at least with Docker Desktop, and i Rancher Desktop failed installing.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#533

Post by saagarjha »

thanatos519 wrote: post #29
uuyi wrote: post #18

This is a story as old as time. When you’re used to something else the change hurts. I have found it far better to not bring your mental baggage with you and meet the new platform as its level rather than try and make it the same as the old one. I have gone MOS > RiscOS > WinNT -> Solaris -> Linux -> Win7 -> macOS and it hurt every time.

Indeed, and the change that hurts me when I try to use a Mac is the fact that there are things that I can't change. I prefer focus-follows-mouse and no-raise on-focus, and those are apparently structurally impossible in macOS. "I can't change it to work the way I like it" is a totally legitimate complaint and Linux has a strong advantage in this regard.

I’ve tried implementing focus-follows-mouse on macOS. It’s possible to do, but complicated, because changing focus to an arbitrary window can “mutate” it: popovers will disappear, and selections will shift under your mouse. I don’t think Linux or Windows really support these so they don’t have to deal with this.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#534

Post by EnKopVand »

ChicagoBoy11 wrote: post #2

Despite the warning, I didn't find it nearly as "ranty" as the author cautioned, and instead seemed like a fairly comprehensive and fair take on his experience. Having gone through the same thing myself several years ago, the UI aspect of it is something that I'd be curious to see how it develops for the author. I think it is not uncommon for Windows folk to find the windowing experience on macs rather painful, at le…

I think the bit on window management reads a little too much like someone who sort or made up their mind upfront. I use windows in my professional life, because that’s how we roll in Denmark, but back in 2015 I bought my first personal MacBook and it’s been a great relationship ever since.

On windows I need to install tools for things like snapping pictures because the default snipping tool isn’t quite good enough. I also hate window management, especially on multiple screen setups where you can’t move the mouse from one screen to another if the resolutions are different (4k screens and an open laptop as an example). Mean while a lot of the things the author complain about are things I find decent on a Mac. The fact that you can easily auto-size windows so that you have 1 full screen, 2 half screen apps, and x csized windows on 3 different window spaces is just awesome.

The biggest issue is that even after 7 years I still have no idea how many little tricks I still don’t know about Mac OS because it never tells you how to use it and pressing shift command (or maybe it’s option) 4 to snap a screenshot isn’t exactly intuitive.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#535

Post by philsnow »

sooheon wrote: post #335
kevincox wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. While I admit that I have only lightly used macOS but for my last job I find it hard to get used to this multidimensional switching. I think it might have made sense where you had a few documents and a few emails and a few folders. But now I have 3 browser windows and 3 terminals and my brain can't get used to the fact that a video call window is in the same group as my reference docs but my text editor is i…

It's just the difference between a depth=2 tree and a flat list. What's better depends on your access patterns, but at least semantically, the tree makes a lot more sense to me.

I just wish "spaces" worked like xmonad workspaces [0], specifically that in xmonad there are some number of workspaces (9 by default) and each display is a view into _any_ of those. Macos has a checkbox "Displays have separate Spaces", and neither checked nor unchecked gives the behavior I want.

Let's say I have just two monitors. That box being checked means I have spaces A1 A2 .. An and B1 B2 .. Bn, and monitor A can display any of the "A" spaces and monitor B can display any of the "B" spaces. But if I want everything from B2 to get displayed on monitor A, I have to create a new space An+1 and drag everything over one window at a time, like a cave man.

Unchecked means I have spaces AB1 AB2 .. ABn, and switching spaces switches both monitors at the same time! So if I want to see the A side of AB1 and the B side of AB2 at the same time, I'm out of luck.

Xmonad workspaces allow me to do any of the above behaviors (oh, and it switches workspaces instantaneously, instead of this left/right spatial thing macos insists on, I guess because of the trackpad swipe gestures). One of these days I need to try to make Hammerspoon fake workspaces in a way that works for me, because (like the OP) this is by far the least comfortable thing about working in macos for me.

[0] https://xmonad.org/tour.html#using-other-workspaces

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#536

Post by _ZeD_ »

chrisoverzero wrote: post #498
_ZeD_ wrote: post #492

I just (couple of weeks ago) received my First Mac, a 2019 MacBook Pro to work with... and I really don't get the "HW good" meme... The MacBook Pro HW is mediocre, at best. The body is heavy . Boy, have anyone used and LG gram? But even my other work laptop (a Lenovo) wheight less and feel more balanced. My model has only the usbc ports.. I don't even have an HDMI one. My model has the infamous touchbar, and it sucks…

> It was so absurd that I though[t] it was damaged. If you’re not getting haptic feedback, it is damaged.

it's not broken... the problem is that, for my fingertip, the haptic feedback is not enough. I want "physical" feedback.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#537

Post by diffeomorphism »

bdougherty wrote: post #505
traceroute66 wrote: post #17

The author makes a big deal of lack of snapping. Frankly I've never seen the utility of it on OSs that do have it, infact I've always felt it more of a hinderance than a help (gets in the way, tries to snap when you don't want it to). The author makes a big deal that you have to do Command+Tab to switch applications, and then Command+` to cycle between windows in that application. Well, frankly I think thats the bett…

Nobody seems to know about App Exposé, which you can trigger with ctrl+down. I also have it set for three finger swipe down. You can then use the arrow keys to move between windows if you don't want to use the mouse, and it includes minimized windows as well, which cmd+` does not.

> Nobody seems to know about

That seems like a problem.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#538

Post by IshKebab »

ysleepy wrote: post #87

My recommendations for Mac Users: * Put the Dock left or right, vertical space is precious (trust me, do it for a week and then decide) * Setup Hot-Corners (Settings -> Mission Control -> Hot Corners) - Upper-Right Corner as Mission Control (Must be upper right so spaces are immediately shown) - Lower-Left Corner as Application Windows - just fling your mouse curser into the corner (use std. gestures on the trackpad)…

Other pretty much required apps:

* Spectacle - gives you a normal maximise shortcut * Karabiner elements - fix home/end, swap ctrl and command on external keyboards, fix the British keyboard layout etc. Also let's you work around the bug where it forgets you have an ISO keyboard. * Itsycal - an actual calendar in your menu bar * Something to disable scroll acceleration for real mice. There are a couple of paid apps for this.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#539

Post by jbverschoor »

fiddlerwoaroof wrote: post #439
perryizgr8 wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand what's random about always switching to the last window you were using. It's a simple rule, no exceptions. Macos window/app switching rules are too complicated and full of special cases, which makes it harder to integrate into your work flow.

Because, basically, I don’t think in terms of switching windows, I think in terms of switching tasks/apps and some apps/tasks happen to have a bunch of windows.

I dunno. I just want a focus group on a desktop, where switching is related to the project I’m doing. For example one desktop vscode, iterm, browser. And another desktop about productivity.

The problem with switching is that you quickly get too many windows / apps.

I tried to have a user per group, but that does T work fast enough.

The best setup for me is 2 or 3 machines, linked with synergykvm

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#540

Post by pojzon »

Ive been working on windows OSes for few years before my employer finally let me use macbook.

It was the best switch I could make. I had fully working linux distribution together with superb UX of MacOS.

Recently switched jobs and again back to Windows. Now I see how many things that simply work out of the box on MacOS you have to hack-in on Windows to be even able to work as a software developer.

WSL2 is also such a pain to work with. Quality of Microsoft apps on Windows is also worse than Microsoft apps on MacOS. For example -> MS Teams on Windows constantly hangs up or freezes. Never had such issues on MacOS. Beside OS nothing changed in my home office.

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