Things I can’t do on macOS which I can do on Ubuntu (2020) • Hacker News Board

Re: Things I can’t do on macOS which I can do on Ubuntu (2020)

#151

Post by lloeki » Tue, Apr 26, 2022, 11:26 AM UTC

> Resize the system font

I thought Accessibility settings had that, but:

> I find the menu bar at the top too small.

So not system font, menu bar size relative to the rest.

Accessibility settings>Display>Menu bar size>Large

> Focus Follow Mouse

There used to be this, not sure if it works still:

    defaults write com.apple.Terminal FocusFollowsMouse -bool false

Otherwise apps like AutoRaise can achieve that.

> Change my mouse button order

USB Overdrive is a crazy good piece of software allowing that and more like full tracking speed and acceleration control, for any USB or Bluetooth input device (keyboards, mice, gamepads) either globally, per device, and/or per app.

Re: Things I can’t do on macOS which I can do on Ubuntu (2020)

#152

Post by zuhsetaqi » Tue, Apr 26, 2022, 11:27 AM UTC

smackeyacky wrote: post #14

Add: run a docker container without an entire VM.

That's like saying "Things Linux can't do Mac can: Run macOS without a VM"

Re: Things I can’t do on macOS which I can do on Ubuntu (2020)

#153

Post by q3k » Tue, Apr 26, 2022, 11:27 AM UTC

_joel wrote: post #13

Things I can do on MacOS which I can't on Ubuntu: Run Logic X and all the AU's.

There's always going to be software that supports some platforms but not others.

For example, in the EDA world it's very common to have Linux/Windows support but not macOS support (eg.: Intel Quartus, Xilinx Vivado, Cadence Virtuoso and others, Mentor Graphics Calibre and others, ...).

Re: Things I can’t do on macOS which I can do on Ubuntu (2020)

#154

Post by z_zetetic_z » Tue, Apr 26, 2022, 11:28 AM UTC

Disabling acceleration on scroll wheels of 3rd party mice - Nope. Can you stand scrolling 1 pixel, 1 pixel, 1 pixel, 1/3 the whole screen? I can't.

Want to use a 15 year old DSLR as a webcam over USB? Nope.

I sent the MBP back. No way I'm putting up with that crap!

Re: Things I can’t do on macOS which I can do on Ubuntu (2020)

#155

Post by D13Fd » Tue, Apr 26, 2022, 11:28 AM UTC

yalogin wrote: post #25

I like this post. For the first time someone actually provided a list of things and more so jumped right into them! Most of the apple posts go into a long philosophy rant about walled gardens and other bs. Glad to see a legit list and they have a legit point.

I was actually a bit disappointed in the article. I thought it was going to explain some kind of substantive work or task that the author can do on Linux but not Mac OS. Instead, the things he lists all boil down to Mac OS being a lot less customizable.

That absolutely true but I feel like we all already knew it.

Re: Things I can’t do on macOS which I can do on Ubuntu (2020)

#156

Post by maleldil » Tue, Apr 26, 2022, 11:30 AM UTC

shrew wrote: post #114

dotancohen wrote: post #72

I had to use a Mac at work some time ago. Here's my list: * Cannot drag to copy, middle-click to paste. * No way to disable sticky keys lock. * No way to set ESC as Caps Lock. * No way to set a keyboard shortcut for each specific language. (I use five) * Alt-tab to an _Application_, not a _Window_. How many times will I Alt-Tab to.... nothing! * Return from sleep will rearrange the order of the connected monitors, ev…

Ah that last point really struck a nerve. - Open lid - Lock screen shows - Screen fades to black as it realises there's an external monitor - Finally unlock, windows are all bunched up on the internal display - Everything becomes unresponsive, maybe even another fade to black - A minute after initially opening the lid, suddenly all the windows pop back into place I have no idea if this is improved on M1 machines, but…

IME, macOS (Monterey on M1 Pro) handles this better than Windows 10. Everything goes to the right places right away, whereas in Windows you'd have windows all over the place.

Re: Things I can’t do on macOS which I can do on Ubuntu (2020)

#157

Post by deadbunny » Tue, Apr 26, 2022, 11:30 AM UTC

smackeyacky wrote: post #138

AlexSW wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure whether you know something I don't but I'm not aware of any VM when I'm running Docker containers directly on my Mac?

OSX is a distant third for a developer who is deploying docker containers. Microsoft and WSL2 are trying, but nothing beats a linux distribution for that.

Isn't WSL2 just a VM as well?

Re: Things I can’t do on macOS which I can do on Ubuntu (2020)

#158

Post by z_zetetic_z » Tue, Apr 26, 2022, 11:30 AM UTC

blfr wrote: post #141

As a decade+ loyal Linux and Android user I gotta go with "you're using it wrong" on the MTP point. You really should buy (get from your employer) an iPhone. They actually work together pretty well and when they're not at least you will be yelling at whatever Finder/iTunes interface, not a wonky 3rd party software made by some innocent dev who doesn't deserve the bad karma.

What if he doesn't want to? IPhones have some pretty terrible UI issues too.

Re: Things I can’t do on macOS which I can do on Ubuntu (2020)

#159

Post by bodge5000 » Tue, Apr 26, 2022, 11:32 AM UTC

Seems like the obvious tradeoffs you'd expect, mostly lack of control/ability to change things, which I'd expect of MacOS. In return you get stability, Apples locked down approach means the OS is far more predictable. Linux in my view takes the reverse approach, you lose stability relative to MacOS in exchange for complete control. Historically Windows has sat somewhere in the middle, though in recent years with all the telemetry and bloat has made it a hard sell in any area other than legacy compatibility (which is a shame, because that middle option is desperately needed by a lot of people, but I dont think its as indestructible as Microsoft seems to think).

Though I haven't used MacOS in a very long time so I could be wrong.

Re: Things I can’t do on macOS which I can do on Ubuntu (2020)

#160

Post by smallerfish » Tue, Apr 26, 2022, 11:32 AM UTC

jzellis wrote: post #48

You forgot "spend three days trying to get a Bluetooth keyboard to pair at boot every time". :-D I love Ubuntu and I use it with Cinnamon desktop on the daily alongside my Mac, and I love the customizability, but I also like just being able to turn on my laptop and do stuff without having to fiddle with a terminal unless I want to, or install a new app by just downloading a thing and clicking on it and agreeing that,…

> Also, trying to do music stuff is mostly a nightmare of JACK and Alsa headaches. I can write generative music code in at least two languages, but I just wanna plug my guitar in and record things and use plug-ins without having to recompile shit

This hasn't been a problem in a while. You definitely don't need Jack for recording your guitar into a DAW with a backing track (I have a studio full of synths that I record - 24 tracks in, 24 tracks out, via a class compliant USB audio interface). And as the sibling comment points out, Pipewire makes things better still; you can point your DAW at "ALSA" (really Pipewire under the hood) and also play Youtube vids in a browser at the same time - this was of course possible with Pulseaudio or Jack, but both of them had their own quirks. Pipewire is overall really nice and just works cleanly.

I am really curious what you had to recompile.