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

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

#461

Post by sylens »

chrisseaton wrote: post #314
sylens wrote: post #306

I'm always amazed at how many little third party utilities or programs people recommend downloading or buying just to bring the desktop experience on macOS up to parity with Linux (or even Windows!). The lack of snapping/tiling at this point is just a deliberately malicious decision. I can't fathom why they will not implement some version of this better than that half-hearted split screen view that requires a separat…

In return, I'm amazed that people don't just use the software as it's designed. Why do people want to tweak like this? Like he wants to move the clock. Oh my god just leave it where it is and get on with your job. Lack of customisability gives us more stable software. And he wants his windows to wobble? What on earth is the point of that?

I'll agree with you on things like the clock - never felt the need to move it, that's just how it is on macOS.

But I would expect a mature desktop operating system to have improved window management capabilities in 2022

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

#462

Post by ezfe »

Macha wrote: post #387
Joeri wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can’t you do this with audio hijack?

What's audio hijack? Under Linux with pipewire or pulse its just a dropdown next to the application name in your OS volume mixer

That's still something you have to install, or is pipewire/pulse included by default? If you have to install then it's the same as installing something like Audio Hijack on Mac.

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

#463

Post by navjack27 »

nottorp wrote: post #236

I wonder if the OP has switched from Windows to Linux initially. And did he write a piece complaining that everything isn't exactly how they're used to then? A lot of "i'd switch but" articles - in all directions - basically come down to "the destination doesn't work how i'm used to". Even though they're fundamentally as crappy in the background. When someone asks me why I use Mac OS as my main desktop I answer "it's…

It really shows people's true colors on how inflexible their brains might be by writing articles like this. If you can use every OS and have no troubles using each extremely deeply for meaningful work you might have a very fluid and adaptive brain. That's a plus in being able to get work done in different modes.

I use macOS for the same deep work I use Windows 11 desktop for and I have no issues switching off into Linux on my cheap laptop to get some things done. Why waste time complaining? Adapt!

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

#464

Post by ProAm »

thenoblesunfish wrote: post #171

Most of the criticisms here are about the fact that the UI is more customizable on Ubuntu - fair enough, but I can't help but feel that the implication is being made that this is better. I think it's pretty clear that macOS is trying to give you less options (there are, after all, lots of hidden options), but in a considered enough way that almost all users will be happy to have their lives simplified. I move back an…

A customizable UI is the first point of contact for usability and productivity. There isnt a reason to not provide these, stability is not an excuse especially when a lot of the answers in this thread are to install a 3rd party utility to accomplish them.

Window tiling and mouse button customization are easy and safe.

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

#465

Post by SXX »

fanf2 wrote: post #348
SXX wrote: post #88

I'll add some to the list: - Control external monitor sound volume. There are buggy paid and open source solutions, but they all trigger all kind of bugs with sound and macOS itself. - Capture game audio with OBS together with microphone input. - Being able to wait for files to copy and work Finder at the same time. Yeah I could find replacement for Finder, but why the hell? - Use Valve Proton. Yeah, Linux is great t…

You can use macOS’s Audio MIDI Setup app to control the volume of each sound channel separately. Not easy to find, but it is built in.

Yeah I used Audio MIDI Setup and it does enable some use-cases. It's still wont let you capture app's audio without 3rd-party dummy device driver and said drivers are buggy mess.

Even Discord offer an option to audio game capture and one of first steps to install is "Disable SIP".

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

#466

Post by phist_mcgee »

somebehemoth wrote: post #377
rich_sasha wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal laptop is a mac os, and agree with some of the criticism. However, stability-wise, it has been rock-solid. I also manage my own Ubuntu desktop for work, and had to reinstall the system 3 times from scratch because it magically stopped working. In the end it turned out to be something with a new kernel, but it took me, dunno, 2 days to debug.

People that don’t know how to use and maintain Linux should not be the metric for Linux stability. Linux will let you shoot yourself in the foot. That is not a Linux problem, PEBKAC.

If it's not working, you're obviously using it wrong.

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

#467

Post by larrik »

I switched from Linux Mint desktop to an M1 Air last year.

Performance-wise, the M1 is very impressive, probably feels about 80% as fast as my 6 year old desktop (that sounds like snark, but it isn't). Meanwhile, the battery life is insane (I've never brought the charger anywhere but my desk, and will often use it for a week out and about).

I opted for the Magic Keyboard and Magic Touchpad, because I had a lot of trouble with everything else.

I could not get a mouse setup that worked (I'm strictly no acceleration, and macOS's acceleration was literally making my arm ache).

I switched because I stopped being a fulltime developer, my main machine was getting old (6 years), and macOS has good MS Office support.

Overall I'd say I'm about 70% efficient vs on Linux, a bit less so when in active development. The mobility makes up for it, and efficiency just isn't as important to my day-to-day for now.

Many of my gripes are listed elsewhere, but things like middle-click paste is something that is easy to write off but was actually a gigantic part of my process. Also, the fact that everything I want to tweak requires buying an app?

I had to pay for an app in order to properly emulate middle clicks on the touchpad! That's bonkers!

I'll leave this final tidbit though:

On Linux:

* Open Spotify

* Press play button on keyboard

* Spotify plays

On Mac:

* Open Spotify

* Press play button on keyboard

* Apple Music opens ??????

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

#468

Post by paradox_sphere »

tristor wrote: post #448

2 of these 3 things, I have done multiple times on a Mac. Mounting NFS is natively supported in macOS and has been for nearly a decade. Mounting SSH is supported by 3rd-party tools, yes, but they're the same cross-platform 3rd-party tool you'd use in Linux... sshfs, which is built on top of FUSE, which is something you can install on a Mac and is not installed by default in most Linux distributions (although fair eno…

I created an HN account just to second this comment. I still can’t understand the thought processes that goes into similar blogs that like to trash one OS for another or another.

If you like something, awesome! But making something else look bad because you didn’t like it does not make your thing any better.

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

#469

Post by deathanatos »

nicoburns wrote: post #301
spoiler wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. I recently started using an M1 Mac and found the fullscreen workspaces a bit weird (coming from i3), but kinda grew to like it? I got the external trackpad and use gestures a lot (before it was Control + arrows) to navigate the workspaces. My main issue is that all the different "Terminals" have subsets I like on them, but none have all the features I like lol. It's not a big deal though. FWIW I'm trying…

I'd be interested to know what features iTerm2 doesn't have. It's a big plus for macOS for me!

iTerm2 is pretty sluggish, has some memory leaks that I hit every now and then, and doesn't emulate some escape sequences correctly (bold, reset).

But it has Cmd+Shift+E, which I wish some other emulators I like would just wholesale copy that feature.

Honestly, it's one of the better emulators out there; it's my recommendation if you're otherwise stuck on macOS.

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