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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)

#611

Post by Klonoar »

lloeki wrote: post #228
tinus_hn wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows does not use a window manager like X does; the frames are drawn and managed by a library used by all applications, it’s not a separate program. I’m not 100% sure but I’d say it’s pretty likely Mac OS works the same way, just like on Mac OS the left part of the menu bar (including the system menu) is drawn and managed by the current application (using a system library so the application developer doesn’t have…

> on Mac OS the left part of the menu bar (including the system menu) is drawn and managed by the current application IIRC it is not drawn by the application, it's a system app that gets the focused (or rather, activated) app menu hierarchy as the app instructs through some IPC, but it's not the app process itself drawing there. The only part where an app actually can draw is on the right part, when one implements me…

Fun fact about the top level menu: it’s one of the last Carbon-heavy things around, at least last I checked.

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

#613

Post by generalk »

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?

  > Like he wants to move the clock. Oh my god just leave it where it is 
  > and get on with your job.
I have an ultrawide monitor. I would very much like for the macOS clock to be centered in the menubar (except when using the built-in display, which for some ungodly reason has a notch in it) or failing that at least to the left of the menu icons. It makes a huge usability difference for me, as otherwise I have to physically turn my head, and sometimes crane my neck depending on how my eyes are treating me.

This is impossible out of the box, and maybe possible depending on what third-party tools I hack together. IIRC command-dragging used to work on the clock, but either it never did and I'm misremembering, or the clock and the iOS-replica Quick Settings panel are special and exempt.

  > I'm amazed that people don't just use the software as it's designed.
Why? Sometimes it's badly designed for a use case you're unfamiliar with, and needs a fix. Sometimes it's just hobbyists being hobbyists. This forum is called "Hacker News," after all.

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

#614

Post by ryandrake »

babypuncher wrote: post #573
ryandrake wrote: post #521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you "zero mouse acceleration" people survive? I have three monitors side by side. If I went with zero mouse acceleration, I'd need a 3 meter wide mouse pad in order to be able to move the mouse cursor edge to edge! Or do you do that mouse bicycle move where you constantly pick the mouse up, bring it back to its original position, move it some more, pick it back up, and so on? Such a weird subculture :)

Way back in the late '90s and early '00s, lots of PC games with mouse look simply drew a window behind the game and placed the mouse cursor in the center. Every frame it would measure the distance the cursor traveled from center and reset it to poll for mouse movement. This meant that your OS mouse acceleration settings directly impacted how your mouse felt in game. If you've ever had a game glitch out and show a mou…

> 3: On-the-fly DPI adjustments. My mouse has buttons for cycling through a number of sensitivity presets. I set mine to have 400, 800, and 1600 DPI. When something requires high mouse precision (such as photo editing) I turn the sensitivity down.

Ahh, very interesting and very cool. That's the explanation I was looking for! Didn't realize mice had this feature or that OSes supported it.

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

#615

Post by blacksmith_tb »

larrik wrote: post #467

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 tro…

The audio behavior is always a little funky on macOS, for the specific steps given I think the problem is that the 'play' button on the keyboard is more like a 'resume' button really, which can cause it to do seemingly bizarre things if you haven't been doing any audio recently. I would expect that if you clicked play in Spotify, then pause, then hit the key on the keyboard it should behave.

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

#616

Post by Klonoar »

jason0597 wrote: post #326

I want to ask a question in good faith to macOS users recommending people to download (and a lot of times pay for!) 3rd party tools to improve userspace functionality on macOS: Why is this the norm? Downloading a 3rd party tool is one thing (I wouldn't have a huge problem if it was open source), but a lot of times these tools are closed source and require you to pay out of pocket! This would never ever fly in the Lin…

Man, I’ll counter your counterpoint: people deserve to charge for their work/time/support.

Why on earth would I have an issue with a dev charging a few bucks for an app that does what I want? This is very normal behavior and Linux is the oddball.

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

#617

Post by _8j50 »

MarcellusDrum wrote: post #328
_8j50 wrote: post #210

Oh, there is a lot more you can't do on MacOS. Things I can do on MacOS: - Edit any document or video within minutues of installation - Use sed/awk/find/grep on any documents or text like with Ubuntu Linux desktop tries too much to be like macos making it even worse. Every time I have to remove avahi, cups and like 10 other things which breaks the whole damn thing and I have to figure out how to unbreak it then get r…

> Linux desktop tries too much to be like macos I think using "Linux" here isn't accurate. ElementaryOS? Definitely. But default KDE Plasma for example does not attempt to look like MacOS at all, same as Cinnamon, which by default resembles Windows to an extent.

I meant with services and philosophy not just and look and feel. You can make kde look like macos if you want as well for appearance.

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

#618

Post by recursive »

rubinlinux wrote: post #594

I got introduced to focus-follows-mouse mode when it was the default on some X11 unix system I used years ago. I have been using linux as a workstation for decades with this feature, and loosing it is the biggest barrier to my using a Mac or Windows machine for anything serious. (For a few years you could feasibly enable this in windows, but it doesn't work well enough to use anymore.) It saddens me that there are so…

> You notice it sometimes if you compare electronics sold in Japan to those sold in the US. The market here is seen to not support 'too many' buttons and features so we get a dumbed down version.

I'm assuming "here" is USA. I don't know much about what's sold in Japan, but I feel like most gadgets still have way too many buttons. I'd wager that most microwave users don't know what most of the buttons on a microwave do. I certainly don't. I'd love to get one with a more streamlined UI, but they're hard to find. Remote controls are similar. I'm kind of scared to imagine what a Japanese microwave might look like.

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

#619

Post by neither_color »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #503
chrisseaton wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Window snapping is a pretty basic thing that every non-Mac OS and DE does... And it's annoying AF to not have it.

I like window snapping when I'm using linux and I like opening apps in full screen on a mac, just like I do when I'm using a phone or a tablet. On windows the application window is the application instance, on MacOS the application instance is still running even though you closed the window. I think this is what throws people off when they switch from Windows to Mac. They're used to doing things a certain way and when it doesn't work that way they complain that it's "broken."

It's like me saying Windows is broken because I have to install an app to use SSH, or because I can't just go to internet explorer and type vnc://.

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

#620

Post by dwighttk »

fsflover wrote: post #597
dwighttk wrote: post #579

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Okay, except this is nothing like that. And yet… desktop Linux isn’t widely popular.

Probably because it's hard to come to a store and buy one.

Linux is “selling” a billion “jars of jam”, a different one for each person… Apple is “selling” like 6.
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