Ask HN: Have you considered switching from OS X to Linux? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Have you considered switching from OS X to Linux?

#11

Post by SkyMarshal » Mon, Oct 14, 2013, 6:03 AM UTC

mukundmr wrote: post #3

It is a personal choice. I personally don't mind OS X as it allows me to do what I want. VMWare Fusion + OS X = freedom of development choice. Bootcamp + Windows = games. The hardware isn't bad either though it is slightly more expensive depending on how you look at it. For Linux, I find that there aren't many good vendors that provide pre-installed Linux on state-of-the-art hardware especially when it comes to lapto…

You don't really need vendors for desktop Linux, just pick the best hardware you can find that's either on your distro's HCL [1], or uses standard components (Intel/AMD cpu, Intel/AMD/Nvidia graphics, Intel wireless networking chips, etc.).

There are good companies out there like XoticPC.com that sell such hardware with or without Windows or other OS, and still provide a warranty and really good support no matter what OS you put on it.

Ubuntu and probably most other major Linux distro's work essentially as well Windows if you stick to mainstream hardware (with a few exceptions like multi-monitor support and Nvidia Optimus).

[1]: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport

Re: Ask HN: Have you considered switching from OS X to Linux?

#12

Post by stormbrew » Mon, Oct 14, 2013, 6:04 AM UTC

I was a somewhat reluctant Mac user for several years (say, 2006 to early 2012). Reluctant because I've never been a fan of apple products in general, but at the time Apple provided the best combination of good desktop environment and unix-like environment that made my life as someone who works on server software much easier.

There were always many nitpicks I had to deal with and fix every time I reinstalled or got a new computer, and they piled up and up with every new version. I switched to xubuntu with a toshiba z830 and my life got easier. Then I switched to Mint and things got even better.

Re: Ask HN: Have you considered switching from OS X to Linux?

#13

Post by aaronbrethorst » Mon, Oct 14, 2013, 6:04 AM UTC

> Have you considered switching from OS X to Linux?

No.

> forced corporate policies

care to elaborate? I'm not sure what this means. Policies forced by the company you work for? How does Linux solve this?

> lack of hardware choice

Plus, not a minus. I think the 13" MacBook Air is the best laptop on the market today. Tight integration between hardware and software is key.

> closed operating software

Don't care, see answer #2.

It's also probably worth mentioning that I make my living through iOS (in part through my site: http://www.cocoacontrols.com)

Re: Ask HN: Have you considered switching from OS X to Linux?

#14

Post by kyriakos » Mon, Oct 14, 2013, 6:04 AM UTC

ryan-allen wrote: post #5

I switched from OS X to Windows 8, and I virtualise linux using windows as the host OS. I hate to say it, but I think Windows 8 is pretty good as a host OS (not having used Windows much since 2003). I wouldn't be able to do my job without the virtulisation though, in the end I got so fed up with trying to install stuff naively on OS X with brew and ports and from source and whatever I was virtualising on OS X for abo…

I'm using Windows 8 too and virtualization for server testing. What stops you from going Linux-only? In mine case its Adobe :)

Re: Ask HN: Have you considered switching from OS X to Linux?

#15

Post by jmduke » Mon, Oct 14, 2013, 6:05 AM UTC

I'll say something that's vaguely awful: what's in it for me?

I use Linux at work and it's not bad, but I'm less productive on it with 95% of tasks than I would be with OSX. It looks worse (I recognize this is subjective.)

A lot of my friends use Linux and tell me that if I spend the right amount of time tinkering with it -- making it mine -- I'd reap the benefits of a bespoke OS, just like slipping on a suit that's tailored just for me.

But what's the point? I lose out on apps and aesthetics for hypothetical yields in productivity -- I don't want to do that.

In terms of your points:

- forced corporate policies: My employer forces a Linux desktop and either a Mac/Windows laptop.

- lack of hardware choice: I will take to my grave the assertion that the MacBook Air is the best laptop on the market. (Or at least the prettiest.)

- Closed operating software: This does not bother me.

Re: Ask HN: Have you considered switching from OS X to Linux?

#16

Post by vaidhy » Mon, Oct 14, 2013, 6:08 AM UTC

I want to shift, but I like the macbook pro hardware so much better. Running Linux on macbook pro just kills the battery :(

Re: Ask HN: Have you considered switching from OS X to Linux?

#17

Post by john2x » Mon, Oct 14, 2013, 6:08 AM UTC

I would if there was hardware that's as good as the Macbook Air. I know that it can run Ubuntu, but I'm not sure how well the trackpad and battery perform. And with the upcoming Mavericks, that bar is going to get a lot higher.

Re: Ask HN: Have you considered switching from OS X to Linux?

#18

Post by kayoone » Mon, Oct 14, 2013, 6:09 AM UTC

hippich wrote: post #4

From seeing others dealing with bleeding edge node.js stuff - installing modules and following tutorials become confusing. Sometimes you get weird error and only after couple hours googling you find out that it is because on Mac it is a bit different and you would avoid it if you start with Ubuntu in first place. Yes, Ubuntu, since it is most used OSS desktop right now and most tutorials, docs, etc focus on it from m…

You shouldnt pollute your local system with all the dev libs you need anyway. With things like vagrant its very easy to put your projects into containers which run identical enviroments to your target. For these containers it also doesnt reallt matter if you run them from an osx, linux oder even windows host.

Another option would be to get some remote Server and do your development there, which has the benefit of being available from anywhere. In that case you will have to use some form of remote editor like vim/emacs though since syncing from local is painful for bigger projects, especially if you work with different branches.

Re: Ask HN: Have you considered switching from OS X to Linux?

#19

Post by ryan-allen » Mon, Oct 14, 2013, 6:11 AM UTC

kyriakos wrote: post #14

ryan-allen wrote: post #5

I switched from OS X to Windows 8, and I virtualise linux using windows as the host OS. I hate to say it, but I think Windows 8 is pretty good as a host OS (not having used Windows much since 2003). I wouldn't be able to do my job without the virtulisation though, in the end I got so fed up with trying to install stuff naively on OS X with brew and ports and from source and whatever I was virtualising on OS X for abo…

I'm using Windows 8 too and virtualization for server testing. What stops you from going Linux-only? In mine case its Adobe :)

Yep, Adobe is one, but funnily enough iTunes is another. I have spent thousands on iTunes over the years and with iTunes match I don't have to download everything either. Though iTunes on Windows is pretty rubbish (it's slow and looks pretty bad, doesn't do UI scaling properly).

I also want everything to mostly just work, which is why I liked OS X in the first place (it has a Terminal, and everything mostly works!).

I dual boot Windows 8 on my Macbook Air, I think Apple still do make the best laptop hardware.

Re: Ask HN: Have you considered switching from OS X to Linux?

#20

Post by CJefferson » Mon, Oct 14, 2013, 6:11 AM UTC

Yes, and I am happy.

Life is particularly better for the C and C++ programmer. Valgrind's primary platform is Linux. For many years Mac owners were stuck with a horribly out of date and malfunctioning GCC, and even now with clang there are problems (the clang in xcode 5.0 has some horrible miscompiling bugs which were reported months before release).

Is everything perfect in Linux? No. But overall I find it an improvement. The only app I miss is keynote, OpenOffice is a poor substitute.