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Ask HN: Switching from OS X to Linux

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Re: Ask HN: Switching from OS X to Linux

#61

Post by 0942v8653 »

ioxenus wrote: post #48
vijucat wrote: post #17

> I'm tired of having to have a kernel extension to remap keys and a stupid "window manager" just so I can hit Caps Lock+Up to make a window fill the screen. I'm using Karabiner + Seil for this. I suppose Seil is the kernel extension you mention? Is Karabiner technically a "window manager" or did you have another app in mind? If this is the only source of your complaints, honestly, I believe you'll have a lot more to…

there's also ControllerMate which certainly has a kernel extension.

I used to use ControllerMate, but it just wasn't as good. Now I use Karabiner, but doesn't anyone else think it's a bit absurd to have to get a kernel extension just to remap keys?

Re: Ask HN: Switching from OS X to Linux

#62

Post by MarkyC4 »

GutenYe wrote: post #5
dakoon2003 wrote: post #3

Try Elementary OS, its based off ubuntu and is almost a dead ringer for OSX. It has the window management you are looking for as well as a couple of apps. Try Synapse as a replacement for Alfred.

Indeed, Elementary OS is very handy for anyone coming from OSX.

But note that it is still in its infancy. I use 0.3 beta as a daily driver on my personal laptop, but only because all my work gets saved to git repositories or dropbox folders. If it craps out (hey, it /is/ beta after all!), I switch to an Ubuntu Live USB to work.

That being said, the more people on Elementary the better! I've grown to like Vala, and encourage devs to help contribute.

Re: Ask HN: Switching from OS X to Linux

#63

Post by collyw »

jMyles wrote: post #46
NateDad wrote: post #20

Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr is where you want to be. It Just Works, plus there's a huge and awesome community to help out if you have questions. I haven't tried the derivatives, like Mint or Elementary, but I've heard good things. Note that even though Ubuntu is based on Debian, you do not want Debian... It's release cycle is a lot slower, the UI is much less polished, and you'll be stuck with versions of software that…

> awesome community I think a lot of us have had mixed experiences. I've had some that were awesome, but some that made #python look like a hippie drum circle. (Of course, sometimes #python is a hippie drum circle, but that's another conversation.)

I agree. The problem is Ubuntu is too popular, so you get many "mainstream" users responding with really nasty hacks to make things work rather than fixing things properly.

Arch linux (actually I use a spin off called Manjaro) seems to be a lot better in that regard.

Re: Ask HN: Switching from OS X to Linux

#64

Post by collyw »

eligundry wrote: post #53

I use Manjaro[0] because it's got all the advantages of Arch (rolling release and AUR for pretty much any package you'd need) with none of the setup time. I use the XFCE version, which, if you weren't aware, is one of the most stable DEs ever. I've yet to have it crash on me in the three years I've been using it. Also, all the keyboard shortcuts are modifiable, so you shouldn't have any problems with it. To replace A…

Thumbs up for Manjaro from me.

Its a bit more faff to set up than Ubuntu, but has way less error messages and problems. Likewise I have been "downgrading" my desktop since Ubuntu started with Unity. Reached XFCE, and I am pretty happy with that these days.

Re: Ask HN: Switching from OS X to Linux

#65

Post by edcastro »

I say Fedora, it's the easiest Mac (EFI) install that always works and it's packages are constantly upgraded, closest to a rolling-release you can get without having to work some magic.

I use it on a MBP2011 and it runs flawslelly, I currently setup my computers with Ansible. If you want as a rough guide you can check out what I did specifically for the MBP on my Ansible playbook here:

https://github.com/edgard/fedora-install/tree/master/roles/m...

Also, give it a look at the common-workstation role where I setup some defaults for my desktop computers like font rendering, apps and so on:

https://github.com/edgard/fedora-install/tree/master/roles/c...

Re: Ask HN: Switching from OS X to Linux

#66

Post by collyw »

fapjacks wrote: post #50

You're absolutely right about Linux Mint. You can think of it like a curated Ubuntu. I'd recommend going with the Cinnamon UI. I've been using this combination for a few years now. About once or twice a year, I fire up a few other distros on one of my spare laptops at the house just to see where they're at. Mint is just a step ahead of the rest. For your "mini-command-line" utility, I'd recommend picking up Guake ter…

I am typing this on Mint just now.

The Cinnamon UI is nice to look at, and doesn't seem to be aimed at tablet users (this does my head in - I am sure 90% of people work at a desktops all day, not a tablet). But I found it would randomly start hogging the CPU and I never worked out why.

I am on XFCE now, and its fast and stable (though doesn't look quite a pretty).

Re: Ask HN: Switching from OS X to Linux

#67

Post by yramagicman »

I'm a Mac user who half switched to Linux. I have a linux desktop and a Macbook pro running Yosemite. My transition was not terribly difficult. I use ZSH and all the terminal emulators I've tried (Stock Crunchbang, Ubuntu, LXDE on Ras-pi and xfce terminals, along with xterm, and my current favorite urxvt) support emacs keybindings. I'm pretty sure thats a per shell thing though, as I switched ZSH to Vi keybindings with no problem. If you don't use TMUX or Screen, it's not hard to get the normal copy and paste bindings working in any of the emulators I mentioned. With the exception of xterm and urxvt, ctrl-c and ctrl-v usually just work. In xterm and urxvt, you have a little bit of work to do to configure the keybindings, but once that's done, it just works. I like urxvt so much that I'm actually looking to replace iterm2 with something like it. x11.app will run urxvt, but since x is it's own windowing system, it doesn't work with my window management on OS X. Bummer.

When I use a desktop environment my favorite desktop environment is xfce, although I do like Elementary OS. However, normally I'm not running a DE. I started my Linux journey dual booting Ubuntu 12.04 and Crunchbang. Eventually, due to some dumb mistake with apt while trying to install a package on Crunchbang (#!), I reinstalled #! and wiped out Ubuntu. (I to have a hatred for Unity) Eventually, I discovered the Awesome window manager. I haven't looked back since. Awesome is completely configurable in Lua, so any key binding you want is possible. I have super+enter (super is the windows key on my keyboard) set to open a terminal, super+w bound to open my browser, and several other keyboard shortcuts like that. Also, Awesome 3+ has a task runner like Alfred built in. I have it bound to Ctrl+space.

I'm still using Awesome, but now I'm on Arch. I didn't like how slow Debian stable (the base for #!) updated, so I switched to Manjaro and loved it, but I ran into a problem where I couldn't install a library for some software I wanted. (I probably just didn't have the right repositories configured, but I'll never know.) I'd been considering Arch for a while, so I did a practice install in VirtualBox. It wasn't terribly difficult with the tutorial I found on Youtube. After getting everything working in Virtualbox. I did the install on my computer.

I think I've installed Arch on my machine twice now. One of those times I used pacman to generate a list of the packages I had on one install, saved it to a thumb drive, then wrote a python script to parse the list and install the software I was missing. I set the script lose and got in the shower. When I got out, everything was installed.

Last thing, the Arch wiki is an invaluable resource for all things Linux. Sure, the package management commands are wrong, but the configuration instructions for things aren't. Even if the files are in a different place, the Arch wiki gives you enough info that you should be able to run find or grep in one of the parent directories and find what you're looking for.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Main_page

Re: Ask HN: Switching from OS X to Linux

#68

Post by collyw »

coldpie wrote: post #22

I'm a big fan of XFCE for your DE/WM. It allows you to set loads of keyboard shortcuts for various WM activities like launching programs, switching workspaces, moving/resizing windows. As far as non-WM activities, look elsewhere in this thread for program recommendations. The only Linux distro I can stand is Arch Linux. It will require you to become a sysadmin (comfortable with a shell, editing a few config files her…

Manjaro is a nice spin off of Arch - with a graphical installer and package manager. I reckon probably have the skills to install Arch these days, but not the time or inclination to wade through pages of documentation.

Re: Ask HN: Switching from OS X to Linux

#69

Post by jMyles »

collyw wrote: post #63
jMyles wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> awesome community I think a lot of us have had mixed experiences. I've had some that were awesome, but some that made #python look like a hippie drum circle. (Of course, sometimes #python is a hippie drum circle, but that's another conversation.)

I agree. The problem is Ubuntu is too popular, so you get many "mainstream" users responding with really nasty hacks to make things work rather than fixing things properly. Arch linux (actually I use a spin off called Manjaro) seems to be a lot better in that regard.

There's also a lot of impatience, intolerance, and infighting.

I've always liked Arch. I'll give Manjaro a look at some point.

Re: Ask HN: Switching from OS X to Linux

#70

Post by wishiknew »

mntmn wrote: post #42
mntmn wrote: post #34

Good! I switched to Debian Linux on my Retina MBP about 4 months ago fulltime and after a few weeks of twiddling and fiddling it's super fun, fast and nice. I'm really enjoying it. I normalized all the keyboard shortcuts using several methods, the most important one is to switch Cmd and Ctrl keys. I documented that here: http://mntmn.com/Hipster%20Linux#keyboard-cmd-ctrl-copypaste... I use Terminator for Terminal and…

Also, a list of superb tools: - Inkscape instead of Illustrator - GIMP instead of Photoshop (just install Photoshop keyboard shortcuts and use single window mode and it's much less "alien") - Iceweasel/Firefox instead of Chrome (super fast, works well with HiDPI and the dev tools are really on par now) - Steam (obvious) - pavucontrol as audio mixer - ncdu to track down disk space usage - sxiv to view images - zathura…

Opera's whole UI is hidpi enabled, unlike with FF and Chrome. You might want to give it a try.
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