Huh, I was actually on this page a few years ago, but iOS and MacOS quality has been super solid for me this past year. Anyone else feel this way? Judging by the nodding comments maybe I’m just the outlier?
Apple needs a Snow Sequoia
151–160 of 801 posts
Re: Apple needs a Snow Sequoia
#152This is an interesting idea, and I am actually curious what Apple is going to do going forward. A "Snow Leopard"-esque release would be nice, but I think what would be better is an LTS release. Historically, you get a new Mac and you usually only get 5-6 years before they drop your model from the latest release. This has always made some sense to me, as after 4-6 years, you do start to feel it. I bought an M1 Max tha…
> I bought an M1 Max that is now almost 4 years old and it still feels new to me. How are the keycaps doing? Mine looked awful after about 2 years of relatively light use, developing really obvious ugly shiny patches (particularly bad on the space bar), quite a letdown on an otherwise great machine. (Realised that you can actually buy replacements and swap them yourself, via the self-service repair store, so have rep…
Still better than the butterfly debacle of 2016-2019. I have one for work that spends 99.9% of its life docked to a real keyboard and it still has keys that only work sporadically. Some of these keys probably have < 10,000 actuations on them.
Re: Apple needs a Snow Sequoia
#153I'm done with macOS, I've migrated to Linux for my general purpose computing. With every new release of macOS, Gatekeeper is becoming harder and harder to bypass, increasing Apple's control over what software can be run on macOS, forcing apps to be signed with an Apple Developer ID. While I'm happy they are taking security seriously, I'm seriously creeped out that macOS sends hashes of every executable I run to their…
I migrated to Linux about a year ago too. Not the smoothest experience ever (looking at you, ath11k with device-specific quirks) but so far I am delighted. Finally, I don't have to fight my computer to do things I expect it to do. Unfortunately, I still have to deal with macOS for work due to corporate policies.
The main problem I had with living in a Gnome desktop environment, is with the keyboard. I'm not willing to abandon my use of Emacs control+meta sequences for cursor and editing movements everywhere in the GUI. On macOS, this works because the command (super/Win on Linux/Windows) key is used for common shortcuts and the control key is free for editing shortcuts.
I spent a day or so hacking around with kanata[0], which is a kernel level keyboard remapping tool, that lets you define keyboard mapping layers in a similar way you might with QMK firmware. When I press the 'super/win/cmd' it activates a layer which maps certain sequences to their control equivalents, so I can create tabs, close windows, copy and paste (and many more) like my macOS muscle memory wants to do. Other super key sequences (like Super-L for lock desktop or Super-Tab for window cycling) are unchanged. Furthermore, when I hit the control or meta/alt/option key, it activates a layer where Emacs editing keys are emulated using the Gnome equivalents. For example, C-a and C-e are mapped to home/end, etc.
The only problem is, this is not the behavior I want in terminals or in GNU/Emacs itself. So I installed a Gnome shell extension[1] that exports information about the active window state to a DBUS endpoint. That let me write a small python daemon (managed by a systemd user service) which wakes up whenever the active window changes. Based on this info, I send a message to the TCP server that kanata (also managed by a systemd user service) provides for remote control to switch to the appropriate layer.
After doing this, and tweaking my Gnome setup for another day or so, I am just as comfortable on my Linux machine as I was on my Mac. My main applications are Emacs, Firefox, Mattermost, Slack, ChatGPT, Discord, Kitty, and Steam. My Linux box was previously my Windows gaming box (don't get me started about frog boiling on Windows) and I'm amazed that I can play all my favorite titles (Manor Lords, Hell Let Loose, Foundation, Arma Reforager) on Linux with Proton.
Re: Apple needs a Snow Sequoia
#154There are some factual "gaps" there about how good Snow Leopard was, but I understand the sentiment. As someone who's been a Mac user since System 6 and has been consistently using Macs alongside PCs _daily_ for over 20 years I can say that Apple's software quality (either in terms of polish or just plain QA) has steadily decreased. It's just that me and other old-time switchers have stopped complaining about it and…
I can't believe I'm saying it, but I agree with you about GNOME being my forever desktop. I used to really make fun of GNOME during the 2->3 transition, which seemed so profoundly misguided, but now I love it. I don't know if they've massively improved it or if my perspective has just changed with time.
It's not just you, the early GNOME 3 releases sucked. It has seen a lot of gradual improvement over time. Of course there are reasonable alternatives also, such as Xfce, MATE or Cinnamon. (And these three 'alternative' desktops have also edged closer over time, sharing more and more of the underlying tech stack even as GNOME itself has continued to develop in a rather seperate direction).
Re: Apple needs a Snow Sequoia
#155I don't think it does. Long term Apple user here (since 2007). I'm typing this on a 5 year old pile of junk with Windows 11 LTSC on it. The (M4) Mac is sitting next to me acting as an SMB server until I can be bothered to get all my stuff out of it. It's just tiring using a Mac these days. It's difficult to explain but everything feels slightly frustrating. The nice things are really nice. The whole experience is qui…
> macOS has leaked out about 20gb suddenly
time machine?
Re: Apple needs a Snow Sequoia
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
How come you have to use Windows to play Minecraft? Are you using Bedrock edition?
Hey, if we're already complaining about Microsoft products, can someone explain why the Bedrock and Java versions of Minecraft have not been made cross-compatible in the TEN YEARS since the Mojang acquisition? (... speaking as another dad just trying to play with my kid.)
What does cross compatible mean in this context? They are two different games written in two different languages. I mean, they look like they are the same game, but they are not. Making one compatible with the other is a Herculean task. If not impossible.
Re: Apple needs a Snow Sequoia
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
... I'm not sure I've ever found any GUI system search reliable enough that I've used it on-purpose (though accidentally, sometimes) on Windows, Linux, or Mac. I always just use "find" and "grep" (and ripgrep when I remember that exists and realize I just grepped a lot and will be waiting for like an hour if I don't re-run the command with rg instead). Or nothing on Windows, which is fine because I haven't used Windo…
Windows 11 LTSC one is quite good because it's so damn stupid. You can indeed hit start then just type what you want. Only does files though, by name, which is fine.
Windows 11 is beyond pale. It’s infuriatingly bad. But it could be a benefit if you do a bit of manual organizing and ignore most of its dumb features. Only use it for work, I will never use it at home.
Re: Apple needs a Snow Sequoia
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
How come you have to use Windows to play Minecraft? Are you using Bedrock edition?
Hey, if we're already complaining about Microsoft products, can someone explain why the Bedrock and Java versions of Minecraft have not been made cross-compatible in the TEN YEARS since the Mojang acquisition? (... speaking as another dad just trying to play with my kid.)
I’d imagine mostly due to a lack of incentive on microsoft’s part. Like minecraft is literally the biggest video game to ever exist with, making 2 entirely separate code bases work while keeping all the features the same and preserving compatibility with over a decades worth of mods just so the mostly separate java and bedrock communities can play with each other is just not worth the risk. So many people play minecraft in so many different ways means that making even minor changes in gameplay can be huge sources of controversy, let alone major infrastructure changes.
Re: Apple needs a Snow Sequoia
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah I stopped using spotlight a few years ago. I didn't really notice that I stopped using it until recently. It just became useless. I reorganised my stuff carefully so I know where I put it. I think that turned out to be more powerful than hoping a search engine over the top would be able to sift through the nuances.
... I'm not sure I've ever found any GUI system search reliable enough that I've used it on-purpose (though accidentally, sometimes) on Windows, Linux, or Mac. I always just use "find" and "grep" (and ripgrep when I remember that exists and realize I just grepped a lot and will be waiting for like an hour if I don't re-run the command with rg instead). Or nothing on Windows, which is fine because I haven't used Windo…
"everything" app on windows works well for me for file search. Incredibly fast.
Re: Apple needs a Snow Sequoia
#160Apple needs a Snow Apple. Fire Tim, bring in some real change.
Careful what you wish for.