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From macOS to Arch Linux

juxt.pro

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Re: From macOS to Arch Linux

#161

Post by jchw »

awill wrote: post #153

For my personal desktop, I use Arch linux, and I'm perfectly happy. However, for a work laptop, I am pretty sure I'd take a new M1 Macbook Pro over a Thinkpad/XPS w/ Arch Linux. A MBP can get 15+ hours of battery life, supports suspend/resume, and in the case of the Intel models, smooth GPU switching between dedicated and onboard. Linux does none of that well. On a desktop, none of that matters, but I wouldn't take t…

I’m on a Thinkpad T14s for work, running Arch. Sleep/resume isn’t a problem, battery life is fine (haven’t measured but it’s probably around 8 hours) and the GPU is acceptable for the work I am doing.

Funny enough, what actually hit me in the face was an audio driver regression, but after a minor kernel update it’s seemingly back in business. A lot of stuff changes, but man, Linux audio really never changes.

If you really need GPU switching, that one definitely would be a bummer, but I’d really prefer a single GPU that can just handle light and heavy workloads reasonably. I think that’s probably going to be the norm soon.

Another thing oft overlooked is Thunderbolt support: it’s definitely not as good on Linux. I’m currently just using a non-Thunderbolt USB-C dock because my needs are not crazy enough to need more.

Re: From macOS to Arch Linux

#162

Post by diffeomorphism »

awill wrote: post #153

For my personal desktop, I use Arch linux, and I'm perfectly happy. However, for a work laptop, I am pretty sure I'd take a new M1 Macbook Pro over a Thinkpad/XPS w/ Arch Linux. A MBP can get 15+ hours of battery life, supports suspend/resume, and in the case of the Intel models, smooth GPU switching between dedicated and onboard. Linux does none of that well. On a desktop, none of that matters, but I wouldn't take t…

Is that true for preinstalled distros as well? You can buy thinkpads/XPS with fedora/ubuntu preinstalled and I expect that the manufacturer took care that everything works well.

On the flipside, if I install MacOS on a thinkpad (somewhat popular), I would expect problems with battery life, suspend/resume and gpu switching. Same with installing windows on chromebooks.

Re: From macOS to Arch Linux

#163

Post by fsh »

hackmiester wrote: post #149
fsh wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The default config of systemd on Arch suspends to RAM when the lid switch of a laptop is triggered. Unfortunately many modern laptops no longer implement the S3 sleep state in favor of Microsoft's proprietary "Connected Standby" (i.e. the mode that tends to cook laptops in their bags). My new Thinkpad has a toggle in the EFI to re-enable S3, after which suspend to RAM works on Arch with no further configuration neces…

Do you have any further information about the issue with Connected Standby? It’s one of my favorite features on my Surface.

This was discussed on hn a while ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28639952

My old surface also never stayed in suspend reliably.

Re: From macOS to Arch Linux

#164

Post by diffeomorphism »

stnikolauswagne wrote: post #128
pkulak wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whoa now, don't leave me hanging. What are the benefits of the "Apple ecosystem"? I'm using a Macbook right now because it's tiny and light and has amazing hardware, but once I need to get things done, it's closed and charging. If you have multiple devices, why do they all need to be identical?

Having my phonecalls automatically forwarded to my laptop is a huge benefit. Being able to use my iPad pro as a secondary monitor for when I have to go into the office is very useful as well. Painless copy-paste between devices is also a huge bonus. I‘m sure there are ways to get all of that running on linux but I‘d rather spend the time that it would take setting all that up working and let my company pay a bit more…

"All that" seems to just be one app, which requires no setup beyond clicking "pair" on the phone once.

Re: From macOS to Arch Linux

#165

Post by orangepurple »

popey wrote: post #49

"There are still many things I need to set up on the new laptop, for example: suspension/hibernation on closing the lid doesn’t always work" For me, this is one of those things that should work out of the box. I appreciate Arch is one of those distros you configure manually, and can thus choose whether to implement this or not. But I'd rather not have my laptop burn out in my bag because the system didn't suspend pro…

That's because of the garbage S0 sleep state enforced by the UEFI/BIOS of the laptop

tl;dr: There's a way to disable Windows 10's "Cook your Laptop" facility, Microsoft calls it "Modern Sleep" for some reason I can't understand, via a simple BIOS change which disables S0 and re-enables S3. No more coming back to a laptop that's so hot you can burn your hands on it. To do this, go into the BIOS config and change the sleep option from "Windows 10" to "Linux".

More info: https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-X-Series-Laptops/Fix-f...

Re: From macOS to Arch Linux

#166

Post by eitland »

popey wrote: post #49

"There are still many things I need to set up on the new laptop, for example: suspension/hibernation on closing the lid doesn’t always work" For me, this is one of those things that should work out of the box. I appreciate Arch is one of those distros you configure manually, and can thus choose whether to implement this or not. But I'd rather not have my laptop burn out in my bag because the system didn't suspend pro…

I'm about to install KDE Neon or Pop!_OS on my Lenovo ThinkPad p1 Gen2 which currently runs Windows exactly because I have found it running in my bag to many times.

My older Lenovo Yoga with KDE Neon rarely do that. Also there is still a noticeable difference (30% last I measured on the same hardware) in compile times and when it comes to cli tools like git the experience is in a completely different league.

Re: From macOS to Arch Linux

#167

Post by eitland »

orangepurple wrote: post #165
popey wrote: post #49

"There are still many things I need to set up on the new laptop, for example: suspension/hibernation on closing the lid doesn’t always work" For me, this is one of those things that should work out of the box. I appreciate Arch is one of those distros you configure manually, and can thus choose whether to implement this or not. But I'd rather not have my laptop burn out in my bag because the system didn't suspend pro…

That's because of the garbage S0 sleep state enforced by the UEFI/BIOS of the laptop tl;dr: There's a way to disable Windows 10's "Cook your Laptop" facility, Microsoft calls it "Modern Sleep" for some reason I can't understand, via a simple BIOS change which disables S0 and re-enables S3. No more coming back to a laptop that's so hot you can burn your hands on it. To do this, go into the BIOS config and change the s…

Thanks! I'll try this!

I'm trying to get #boilinbaglaptop trending but will happily also use the term "Cook your Laptop" :-)

Edit: I've been looking through the BIOS three times now and still can't find it :-/

Re: From macOS to Arch Linux

#168

Post by diffeomorphism »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #55
gbrown wrote: post #7

Can an Arch person explain to me why their approach is worth it over something with a more comprehensive package manager like apt or dnf? I don’t mind compiling programs myself when needed, but for most things I’m happy to not have to hand-hold my OS when it comes to updates. From the wiki: > Before upgrading, users are expected to visit the Arch Linux home page to check the latest news, or alternatively subscribe to…

> a more comprehensive package manager like apt or dnf I don't see how apt or dnf are any more comprehensive than pacman. What do you mean by that? Before Arch, I used Fedora. It used yum as its package manager. That thing managed to corrupt its own databases at least twice during normal usage. Distribution major version upgrades always caused problems. I never had problems like these after switching to Arch. > I don…

Not PP, but to me it means much less manual intervention/more hooks etc. .

For instance, for debian I can just turn on automatic updates and basically never need manual intervention.

For arch I am not supposed to use automatic updates and have to (!) read the news.

Why? Why does arch need more manual intervention? Sure, I can do that but it just seems like a pointless waste of time.

Re: From macOS to Arch Linux

#169

Post by extr »

bsnnkv wrote: post #151
extr wrote: post #122

I currently run a dual boot with Arch and Windows 11 on an XPS 13. There are positives to each: * Windows has much better support for handling the Hi/Multi DPI setup that is my laptop + 2 4K screens. Wayland gets there, but unfortunately the font rendering is annoying bad, and the fractional scaling doesn't quite look right. And of course it's a very "just works" experience if you stay on the happy path. The Windows…

Just gonna plug my bspwm-esque tiling windows manager for Windows 10 and 11 here since I know how hard life on Windows is without one: https://github.com/LGUG2Z/komorebi/

Small world! I use this and submitted issue #22 about the Electron/Chromium frozen window problem. Despite that issue, really fantastic software, by far the best linux-like tiling WM solution for Windows at the moment (and I've tried them all). Fantastic work!

Re: From macOS to Arch Linux

#170

Post by deadbunny »

kristofferR wrote: post #52
Offpics wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im going to switch from arch to mac in one month. What I should consider installing on it beside homebrew?

Bartender, Karabiner-Elements, MacUpdater, NightOwl, iStat Menus, Keyboard Maestro, Rectangle, Amphetamine are some of the most important "OS Enhancement" apps I use. TripMode, Tripsy, 1Password, Raindrop.io, iTerm, Tower, IINA, Soulver, Spark, Carbon Copy Cloner, Find Any File, Flux, Pacifist, are some my most used "non-common" apps (excluding things like Firefox and VS Code).

Macs Just Work.

Sorry, just found it funny with the big list of applications you're recommending to install to do basic thing in OSX when the usual argument against Linux on HN is "Macs just work".

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