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So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

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Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#231

Post by mattnewton »

unfunco wrote: post #179

Anecdotal like other comments but I and a few others from my workplace have switched to Dell XPS machines and run Linux now, and it's because we're working with Docker, even with 16GB RAM and solid-state drives, the performance of Docker on MacOS is pathetic, and entirely unusable for our work. The XPS machines we have are ugly, they're flimsy, they have a grotesque carbon-fibre pattern on them, the keys leave imprin…

Have you tried running Linux on a MacBook? This used to be pretty well supported (albeit expensive) way of getting pretty hardware and the software you needed, but I haven’t tried in a while.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#232

Post by osrec »

For anyone who just wants a system that works, and doesn't require whizzy animations all over the place, try Lubuntu.

I've been using it for a while and it simply gets out of your way and just let's you get on with things. Best operating system I've used till date for development.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#233

Post by riazrizvi »

diffeomorphism wrote: post #125
jwr wrote: post #48

I so wish the Linux community would get its act together and implement a working usable clipboard. It's the one thing I miss the most whenever I switch from Mac OS to Linux. On a Mac, you can cut/copy/paste using predictable keystrokes in any application, anywhere. And there is a single clipboard. On Linux, you have to deal with a multitude of behaviors (middle mouse button, Ctrl-C, others, and does it paste where th…

Ironically the "consistent keybinding" you mention are emacs keybindings. On linux you basically have 3 common bindings: emacs, vim and cua. One piece of advice: In your clipboard manager you can check a box to sync the middle click and ctrl+c buffers, if you want a single clipboard.

On MacOS the keybindings are configurable via DefaultKeyBindings.dict file. Emacs by default, but I use Vim like key maps. Most important, these settings propagate to all 3rd party apps that use the built-in text UI components. You simply need to restart the app, not the whole system. It’s very powerful.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#234

Post by talkingtab »

For me there are multiple issues that point toward Linux - Linux has gotten better - I have two older Macs, an iMac and a 2012 MacBook. The usability of MacOs on these is worse with every new version of the Mac OS - I have no confidence in new Apple hardware. They seem to be focused on customers who will buy things with a much higher cost to benefit ratio than I can afford. I have doubts that Apple will even continue to support Mac's. - Apple feels like the new Windows to me, and we all know how well that went. I do not see the kind of user focused innovation that was their trademark. - Other than movies, music, web development, email and browsing I find myself using my doing less and less with my computers - My experience with all of those functions has frustration creep perhaps because my hardware is old. But then again, can't Apple support older harder?

Sorry if I descended into a tirade, but the net result is - I love my 2012 MacBook and will probably keep it. - I'm looking to see if I can run linux on my 2013 iMac. - I am trying to find inexpensive hardware (laptop or desktop) as a development machine.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#235

Post by jandrese »

pjmlp wrote: post #222
Tehchops wrote: post #42

End-user Linux has definitely improved in the last few years. It offers a lot of attractive features for what I imagine to be the typical HN demographic. That being said, it's still got rough spots that OSX doesn't. It works great when it works, but when it doesn't.... Font rendering, display/compositor fragmentation etc... Inb4 the anecdotal "well it works for me I just had to download the xf86 font library and comp…

Pretty much this, as UI focused developer I abandoned my Linux zealotry back to Windows. Yes Hollywood is pretty much sold on Maya and Houdini on Linux, but they use their own in-house distributions and have no issues dealing with binary blobs for performance. Meanwhile my Asus netbook sold with Linux still can't do video decoding on hardware nor OpenGL 4 support, in spite of DirectX 11 class hardware, because AMD de…

I see lots of advice online to just use the kernel driver for AMD cards these days, but in my experience it is slow. On some of my machines it benchmarks slower than the Intel graphics. In other cases it is faster, but only by about 50% or so. It is disappointing. I still tend to prefer nVidia graphics when I'm building my own systems because even if the driver is a big binary blob it does work.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#236

Post by duncanawoods »

pdpi wrote: post #134
ad_hominem wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On a Mac, you can cut/copy/paste using predictable keystrokes in any application, anywhere Interesting, because Linux is my daily driver, and when I borrow my spouse's MacBook one of the things I get tripped up on is some programs seem to use Ctrl+C/V and other programs use Command+C/V for copying/pasting

Wait what? What programs are you using that use Ctrl for clipboard actions? Do they also allow their Cmd equivalents, or are they just using the wrong keys?

inkscape

(runs under x11, does not support cmd-c/v)

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#237

Post by zrobotics »

carlospwk wrote: post #59

I find it depressing that (despite this post) there really are only two viable operating systems for 99% of the user base that needs ease of use and commercial software. Same in mobile devices. And there is absolutely nothing indicating a change to the status quo.

To be fair though, this is mostly a setup problem. There are a lot of people who only need a personal computer to use a browser. I've switched my father & stepfather over to Linux mint, and the amount of tech support is actually lower than when one was on Mac and one was on windows. I think the big issue is that Linux isn't pre-installed. That, and there are programs that won't work (my mother is still on win10 due to MS Office).

Remember, most people aren't software devs, and have very different concerns. And increasingly there are more and more people who don't even own a proper computer, since a smartphone will suffice for their needs.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#238

Post by jandrese »

stcredzero wrote: post #215
Tehchops wrote: post #42

End-user Linux has definitely improved in the last few years. It offers a lot of attractive features for what I imagine to be the typical HN demographic. That being said, it's still got rough spots that OSX doesn't. It works great when it works, but when it doesn't.... Font rendering, display/compositor fragmentation etc... Inb4 the anecdotal "well it works for me I just had to download the xf86 font library and comp…

That being said, it's still got rough spots that OSX doesn't. It works great when it works, but when it doesn't.... Someone really needs to make Linux distros just work when hooking a laptop up to a projector. The fact that there's so much trouble that's so public and faced with so much concentrated embarrassment is a serious ongoing PR impediment to Linux. Linux distros got printing licked across the board, so it ca…

Last time I hooked up my Linux laptop to a projector it fired up the screen just fine. I didn't even have to hit some magic key combo to turn it on.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#239

Post by jaabe »

I think I feel the same disenchantment from Apple that the author does, and it really scares me. Because the responses to this piece are basically 220 reasons of why I’ll probably never switch.

Don’t get me wrong, I want to like Linux, I just don’t want to spend any time (as in any time) on configurations. I want to plug right into my 4K monitor and have things just work. I want a good trackpad, and so on.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#240

Post by kurtisc »

jwr wrote: post #48

I so wish the Linux community would get its act together and implement a working usable clipboard. It's the one thing I miss the most whenever I switch from Mac OS to Linux. On a Mac, you can cut/copy/paste using predictable keystrokes in any application, anywhere. And there is a single clipboard. On Linux, you have to deal with a multitude of behaviors (middle mouse button, Ctrl-C, others, and does it paste where th…

>I so wish the Linux community would get its act together

That's needlessly rude.

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