Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user • Hacker News Board

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#391

Post by gecko » Tue, Jun 19, 2018, 2:25 PM UTC

Fnoord wrote: post #387

abrookins wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's okay -- I'm sure they fixed something like that issue! The WSL team has been crazy busy, and their work so far is super impressive. VirtualBox shared folders had their own problems. `npm` wants to create symlinks for commands provided by packages, but VirtualBox doesn't support symlinks by default on Windows shares. So you have to execute an arcane command to enable that feature -- every time you restart the c…

It is possible to create directory symlinks in Windows. It is called junctions [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS_junction_point

NTFS actually has support for proper symbolic links, which are not the same as junction points. I come across this confusion fairly often and I'm not clear why. (`mklink /d` is what you're looking for, and do note that this is different from `mklink /j` in meaningful ways. Do note these commands must be run from an Administrator shell prior to Windows 10.)

[EDIT: Also, reading GP, it looks like their issue is something about VirtualBox support for symlinks, not Windows support for symlinks. Symlinks are enabled in Windows by default, so they'd only have to do something special if they were on a domain that disabled them in the group policy--but in that case, they wouldn't be able to turn them back on themselves on a reboot anyway.]

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#392

Post by koffiezet » Tue, Jun 19, 2018, 3:10 PM UTC

karlmdavis wrote: post #388

karlmdavis wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I want my technology to work out the box, and Mac does that. Same here, but with a twist: out of the box, Linux makes it easier for me to install the things I need to do my job. The display, power management, etc. issues are all frustrating, true, but ultimately not as important. Different folks have different priorities.

I'm a software developer so for me: dev tools, basic shell utilities, PostgreSQL, Docker, etc.

All those things work pretty well on OSX. I really really like Linux, but only on CLI. Every time I touch a desktop running linux I get frustrated. OSX isn't perfect - but as a productive environment, it's the best fit or me personally.

And I'd love to upgrade my 2013 13" mba with an mbp, mainly for the display, but the keyboard issues on recent mbp's make me hesitant of spending that much money on it...

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#393

Post by SZJX » Tue, Jun 19, 2018, 3:20 PM UTC

eknkc wrote: post #36

What I'm mostly curious about these posts is, how the heck do you guys switch operating systems that easily? I guess it would work if you are already using Linux or Windows on a Mac hardware but that's gotta be rare. I mean, hardware is nothing compared to the OS.. I can switch to any other Mac and it would take me a couple hours to be comfortable. That would be it. If I'm switching to a Dell XPS, I don't really care…

Quoting what I read somewhere else, people in both camps just greatly exaggerate the difference between Linux and MacOS. I've been using both for a couple of years and this year I made the full switch to Arch Linux + i3 on a Carbon X1.

Wonderful experience so far. Pretty much the only two things I miss are the wonderful built-in multi-language dictionary and good HiDPI support. That's it. In other aspects it has been much better than MacOS for a developer. Programs even crash much less frequently as well.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#394

Post by SZJX » Tue, Jun 19, 2018, 3:22 PM UTC

The 9360 might have been more decent but Dell fucked up the keyboard on the newest 9370. You can't type with a normal WPM or characters start getting jumbled up. Just get Carbon X1 or something similar (T480) in that lineup.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#395

Post by mercer » Wed, Jun 20, 2018, 2:41 PM UTC

wtallis wrote: post #275

paulie_a wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find the Mac keyboards to be garbage for two reasons, the command key is awkward and the tactile feel is subpar

> the command key is awkward How do you usually try to press the command key? If you're going for it with anything other than your thumb, you're doing it wrong. Note that Apple keyboards often have narrower spacebars than PC keyboards, so the command key is closer to the center of the keyboard (and closer to your thumb) than the alt key on a standard PC keyboard.

I definitely prefer the thumb (CMD, OSX) over the pinky (CTRL, Windows). It feels more ergonomic, and I'm curious how universal that feeling is.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#396

Post by seungjin » Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 8:11 AM UTC

jtreminio wrote: post #310

eknkc wrote: post #36

What I'm mostly curious about these posts is, how the heck do you guys switch operating systems that easily? I guess it would work if you are already using Linux or Windows on a Mac hardware but that's gotta be rare. I mean, hardware is nothing compared to the OS.. I can switch to any other Mac and it would take me a couple hours to be comfortable. That would be it. If I'm switching to a Dell XPS, I don't really care…

I recently switched from a 2015 MacBook Pro to a Dell XPS 15" 9570 running Fedora + Cinnamon The following shifts Ctrl/Win/Alt one to the left: clear control clear mod4 clear mod1 keycode 37 = Super_L keycode 133 = Alt_L Meta_L keycode 64 = Control_L add control = Control_L Control_R add mod4 = Super_L add mod1 = Alt_L Alt_R Meta_L Add this to `~/.Xmodmap`, add it to autorun (KDE and Cinnamon will autostart, Gnome ne…

Can I ask you what is other issues when you use xps 9570 with Wayland?