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So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

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Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#501

Post by makewavesnotwar »

davidy123 wrote: post #294
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…

Maybe I'm missing something, but font rendering seems fine on Ubuntu without any after install steps. I've been using Ubuntu exclusively for well over a decade for everyday work, only occasionally going into a Windows VM, and it's really been perfectly fine, great even, as a developer. I bought a X1 Yoga the month after it was released and Ubuntu installed perfectly on it, the only thing that didn't work out of the b…

I was using Ubuntu exclusively for around a decade too. It's a great development environment. But about a year ago I needed a new laptop and with the one I purchased, some things didn't only require extra steps to get working, some of them were no fix issues until some indeterminate date in the future.

You mention the fingerprint reader not working out of the box - with my laptop, Fingerprint GUI was basically waiting on one of its dependencies to somehow figure out how to integrate my fingerprint scanner. Things like my active-stylus capable touchscreen weren't supported, and there were no applications to really utilize it even if it was.

I switched to Windows as my primary OS when I realized Windows PowerShell had basically become on par with Linux in almost every degree and that VS Code was as cushy as I could hope for in a development environment. The only thing I've found that isn't supported out of the box is Redis, but I downloaded a ridiculously lightweight version of Ubuntu from the Microsoft store (we're talking The other thing that really impressed me was all the easy to use tuning software. With ThrottleStop I was able to easily under-volt my processor to completely eliminate things like thermal throttling and improve performance all while greatly improving my battery life. Nvidia support is also way better so I can turn off my graphics card for anything but games - and then there's MSI Afterburner to under-volt my GPU when I am using it.

And yeah, not only do my fingerprint scanner and stylus work on Windows, but Windows has Windows Ink built in so I can easily take screenshots of whatever I'm doing with Snip & Sketch and annotate them with a pen in an instant, and I can use Sketchpad like an on the fly whiteboard when I need to do some math.

Plus, it has art programs like Krita that basically turn my laptop into an iPad Pro when I feel like getting artistic.

And with programs like Enpass, I can use my fingerprint with Windows Hello in place of my master password for stuff like logins and credit card information, which is a lot more secure for someone like me that does a lot of my work from coffee shops.

I still love Ubuntu, but all the offerings of Windows 10 has kind of made me a Windows fanboy and even makes MacOS seem like a decisive downgrade.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#502

Post by giancarlostoro »

dwighttk wrote: post #300
bch wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not following how either of those portable editors tip the scale. Enlighten me?

It seems like there is a mindset in people I've run across that makes them especially willing to use Linux and also emacs (vim to a lesser extent, and other command line programs. I mentioned emacs because that's what the guy jumps to in the article). More of their interaction with their computer takes place inside their head whereas I need the computer to represent things more visually. And since emacs (and vim) wor…

Well, some of us love programming, so I'm not surprised if we're in editors all day, others might be maintainers of open source / Linux projects. But there's a huge amount of users who use it like they would Mac or Windows, I am one of them, I also use both OS' I overall prefer Linux for some things since it puts me in the heart of the platform I would normally deploy production code to and it just feels right, something about being able to take apart any part of my OS feels awesome and hacker friendly, even if I never take it all apart, I know I can.

Same reason I keep Android around, now someone will say it's proprietary blah blah, but I can root my phone and install anything I want on it.

Since I've used Linux there was always a Linux gaming community for example, doubt they spend centuries on VIM or Emacs. Also remembering all the crazy Desktop Environment eye candy from the 2000's like the desktop cube, and the self-incinerating window when you'd close it. Linux just made you feel so damn cool at the fact you could have things that just did all these insanely awesome things!

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#503

Post by giancarlostoro »

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…

Ubuntu and openSUSE are my main installs, and they usually feel fine, my only issue is always drivers, whether it's Wi-Fi or Graphics (worse one, since at least Wi-Fi I have ways to circumvent - buy a compatible wireless usb tiny adapter for example, or connect a router to the network and connect my device over LAN). If somebody could either make a properly open GPU or get AMD or Nvidia to release proper drivers that don't break between versions, I'd be happy. Nvidias drivers used to work on my one laptop, now they've broken something in the latest incarnation of the driver, that or it's just not compatible with Ubuntu's new X.org alternative, whatever the case, it seems too easily fragile. If I can't install it due to GPU issues, I move on if I can't find a compatible distro usually.

As for the font thing, maybe I'm not a fontphile or something, but they're usually fine for me.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#504

Post by ubercow13 »

jasondclinton wrote: post #170
devereaux wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I gave up on Gnome and run LXDE a bit like i3 - autopositionning the windows with Fx keys mapped to a given set of coordinates, so F10 will make a window use a square on the left covering 80% of the screen, F11 will move the window to the remaining 20% on the right, thus hiding conky - etc. The only advantage I find in LXDE is that it has a titlebar I can 'reveal' if I wish to mess around and fiddle with…

Some people try that, too (and XFCE). Admittedly, they're better than a tiling window manager, but LXDE's last stable release was 2016 and it doesn't have a compositor so all of that graphics hardware in your computer specialized to prevent X11 DAMAGE events from forcing applications redraws and for saving power is going unused.

Does using a compositor really _save_ power in practice? GNOME's one certainly doesn't, in my experience. It would spin my fans up after a few moments of dragging a window around. Of course it has no configuration options so it is not possible to fix it. kwin is almost as bad last time I checked on my hardware.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#505

Post by koshak »

My phone is coupled with my laptop. All my settings are backed up. All my docs, pics, music, random files all are synced with “cloud”. If my laptop or my phone gets hit by a bus I will go to the nearest shop, get a new device and get it set up from backup within an hour.

I delegated the fine tuning and customization to a third party once I realized I don’t have time for it anymore.

I am fine with it although it is not ideal and there is room for improvement. There is always some. Everywhere.

Please ping me from future when Linux (or Fuchsia or whatever is there in the second half of 2020s) is capable of that as well and there are vendors/providers who are honest, dependable and trusted who I can allow to store my data, identity and privacy and have good sleep.

Cheers.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#506

Post by jonaswouters »

mbrock wrote: post #242
vesak wrote: post #71

Man, this is so weird. I used Linux from 1996ish to 2017 and then just moved almost everything to Apple. I don’t remember the exact reason, but probably it had something to do with Wayland taking forever to stabilize, and the community starting to smell bad. And I’m happy, probably happier than before. Sure, Apple’s stuff isn’t perfect, but it’s way closer to it than any Linux combination I ever tried. The only thing…

I've only been using GNU/Linux since around 2000. I started on Slackware 7, then I was on Red Hat for a while, had a Gentoo phase, and then Debian was my main choice for a long time, although I used Ubuntu on some computers... When the first Intel MacBook came out I was 17 and bought one for all my savings. I thought it was really amazing to have a beautiful laptop running a polished desktop Unix-like. But I always h…

Almost the same story, with some different dates, but I ditched my macs and am fully on NixOS.

I loved OSX and the stylish apps, but I noticed I was only using IntelliJ, iTerm and the browser most of the time. r/unixporn made me wishing Linux was a better fit for me, but I could not miss apps from Adobe or Affinity.

This was solved by setting up a vfio configuration, and now even the fanciest games run smoothly in my VM.

I still use an iPhone and iPad, but they are mostly for consumption, note taking and drawing.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#507

Post by PopsiclePete »

kingosticks wrote: post #382
PopsiclePete wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linux is just consistent. When it works, it works. When it doesn't - god help you. There's no rhyme or reason. Sometimes, my wifi is broken. On a different distro, it's not. Right now, under Ubuntu 18.10, my suspend from resume is broken - it wasn't on 18.04. I have the official Linux laptop, basically - a Dell XPS 9350, all 100% Intel hardware, no binary blobs.

I've also found that on my XPS 13 with 18.10. Was fine previously on 16.04. Now I have to open and shut the lid a few times to get it to stop flickering. It's annoying and would otherwise be perfect.

Ah yes that. That’s an (old) bug about how logind interacts with gdm. A quick workaround is ctrl-alt-fn-F1 to force the screen to lock itself. Makes the flicker go away.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#508

Post by ianhowson »

willtim wrote: post #409
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OS X has an incremental, automatic backup system built in called Time Machine, which works pretty well in my experience. You'd just restore your time machine backup to the loaner machine, which would restore the vpn credentials.

Time machine is really a consumer gadget, I'd be surprised if IT departments were deploying it within organisations. Crashplan would be more appropriate, but I'm not sure how smooth the restore would be. IMHO not having a swappable SSD really sucks.

In my experience, Time Machine is rock solid. I've backed up and restored many times onto new machines and the only thing that it doesn't handle well is Homebrew (or anything in /usr/local). I've had the same macOS installation for about ten years now.

Also, in my experience, Crashplan is a steaming pile of garbage. Are you verifying that your restores are checksum-accurate? Are you verifying that all files are present after a restore? Neither was true for me, and support were unable to help.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#509

Post by dtemp »

fouc wrote: post #133
toyg wrote: post #18

(That color theme is... not for me.) I long for the Linux prairies of old, but I've grown fat and lazy on OSX. Linux is a youngster's game. Apple got it wrong in 2016 but there are signs that we might have passed "iPhone peak"... maybe they will be forced to pay attention again to us old farts.

Yeah, I loved linux but I'm fat and lazy on OSX. I don't want to be sucked into the rabbit hole of being able to configure and tweak everything, and never quite feeling like I found the greenest pastures.

I've installed Ubuntu 18.10 on my Dell laptop, and I've done no configuring/tweaking that you describe. Just the default install, changed maybe one or two settings in ubuntu's version of "System Preferences", installed my Firefox extensions, changed the desktop background. You don't need to do any configuring/tweaking if you don't want to. Everything works.

Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux

#510

Post by y4mi »

makewavesnotwar wrote: post #501
davidy123 wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm missing something, but font rendering seems fine on Ubuntu without any after install steps. I've been using Ubuntu exclusively for well over a decade for everyday work, only occasionally going into a Windows VM, and it's really been perfectly fine, great even, as a developer. I bought a X1 Yoga the month after it was released and Ubuntu installed perfectly on it, the only thing that didn't work out of the b…

I was using Ubuntu exclusively for around a decade too. It's a great development environment. But about a year ago I needed a new laptop and with the one I purchased, some things didn't only require extra steps to get working, some of them were no fix issues until some indeterminate date in the future. You mention the fingerprint reader not working out of the box - with my laptop, Fingerprint GUI was basically waitin…

I know security is hard and i like to skirt it sometimes as well, but i still think it should be pointed out that a fingerprint should not be used as a password for security critical data. Its at best a username, as you can't change it and a motivated person can trivially steal it.

Not trying to discourage you from using it like that. Its perfectly fine as long as you realize that the fingerprint is only secure against random people on the street or just not very competent attackers... which is fine and is probably enough for most scenarios!

but now on the topic itself... the windows subsystem for linux is perfectly fine for a lot of things, there are quite a few issues however. All files accessible from windows will have 777 for example, there are a few applications that have issues with that. daemons exit as soon as the last terminal closes is another thing many people have to stumble upon.

and ymmv on the issues you mentioned. everything you mentioned is completely uninteresting to me, personally. a good window manager such as i3wm offsets pretty much every shiny-ness windows 10 has for any development purposes.

i do use windows for anything else though. (and am sadly forced to use it at work as well)

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