When I read "I am an extreme power user, I use the keyboard" I stopped reading. I think these power users have an inflated sense of self and the writing is atrocious. No doubt he's a rockstar code ninja too.
Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop
551–560 of 834 posts
Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop
#552What I like about Linux over Mac is I can do just about anything I want. Apple puts guardrails up, or has weird technical reasons [0] why certain things just can't be done.
On Linux, I know it's just a matter of perseverance to achieve my desired workflow. With Apple, I'm always left wondering if the problem is even solvable.
That said, I'm quite a bit different from OP. I'm not concerned with marking up images with circles and arrows and a paragraph explaining what each one is. If that was my workflow, I think I'd be much happier on Mac as well.
[0] http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/04/settling-osx-focus-f...
Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop
#553Earlier quoted context omitted.
I own Thinkpad X1 extreme, that I bought with my own money, and chose as working laptop Thinkpad Carbon. Both are not working well with linux. 1. Carbon, due to it's intel chip, can not drive 4K and 2K external monitors via thunderbolt adapter. 2. I need to authorize dock (Lenovo's thunderbolt dock) after every reboot. 3. The screen tearing sucks. 4. I need to have pulse audio volume control window opened all the tim…
> 3. The screen tearing sucks. Use Wayland instead of X11.
I was trying to make the Mac to Linux switch just like the author, mostly due to excitement around sway (wayland). But it was awful, none of the basic things I wanted to do seemed doable...I would research solutions and they wouldn’t work. So I tried switching to i3 in the hopes of at least having a more established ecosystem to rely on.
But similar story. Half-baked (or sometimes, overcooked) support, configs that we’re supposed to swap eg CapsLock with Escape not working as described or losing their effect after sleep, impossible to get my multi monitor high DPI setup to work without coloration or resolution issues, futzing around with sound and not able to get it working as hoped just like the last time I tried to do this in 2008...you know, all the things you want before you start doing actual work, but none of them function properly OOTB or, often, even after reading extensive documentation and advice.
I wish I could use i3, but my BetterTouchTool configuration gives me something that is close enough.
I might still try FreeBSD, but I totally feel twice-burned by Linux at this point.
Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop
#554From someone who tends to try this switch about once a year (because the lack of TLC the Mac was getting in the last 5 or so years was getting very very worrying - M1 feels like Apple actually care about the Mac again), I agree with a lot of these pain points. My biggest personal issues end up being (and these are super subjective!): - Preview on macOS is great and no other OS has anything remotely equivalent. First…
Preview is awesome! My favorite feature is splitting up and combining PDF's by dragging and dropping the pages.
It also works on Gif images. You can take apart the frames.
Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop
#555If you're complaining about Linux drivers please do so after using a Laptop that supports Linux (Thinkpads for example). Just like it wouldn't be fair to complain about macOS on a Hackintosh - sound didn't work well and had to patch the DSDT. > but there are rough edges for the power user. > I am an extreme power user, ... > In the end, I was able to replicate most of my macOS power tools setup via input hooks and sh…
If you're complaining about Linux drivers please do so after using a Laptop that supports Linux (Thinkpads for example). So I Googled “laptops supported by Linux”. There is no official site. Ubuntu has a page. But it’s not on the first page of results. I only know about it because I’m familiar with it. Supporters keeps arguing people should jump through hoops. I’m on Linux right now, but people have better things to…
Does anyone shop for laptops this way? or anything else for that matter - Google "laptops that support usb c" and expect an official page from usb c? or google "cars that have a turbocharger" and expect an official page from turbocharger? And, when you don't find it come to a conclusion that usb c is bad.
No offense but seems like even if you did find laptops with linux and pick the best one, you probably won't like it because you have already made up your mind.
Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop
#556I have used a Thinkpad T470s for 3 years at my current employer with Fedora and it worked quite well (including standby, multi-monitor support etc). However, I have just switched to a Mac, and I can only say I've been missing it. The consistency of the key combination, the polish of the desktop applications. It's little things but they do add up. When I first switched to the Linux machine, I first noticed every singl…
In defense of the Thinkpad matte screen, in my experience it’s fantastic to use outdoors in direct sunlight compared to a glass covered screen. Even with a much higher overall brightness, the glare just killed any visibility on my 2017 dell xps.
As for the many many paper cuts of Linux, it’s a sacrifice I’ve accepted in exchange for having control over my desktop experience. It doesn’t change out from under me over the many years that I’ve used Linux. With windows and Mac I always felt like I was one software update away from them changing something out from under me.
The system administration and shell skills that I’ve picked up are an investment that keeps accruing over my entire software development career, and make me a more capable developer for being able to jump into infrastructure and devops concerns around the software that I write. I expect this knowledge will last me for decades more.
The daily experience of using Linux is generally one of being more exposed to the internals of the system. You’re only ever a thin layer above the kernel and its system calls.
If the inner workings of an operating system are a mystery that you’d like to explore, then you will uncover those mysteries in the course of running Linux as your every day experience. The error messages and log files are obscure but they’re always available.
If you have a problem and you have the patience and persistence to dive into it, then the next layer of abstraction is available for you to explore. You live your virtual life in a workshop, with powerful tools scattered about. A few times a year you discover a new one and it becomes part of you.
Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop
#557If you're complaining about Linux drivers please do so after using a Laptop that supports Linux (Thinkpads for example). Just like it wouldn't be fair to complain about macOS on a Hackintosh - sound didn't work well and had to patch the DSDT. > but there are rough edges for the power user. > I am an extreme power user, ... > In the end, I was able to replicate most of my macOS power tools setup via input hooks and sh…
My anecdote. Few weeks ago I bought Dell Latitude 3410. It's an extremely cheap (and underpowered) 13" laptop. I upgraded RAM and installed M.2 SSD. It came with Ubuntu 18.04 pre-installed (which contained a dozen of dell-specific packages). I installed Fedora 33 and checked everything I could check. Every bit of hardware worked correctly out of the box, so I'm pretty happy so far. And despite being underpowered, it's very fast and snappy, definitely faster than my old Macbook in day-to-day usage.
I paid $600 for laptop and $150 for RAM and SSD upgrades. Comparable Macbook Air would cost $2000 for me.
It does have terrible TN screen, cheap touchpad and bad keyboard layout. That's good enough for me, as I prefer external everything in day-to-day use.
Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop
#558Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Haven't tried a laptop that comes with preinstalled linux TBH Seriously? Why do you think Linux should work perfectly on some random machine that you installed it on? MacOS sure as hell won’t. If you don’t like the experience of doing the work to find the right hardware, distro, and customizing the setup with your favourite software then just buy a prebuilt system with everything installed. Like others have pointed…
Ok, sure, many users prefer to fully customize their setup. But what about those who don't? Why isn't there a ready-to-go option like a Windows lapotop?
Yeah, buy a linux certified laptop and you're done. You want the ability to hop hardware without paying the price that you might have to configure the OS to suit your workflow/hardware. Even the king of multiplatform PCs windows 10 you will sometimes experience issues until you install the right drivers.
Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop
#559Earlier quoted context omitted.
I still remember when I bought a laptop officially preloaded with Ubuntu. And the minute I did software update there, everything broke. (Because it was using some binary graphic driver that broke with newer kernel.) I could not even use the computer after that, only the console. I needed to reinstall old ubuntu in order to get my data. Never again
Blame the vendor who shipped you proprietary graphics drivers.
I half blame them, but also Linux that explicitly doesn’t care about binary compatibility of graphic drivers, unlike Windows.
Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop
#560Earlier quoted context omitted.
+1 I find it absurd that (some) linux supporters find it not only ok but even a must, to have to tinker around your machine in order to make everything work. I could understand it in the 90s but this is a very different era we're in. I get zero value from having to tinker with my x-org settings to make the external screen work (sometimes). I'm using a computer to create value elsewhere and having to even think about…
I find insane that people need to tinker with anything. My fedora lenovo just works. Lol.
So does Ubuntu. I've installed it on a few family's computers without any issues as long as the hardware wasn't brand spanking new. The defaults are fine and it makes a good secure machine for the (younger) kids to use the internet on for those families who limit their kids time on the internet.