Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop • Hacker News Board

Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop

#791

Post by denosawr » Sun, Apr 04, 2021, 6:45 AM UTC

aloer wrote: post #581

blunte wrote: post #567

Preview is one of the most underrated pieces of software in the world today. I make the assumption that Quicklook uses Preview (because surely it must). Being able to hit spacebar on just about any kind of selected document/image type file and see a near instant look, multiple pages and all, is so important. Once you don't have that (move to the Windows world), you realize how much you miss it. And you can, with a sm…

Quicklook is such an amazing feature and it seems so basic that I just don’t get why windows hasn’t added anything like that. Are there patents on this? Just an example that I have about every day: before sharing a file via file select/open dialog I can double check if it’s the correct one. I can only speculate that quicklook prevents a substantial amount of accidental information leak across the entire world :)

Seer on the Windows Store is an alternative which works pretty well for the default file types (images, text files, PDFs). However, I don't think it works in the open/save dialog boxes.

Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop

#792

Post by mrtksn » Sun, Apr 04, 2021, 7:18 AM UTC

CincinnatiMan wrote: post #771

mrtksn wrote: post #621

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows users who switch to macOS will complain that their new shiny and expensive machine won't let them to go through their photos in a folder using the arrow keys and they have to open the photos one by one. Then you tell them to hit the space when a photo is selected, they first look at the keyboard then at the screen and they are like "O.K. that will work", you proceed to tell them to try it on a PDF or somethin…

Hitting space and then arrow key doesn't seem to navigate to different photos. Is that what you're saying should be possible?

Select a file, not necessarily a photo, hit space and a Quicklook window displaying the contents should appear. When you change file (through clicking to another file or using the arrow keys), the quicklook should update to display that file.

Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop

#793

Post by nunez » Sun, Apr 04, 2021, 7:30 AM UTC

This was great. I love how Carlos ends his experience with positive takeaways from using Linux.

I worked with someone who used Linux as their main OS. They _ALWAYS_ had issues with Zoom. Terrible audio over IP (phone was better), terrible video quality, video would timeout after a few seconds, A/V mis-sync, etc.

That would be a non-starter for me, given that I use Zoom frequently.

On the topic of email clients: I'm always wanting to use them, especially when I'm spending more time in the terminal, but its lack of integration with any calendars always stops me from getting serious with it. That and it having not-great support for Office 365.

Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop

#794

Post by nunez » Sun, Apr 04, 2021, 7:34 AM UTC

jek0 wrote: post #125

akra wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People state consistent shortcut mapping is an advantage of using Mac but after 2 years of being required to use a Macbook Pro I'm not really sure about that - often they are more complicated IMO. I still miss built in Linux and Windows key mappings. For example Windows + Left to move the window on the left side of screen for side by side apps on the same screen. Great for remote demo's and coding sessions. Ctrl + Sh…

On a mac I can't live without "Magnet" [1]. It lets you do organize your windows in half/thirds of screens with simple keystrokes. That should be part of the OS. [1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/magnet/id441258766?mt=12

I use ShiftIt which supports keybindings, is free, and can be installed from Homebrew

Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop

#795

Post by 1_player » Sun, Apr 04, 2021, 7:49 AM UTC

rz2k wrote: post #732

KMnO4 wrote: post #700

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, that moment was uninstalling an app. I had to Google it. “Drag the app to the trash bin.” Remember how hard it is to uninstall stuff on Windows? Especially if you’re doing more than one?

Some settings can be left behind, but AppCleaner[1] will find them. [1] https://freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/

Why do we need a third party app to clean leftover files?

Dragging is cool, but doesn't make the uninstall process better than Windows apparently

Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop

#796

Post by 1_player » Sun, Apr 04, 2021, 7:55 AM UTC

rz2k wrote: post #120

Fire-Dragon-DoL wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On top of my mind, I think of: Brew upgrade usually breaks stuff if it hasn't been updated in a couple of months, which is not the case for other package managers. Forced update on any command is really bad behavior.

Per gp, I haven't used Pacman in a long time, but when Arch was really popular I'd have a virtual machine, ignore it for a few months, then updates usually failed or rendered the machine inoperable. The Arch wiki was so good that it inevitably included the exact problem and resolution already, but since I didn't have any important running systems I also might as well have reinstalled the whole thing. In which case I'…

I have never seen this personally, because the first thing to do if you haven't upgraded Arch in a long time is check archlinux.org where they list right in the front page any breaking update, which are quite rare and they provide the exact steps to proceed.

Or just install informant from AUR, to force you to read the Archlinux package news before proceeding with any pacman operation.

Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop

#797

Post by 1_player » Sun, Apr 04, 2021, 8:02 AM UTC

craftinator wrote: post #720

smoldesu wrote: post #35

>apt-get was a revolution when it was released in 1998 and it is still the best way to manage software today. brew is a mediocre replacement. While apt still isn't the best package manager (my heart belongs to pacman, no matter what the haters say), I completely agree that brew is a failed imitation. I wanted to use MacOS for the longest time, because I've been told that it's a real "Unix system". Brew has distilled…

> Maybe I've been spoiled by Linux, but I don't understand the hype. This type of sentiment is usually a sign. If you've been spoiled by something, that's because it's better. I had the same feeling trying to go back to windows, "Man, why am I always fighting damaging updates", "Why can't I change this very simple setting", "Where is the documentation for this file". The answer usually comes down to "because one thin…

I adopt a different attitude. If you have been spoiled by something, doesn't mean it's better, just that you are set in your ways. Which might be good, but sometimes it's better to broaden your horizon.

I liked macOS, I had used Linux full time for 15 years, spoiled by it if you will, then I tried to set up a WSL environment just for me and let me tell you: you guys can keep your Macs and half arsed Linux distros, Windows these days is truly underrated. Being able to game, have a better Linux and Docker experience than macOS, and not stuck in the 90s like Linux actually feels great.

Because the reality is that all software is actually crap. If you think one is better than another, you need to look harder.

Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop

#798

Post by throwanem » Sun, Apr 04, 2021, 8:05 AM UTC

zmmmmm wrote: post #763

throwanem wrote: post #756

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No setup involving "oh, it's literally just worse Virtualbox" was ever going to be optimal for me, not when I could just use a Mac and do everything I care to do on that machine without putting up with a lot of nonsense to marshal between two very different and not all that compatible operating systems and filesystems. As I said in the comment to which you replied, I've done lots of that with Linux in Virtualbox on W…

I'm just not sure I agree that "literally worse than Virutalbox" is a fair assessment. For example, I don't think VirtualBox can do dynamic memory sharing no? https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/memory-reclaim-in...

Happily, it is nowhere required that we agree!

Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop

#799

Post by mackrevinack » Sun, Apr 04, 2021, 9:44 AM UTC

hk1337 wrote: post #778

Delk wrote: post #614

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been keeping a Keepass database on Dropbox (encrypted with password + key file, neither of which are stored on Dropbox, obviously) for a while, and haven't noticed any issues with syncing. I'm mostly using it from a single device, though, but I don't think it should be likely for the sharing to introduce problems even if I made heavier use of multiple devices. It's not like the database is constantly being modif…

I like Keepass but I am looking to drop Dropbox and I need to be able to sync it with mobile as well.

have you tried syncthing? i have it running on a synology nas that acts as the always-on server part, but i used syncthing just fine for over a year without it as well. you just have to be very conscious about having both devices turned on at the same time so they can sync to each other. you pretty much have to do the same thing with dropbox anyway, i.e. let a large file upload to their server before you turn off your computer

Re: Fed up with the Mac, I spent six months with a Linux laptop

#800

Post by herbst » Sun, Apr 04, 2021, 10:10 AM UTC

zepto wrote: post #706

herbst wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if i can agree. Major open source issues like this are usually solved at some point by some code hero. Or you just fix it yourself and solve anyone else problem too

This is an obvious straw man, parent is talking about ‘many issues’, and you are talking about major issues. Apple obviously doesn’t have a lot of unfixed major issues. Many small complaints is another matter.

Either i dont agree or we have a different understanding of major issue. Not being able to use a second screen withput active power, or being able to cook an egg in idle are in my eyes major issues. Both of which have long threads with no real response.

I still get “me too“ emails from issues ive “me too“ 5+ years ago.