macOS Tahoe • Hacker News Board

Re: macOS Tahoe

#841

Post by leidenfrost » Tue, Sep 16, 2025, 4:02 PM UTC

sgt wrote: post #810

eloisius wrote: post #771

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used Mac for 10 years and started feeling the same irritation around 2017. In 2020 I finally bit the bullet and switched to Linux. The initial investment into getting a usable Arch desktop was horrible. It took several days just to get to the point of something that I could boot into and be productive. It takes me a long time to get things working the way I want, but I kind of enjoy that aspect of total customizati…

I fully get that macOS is not perfect, but checking out "modern" Linux (like a customized Arch) is a bit underwhelming. It still looks to me like Linux 20 years ago. And I started with Linux in the mid 90s. Not much has changed or improved on the pure fundamentals. I guess it's fine if all you do is sit doing CLI or spending your day in web browsers. Day to day macOS driving to me is an absolute joy (granted, I'm sti…

Sometimes it does change and when that happens is for the worse.

Some developers suddenly realize that X system is old, and then they try to redo it from zero.

And when they do that, they throw decades of feature development down the drain:

- Xorg: Was Wayland worth the 10+ years of manpower needed to catch up?

- Synaptics: Now we have libinput, less configurable and with way fewer features

- Gnome: Something that happens when the devs think "If Apple can, then we can too" but without the money to invest in good UX (Gnome2 had actual UX research done by Sun)

- Systemd: I'll concede that nobody liked SystemV. But we also had OpenRC and strangely got ignored.

Sometimes "developercracy" is terrible, and we spend years arguing if Rust or Not, instead of trying to make good software

Re: macOS Tahoe

#842

Post by iLemming » Tue, Sep 16, 2025, 4:02 PM UTC

sgt wrote: post #810

eloisius wrote: post #771

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used Mac for 10 years and started feeling the same irritation around 2017. In 2020 I finally bit the bullet and switched to Linux. The initial investment into getting a usable Arch desktop was horrible. It took several days just to get to the point of something that I could boot into and be productive. It takes me a long time to get things working the way I want, but I kind of enjoy that aspect of total customizati…

I fully get that macOS is not perfect, but checking out "modern" Linux (like a customized Arch) is a bit underwhelming. It still looks to me like Linux 20 years ago. And I started with Linux in the mid 90s. Not much has changed or improved on the pure fundamentals. I guess it's fine if all you do is sit doing CLI or spending your day in web browsers. Day to day macOS driving to me is an absolute joy (granted, I'm sti…

> It still looks to me like Linux 20 years ago.

Like visually? I personally don't care much for animations, transitions, rounded corners (this one I actually hate, because you can't even disable them on mac). I'm not a florist, I am programmer. I want efficiency not the looks, bells and whistles. Although I recently started using Hyprland, and oh my, those window animations and transitions are super nice, not to mention that you can completely control every aspect of them.

Re: macOS Tahoe

#843

Post by isaachinman » Tue, Sep 16, 2025, 4:08 PM UTC

dreamcompiler wrote: post #774

isaachinman wrote: post #763

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also ran into serious issues with Apple Mail, and started building a new product: https://marcoapp.io

Your screenshot looks nice. I hope you succeed with this, and I'd be happy to try it. From what little I know, building a fully-compliant IMAP client is hard work.

Yes, it's been over a year of extremely hard work but we're nearly there!

Re: macOS Tahoe

#844

Post by nicolaslem » Tue, Sep 16, 2025, 4:10 PM UTC

scrlk wrote: post #368

srid wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> AMD Strix Halo chips Do you happen to know any laptop that has a) equivalent screen quality (retina resolution), b) keyboard, c) trackpad but with full Linux support where all hardware pheripherals just work?

HP ZBook Ultra G1a? It has Strix Halo, 14" 2880x1800 (242 ppi) 120 Hz VRR OLED, and Ubuntu 24.04 options. Can't speak for the keyboard, but HP ZBooks/EliteBooks tend to be decent.

I have this laptop with this display configuration and it looks amazing. However on Arch with Gnome/Wayland I cannot get color management to work, which is a problem since this display has such a wide gamut. Opening HN on it for the first time I was blinded by the deepest orange nav bar I could imagine.

Re: macOS Tahoe

#845

Post by backscratches » Tue, Sep 16, 2025, 4:10 PM UTC

worthless-trash wrote: post #471

backscratches wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try starlabs, best build quality I've ever seen after apple

what models have you used, specifically.

Have only owned the starbook mkvi (1 gen previous to current) since it came out 3years or so. Exhaustive research happily led me to discover it is the most Linux compatible laptop, even firmware updates can be performed natively from LVFS/fwudmgr. Knew it was the one when I learned in addition they are basically the only Linux laptop company that also produces their own hardware.

Screen I wish was brighter, and while I don't care, it doesn't have as many pixels as retina. The fan is not bad, but louder than a macbook. Battery I have not tested well, it is far away from battery life of a macbook. But the coreboot firmware allows me to set the charging speed (slower is better for battery) and the max charge level (which I keep at 60% when plugged in) Trackpad is great though, and keyboard is fantastic.

And all the parts are replaceable, as much as the Framework laptops. I don't know why they are not more popular.

Re: macOS Tahoe

#846

Post by bigyabai » Tue, Sep 16, 2025, 4:10 PM UTC

sgt wrote: post #810

eloisius wrote: post #771

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used Mac for 10 years and started feeling the same irritation around 2017. In 2020 I finally bit the bullet and switched to Linux. The initial investment into getting a usable Arch desktop was horrible. It took several days just to get to the point of something that I could boot into and be productive. It takes me a long time to get things working the way I want, but I kind of enjoy that aspect of total customizati…

I fully get that macOS is not perfect, but checking out "modern" Linux (like a customized Arch) is a bit underwhelming. It still looks to me like Linux 20 years ago. And I started with Linux in the mid 90s. Not much has changed or improved on the pure fundamentals. I guess it's fine if all you do is sit doing CLI or spending your day in web browsers. Day to day macOS driving to me is an absolute joy (granted, I'm sti…

> Oh and don't get me started on MLX...

Your pittance Apple gives you because they refuse to sign CUDA drivers? That MLX?

Re: macOS Tahoe

#847

Post by dijit » Tue, Sep 16, 2025, 4:10 PM UTC

leidenfrost wrote: post #841

sgt wrote: post #810

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fully get that macOS is not perfect, but checking out "modern" Linux (like a customized Arch) is a bit underwhelming. It still looks to me like Linux 20 years ago. And I started with Linux in the mid 90s. Not much has changed or improved on the pure fundamentals. I guess it's fine if all you do is sit doing CLI or spending your day in web browsers. Day to day macOS driving to me is an absolute joy (granted, I'm sti…

Sometimes it does change and when that happens is for the worse. Some developers suddenly realize that X system is old, and then they try to redo it from zero. And when they do that, they throw decades of feature development down the drain: - Xorg: Was Wayland worth the 10+ years of manpower needed to catch up? - Synaptics: Now we have libinput, less configurable and with way fewer features - Gnome: Something that ha…

I agree with every point made except there’s two caveats;

1) I am a bonafide systemd hater, and I am bent out of shape about the fact other init systems (more akin to SMF) were (and are) routinely ignored when discussing what was available. But: I feel like Linux desktops are better now for systemd. Even if I can’t tolerate how it spiders into everything personally.

2) Wayland was a “We have pushed X as far as it will go, and now we’re going to have to pay down our tech debt” by the X11 developers themselves.

I know it was “baby with the bathwater”, but in theory we don’t need to do that again for the next 50 years because we have a significantly better baseline for how computers are actually used. The performance ceiling has been lifted because of Wayland; consistent support for multiple monitors and fractional scaling are things we have today because of Wayland.

I won’t argue about security, because honestly most people seem to want as little security as possible if it infringes on software that used to work a certain way, but it should be mentioned at some point that a lack of security posture leads to a pretty terrible experience eventually.

So, yes, Wayland was worth the 10y cost, because the debt was due and with interest. Kicking the can down the road would most likely kill desktop Linux eventually.

Re: macOS Tahoe

#848

Post by gizajob » Tue, Sep 16, 2025, 4:13 PM UTC

quesera wrote: post #798

gizajob wrote: post #728

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cannot believe the current state of affairs where me doing a Spotlight search for "drivers license" when I'm looking for a photograph of my drivers license to upload, that instead of finding it I'm now presented with a list of links to listen to, watch, or find out about the song Drivers License by Olivia Rodrigo. Why? Why!? Who is this helping? I'm fine with telling my computer that I am 42 years old and male and…

You just spent far more time ranting about what Spotlight can index, than it would have taken to open the configuration and turn off the sources you do not want. Cue "discovery" rant. Defaults are chosen carefully, but they cannot meet every user's preferences. So, periodically spend a few minutes exploring the enormous software package that is your OS, and be happier for it. I find this vastly more rewarding than co…

On occasion…

In the actual world.

I try to hit command-space on reality in order to find my keys.

Re: macOS Tahoe

#849

Post by Tankenstein » Tue, Sep 16, 2025, 4:13 PM UTC

EZ-E wrote: post #524

a2128 wrote: post #329

More ways to express yourself with images. Mix emoji and descriptions to make something brand-new. In Image Playground, discover additional ChatGPT styles. And have even more control when making images inspired by family and friends using Genmoji and Image Playground. I have to say, is AI image generation really the job of an operating system? I've also seen this sort of stuff on Pixel Android, it's now built into ms…

This seems more of a toy. I hope we get to eventually able to use a local Apple LLM model with more flexibility.

Something quite cool they shipped with the 26 family of operating systems is a new system-level API to let developers access the built-in on-device models directly: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/FoundationModels

Re: macOS Tahoe

#850

Post by giancarlostoro » Tue, Sep 16, 2025, 4:14 PM UTC

hylaride wrote: post #840

rcarmo wrote: post #811

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mail.app alone had enough issues and missing features to sustain an entire cottage industry, and would be one app I would certainly like to contribute to. But it shall never come to pass.

The tragedy here is that Apple mail was far and beyond the BEST IMAP client up until ~2014.

I worked for a defense contractor that used an encryption mechanism for email that was primarily supported by Outlook, Thunderbird had a paid plugin, but Apple just opened all my emails just fine.