
A Year Away from Mac OS - wezm
http://bitcannon.net/post/a-year-away-from-mac-os/
======
TimmyMustGo
I also migrated away from MacOS. I'm currently running Linux (Slackware). I
came to the conclusion that Linux works best for me on desktops, but MacOS
works better on laptops. I don't use laptops much anymore, I prefer multiple
monitors, I don't like the way MacOS handles multi-monitors.

I ended up buying a couple of used Dell Optiplex 9010's for a little more than
$100 each. Also picked up a couple of Thinkpad X220's also about a $100 each.
They all run faster than my Macbook Air.

Tried all of the Linux distributions, didn't really like any of them (I hated
Ubuntu and all the variants). So I installed Slackware, I use a customized
FVWM (as in I hacked the source code). Removed things like PulseAudio and
NetworkManager. I use a customized version of Gnustep (just the Foundation
part) because I need Objective-C. And I wrote a bunch my own UI using Cairo
(not a fan of GTK or Qt).

I still use MacOS on my Macbook Air, but more as an appliance and not for
anything serious. I feel much more comfortable with my computer now (I am no
longer dependent on Apple!)

~~~
scruple
Did you try Debian or Arch? I tend towards Debian but I realized the time I
spent with Arch, too.

~~~
TimmyMustGo
I used to run Debian but my packages would always end up in some kind of
dependency hell where I couldn't upgrade to newer versions.

~~~
signa11
would it be possible for you to share your fvwm hacks? i too run fvwm (on
arch) and was wondering what i might be missing out on ?

thank you :)

------
vesak
People move around, and that's fine. After two decades of mostly using Linux,
I just made a leap of faith into the walled garden of Apple, replacing pretty
much every Linux and Windows box with either nothing (the best choice!) or a
Mac.

It's just a month in, but I'm quite happy. Everything works and everything is
pretty. I can concentrate on important things, and of course on social media
shilling.

~~~
1_player
I've done the same 2 years ago, after being Linux-only for two decades.

Sure, macOS has its flaws. Sure, GNU command line tools are better than the
BSD ones (fight me). Sure, it's not as hackable as a Linux machine.

But I've never been as productive. Everything works, I'm not fighting any
hardware issue — Bluetooth? Wifi? Resume from sleep? Hell, I'm even rocking an
external GTX 1080 GPU via Thunderbolt 2->3 adapter, and playing 4K games in
Bootcamp.

I have a 16GB rMBP 2015, which probably is the last well made MBP, since the
newer revisions seem to have so many issues, but I don't see myself going back
to a Linux desktop ever again.

To be honest, the only two things I miss that work really well on Linux are
Docker, and Wifi packet injection (aircrack-ng & co.)

~~~
udia
Do you have a recommendation for an external GPU enclosure? I have the same
model MacBook as you but I've been hesitant to pick one up.

~~~
1_player
I have an Akitio Node. It's noisy as hell, but fits a full sized GPU and quite
hackable - there are some silent fans mods if it bothers you.

There are plenty of gotchas, so make sure you read up on egpu.io and /r/eGPU

But once setup, and when Windows doesn't break everything with an update
(happened with the Fall Creators update), works great and performance should
be within 90-95% of a desktop setup, provided you're using an external
monitor. You can use the internal LCD, but TB2 bandwidth will be the
bottleneck in that case, and you'll get a bigger performance hit.

Here's my success post on reddit:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/eGPU/comments/77e86g/success_macboo...](https://www.reddit.com/r/eGPU/comments/77e86g/success_macbook_pro_15_2015_tb2_akitio_node_gtx/)

------
ePierre
> The Dell power connector is a barrel style connector with an LED embedded in
> it. The LED appears to serve no useful purpose. It’s always on, whether
> connected or not and doesn’t change colour or turn off when charged.

I believe the only use for this LED is to know that the cable is actually
plugged to the wall. It's probably useless for people who keep their charger
plugged all the time, but it's very useful for me, a QA engineer with a
testing table full of devices and cables, plugged and unplugged :)

------
dm319
I totally understand the shift in thinking that you get when you become
immersed in open-source - you realise how it's possible for all the elements
of your system to play well with each other because it's possible for the
authors of the software to understand how the kernel/OS/apis/drivers etc. work
to a deep level. Once you get used to this, proprietary software starts to
take on an appearance of a socially-oblivious actor on your system, needing
special attention to keep it fitting-in.

You might want to check out the MATE desktop. It's a fairly no-nonsense
desktop which also looks quite nice (see ubuntuMATE - especially with the arc
themes). I keep going back to check out gnome, but while I admire the polish,
I find some design decisions to remain a bit grating.

------
r00fus
> The thing I dislike about the XPS the most is probably the power connector.
> I miss the ease of attachment and feedback of MagSafe.

Well I still don't understand Apple's decision to axe MagSafe. It was a huge
selling point of MacBooks. While I don't miss it sorely, the USB-C plug just
gives me no joy.

~~~
gaastonsr
MagSafe could be sometimes unreliable. USB C is fun too. Although I don’t like
other aspects of the MBP. Like it’s keyboard.

~~~
laythea
Very occasionally I do have to plug then unplug then plug back the magsafe
connector in order to power up my 2015 macbook, however the magsafe design has
saved my laptop from certain damage many, many, many times. Literally, the
only reason for removing it from Apple's point of view is that it saves too
many laptops from needing replacement/costly repair.

------
devxpy
The gnome JavaScript rant is real. I had to move on to kde plasma because of
it. Kde plasma is more powerful but a little cluttered. Gnome has managed to
keep things very simplistic. There is a silver lining though, gnome4 has plans
to ditch js.

~~~
wezm
> There is a silver lining though, gnome4 has plans to ditch js.

This is intriguing. Do you have a link to more info?, I can't seem to find
anything.

~~~
devxpy
[https://wiki.gnome.org/Initiatives/Wayland/GnomeShell/GnomeS...](https://wiki.gnome.org/Initiatives/Wayland/GnomeShell/GnomeShell4)

------
pavel_lishin
I've been using Gnome for about three days now, and I'm incredibly irritated
with all the minor things.

Attempting to drag something from the Activities bar to the desktop results in
the whole UI crashing, taking down all applications with it.

Trying to set the screen to wait more than 15 minutes to power off required
googling up a StackOverflow answer. Why is there not a text input option for
this?

I'm sure I'll discover something stupid tomorrow.

~~~
grawlinson
Have a look at KDE Plasma. They've added a lot of polish to it, and it's
superb. It's been my daily driver for the last year or so, haven't had as much
problems as I did with GNOME.

~~~
pavel_lishin
Thanks, I'll give it a shot, and hopefully not amend this comment with a
paragraph bitching about switching :p

------
zelos
> but I’ve still seen a couple of the MacBook keyboards fail in their short
> life. One had a key become sticky and unreliable, the other had its space
> fall off.

The return key on my 2 month old 13" Macbook Pro has already lost its "click".
A couple of times a week I have to reboot it to get sound working again.
Plugging external monitors in is a coin toss. I have to carry an external
dongle around to use it and the dongle gets noticeably warm when in use:
what's going on in there?

~~~
psyc
My MBP keyboard degraded over time, only 2 years in. Started with WASD (hehe)
and spread outward until nothing worked. I plugged in an external keyboard and
soldiered on. One day I bootcamped into Windows and something went wrong. I
got completely locked out because apparently the internal keyboard is the one
and only way to get the boot menu. I understand repair would cost $250+. Very
disappointing since my previous MB lasted 9 years.

~~~
kiddico
Was it the 2015 13" by chance? Those were known to go bad quickly.

~~~
psyc
2013 13”, but probably the same general issue.

------
nkkollaw
Wow, I'm in the exact same situation.

Using Xfce and loving it so far, went through every single distro in
existence.

Cool series!

~~~
wezm
Thanks! What OS/distro did you settle on?

~~~
nkkollaw
Personally, Xfce heavily configured to my liking, on top of Ubuntu Minimal
(basically, I took the Minimal CD and installed xorg and xfce4-session).

In particular I've installed DockbarX--a dock that integrates into
xfce4-panel, and vala-panel-topmenu (or somithing similar) to have a global
menu.

------
watertom
I've been a UNIX user since 1984, I've been using Apple as my personal
hardware since about '87

I jumped from Mac OS due to cost of Apple Hardware, last year. I can't justify
spending $3K for hardware that if it weighed 1lb more costs $650.

I bought a Quad core i7 Gaming laptop, Dual SSD's, 1080p display, 32GB of
memory for $800, yay Black Friday. My original plan was to make the machine
into a hackintosh, but while waiting for the WiFi daughter board to arrive
from China I decided to install Linux.

I tried a number of Linux variants. I ended up settling on Elementary because
it was the only distribution that would consistently "wake up" from
hibernation or sleep. Every other distro would cause the machine to hang after
hibernation or sleep, I spent a lot of time trying to make other distributions
work, but to no avail.

I did get the WiFi daughter board and installed it, but I never seem to get
around to creating my hackintosh.

I'm completely happy with my Linux laptop. Elementary has a couple of quirks,
but nothing that makes me want to switch. The online version of Microsoft
office allows me to interact with Office documents, which was always the
biggest stumbling block, at least for me when it comes to Linux.

~~~
microtherion
> I can't justify spending $3K for hardware that if it weighed 1lb more costs
> $650. > [...] > I tried a number of Linux variants. [...] I spent a lot of
> time trying to make other distributions work, but to no avail.

Just curious: What kind of value are you putting on your time ?

Admittedly, I can perfectly understand if you consider tinkering with distros
an intellectually gratifying pursuit and therefore time well spent; I just
wanted to point out that it would NOT be all that hard to justify spending an
extra $2K.

------
jruchalski
You are crazy —- the good kind of crazy tho —- for moving away from MacOS on
your work machine.

I’m just a dabbler in all things Linux/sysadmin/IT who tried going from
Windows to Linux as my desktop and did well until it came to dealing with X
and graphics drivers for my aging nvidia 660. Sure I got everything up and
running just fine with hardly any effort but just basic things like hardware
acceleration in browsers and screen recording software were a giant pain in
the ass that took entire weekends for me to only half way solve. Still, it
taught me a lot more of how Linux has evolved since the dark days of floppy
based Slackware and redhat installations. Give the people responsible for
Quartz on OS X and the Windows GUI a kiss for me, bless their hearts. The year
of Linux on the desktop will come when we can move away from the ancient parts
of X and flatpaks are perfected.

------
butitsnotme
> If anyone is interested in a paid project to build an open source command
> line replacement for my use of MoneyWell in Rust

Don't know if you've seen this, but as you mentioned a command line accounting
system...

[https://www.ledger-cli.org/](https://www.ledger-cli.org/)

It's an open source command line accounting system (though it is written in
C).

~~~
wezm
I looked at it. As far as I can tell it doesn’t do envelope budgeting with
automatic flow. This is the key feature to me and why I went with MoneyWell
back in 2008.

~~~
bsilvereagle
What do you mean be automatic flow?

You can pull off envelope budgeting: [https://frdmtoplay.com/envelope-
budgeting-with-ledger/](https://frdmtoplay.com/envelope-budgeting-with-
ledger/)

------
forevercrashing
I used Linux (mostly Ubuntu) for somewhere around 10 years on my personal
laptops. After using Macs at work for a few years and being frustrated with
the music making and photography apps on Linux I made the switch about 3 years
ago. There just wasn't anything on Linux that had the polish and ease-of-use
of Photos.app and GarageBand/Logic and when I want to engage in creative
hobbies, I want my technology to just work. Has Linux made any progress on
alternatives to those?

------
orionblastar
Consider some alt operating systems. OS/2 is still out as econ and Blue Lion.
AROS is based on AmigaOS 3.x, Haikuos is a rewrite of Beos, Reactos is a
rewrite of Windows XP, and FreeDOS is a 32 bit DOS. You can Google them and
try them out.

------
alexktz
There's something about reading a blog in monospaced font...

Enjoyed the article very much. The macOS / Linux / Windows switcherooney
debate has been going on for years with me. The new MBPs make it an easy
choice but Linux on the desktop (T470s recently purchased) makes me less
productive than macOS on a 2015 MBP.

I've switched away from this MBP no less than 4 times to 4 different Linux
laptops and each time have come back after roughly 1 month. It sickens me (I
work for Red Hat so FOSS is quite deeply ingrained) to work on a Mac every day
instead of respecting freedoms but sometimes you just need to get on with it.

------
mwest
I ran FreeBSD on my home and work desktops (and most of my servers) for almost
10 years. I use a Mac these days, but I still have a soft spot for FreeBSD on
the desktop.

For Dropbox on FreeBSD, I found just installing the CLI (pkg install dropbox-
api-command) and then calling "dropbox-api sync" in cron ever 10 minutes was
good enough.

~~~
wezm
Interesting. I was aware of the CLI but didn't know it worked on FreeBSD.

------
chmaynard
This links to an abstract, but I can't find the actual blog post.

~~~
wezm
It works for me. What are you seeing? (Feel free to email wes AT wezm.net)

~~~
chmaynard
Sorry for the noise. I thought it was a table of contents for your blog, but
now I see that it is actually the March 2018 post with a bunch of sub-heads.

------
CoughlinJ
If only a stable *nix desktop OS could run a webex meeting I'd switch my devs
over. But noooo it's a 10 year old java applet.

------
canvasduck
I've been thinking about doing this too. Great write up.

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Froyoh
Wow so much hate for the MacBook

