From a performance to value perspective you cannot beat Linux. Docker/Microk8s the overhead is so low. Dev speed is leagues ahead the unfortunate circumstance of having to run Docker/Minikube in a VM on Windows and macOS. Also filesystem IO is unreal compared to Windows at least.
Getting a refurb Thinkpad on ebay and having better compute hardware than a mac pro for half the price is also a nice cherry on top so to speak. That and the insane sales Lenovo has all the time for brand new machines is kind of hard to beat as well.
Next up is Windows from a hardware perspective. Same refurb thinkpad can dual boot without issue.
Then lastly macOS. I have had a mac since 2011. I am having a hard time with the direction Apple is going with their laptops.
I have all 3 and they all have their merits, but I find myself using Windows/Linux at home exclusively and macOS at work and I don't mind the context switch.
To each their own!
With the uncertain future of mac with their potential switch to ARM and not shipping python and ruby by default, I see some drawbacks to the dev ecosystem. I know brew will package a ruby version to handle this but I do worry about the ARM switch.
Linux used to be quite difficult, but I stuck with Ubuntu and the UX/UI has improved so much :)
I come at this from a productivity perspective after using Mac's for several jobs - Linux boosts my productivity by 30-40%. Anecdotal, sure, but things just work in Linux and your not constantly having to fiddle around and click through things. It could also be that Mac's have declined in quality and I can put Linux on nearly anything and it lasts forever, especially when you put it on high quality gear that just doesn't exist at Apple.
My experience is somewhat opposite. I love Linux. I've used it for over a decade in various roles. But it always ends up the same - either some obscure Bluetooth or graphics bug frustrates me to the point I can't stand it anymore, or I get fed up with 2 hours of battery life and go back to macOS.
In this case, I'm measuring my productivity by the time it takes to mess around with the OS to get the desired result, and the fact that the stability baseline just never seems to get there.
I get and support the attraction to Linux on the desktop, but find YMMV to be very much true.
I find that many people who say things like this have never actually tried to boost their productivity on Mac in the first place. As someone who uses Alfred, Karabiner Elements, Keyboard Maestro, Spectacle, Omnifocus, and a host of plugins on fish shell besides, it baffles me how slow my peers are at doing basic stuff they do twenty times a day. Just set up a shortcut, it's trivial.
Not so trivial on Linux. The fact that the author considers Firefox add-ons (!) a Linux feature is a clear indicator they never even tried on a Mac and were enamored by Linux due to the lionisation in the particular subreddits they follow.
Kind of like here! Not that there is anything wrong with getting excited about something. Just don't make sweeping generalizations.
Also, a small tip: You can put your Mac apps and configurations in Dropbox and they will show up and work as you expect across your multiple machines.
I find the opposite (and I've used Linux since 1997, plus several other unices starting from Sun OS).
Things tend to just work on the Mac, even though I use it for a wide variety of tasks (programming mainly, writing, music, and video secondarily, plus some photo work). Music and Video (DAWs and NLEs) are almost a joke in Linux.
You have to be cautious to buy compatible laptop hardware, and still there's always something not working on new setups, usually sleep, sound, GPU compositor, bluetooth, etc.
It also works excellent on low quality gear, I have some Point of Sales with very old computers, they just need internet, a browser and a thermal printer.
Installed Xubuntu and forgot about those for years, the experience is still smooth, fast and the computers turn-on fast.
“Things just work in Linux” - please do share this magical setup you have because my experience over the last 20 years is that nothing just works. MacOS mostly works, Windows sometimes works, Linux never works.
Unfortunately, as Apple tries to integrate more and more of the supply chain, and other computer-makers are copying Apple's business model, I predict that generic computers (the ones you install Linux on) will slowly disappear from the market.
There's a guy at the office who has to tinker and customise everything. He can't use anything that touts itself as opinionated because he has his own opinions.
Kind of reminds me of this article. You say you're more productive but honestly: how much time have you spent working on and customising your OS and is it a continuous project? Can you really say you're more productive than the people who open their lid and just work?
That’s a good question. Then again, it seems that for some people tinkering serves more as a hobby that they just like doing.
By tinkering and customizing you might gain a productive work environment but the way I see it is that some people just want to tinker because it makes them happy. The ’increased productivity’ seems to be more of a way to rationalize it to oneself.
I'm using a very similar desktop environment (mainly i3 + terminal + vim). What I really like about this setup is that it's compatible with every project I work on. I rearely have to learn new tools and I honestly did before spent more time getting used to new IDEs and stuff than configuring my current work environment. Configuring it is an ongoing project, but I commit changes to my dotfiles, so it's no lost time.
I definitely believe in knowing the most about your tools - regardless of profession. I’m less sure on where this line sits for OS choice. There are or at least were professionals who really needed Mac OS to get their work done properly along with the Adobe suite. Giving them Linux and OSS alternatives would almost certainly hinder them too greatly. But being able to hop onto just about any box and quickly get whatever done is itself a demonstration of broad knowledge.
I loathe tinkering/ driver set up. I was using a MacBook, but when it came time to replace..
I bought a pre configured Linux computer (laptop). They’re not very common but common enough.
I haven’t had to spend any time with setup, and frankly I’ve been pleased that everything just works. My main complaint it Battery life isn’t terrible but isn’t great but for what I do it’s good enough.
> Can you really say you're more productive than the people who open their lid and just work?
I don't know if overall all the tinkering I've done over the years was a net positive in terms of efficient use of working hours.
But I can for sure tell you that if I've just opened my lid and worked, I would have been much less satisfied while working when I would constantly run into unnecessary limitations of my tools. Hard to put a quantifier on work satisfaction.
As a professional, using the right tools for your job should be part of your job. You wouldn't trust a workman hammering a nail into the wall with a screwdriver just because that's the only tool in his tool belt.
And this isn't even an exaggerated metaphor. For decades Windows was unusable OOTB for any serious development. OSX is still handicapped by a decades old userspace (better than nothing but not good).
1. Do you know what the end state is, and do you know that you'll be significantly more productive? If so, then spend some real time on it.
2. Do you not know what the end state is, OR are you not sure what the best setup is? If so, then do the absolute minimum amount of work to make your changes functional and no more. Then use the incomplete setup for a while and see how it feels.
3. Are you not sure of the end state, AND are you not sure it will make you more productive? Then put it off and keep using your current setup, or at most try it out on a separate computer in your free time.
It's not unlike working on software architecture. You can get so focused on good architecture and clean code that you never get any real work done. Some code is fine to leave ugly. But not all code -- the art is knowing when code actually needs to be refactored, and figuring out how to refactor it in a way that doesn't lock you out of developing new features for a month.
> Can you really say you're more productive than the people who open their lid and just work?
- I do open a laptop and just work. Using configuration that I’ve already created to suit my work.
- Other people is a big group, and one that doesn’t matter so much here. I’m more productive using what I’ve opted to change than without. Yes, the minor time investment was worth it.
It's a multiplicative effect. Spend a few hours setting it up just right for your own workflow, and it tightens up your productivity going forward.
It may not be by 30-40% as some people claim, but even at 1% that's around 20 hours in a year assuming a light schedule (40 hours a week 48 weeks a year).
Well, I think asking a Gentoo guy if the compile times are worth the performance boost is quite valid (I used Gentoo for several years).
But just because you are using Linux, doesn't mean you have to spend a lot of time customizing. Actually, customizing can be a lot quicker on Linux than on Windows for example (due to the well-integrated package managers).
That said, I do think that some customizations help with productivity, but you should know your limits. If you are trying something completely new, which nobody has done before, you are unlikely to find huge productivity boosts. But if you cautiously follow some best practices you might find some productivity treasures.
It's a good point, it can be true, if done well. You have to have an abstract/productive view on tinkering. Not just bike shedding.. otherwise yeah it's just constant costs.
ps: one talk that I find a pretty strong example is "the unix chainsaw" by Gary Bernhardt (of wat js fame). He shows how to using tools `against` themselves, as data, to help your work. It's not rocket science, but it's 1) something I rarely do truly 2) easy to fall back as tools as silos instead of .. `objects` collaborating.
If tinkering/customising my OS was still my hobby, I wouldn’t consider it wasted time.
Agreed, this doesn’t apply to everyone. Years ago, every 6 months I’d switch to Linux/hackintosh purely out of frustration (or envy) as OSX looked sooo much better than anything else (antialiasing!) AND supported Adobe CC.
Nowadays I’m a Mac user and I’m unlikely to switch, because I’ve grown a bit tired of my tweaking marathons and need a proper *nix system.
I wish Windows just became a GUI layer on top of Linux though.
This is something I sometimes also ponder. I think the answer is yes, as long as you keep your ultimate business goal in mind and optimize for workflow rather than looks. Yes, you do take longer to get going but once your setup is honed in you gain a little more time every minute you use your system.
I see customisation as a form of optimisation. Optimising tasks that you perform hundereds of times a day will make you more productive. Optimising everything is a waste of time.
You can if the people who are just working do manual steps that I do in one step. I write TONS of bash functions that end up automating everything my peers do manually.
> As a developer, I spend almost 80% of the time in my terminal
In which case then sure, pretty much anything will suit you fine. It's not a universal rule though - I spend the vast majority of my time in TextMate or an IDE and probably 10% of time in my terminal, so the comfort of the Mac UI is a more significant factor.
I think the problem is the vague use of the word "developer."
Some people develop programming languages. For them, a GUI-less environment may be ideal.
I do web development. So I need the GUI, not just for testing, but for dealing with image and video assets that come in from the art department, or creating mockups, or presentations, or maps, etc.
It's still "development," but unsuited for a 100% command line experience.
As is often the case, it's easy for someone in one field of "development" to forget that it's a broad category of experiences.
Also, even if I would spend 100% of my time in a terminal, iTerm offers such a better experience than Linux terminals (that’s just my personal experience, I used various Linux distributions for ~6 years)
Funny thing, given all the emphasis on doing things via terminal in Linux community, is that I cannot find a decent Linux application to manage SSH conections. My work laptop is a Windows 10 machine, where I installed pro version of MobaXTerm (used to access/manage about 50 linux servers), and I fell in love with it. No Linux application that I know of comes close. Any suggestions?
In 2019 you still cannot get a decent macOS-like modifier key setup on Linux where OS-keys are mapped to Super (e.g. Super-C being copy) and such that Control works like it does on macOS, so I still always find these kinds of articles nice but you're in for lots of surprises if you try to switch.
And I say this as someone with both macOS and Linux laptops that I work from, but because of the above and other similar things I think you're always up for disappointment if you expect to get Linux to be exactly like macOS.
Ditto here - this article captured my own reasons for moving from macOS to Linux. My Mac Pro tube (late 2013) now runs Pop!_OS (~Ubuntu) natively for my Web and cloud development. macOS isn't a bad OS per se, but it's designed for people who fear technology, not developers like me.
I recent switched to a Mac laptop and tmux CC mode is iterm2’s killer feature. Tmux niceness without it taking a key prefix, and with real scroll bars. It’s worth the cost of a Mac!
Any tmux CC mode supporting terminals for Linux or Windows?
I've always found this OS warfare thing kind of weird.
I develop GNU/Linux software, for GNU/Linux desktops and servers. Obviously I use a GNU/Linux desktop. If I programmed Windows software, well, yeah, I'd probably use that.
The whole debate strikes me as some sort of weird discussion about, like, how the house that a professional (or hobbyist) woodworker/carpenter lives in, and the house that a lawyer lives in, are probably completely different, because one just doesn't find it difficult to build a shelf or make up a kitchen or whatever, it's barely even an inconvenience to them, they eat that shit for breakfast, whereas the other might find it a better use of their time to employ someone to do it.
That said, you should obviously use free software because otherwise you're basically a kiddy fiddler.
One of the major things I missed (and eventually brought me back to MacOS) were things like maximising a window means it becomes its own virtual desktop, and the touchpad gestures that would let you move between them. I tried a lot of hacks to replicate those features effectively but never came close, and it ultimately pushed me back to Macs.
Nowadays the OS means far less to me than my windows manager. I use nixos because I like the fact that I can see and configure the state of my machine in a few text files, but that does not give me a huge productivity boost.
Like the OP I use i3, and every time I have to use Windows or macOS I feel like I'm using a crippled machine. If I could put i3 on Windows or macOS, then I'd happily switch. With brew or wsl I really wouldn't notice much of a difference, given 90% of my day is spent in emacs, a terminal or a browser.
I suggest you try out Sway, which is pretty much i3 for Wayland. Also, Arch Linux has some great documentation for setting up things like screenshots. You'll have to get used to the flags for forcing xcb for a few Qt applications though, but totally worth it and not difficult at all once you understand it. I do miss rofi though, but am waiting for a Wayland version or the next best thing.
There is already quite the discussion going on related to macOS versus [insert linux distro here], but here are my two cents. I've been quite happy with my 2015 MBP since I took the time to "gut" most of the default shell tools and replace them with newer ones. It's not a convenient process, but from my experience, it's really not that much harder than setting up a fresh Arch install. It's as close as I've been able to get in terms of having the "hackability" and freedom of working in a Linux environment, while still having the pleasant UX that comes with macOS (good DE, decent memory management, lovely touchpad, etc.).
Every so often I get excited about doing the same, and ditching my MBP and getting a shiny XPS or X1 Carbon. Then I look at a few pieces of software I can't find good replacements for (for example, Transmit for working with S3) or software where the replacements require giving up functionality or ease of use (thinking of Screenflow or Pixelmator). Maybe one day ....
To each their own. My personal experience is that Macs are a proxy for high quality Retina display(sharp text) and more vertical resolution than thos remedial optimised laptops.
I just happen to run MacOS which it comes with. Give me that display, and sensible aspect ratio, and I’ll run Linux at the endpoint. Until ten, Linux only on servers for me.
iMessage and iCloud integration is still missing. I can’t image to reach for a phone every time I’m getting text when working on a computer. I’m surprised that such synergy is still not covered by community.
[edit]
My killer app is iTerm. There isn’t anything even close to it on Linux. (features _and_ documentation)
Longtime Mac/Hackintosh user who has been dabbling more into Linux in recent months. I come to it from the mindset of an advanced non-technical professional user—someone who only sometimes has to write code as part of a day job, but is comfortable in a terminal and has a strong understanding of the underlying systems even if I’m not writing an app anytime soon.
I’ve been using PopOS a bit of late, and have found their tweaks on Gnome to mostly work pretty well. I have had to swap around keys to get used to the format some—basically my big thing is having the special characters available through the Alt/Option key is important to me as I do a lot of writing and frequently use things like long dashes.
One thing I found helped a lot was replacing the caps-lock functionality with the super key, which makes the super functionality easily accessible while still keeping the extended characters within reach.
There are apps I wish had stronger equivalents—Alfred immediately comes to mind—as they have helped speed up my workflow in MacOS. And some apps (Photoshop, InDesign) don’t have a replacement strong enough to use as a daily driver.
While I’m still mostly MacOS these days, PopOS is pretty likable.
If tiling is what you are after, was Spectacle not a good enough solution on OSX?
I use a QMK-based keyboard (although I am sure you can achieve similar levels of functionality with Karabiner) where choosing my window placement is a 2-key macro.
[+] [-] selfup|6 years ago|reply
From a performance to value perspective you cannot beat Linux. Docker/Microk8s the overhead is so low. Dev speed is leagues ahead the unfortunate circumstance of having to run Docker/Minikube in a VM on Windows and macOS. Also filesystem IO is unreal compared to Windows at least.
Getting a refurb Thinkpad on ebay and having better compute hardware than a mac pro for half the price is also a nice cherry on top so to speak. That and the insane sales Lenovo has all the time for brand new machines is kind of hard to beat as well.
Next up is Windows from a hardware perspective. Same refurb thinkpad can dual boot without issue.
Then lastly macOS. I have had a mac since 2011. I am having a hard time with the direction Apple is going with their laptops.
I have all 3 and they all have their merits, but I find myself using Windows/Linux at home exclusively and macOS at work and I don't mind the context switch.
To each their own!
With the uncertain future of mac with their potential switch to ARM and not shipping python and ruby by default, I see some drawbacks to the dev ecosystem. I know brew will package a ruby version to handle this but I do worry about the ARM switch.
Linux used to be quite difficult, but I stuck with Ubuntu and the UX/UI has improved so much :)
[+] [-] mrozel|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] darrmit|6 years ago|reply
In this case, I'm measuring my productivity by the time it takes to mess around with the OS to get the desired result, and the fact that the stability baseline just never seems to get there.
I get and support the attraction to Linux on the desktop, but find YMMV to be very much true.
[+] [-] sombremesa|6 years ago|reply
Not so trivial on Linux. The fact that the author considers Firefox add-ons (!) a Linux feature is a clear indicator they never even tried on a Mac and were enamored by Linux due to the lionisation in the particular subreddits they follow.
Kind of like here! Not that there is anything wrong with getting excited about something. Just don't make sweeping generalizations.
Also, a small tip: You can put your Mac apps and configurations in Dropbox and they will show up and work as you expect across your multiple machines.
[+] [-] coldtea|6 years ago|reply
Things tend to just work on the Mac, even though I use it for a wide variety of tasks (programming mainly, writing, music, and video secondarily, plus some photo work). Music and Video (DAWs and NLEs) are almost a joke in Linux.
You have to be cautious to buy compatible laptop hardware, and still there's always something not working on new setups, usually sleep, sound, GPU compositor, bluetooth, etc.
[+] [-] jdsampayo|6 years ago|reply
Installed Xubuntu and forgot about those for years, the experience is still smooth, fast and the computers turn-on fast.
[+] [-] holografix|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] amelius|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] intellix|6 years ago|reply
Kind of reminds me of this article. You say you're more productive but honestly: how much time have you spent working on and customising your OS and is it a continuous project? Can you really say you're more productive than the people who open their lid and just work?
[+] [-] late|6 years ago|reply
By tinkering and customizing you might gain a productive work environment but the way I see it is that some people just want to tinker because it makes them happy. The ’increased productivity’ seems to be more of a way to rationalize it to oneself.
[+] [-] dejawu|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] clktmr|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ianai|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] acomjean|6 years ago|reply
I bought a pre configured Linux computer (laptop). They’re not very common but common enough.
I haven’t had to spend any time with setup, and frankly I’ve been pleased that everything just works. My main complaint it Battery life isn’t terrible but isn’t great but for what I do it’s good enough.
[+] [-] bhaak|6 years ago|reply
I don't know if overall all the tinkering I've done over the years was a net positive in terms of efficient use of working hours.
But I can for sure tell you that if I've just opened my lid and worked, I would have been much less satisfied while working when I would constantly run into unnecessary limitations of my tools. Hard to put a quantifier on work satisfaction.
As a professional, using the right tools for your job should be part of your job. You wouldn't trust a workman hammering a nail into the wall with a screwdriver just because that's the only tool in his tool belt.
And this isn't even an exaggerated metaphor. For decades Windows was unusable OOTB for any serious development. OSX is still handicapped by a decades old userspace (better than nothing but not good).
[+] [-] danShumway|6 years ago|reply
1. Do you know what the end state is, and do you know that you'll be significantly more productive? If so, then spend some real time on it.
2. Do you not know what the end state is, OR are you not sure what the best setup is? If so, then do the absolute minimum amount of work to make your changes functional and no more. Then use the incomplete setup for a while and see how it feels.
3. Are you not sure of the end state, AND are you not sure it will make you more productive? Then put it off and keep using your current setup, or at most try it out on a separate computer in your free time.
It's not unlike working on software architecture. You can get so focused on good architecture and clean code that you never get any real work done. Some code is fine to leave ugly. But not all code -- the art is knowing when code actually needs to be refactored, and figuring out how to refactor it in a way that doesn't lock you out of developing new features for a month.
Environment customization is the same way.
[+] [-] minitech|6 years ago|reply
- I do open a laptop and just work. Using configuration that I’ve already created to suit my work.
- Other people is a big group, and one that doesn’t matter so much here. I’m more productive using what I’ve opted to change than without. Yes, the minor time investment was worth it.
[+] [-] zumu|6 years ago|reply
It may not be by 30-40% as some people claim, but even at 1% that's around 20 hours in a year assuming a light schedule (40 hours a week 48 weeks a year).
[+] [-] arendtio|6 years ago|reply
But just because you are using Linux, doesn't mean you have to spend a lot of time customizing. Actually, customizing can be a lot quicker on Linux than on Windows for example (due to the well-integrated package managers).
That said, I do think that some customizations help with productivity, but you should know your limits. If you are trying something completely new, which nobody has done before, you are unlikely to find huge productivity boosts. But if you cautiously follow some best practices you might find some productivity treasures.
[+] [-] agumonkey|6 years ago|reply
ps: one talk that I find a pretty strong example is "the unix chainsaw" by Gary Bernhardt (of wat js fame). He shows how to using tools `against` themselves, as data, to help your work. It's not rocket science, but it's 1) something I rarely do truly 2) easy to fall back as tools as silos instead of .. `objects` collaborating.
[+] [-] rpastuszak|6 years ago|reply
Agreed, this doesn’t apply to everyone. Years ago, every 6 months I’d switch to Linux/hackintosh purely out of frustration (or envy) as OSX looked sooo much better than anything else (antialiasing!) AND supported Adobe CC.
Nowadays I’m a Mac user and I’m unlikely to switch, because I’ve grown a bit tired of my tweaking marathons and need a proper *nix system.
I wish Windows just became a GUI layer on top of Linux though.
[+] [-] unknown|6 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] zarkov99|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] trustyhank|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fauigerzigerk|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] drobati|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] segmondy|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Doctor_Fegg|6 years ago|reply
In which case then sure, pretty much anything will suit you fine. It's not a universal rule though - I spend the vast majority of my time in TextMate or an IDE and probably 10% of time in my terminal, so the comfort of the Mac UI is a more significant factor.
[+] [-] reaperducer|6 years ago|reply
Some people develop programming languages. For them, a GUI-less environment may be ideal.
I do web development. So I need the GUI, not just for testing, but for dealing with image and video assets that come in from the art department, or creating mockups, or presentations, or maps, etc.
It's still "development," but unsuited for a 100% command line experience.
As is often the case, it's easy for someone in one field of "development" to forget that it's a broad category of experiences.
[+] [-] addicted|6 years ago|reply
If you enjoy the tiling window, with nearly everything driven by the keyboard way of working, then Mac OS can’t come close from a UI perspective.
[+] [-] tambourine_man|6 years ago|reply
>In which case then sure, pretty much anything will suit you fine.
I thought the same. I’m married to Photoshop. How good is graphic acceleration support inside a VM these days?
I need to run the latest version, fast and glitch free. Wine will never be a solution unfortunately, unless Adobe supports it officially.
[+] [-] dgellow|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mamon|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|6 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] JulianWasTaken|6 years ago|reply
And I say this as someone with both macOS and Linux laptops that I work from, but because of the above and other similar things I think you're always up for disappointment if you expect to get Linux to be exactly like macOS.
[+] [-] jasoneckert|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] withaplomb|6 years ago|reply
Any tmux CC mode supporting terminals for Linux or Windows?
[+] [-] esotericn|6 years ago|reply
I develop GNU/Linux software, for GNU/Linux desktops and servers. Obviously I use a GNU/Linux desktop. If I programmed Windows software, well, yeah, I'd probably use that.
The whole debate strikes me as some sort of weird discussion about, like, how the house that a professional (or hobbyist) woodworker/carpenter lives in, and the house that a lawyer lives in, are probably completely different, because one just doesn't find it difficult to build a shelf or make up a kitchen or whatever, it's barely even an inconvenience to them, they eat that shit for breakfast, whereas the other might find it a better use of their time to employ someone to do it.
That said, you should obviously use free software because otherwise you're basically a kiddy fiddler.
[+] [-] stevenjohns|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MarcScott|6 years ago|reply
Like the OP I use i3, and every time I have to use Windows or macOS I feel like I'm using a crippled machine. If I could put i3 on Windows or macOS, then I'd happily switch. With brew or wsl I really wouldn't notice much of a difference, given 90% of my day is spent in emacs, a terminal or a browser.
[+] [-] techntoke|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dwrodri|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] setheron|6 years ago|reply
The biggest draw of the Lenovos is that the they have yet to run hot. My previous Macbook would get sooo hot... I worried when I kept it on my lap.
The documentation on the fedora website had been so exhaustive and well written.
[+] [-] bdcravens|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] therealmarv|6 years ago|reply
=
no Linux if you want to do something serious with photography or video.
[+] [-] reacharavindh|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mderazon|6 years ago|reply
I need to fill out pdf forms pretty often (bureaucracy) and sign them with my signature png.
There is no decent software for Linux that let you do that.
I have tried them all, currently I am using foxit reader in wine and it's not great and very sluggish but usually works
[+] [-] sp0ck|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] shortformblog|6 years ago|reply
I’ve been using PopOS a bit of late, and have found their tweaks on Gnome to mostly work pretty well. I have had to swap around keys to get used to the format some—basically my big thing is having the special characters available through the Alt/Option key is important to me as I do a lot of writing and frequently use things like long dashes.
One thing I found helped a lot was replacing the caps-lock functionality with the super key, which makes the super functionality easily accessible while still keeping the extended characters within reach.
There are apps I wish had stronger equivalents—Alfred immediately comes to mind—as they have helped speed up my workflow in MacOS. And some apps (Photoshop, InDesign) don’t have a replacement strong enough to use as a daily driver.
While I’m still mostly MacOS these days, PopOS is pretty likable.
[+] [-] ukj|6 years ago|reply
I use a QMK-based keyboard (although I am sure you can achieve similar levels of functionality with Karabiner) where choosing my window placement is a 2-key macro.