This is the second part of my article “I’m taking a break with macOS, I’m dating Linux.”
Below some conclusions after spending a month or so with Linux, more specifically with Linux Mint 18 KDE.
Before talking about Linux, how I fallen in love with macOS?
The first Macintosh I used was the Performa 6300 model, it was my father’s work computer. At that time I was 12/14 years old. I used to use a Windows 3.1 PC 386 with 4MB of ram... I remember use DOS, Photoshop 3 and Corel Draw just for fun and play Loom and other games in an Hercules monitor with SimCGA mode.
I dreamed having a Mac but it was super expensive for the regular user, so after some time dealing with black and white pixels my father bought a PC 486 with a color display and Windows 95.
Despite been a PC user, I was always in contact with some random Macintosh. I got my “own” Mac at the age of 24, was a MacBook 2,1.
So let’s say that I saw how Apple changed the Mac and it OS from 1995 to nowadays. A bunch of OS versions and hardware changes in more than twenty years.
Why I’m taking a break?
As I said before, I’m taking a break because I have the feeling that my next computer will be a PC and I want to be ready for it. The Mac is becoming too expensive and I don’t like the direction that Apple is taking.
I used to be an hybrid designer-developer, but some years ago I stopped designing. Programs like Illustrator or Photoshop are not a must to have for me any more. Nowadays I’m using only few programs that are available in all platforms. So there is no reason to get stuck with the same OS/hardware.
Apps…
Let’s start thinking about a future possible change, which software I should use:
OS
I really like Linux because you can shape it as you want. If you don’t like something, you change it. You can use Plasma as your environment or try something completely different like a i3 (I’m still trying to figure out how configure it).
On macOS you have what Jony Ive has selected for you and nothing else.On Linux you can change the appearance from time to time. If you dislike the default theme that comes with your distro, you can use Arc theme, Adapta, Paper, Ultra-Flat, Vertex or get some inspiration from unixporn.
Arc Theme
I love on KDE that you can just start writing and the launcher comes up, I would love to have that on mac.I recently discovered rofi, I really like the simpleness on it.
Terminal
iTerm is my favourite terminal on Mac. On Linux you have a bunch of options. I like a lot all of them because customisation. I like Konsole, I also tested Hyper and it works faster than in macOS.
Konsole — KDE
File manager
I used to use Norton Commander in DOS because I wanted to do a lot of files operations.
The old Norton Commander
Lately the Finder became less powerful than Google Drive, you can’t even create a file from it. After many years, I used to use it, but still hate it. They introduced the tabs some time ago, but until then I remember open two windows and drag and drop files. A waste of time.¯\_(ツ)_/¯
KDE — Dolphin
In the other hand, Linux is plenty of options: from basic file managers to the most sophisticated ones.
Dolphin, Caja, Nautilus to name few of them.
IDE
Nothing to say about them, Sublime, Atom, VSCode, Webstorm, everything is on both platforms.
What I could miss from macOS if I change to Linux?
A lot. The simplicity.The details, the graphics.That everything (almost) works.
Conclusions
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I’m not ready yet.I have my environment and workflow that I have been shaping during years. Using Linux I feel lost.
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**Linux doesn’t work on Mac.**My original idea was to replace macOS with Linux on my MacBook Pro (i7, Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) but that doesn’t work as smooth as I thought.
Some of the biggest problems I found:
- Battery issues: You get 3 hours of battery life.
- Trackpad sensibility: Lot of precision/tap issues.
- Secondary and retina screen support: I end up using only the external monitor (no-retina). Also issues with video flickering.
- Power management: I can’t trust on it, feels like it’s always awake and consuming power.
If your idea (like me) is to use Linux sometime in the future, use a PC.It doesn’t worth to use Linux on a Mac. It feels like you are driving a Formula 1 in the city: You can’t get the power that Linux has, and you can’t get everything from the hardware that you have.