For example, the ability to disable global shortcuts on specific windows. So if I’ve got a remote desktop open to my work I can send Super-. (Win-.) and that’ll open the Windows emoji picker in the remote desktop instead of the KDE one (locally). And it will remember this setting for that application!
I did not know this! I’ll look into this and no longer will it piss me off when I tap Super in a VM to open the menu, and have to dismiss my local menu first.
I feel like picking the right DE makes much bigger impact.
I made the same point to someone on Reddit who asked earlier today what a good distro is from swapping from macOS.
I’ve only been using Linux for a year or so, so I’m still very much learning how things work, but from my (limited) perspective, whether you use Ubuntu/Fedora/Arch etc… is essentially meaningless to a new user. But how you interact with it isn’t.
Personally, I tried Mint first because that’s the default answer, and while Cinnamon is fine, I find it too restrictive. Which makes GNOME a no-gno for me. I’ve tried GNOME, and I hate it. I’ve landed on Plasma, and I like Plasma.
And crucially, I can use Plasma on my Kubuntu machines, my old MacBook that’s now running Arch(btw), and my M1 Mac mini that’s running Asahi, and the experience is pretty much the same for what I do. The only difference is the command I use to update my software in Konsole.
In terms of gestures, the one thing I do still struggle with is Linux not having a useful equivalent to BetterTouchTool. Whenever I set up a new macOS, that’s pretty much the first thing I install. As a result, I’m so used to using a middle click for Expose that even after a year of mostly using Linux, I still find myself middle clicking several times a day and wondering why it’s not showing me all the windows.
The closest I’ve found is Input Remapper, which can help you get your mouse buttons to perform a bunch of things. However, as far as I can tell, it will only allow you to save one at a time, which makes it mostly useless. So I’m forcing myself to get used to the Linux defaults instead.
Literally the only thing Preview can’t do is edit a PDF. It can do markup and annotation, but not edit the basic structure of the document.
That one program can rotate individual pages, add and remove them, resize them, crop them. You can reorder pages just by dragging the thumbnail around in the side bar. It’s really, really useful.
In my year or so of using Linux I’ve yet to find one program that can replicate everything Preview can do, so I have several that I draw upon depending on my need. It’s little things like that which keep me from fulling abandoning macOS.
Apple are many things, but their history of making software that puts the user first is a huge chunk of why so many people swear by using Apple stuff.
Depending on how all-in on the Apple you are, there will be a few main sticking points for you.
1: Gestures If you use a trackpad, you’re going to have to adjust to a more limited set of gesture commands. The same with button mapping on a mouse. You’ll almost certainly need to learn new ways to move around your desktops.
2: PDFs Preview is a godsend to Mac users. Preview does everything bar editing PDFs. You will no longer have Preview. You’ll need to find three or four applications that replicate its features. And all of them will feel a bit lacking in comparison.
3: Apple Music Apple don’t believe in Linux, so if you use AM and wish to continue listening to lossless on your computer, you’re going to have to either use WinBoat to run a Windows VM into which you can install AM, or you’re going to need to use Waydroid in order to run the Android version of the AM app. Neither is great, but both (mostly) work.
But ultimately it is worth it. I use my Mac much less than I used to, and my iPad almost not at all now.
I went from Mac to Linux and use Plasma because I really can’t get on with GNOME. People go on like its 1:1 to macOS, but it really isn’t. GNOME feels so much more restrictive to me.
It’s pretty cool, albeit fairly resource-heavy. You are, after all, running a whole-ass Windows inside Linux.
However, you can shut it down when you’re not using it and you don’t run the risk of Windows fucking your boot drive.
Couldn’t you just run a Windows VM instead? Something like WinBoat might be perfect for your needs. I use it to run Apple Music, but it occurs to me that I could probably run iTunes through it to sync my iPod.
Well fuck me. That’s kinda neat.
Shame it doesn’t subsequently work with ctrl+v, because that would be even cooler.
Former Mac user here: Middle click should expose all windows, as the good lord intended.
My Calibre library is in a SyncThing folder, so all three of my computers have access to the same library. My phone’s photo folder syncs to it, as well as the working folder for my radio show, so I can work on it wherever I am. It costs me nothing, and requires basically no maintenance.
SyncThing. That shit has pretty much replaced iCloud Drive for me, and as such has saved me a fortune.
The one thing I desperately want for Linux is BetterTouchTool. That one piece of software alone plugs SO MANY gaps in how to navigate macOS, but Linux has nothing like it. Not that I’ve yet found, anyway.
I’m lucky enough that my MD barely understands what a computer is, let alone gives a shit what we use to do our work. So I just said fuck it and put Kubuntu on mine. As long as I can do my work, no one cares how I do it.
What I don’t understand is how GrapheneOS runs on any Pixel because that’s the one device that lends itself to an alternative OS, but none of the various mobile Linux distros support anything past the Pixel 3.
Or am I coming at this from the wrong direction?
I’m a recovering Apple user, and the Apple tax is absolutely a thing.
Yeah, the hardware lasts. In my little office I currently have a 2011 MacBook Pro running Arch(btw), a 2014 Mac mini running Mint, an M1 mini, and an M2 Air. That '11 Pro refuses to die. However I’m under absolutely 0 illusions that I’ll get the same lifespan from the M1 and M2. The hardware may well last as long, but them being effectively locked down right to macOS means that when Apple decide they’re done, they’re done. I could run Asahi on them, but that comes with a bunch of annoying compromises that aren’t the fault of the Asahi devs, but are as a result of Apple trying to lock down the Mac platform in the same way they have iOS.
And sure, the entry level hardware can be cheap. The M4 mini is an astonishing deal. But they’re betting on locking you in with iCloud Drive subscriptions, and the like. Then, after a few years, when your Mini goes obsolete, you’ll either upgrade to a new one or have to spend a bunch of time trying to work out how to shift your online storage to another provider.
And not to mention things that they’ve branded that are commonly available for free elsewhere. “Buy into the Apple ecosystem to get Universal Control!” or just install Deskflow on the shitty old ThinkPad you already have, because the function of the software is exactly the same. “Apple’s Continuity stuff is super neat!” Aye, and so is KDE Connect. Which is free and runs on any device this side of Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine.
You pay a lot for Apple hardware, and yeah, that money gets you great hardware, but the value proposition is getting slimmer every year.
In my experiemce it’s not. Unless you’ve not got Mac hardware, in which case it’s your only choice from those two options.
Now, how is Mint better than macOS on older Macs?
Well. I used OCLP to run Sequoia on my 2014 Mac mini. It ran, but it was a dog egg. The fan was basically a continuous jet engine. So I used it to dip my toes in Linux and put Mint on it. 100% improvement. Mint doesn’t mind only having 8Gb RAM, and doesn’t really give a shit what it runs. It’s modern and up to date and not growing new security holes with every month that passes. Running Mint, that little computer has become the hub of my homelab. Sure, there’s better hardware for the task, but the best gear is the gear you’ve got, right?
However, if my M2 MacBook could run Mint, I’d still be running Sequoia on it, because there’s a swathe of shit that macOS does out of the box that it’s taken me a year of using Linux to give up trying to emulate with any level of success.
But not macOS 26 though. Oh Jesus fuck no. I’ve tried it on the M1 mini I have and it’s fucking awful.
I’ve put Mint, Kubuntu, and Arch on a few different Macs from 2011-14, and the Broadcom drivers are an arsehole every time. I wish I was smart enough to save a note on how I did it.
I have a 2011 MBP running Arch (btw). The thing won’t fucking die. Well, apart from the battery, which went spicy as hell a couple of years ago.
OK, how the hell do you do this? Because I have Ctrl+left click and Ctrl+right click set on my Mac to switch left/right between spaces/desktops, and cannot for the life of me work our how to replicate that in Linux.