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I recently switched to using a Mac (for work) after 5-6 years only using Linux. Again and again the most painful aspect of the Apple ecosystem is that Apple hav

I recently switched to using a Mac (for work) after 5-6 years only using Linux. Again and again the most painful aspect of the Apple ecosystem is that Apple have already decided what is going to be best for me. By default, it's impossible to use workspaces without frequent switches to the trackpad, which wouldn't be so bad, but without installing third party software it's not really possible to create shortcuts or start remapping keys either. Even once you've installed and started Kwm, Karabiner and Seil, the botched keyboard layout renders the Alt key useless for wm shortcuts. There's not even a keyboard shortcut that makes a window fullscreen without removing it from its workspace! So much of the system lives in this unconfigurable space. As a Linux user, if my window manager isn't working for me, then I just install another one and start again with a fresh _and customizable_ blank slate. Ironically the things that don't frustrate me about the chance from Linux to Mac are the things the author identified in the article. My editor works just the same in both OSes and Homebrew could be a lot worse. And I get it, the OSX experience is a system that is averaged out to be comfortable and intuitive for everyone from musicians to graphic designers to programmers and business people. As a result, the user experience punishes power users the most. If you primarily identify as a programmer and use a Mac on a day-to-day basis, go pick up a cheap Chromebook, throw a linux distro on it, and see how it feels. If it's not quite right, tweak it. If you get it working, great - you've just saved yourself ~$1000 and a vendor lock-in. If not, all you've lost is $150 and a few hours of your life.

contingencies 10y ago
Chromebooks are interesting but the key concern with Linux + mobile hardware is "is it well tested?". The initial chromebooks had virtually no local storage. Has that changed? Another concern with Chrome is DRM. Also, there are so many potential driver hassles... wireless, touch, suspend, weird trackpads, brightness controls, power management efficacy in general, etc. Although an issue with mobile hardware review is that many issues appear only over time, and so are missed in reviews... is there a decent resource for Linux-oriented reviews of this class of hardware? I can't find one. Anyone want to start one? Random idea: We could take anonymized (eg. via proxy legal association) affiliate commissions on resulting sales so that editorial independence is maintained.
- codecurve 10y ago
  https://galliumos.org/ https://galliumos.org/ has done a lot for this space. They're doing a great job at normalizing a *buntu distro across the various chromebook hardware.
  - contingencies 10y ago
    Interesting. Support looks patchy, only about 50% of listed devices are fully supported. https://wiki.galliumos.org/Hardware_Compatibility https://wiki.galliumos.org/Hardware_Compatibility I searched for fully functional 2016 models and found only Acer Chromebook 11. Closer inspection revealed their information was inconsistent and that only 2014-2015 models work - 2016 models apparently don't and use the unsupported NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor. http://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/models/laptops/acer-chromebook http://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/models/laptops/acer-chr... Case in point: finding decent mobile Linux hardware is often a pain in the ass. Here is a frank discussion of Gentoo on Pixel Chromebook: https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Google_Chromebook_Pixel_LTE https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Google_Chromebook_Pixel_LTE
    - reynhout 10y ago
      The hardware list should be correct. The ARM machines you linked are Acer Chromebooks 13s (CB5-311), not Chromebook 11s. The 2016 11s are Intel Bay Trail, and supported. GalliumOS has good-to-very-good support for almost all Intel Chromebooks, but does not support any ARM models yet. GalliumOS works very well on the 2015 Pixels. It was a lot of work to get there. And as with all Linux laptops throughout history, you should definitely check the hardware compatibility list first.
- zumu 10y ago
  Totally unsolicited, but relevant anecdote. I develop full time on a chromebook running gallium os--although I used Ubuntu for a good 9 months. Only perceivable differences is gallium has way less bloat and support for chrome keyboards. A decent chunk of chromebooks have upgradable ssds. I put a 256 in mine. The big bottleneck is unfortunately non-ugradable ram, though this is increasingly a laptop in general gripe.

contingencies 10y ago

Chromebooks are interesting but the key concern with Linux + mobile hardware is "is it well tested?". The initial chromebooks had virtually no local storage. Has that changed? Another concern with Chrome is DRM. Also, there are so many potential driver hassles... wireless, touch, suspend, weird trackpads, brightness controls, power management efficacy in general, etc. Although an issue with mobile hardware review is that many issues appear only over time, and so are missed in reviews... is there a decent resource for Linux-oriented reviews of this class of hardware? I can't find one. Anyone want to start one? Random idea: We could take anonymized (eg. via proxy legal association) affiliate commissions on resulting sales so that editorial independence is maintained.

codecurve 10y ago
https://galliumos.org/ https://galliumos.org/ has done a lot for this space. They're doing a great job at normalizing a *buntu distro across the various chromebook hardware.
- contingencies 10y ago
  Interesting. Support looks patchy, only about 50% of listed devices are fully supported. https://wiki.galliumos.org/Hardware_Compatibility https://wiki.galliumos.org/Hardware_Compatibility I searched for fully functional 2016 models and found only Acer Chromebook 11. Closer inspection revealed their information was inconsistent and that only 2014-2015 models work - 2016 models apparently don't and use the unsupported NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor. http://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/models/laptops/acer-chromebook http://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/models/laptops/acer-chr... Case in point: finding decent mobile Linux hardware is often a pain in the ass. Here is a frank discussion of Gentoo on Pixel Chromebook: https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Google_Chromebook_Pixel_LTE https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Google_Chromebook_Pixel_LTE
  - reynhout 10y ago
    The hardware list should be correct. The ARM machines you linked are Acer Chromebooks 13s (CB5-311), not Chromebook 11s. The 2016 11s are Intel Bay Trail, and supported. GalliumOS has good-to-very-good support for almost all Intel Chromebooks, but does not support any ARM models yet. GalliumOS works very well on the 2015 Pixels. It was a lot of work to get there. And as with all Linux laptops throughout history, you should definitely check the hardware compatibility list first.
zumu 10y ago
Totally unsolicited, but relevant anecdote. I develop full time on a chromebook running gallium os--although I used Ubuntu for a good 9 months. Only perceivable differences is gallium has way less bloat and support for chrome keyboards. A decent chunk of chromebooks have upgradable ssds. I put a 256 in mine. The big bottleneck is unfortunately non-ugradable ram, though this is increasingly a laptop in general gripe.