7 ms·

What does Linux give you that macOS doesn’t? I use both a Mac and an Arch Linux running i3/awesomewm, and to me macOS is like any Linux distro with a user-frie

What does Linux give you that macOS doesn’t? I use both a Mac and an Arch Linux running i3/awesomewm, and to me macOS is like any Linux distro with a user-friendly desktop environment. I guess it doesn’t have an « official » package manager, but homebrew has most packages anyway?

wiiner 9y ago
Uniform platform support for multiple architectures. I have Linux desktops on i686, x86_64, arm and aarch64. Same desktop environment, same programs, same easily mirrorable configuration, same firewall system, wireguard, same or fairly equivalent package management between systems.
astrodust 9y ago
You can run things like the Adobe Suite without any ridiculous overhead. Where Xcode is important you've also got that. For a lot of people that don't care the differences are largely subjective and the difference between Ubuntu, for example, and macOS are largely academic and aesthetic.
- Insanity 9y ago
  With academic, I'm not sure if you also include 'philosophic'. Personally, I'd rather develop on mac than on windows but I'm the happiest on Linux. A large factor in this is that I like to contribute to FOSS and find that 'ideology' to be a match with my beliefs regarding software.
  - astrodust 9y ago
    For work I prefer the macOS environment partially for the software, but mostly because the machines are standardized and interchangeable. If one machine dies I can swap it for another without any fuss. Restore from Time Machine and get on with life, something that takes about an hour or so. This is really not the case with Windows or Linux. These require a lot of tinkering and tuning. A recent swap from one Windows 7 machine to a Windows 10 one took days, the migration procedure is basically garbage. I've never had much luck with desktop Linux even though I use it all the time on servers but those get rebuilt with a new OS when they're out of date. Upgrading them is just too much of a fuss. If you've got a workflow for keeping desktop Linux up to date and rolling over from one machine to another as you upgrade hardware, that's worth sharing.
    - AsyncAwait 9y ago
      > Upgrading them is just too much of a fuss. Switching to a rolling distro will eliminate the upgrade pain. Keeping dd backups is also relatively easy. And unless you're on a custom kernel, you can just roll over to a new machine with your image and the appropriate kernel modules would get loaded for the new hardware at boot.
meddlepal 9y ago
I work on container-tech and the absence of namespaces and cgroups in the macOS kernel is a continuous source of frustration for my team since you need to work through a VM abstraction for Macs.
- ratsimihah 9y ago
  What you're talking about is way over my head, but I do understand Linux might be more appropriate for more low-level stuffs and hardcode users like you at the kernel level. I'm happy doing React on my Mac :)
justinclift 9y ago
> What does Linux give you that macOS doesn’t? Stable, long term, OS support. I'm running CentOS 7 x64 now, as I got completely sick and tired of Apple's "new OS release every year" bullshit.
khedoros1 9y ago
Package management is core to the OS, not bolted on. I can change the desktop environment as I please, and potentially run different environments for different purposes, if I so choose. For any piece of software on the system, I can have a part in its development process, if I choose to. I like a non-GUI-centric system. I'm not limited to Apple's drivers, or Apple hardware in general (it's pretty and sleek, but I find some of the design choices grating). I feel like Apple provides a computer and OS that are user-friendly to the general population. But it also seems like the whole culture is "No, don't do it that we. We've provided this method as the One True Way."
- selectodude 9y ago
  How is package management via apt any different than using homebrew? They're both equally "bolted on".
  - tfcata 9y ago
    try 'brew install gnome-desktop' maybe?
    - herbst 9y ago
      Wait this works? Gnome shell? The full gnome experience?
      - tushar-r 9y ago
        Nope :-/ $ brew install gnome-desktop Updating Homebrew... ==> Auto-updated Homebrew! Updated 3 taps (caskroom/cask, caskroom/versions, homebrew/core). ==> Renamed Formulae php70 -> php@7.0 Error: No available formula with the name "gnome-desktop" ==> Searching for a previously deleted formula (in the last month)... Error: No previously deleted formula found. ==> Searching for similarly named formulae... ==> Searching local taps... Error: No similarly named formulae found. ==> Searching taps... ==> Searching taps on GitHub... Error: No formulae found in taps.
fnord123 9y ago
> What does Linux give you that macOS doesn’t? perf, case sensitive file systems, non stupid alt-tab behaviour, strace, pstack, gdb (these don't seem to work without sacrificing animals), gnome-shell (better than finder by a long way, imo). I've got a mac. I don't install programs except for things through brew. It's basically shitty linux with outlook.
- viraptor 9y ago
  perf, strace, and pstack can be replaced with dtrace on MacOS. You can have a case-sensitive position. (Separate from root so it doesn't break some apps)
  - fnord123 9y ago
    Do you need to add dtrace to the key chain each time it's updated or do they just not update it like most of their command line software?
    - viraptor 9y ago
      What do you mean "add dtrace to the key chain"? I've never done anything related to keychain while using dtrace.
      - fnord123 9y ago
        gdb needs to be added to the keychain as a signed program in order to attach to programs. But brew is a rolling release so I might need to add this frequently. It's painful.
        4ad 9y ago
        DTrace is built-in software.
        fnord123 9y ago
soperj 9y ago
freedom.
AsyncAwait 9y ago
> What does Linux give you that macOS doesn’t? For one, you largely don't pay strategy tax, which is under discussion in the very title of this submission.

wiiner 9y ago

Uniform platform support for multiple architectures. I have Linux desktops on i686, x86_64, arm and aarch64. Same desktop environment, same programs, same easily mirrorable configuration, same firewall system, wireguard, same or fairly equivalent package management between systems.

astrodust 9y ago

You can run things like the Adobe Suite without any ridiculous overhead. Where Xcode is important you've also got that. For a lot of people that don't care the differences are largely subjective and the difference between Ubuntu, for example, and macOS are largely academic and aesthetic.

Insanity 9y ago
With academic, I'm not sure if you also include 'philosophic'. Personally, I'd rather develop on mac than on windows but I'm the happiest on Linux. A large factor in this is that I like to contribute to FOSS and find that 'ideology' to be a match with my beliefs regarding software.
- astrodust 9y ago
  For work I prefer the macOS environment partially for the software, but mostly because the machines are standardized and interchangeable. If one machine dies I can swap it for another without any fuss. Restore from Time Machine and get on with life, something that takes about an hour or so. This is really not the case with Windows or Linux. These require a lot of tinkering and tuning. A recent swap from one Windows 7 machine to a Windows 10 one took days, the migration procedure is basically garbage. I've never had much luck with desktop Linux even though I use it all the time on servers but those get rebuilt with a new OS when they're out of date. Upgrading them is just too much of a fuss. If you've got a workflow for keeping desktop Linux up to date and rolling over from one machine to another as you upgrade hardware, that's worth sharing.
  - AsyncAwait 9y ago
    > Upgrading them is just too much of a fuss. Switching to a rolling distro will eliminate the upgrade pain. Keeping dd backups is also relatively easy. And unless you're on a custom kernel, you can just roll over to a new machine with your image and the appropriate kernel modules would get loaded for the new hardware at boot.

meddlepal 9y ago

I work on container-tech and the absence of namespaces and cgroups in the macOS kernel is a continuous source of frustration for my team since you need to work through a VM abstraction for Macs.

ratsimihah 9y ago
What you're talking about is way over my head, but I do understand Linux might be more appropriate for more low-level stuffs and hardcode users like you at the kernel level. I'm happy doing React on my Mac :)

justinclift 9y ago

> What does Linux give you that macOS doesn’t? Stable, long term, OS support. I'm running CentOS 7 x64 now, as I got completely sick and tired of Apple's "new OS release every year" bullshit.

khedoros1 9y ago

Package management is core to the OS, not bolted on. I can change the desktop environment as I please, and potentially run different environments for different purposes, if I so choose. For any piece of software on the system, I can have a part in its development process, if I choose to. I like a non-GUI-centric system. I'm not limited to Apple's drivers, or Apple hardware in general (it's pretty and sleek, but I find some of the design choices grating). I feel like Apple provides a computer and OS that are user-friendly to the general population. But it also seems like the whole culture is "No, don't do it that we. We've provided this method as the One True Way."

selectodude 9y ago
How is package management via apt any different than using homebrew? They're both equally "bolted on".
- tfcata 9y ago
  try 'brew install gnome-desktop' maybe?
  - herbst 9y ago
    Wait this works? Gnome shell? The full gnome experience?
    - tushar-r 9y ago
      Nope :-/ $ brew install gnome-desktop Updating Homebrew... ==> Auto-updated Homebrew! Updated 3 taps (caskroom/cask, caskroom/versions, homebrew/core). ==> Renamed Formulae php70 -> php@7.0 Error: No available formula with the name "gnome-desktop" ==> Searching for a previously deleted formula (in the last month)... Error: No previously deleted formula found. ==> Searching for similarly named formulae... ==> Searching local taps... Error: No similarly named formulae found. ==> Searching taps... ==> Searching taps on GitHub... Error: No formulae found in taps.

fnord123 9y ago

> What does Linux give you that macOS doesn’t? perf, case sensitive file systems, non stupid alt-tab behaviour, strace, pstack, gdb (these don't seem to work without sacrificing animals), gnome-shell (better than finder by a long way, imo). I've got a mac. I don't install programs except for things through brew. It's basically shitty linux with outlook.

viraptor 9y ago
perf, strace, and pstack can be replaced with dtrace on MacOS. You can have a case-sensitive position. (Separate from root so it doesn't break some apps)
- fnord123 9y ago
  Do you need to add dtrace to the key chain each time it's updated or do they just not update it like most of their command line software?
  - viraptor 9y ago
    What do you mean "add dtrace to the key chain"? I've never done anything related to keychain while using dtrace.
    - fnord123 9y ago
      gdb needs to be added to the keychain as a signed program in order to attach to programs. But brew is a rolling release so I might need to add this frequently. It's painful.
      - 4ad 9y ago
        DTrace is built-in software.
        fnord123 9y ago

soperj 9y ago

freedom.

AsyncAwait 9y ago

> What does Linux give you that macOS doesn’t? For one, you largely don't pay strategy tax, which is under discussion in the very title of this submission.