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Attempting take this idea seriously, I just catalogued apps I have open right now that I know/suspect have no good equivalent on Linux: * Safari - might seem

by sulam 8y ago

Attempting take this idea seriously, I just catalogued apps I have open right now that I know/suspect have no good equivalent on Linux: * Safari - might seem unnecessary, but it's a lot of the web * Discord - I hear they have a Linux version in alpha, but...alpha * iTerm - best there is after years, why the hell can't Linux win at this?! * 1Password - guess I use the CLI? ugh. * iTunes - largely used for watching movies * Messages - This is surprisingly nice to have on the desktop * Microsoft Outlook - guess you are forced to use the web client * Xcode - heh Stuff I didn't expect to see but was pleasantly surprised to see: * Spotify * Hipchat * Zoom * Skype I could live without Discord, Messages, Safari, iTunes and Outlook if I got motivated (Outlook I have to have, but the web client is halfway decent). That leaves Xcode, iTerm and 1Password as dealbreakers. We know one of those isn't going to change! I'm of course not including the apps I use less often but really like when I need them, like Lightroom, Photoshop, Illustrator, Keynote, Excel/Numbers, OmniGraffle, Sketch, and Things. I think Linux is safe from me, except as the system I have next to my daily driver, and which I use for Windows (when I need to look at something there) and dual boot for Tensorflow.

carolosf 8y ago
For passwords I use enpass. It stores and encrypts passwords in your own personal cloud storage account e.g. Dropbox Google drive. Desktop version is free. Mobile version has a once off fee to buy the app. For office I use WPS office (word/excel/power point). It has tabs for documents and I have never had document compatibility issues (like I have had with libre office). I believe office 2013 runs under Wine too if you really need office. I prefer the web clients for email anyway. I use wavebox to integrate web based chat and email with the operating system for notifications. Safari uses WebKit so it's very similar to the engine chrome uses - but Google forked at some point. Deepin Terminal is an amazing terminal. Can't help you with Xcode unless you switch programming languages :) It would be great if Adobe released Linux versions of their products. I don't do much video editing but I think there are good options on Linux. Try it as a challenge I think you might be pleasantly surprised - if you use all the above apps how far Linux has come. Most of these apps work on Mac as well so you may find a few new good tools.
urathai 8y ago
I have been using Discord on Ubuntu for some time without experiencing any problems.
icebraining 8y ago
1Password 4 runs fine on Wine (the Windows version, of course).
zeta0134 8y ago
Okay, I'll take a stab at this: Safari - either Google Chrome or Chromium (depending on how open you like things) can keep pace with Safari in terms of general usability and extension ecosystem. At worst I think you'd find the experience on par, but when I owned a Mac, I found Google Chrome to be more performant than Safari on the regular, and its Linux build is just as quick. A lot of Linux folks recommend Firefox as well but I still am not convinced it beats Chrome in terms of out-of-the-box magical "Just Works" factor. Discord - The client may be alpha, but this works just fine honestly. I've never had a problem. This is largely because the desktop app is Electron based, so it's running on a web browser anyway; it's very, very cross platform friendly. Slack too, if that's your thing. iTerm - There are MANY good terminal clients for Linux. I personally use Terminator, which I find has a good balance of power features and stability. I particularly enjoy its terminal broadcasting implementation, but I'm in the unusual position of working on many parallel servers in tandem during my day job, so this feature is very important to me. iTunes - If it's just for movie watching, I've found VLC to be perfectly servicable. mPlayer is also quite popular and there are many frontends. Messages, Outlook - Here you've got a fair point. Outlook in particular is a pain point; there are workarounds to get it working in Thunderbird and Evolution, but they're just that - workarounds. Anything beyond basic email will need the web app; fortunately the web app isn't _terrible_, but yeah. Fair complaint. Xcode - If your goal is to build Mac / iOS apps, there is no substitute thanks to Apple's EULA. For everything else, pick your poison; there are more code editors and IDEs on Linux than one can count, many of them excellent. Personally I'm happy with Sublime Text (paid, worth every penny) and a Terminator window, but I hear VSCode is also excellent, which is odd considering that's a Microsoft endeavor. (Now if we could just get them to port Outlook...)
- saagarjha 8y ago
  > Google Chrome or Chromium (depending on how open you like things) can keep pace with Safari in terms of general usability and extension ecosystem Google Chrome's extension ecosystem is undoubtably far, far ahead of what Safari has. As for usability, and… > I found Google Chrome to be more performant than Safari on the regular People use Safari because it integrates so well with macOS, is performant, and doesn't kill resources (CPU, RAM, battery, you name it). No other browser comes close, even on other platforms. Apple's just spent too much time here optimizing their browser that nobody else can match it (maybe Edge on Windows?). > There are MANY good terminal clients for Linux. iTerm just has everything and the kitchen sink. Like, it has some flaws, but it just does so many things that I haven't seen any other emulator do. Plus the author is really smart (he's at the top of the comments currently, if you want to check his stuff out) > Xcode Xcode can be surprisingly nice for C/C++ development, when it decides it wants to work.
noja 8y ago
Safari and iTunes?!
praseodym 8y ago
I recently switched my primary machine to Linux and was pleasantly surprised to learn that 1Password has a web version (which does require a subscription) and the 1Password X extension for Chrome and Firefox to go with that.
Fnoord 8y ago
The idea of swapping away from macOS seems more enticing by the day, given the development directions of macOS (this is just one of the many nails; the main one is that Apple is likely going to merge macOS with iOS [or the other way around]). Discord works perfectly fine in a web browser. IIRC the platform-specific clients are just running a web browser themselves. Would rather use PWA then. As for iTerm, you don't need that when you use i3 but perhaps you can specify the features you need. 1Password, I recommend Bitwarden. Cheaper, open source, you can even run an open source backend. Messages, no idea why you want that. I only use WhatsApp for IM, and even that is just a web app. For development I recommend Sublime Text. You can use it for free, though I did buy it (as someone else commented; worth every penny). Skype for Linux is actually fallen behind to the other ports. Though I don't use Skype I heard complaints about that.

by sulam 8y ago

carolosf 8y ago

For passwords I use enpass. It stores and encrypts passwords in your own personal cloud storage account e.g. Dropbox Google drive. Desktop version is free. Mobile version has a once off fee to buy the app. For office I use WPS office (word/excel/power point). It has tabs for documents and I have never had document compatibility issues (like I have had with libre office). I believe office 2013 runs under Wine too if you really need office. I prefer the web clients for email anyway. I use wavebox to integrate web based chat and email with the operating system for notifications. Safari uses WebKit so it's very similar to the engine chrome uses - but Google forked at some point. Deepin Terminal is an amazing terminal. Can't help you with Xcode unless you switch programming languages :) It would be great if Adobe released Linux versions of their products. I don't do much video editing but I think there are good options on Linux. Try it as a challenge I think you might be pleasantly surprised - if you use all the above apps how far Linux has come. Most of these apps work on Mac as well so you may find a few new good tools.

urathai 8y ago

I have been using Discord on Ubuntu for some time without experiencing any problems.

icebraining 8y ago

1Password 4 runs fine on Wine (the Windows version, of course).

zeta0134 8y ago

Okay, I'll take a stab at this: Safari - either Google Chrome or Chromium (depending on how open you like things) can keep pace with Safari in terms of general usability and extension ecosystem. At worst I think you'd find the experience on par, but when I owned a Mac, I found Google Chrome to be more performant than Safari on the regular, and its Linux build is just as quick. A lot of Linux folks recommend Firefox as well but I still am not convinced it beats Chrome in terms of out-of-the-box magical "Just Works" factor. Discord - The client may be alpha, but this works just fine honestly. I've never had a problem. This is largely because the desktop app is Electron based, so it's running on a web browser anyway; it's very, very cross platform friendly. Slack too, if that's your thing. iTerm - There are MANY good terminal clients for Linux. I personally use Terminator, which I find has a good balance of power features and stability. I particularly enjoy its terminal broadcasting implementation, but I'm in the unusual position of working on many parallel servers in tandem during my day job, so this feature is very important to me. iTunes - If it's just for movie watching, I've found VLC to be perfectly servicable. mPlayer is also quite popular and there are many frontends. Messages, Outlook - Here you've got a fair point. Outlook in particular is a pain point; there are workarounds to get it working in Thunderbird and Evolution, but they're just that - workarounds. Anything beyond basic email will need the web app; fortunately the web app isn't _terrible_, but yeah. Fair complaint. Xcode - If your goal is to build Mac / iOS apps, there is no substitute thanks to Apple's EULA. For everything else, pick your poison; there are more code editors and IDEs on Linux than one can count, many of them excellent. Personally I'm happy with Sublime Text (paid, worth every penny) and a Terminator window, but I hear VSCode is also excellent, which is odd considering that's a Microsoft endeavor. (Now if we could just get them to port Outlook...)

saagarjha 8y ago
> Google Chrome or Chromium (depending on how open you like things) can keep pace with Safari in terms of general usability and extension ecosystem Google Chrome's extension ecosystem is undoubtably far, far ahead of what Safari has. As for usability, and… > I found Google Chrome to be more performant than Safari on the regular People use Safari because it integrates so well with macOS, is performant, and doesn't kill resources (CPU, RAM, battery, you name it). No other browser comes close, even on other platforms. Apple's just spent too much time here optimizing their browser that nobody else can match it (maybe Edge on Windows?). > There are MANY good terminal clients for Linux. iTerm just has everything and the kitchen sink. Like, it has some flaws, but it just does so many things that I haven't seen any other emulator do. Plus the author is really smart (he's at the top of the comments currently, if you want to check his stuff out) > Xcode Xcode can be surprisingly nice for C/C++ development, when it decides it wants to work.

noja 8y ago

Safari and iTunes?!

praseodym 8y ago

I recently switched my primary machine to Linux and was pleasantly surprised to learn that 1Password has a web version (which does require a subscription) and the 1Password X extension for Chrome and Firefox to go with that.

Fnoord 8y ago

The idea of swapping away from macOS seems more enticing by the day, given the development directions of macOS (this is just one of the many nails; the main one is that Apple is likely going to merge macOS with iOS [or the other way around]). Discord works perfectly fine in a web browser. IIRC the platform-specific clients are just running a web browser themselves. Would rather use PWA then. As for iTerm, you don't need that when you use i3 but perhaps you can specify the features you need. 1Password, I recommend Bitwarden. Cheaper, open source, you can even run an open source backend. Messages, no idea why you want that. I only use WhatsApp for IM, and even that is just a web app. For development I recommend Sublime Text. You can use it for free, though I did buy it (as someone else commented; worth every penny). Skype for Linux is actually fallen behind to the other ports. Though I don't use Skype I heard complaints about that.