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Switching back to Mac OS X is what really boosted my productivity as it allowed me to forget all about constant fiddling, broken drivers, breaking updates, inco

Switching back to Mac OS X is what really boosted my productivity as it allowed me to forget all about constant fiddling, broken drivers, breaking updates, inconsistent UX/UI, amateurish applications, etc. My Ubuntu box (an Ubuntu-approved Dell tower IIRC) required constant attention and ultimately died after two years while my mid-2011 Mac Mini went through 4 major Mac OSX/MacOS versions and countless security patches without a single issue and all the company-provided MacBooks I've had since 2010 have been zero-maintenance.

nwah1 8y ago
I detest Apple but understand your perspective. However, linux has improved over time for desktop use, and more things have moved to the web. So really I feel like I rarely leave the browser. And if I do, it is just to a text editor or IDE. Having a lightweight setup eliminates a lot of problems. I try to install almost nothing, honestly. The less you have installed, the less attack surface you have, the less updates you need, and the less chance for breakage. Usually if something breaks in desktop linux for me, it is because I know I was doing something non-standard. Trying to use unstable packages, custom settings, etc. Apple solves that problem by barely letting you do anything at all, thus removing the PEBKAC.
- vfulco2 8y ago
  With weird Atom issues now (on Ubuntu 18.04 I can't install or update my packages), would love if anyone had a good browser based IDE service which is cheap and private.
  - anikdas 8y ago
    Have you tried visual studio code? I have replace all my IDEs (Pycharm, WebStorm) with vscode and never looked back. There are some issues if I am nitpicking but overall the experience is just outstanding.
    - thisgoodlife 8y ago
      Does vsc have good Django support?
      - anikdas 8y ago
        yes. I have been using it specifically for Django. You need to install the official python extension though.
      - dnlsrl 8y ago
        Not built-in, but you can install extensions that cover your needs. Here are the VS Code extensions that have something to do with Django https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/search?term=django&target=VSCode&category=All%20categories&sortBy=Relevance https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/search?term=django&targ... Unfortunately, you'll have to test them for yourself since I don't have a use for them.
  - russdpale 8y ago
    try VSCodium.. its vscode without all of the MS telemetry stuff in it. I use it on fedora 29 and it runs great. Im not a django developer though but the community is great and there is a ton of extensions for pretty much everything. https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium
aspyct 8y ago
My experience is the exact opposite. Osx breaks my dev environment at every update. there's just news on this site saying it dropped support for some nvidia card. In the meantime, I've had the same debian install for 5 years, and zero trouble.
Symbiote 8y ago
I downvoted this, as its essentially off-topic trolling. Let's discuss the question instead.
qalmakka 8y ago
I've been using every major os (but mostly GNU/Linux and FreeBSD as my main desktop systems since 2007), and I have to say that I do not share your experience. I've had the same Arch install since they have launched on x86_64 (so quite a while ago) that I just rsync around from one system to another without no fuss or issue. It's only a matter of knowing what you're doing and what the best tool for the job actually is. For instance, I'll never really rely on Ubuntu for development, because you'll definitely end up adding PPAs to compensate for out of date packages or such, and that will definitely wreck your system to smithereens the next time you `do-release-upgrade` (even though an intelligen usage of `systemd-nspawn` has largely fixed that).
- mikenew 8y ago
  Can you share that script or explain a little on how to do that? I assume you cant just `rsync -r /` and you'd have to ignore certain things like `/dev` and `/proc` or whatever.
- aspyct 8y ago
  Have you ever run FreeBSD on a laptop? From what I hear it runs nice, but I'm specifically wondering about the battery life. Any experience?
- stuxnet79 8y ago
  Like another commenter mentioned, I would also love to learn more about your rsync / backup system if you are willing to share.
  - nextos 8y ago
    It's quite easy to accomplish this by simply rsync'ing to a btrfs volume, and then taking a snapshot. Furthermore, you can take advantage of rsync ignore files to exclude things you don't want to back up.
wasted_intel 8y ago
Counter-anecdote: I've been running an Arch install for 2+ years with zero problems. Picking hardware that has direct kernel support will save you a bunch of headaches. Also, a rolling release distro, which you'd think would be less stable, provides better hardware support as the kernel and firmware packages are much more recent (not to mention libraries/build dependencies). Personally, I'd never go back to a fixed-release distro.
- bwat49 8y ago
  Yeah I've got a dell xps 13 and I've never once had to fiddle with drivers
  - wasted_intel 8y ago
    The 2+ year machine is a desktop, but I also switched my laptop to an XPS 13 a month ago and I've had the same experience; runs beautifully.
- badpun 8y ago
  > Picking hardware that has direct kernel support will save you a bunch of headaches. Yep, that seems key. I've just spend full 5 days (I'm in between contracts, so I have the time) trying to install Arch on my Early 2013 15" MacbookPro. I turned out that, due to buggy/nonstandard hardware, a fully functional dual boot with Windows is not possible (if your disk is GPT, you won't have sound on Windows and if it's MBR, the DisplayPort monitor won't come back from suspend on Arch). Just coming to that conclusion took around 4 days of experiments. I've spend one more day trying to set up wireless, and have just given up. There are more interesting things to do with computers than finding workarounds for a minefield of hardware/firmware/drivers bugs.
  - wasted_intel 8y ago
    I had a late 2013 MBP and went with the XPS 13 for that reason. The process to dual boot (or even wholesale replace) a MBP on Linux looked really scrappy. I get it, Apple's UEFI firmware is essentially a black box with zero configurability. If that's how the process starts, I can't imagine how painful the rest of it is.

nwah1 8y ago

I detest Apple but understand your perspective. However, linux has improved over time for desktop use, and more things have moved to the web. So really I feel like I rarely leave the browser. And if I do, it is just to a text editor or IDE. Having a lightweight setup eliminates a lot of problems. I try to install almost nothing, honestly. The less you have installed, the less attack surface you have, the less updates you need, and the less chance for breakage. Usually if something breaks in desktop linux for me, it is because I know I was doing something non-standard. Trying to use unstable packages, custom settings, etc. Apple solves that problem by barely letting you do anything at all, thus removing the PEBKAC.

vfulco2 8y ago
With weird Atom issues now (on Ubuntu 18.04 I can't install or update my packages), would love if anyone had a good browser based IDE service which is cheap and private.
- anikdas 8y ago
  Have you tried visual studio code? I have replace all my IDEs (Pycharm, WebStorm) with vscode and never looked back. There are some issues if I am nitpicking but overall the experience is just outstanding.
  - thisgoodlife 8y ago
    Does vsc have good Django support?
    - anikdas 8y ago
      yes. I have been using it specifically for Django. You need to install the official python extension though.
    - dnlsrl 8y ago
      Not built-in, but you can install extensions that cover your needs. Here are the VS Code extensions that have something to do with Django https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/search?term=django&target=VSCode&category=All%20categories&sortBy=Relevance https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/search?term=django&targ... Unfortunately, you'll have to test them for yourself since I don't have a use for them.
- russdpale 8y ago
  try VSCodium.. its vscode without all of the MS telemetry stuff in it. I use it on fedora 29 and it runs great. Im not a django developer though but the community is great and there is a ton of extensions for pretty much everything. https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium

aspyct 8y ago

My experience is the exact opposite. Osx breaks my dev environment at every update. there's just news on this site saying it dropped support for some nvidia card. In the meantime, I've had the same debian install for 5 years, and zero trouble.

Symbiote 8y ago

I downvoted this, as its essentially off-topic trolling. Let's discuss the question instead.

qalmakka 8y ago

I've been using every major os (but mostly GNU/Linux and FreeBSD as my main desktop systems since 2007), and I have to say that I do not share your experience. I've had the same Arch install since they have launched on x86_64 (so quite a while ago) that I just rsync around from one system to another without no fuss or issue. It's only a matter of knowing what you're doing and what the best tool for the job actually is. For instance, I'll never really rely on Ubuntu for development, because you'll definitely end up adding PPAs to compensate for out of date packages or such, and that will definitely wreck your system to smithereens the next time you `do-release-upgrade` (even though an intelligen usage of `systemd-nspawn` has largely fixed that).

mikenew 8y ago
Can you share that script or explain a little on how to do that? I assume you cant just `rsync -r /` and you'd have to ignore certain things like `/dev` and `/proc` or whatever.
aspyct 8y ago
Have you ever run FreeBSD on a laptop? From what I hear it runs nice, but I'm specifically wondering about the battery life. Any experience?
stuxnet79 8y ago
Like another commenter mentioned, I would also love to learn more about your rsync / backup system if you are willing to share.
- nextos 8y ago
  It's quite easy to accomplish this by simply rsync'ing to a btrfs volume, and then taking a snapshot. Furthermore, you can take advantage of rsync ignore files to exclude things you don't want to back up.

wasted_intel 8y ago

Counter-anecdote: I've been running an Arch install for 2+ years with zero problems. Picking hardware that has direct kernel support will save you a bunch of headaches. Also, a rolling release distro, which you'd think would be less stable, provides better hardware support as the kernel and firmware packages are much more recent (not to mention libraries/build dependencies). Personally, I'd never go back to a fixed-release distro.

bwat49 8y ago
Yeah I've got a dell xps 13 and I've never once had to fiddle with drivers
- wasted_intel 8y ago
  The 2+ year machine is a desktop, but I also switched my laptop to an XPS 13 a month ago and I've had the same experience; runs beautifully.
badpun 8y ago
> Picking hardware that has direct kernel support will save you a bunch of headaches. Yep, that seems key. I've just spend full 5 days (I'm in between contracts, so I have the time) trying to install Arch on my Early 2013 15" MacbookPro. I turned out that, due to buggy/nonstandard hardware, a fully functional dual boot with Windows is not possible (if your disk is GPT, you won't have sound on Windows and if it's MBR, the DisplayPort monitor won't come back from suspend on Arch). Just coming to that conclusion took around 4 days of experiments. I've spend one more day trying to set up wireless, and have just given up. There are more interesting things to do with computers than finding workarounds for a minefield of hardware/firmware/drivers bugs.
- wasted_intel 8y ago
  I had a late 2013 MBP and went with the XPS 13 for that reason. The process to dual boot (or even wholesale replace) a MBP on Linux looked really scrappy. I get it, Apple's UEFI firmware is essentially a black box with zero configurability. If that's how the process starts, I can't imagine how painful the rest of it is.