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I've been using Ubuntu LTS versions since 12.04 on Thinkpad T and X series laptops and I'm a very happy camper - out of the box Ubuntu doesn't suck for me, it "

I've been using Ubuntu LTS versions since 12.04 on Thinkpad T and X series laptops and I'm a very happy camper - out of the box Ubuntu doesn't suck for me, it "just works". I moved from OS X on latest Apple laptops to make my daily job (interaction design + web development) more productive (e.g. workstation running the same OS as servers, tooling etc) but now it's my preferred OS + hardware combo from a end-user perspective. I have to switch back to an Apple machine for testing and pairing with co-workers at least once a week and between the new Apple laptop keyboard, the random reboots (awaking from sleep), shitty web font rendering and intermittent errors relating to Apple ID, I don't miss it. I really loved OS X quite a few years ago but between the latest hardware (don't get me started about cords/dongles needed for a 2018 Macbook Air) and growing list of OS X quirks I'm always happy to return to Ubuntu 18.04 on my Thinkpad T450s. I think many of the points raised in the article affect people making desktop software for Linux rather than end-users of desktop Linux. It seems like a global list of issues for the entire desktop Linux ecosystem - which is totally valid but I think a more accurate title of the article might be "Why developing desktop software on Linux sucks" or "Why creating a desktop Linux distribution sucks" because I think my desktop Linux setup rocks!

hermitdev 8y ago
Just an aside, at a previous job, I worked with devs that used Macs, where I had a Linux VM on a windows laptop (and we deployed to Linux). Numerous times, I found bugs in coworkers code because they ignored case sensitivity in filenames. Yes, OS-X is BSD and unix based, but by default, the file system is cases-insensitive, like Windows, amd apparently if you make it case sensitive, you can brake a lot of popular Mac software.
pitaj 8y ago
What file explorer do you use? Nautilus pisses me off. I'm 100x more productive with Explorer on Windows. Some features I'd like: - Being able to open the context menu for the current folder, even if there are enough files to fill the view, without going up a level - Being able to jump to files/folders in the current directory by name without opening search results - Being able to add functionality to the context menu
- AsyncAwait 8y ago
  Try Dolphin.
  - shaan7 8y ago
    Yep ^
- vetinari 8y ago
  > Being able to open the context menu for the current folder, even if there are enough files to fill the view, without going up a level You can, the windows context menu key/Shift-f10 work. If you have something selected, deselect it with Ctrl-Space before. Some items in the context menu have shortcuts of their own (new folder: Ctrl+Shift+N, file/folder properties: Alt+Enter or Ctrl+I, rename: F2, etc). > Being able to jump to files/folders in the current directory by name without opening search results Not a solution, but a workaround: disable recursive search, and treat search as filtered down list. (I consider this one annoying too). > Being able to add functionality to the context menu Extensions can add menu items into context menu; for example, syncthing-gtk does exactly that.
- elagost 8y ago
  Thunar and SpaceFM work pretty well for me. PCManFM is also another good option. They're all fairly light-weight.

hermitdev 8y ago

Just an aside, at a previous job, I worked with devs that used Macs, where I had a Linux VM on a windows laptop (and we deployed to Linux). Numerous times, I found bugs in coworkers code because they ignored case sensitivity in filenames. Yes, OS-X is BSD and unix based, but by default, the file system is cases-insensitive, like Windows, amd apparently if you make it case sensitive, you can brake a lot of popular Mac software.

pitaj 8y ago

What file explorer do you use? Nautilus pisses me off. I'm 100x more productive with Explorer on Windows. Some features I'd like: - Being able to open the context menu for the current folder, even if there are enough files to fill the view, without going up a level - Being able to jump to files/folders in the current directory by name without opening search results - Being able to add functionality to the context menu

AsyncAwait 8y ago
Try Dolphin.
- shaan7 8y ago
  Yep ^
vetinari 8y ago
> Being able to open the context menu for the current folder, even if there are enough files to fill the view, without going up a level You can, the windows context menu key/Shift-f10 work. If you have something selected, deselect it with Ctrl-Space before. Some items in the context menu have shortcuts of their own (new folder: Ctrl+Shift+N, file/folder properties: Alt+Enter or Ctrl+I, rename: F2, etc). > Being able to jump to files/folders in the current directory by name without opening search results Not a solution, but a workaround: disable recursive search, and treat search as filtered down list. (I consider this one annoying too). > Being able to add functionality to the context menu Extensions can add menu items into context menu; for example, syncthing-gtk does exactly that.
elagost 8y ago
Thunar and SpaceFM work pretty well for me. PCManFM is also another good option. They're all fairly light-weight.