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Can I just say how happy I am with Xfce. It's a Linux desktop environment that looks like in the early 2000s. It's fast. There are no unnecessary frills. It jus

Can I just say how happy I am with Xfce. It's a Linux desktop environment that looks like in the early 2000s. It's fast. There are no unnecessary frills. It just gets the job done. Its release cycles are measured in several years, and keep it minimal. I used to be on Windows, then macOS, then Ubuntu and now this. As a developer with soon to be 20 years of experience, it's the best environment I've had.

devmunchies 7y ago
I like and use XFCE as well, but how is that relevant to this post? haha
MuffinFlavored 7y ago
What Linux distro do you run Xfce on?
- mherrmann 7y ago
  Just Debian.
  - magicbuzz 7y ago
    I'm posting in the Linux thread because it's probably annoying to some to see 'but I moved to Linux' threads throughout this comment. But the original post is very sobering. I left OS X a few years back when the new laptop came out. Partly the whole USB-C thing I suppose, but I felt that there was pretty good hardware around and the new MBP didn't really shine (and was fiercely expensive). So I made the move to Ubuntu on some new Lenovo hardware (Carbon X1). I really look forward to the twice-yearly Ubuntu releases. More of the same, rarely any huge new surprises and just generally more polish. I upgraded to Ubuntu 19.10 immediately once the 19.10beta came out and it seems speedier. I'm sorry to see Mac users get so badly burnt but I'm very glad I made the decision to leave when I did.
    - jjgreen 7y ago
      An X1 with Ubuntu is butter-smooth
      - MuffinFlavored 7y ago
        I think the Apple touchpads are the best in the industry, along with the displays as well.
        diffeomorphism 7y ago
        The displays are good, but you get similarly good displays on similarly priced machines. https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-Best-Notebook-Displays-As-Reviewed-By-Notebookcheck.120541.0.html https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-Best-Notebook-Displays-As-... For the touchpad I am undecided how much here is software and how much is hardware. E.g. install ubuntu on a macbook, is the touchpad still great or just average?
  - MuffinFlavored 7y ago
    Does systemd not bother you?
- umvi 7y ago
  Xubuntu all day every day (seriously, I've been on Xubuntu for the past 5 years and I love it)
celticmusic 7y ago
I feel the same way about i3 and not too far over the 20 year mark myself :)
arboghast 7y ago
So was I until I switch to a 4k monitor and realize that there's no real, stable, functional fractional scaling on Linux, even less so on XFCE, unfortunately.
- irq 7y ago
  This is the biggest thing keeping me from leaving the Mac for Linux, and it hasn’t really improved much in the last 4 years. I don’t think most people care about HighDPI (or whatever you want to call it), particularly Linux devs. But I can’t go back to lower DPI screens.
  - als0 7y ago
    > I don’t think most people care about HighDPI (or whatever you want to call it), particularly Linux devs. But I can’t go back to lower DPI screens. I find this surprising. I'd say anyone who does any serious amount of multitasking (whether a Linux dev or not) would easily want one. I think people do care but they are just waiting on better pricing/availability.
    - noodlesUK 7y ago
      My experience with hiDPI on Linux has been pretty varied. On GNOME, everything just works, and I recommend GNOME to most first-time Linux users. I use i3, and the scaling situation there involves setting some environment variables globally, but is otherwise fine (GDK_scale or something like that). The only issue I usually run into is when Firefox opens my file browser, which breaks the scaling somehow. Other than that, hiDPI is as good as it is in windows. MacOS definitely leads in that regard, but things have certainly gotten better to the point of not really worrying about it in Linux these days.
      - crispinb 7y ago
        > On GNOME, everything just works This is far from true. Gnome shell itself is mostly OK (if buggy), but only a minority of real apps work properly. The standard Gnome apps (Nautilus, Gnome Shell etc) are fine, but that's where the support pretty much stops.
ISL 7y ago
I've been running fluxbox on Debian since ~2002. Works great; does everything I need.
coleifer 7y ago
Yes, it is so solid and also easy to customize for keyboard navigation, etc. Printing, wifi/vpn, keyring, graphics drivers... everything just works.
Torwald 7y ago
> Can I just say how happy I am with Xfce. Yes. > There are no unnecessary frills. My macOs machine doesn't have them either. > It just gets the job done. Mine does as well. Do you want to talk about frills?
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
edwinyzh 7y ago
What are the language and dev tools that you use that allowed you to freely transit from one OS to another again and again? Thanks.

devmunchies 7y ago

I like and use XFCE as well, but how is that relevant to this post? haha

MuffinFlavored 7y ago

What Linux distro do you run Xfce on?

mherrmann 7y ago
Just Debian.
- magicbuzz 7y ago
  I'm posting in the Linux thread because it's probably annoying to some to see 'but I moved to Linux' threads throughout this comment. But the original post is very sobering. I left OS X a few years back when the new laptop came out. Partly the whole USB-C thing I suppose, but I felt that there was pretty good hardware around and the new MBP didn't really shine (and was fiercely expensive). So I made the move to Ubuntu on some new Lenovo hardware (Carbon X1). I really look forward to the twice-yearly Ubuntu releases. More of the same, rarely any huge new surprises and just generally more polish. I upgraded to Ubuntu 19.10 immediately once the 19.10beta came out and it seems speedier. I'm sorry to see Mac users get so badly burnt but I'm very glad I made the decision to leave when I did.
  - jjgreen 7y ago
    An X1 with Ubuntu is butter-smooth
    - MuffinFlavored 7y ago
      I think the Apple touchpads are the best in the industry, along with the displays as well.
      - diffeomorphism 7y ago
        The displays are good, but you get similarly good displays on similarly priced machines. https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-Best-Notebook-Displays-As-Reviewed-By-Notebookcheck.120541.0.html https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-Best-Notebook-Displays-As-... For the touchpad I am undecided how much here is software and how much is hardware. E.g. install ubuntu on a macbook, is the touchpad still great or just average?
- MuffinFlavored 7y ago
  Does systemd not bother you?
umvi 7y ago
Xubuntu all day every day (seriously, I've been on Xubuntu for the past 5 years and I love it)

celticmusic 7y ago

I feel the same way about i3 and not too far over the 20 year mark myself :)

arboghast 7y ago

So was I until I switch to a 4k monitor and realize that there's no real, stable, functional fractional scaling on Linux, even less so on XFCE, unfortunately.

irq 7y ago
This is the biggest thing keeping me from leaving the Mac for Linux, and it hasn’t really improved much in the last 4 years. I don’t think most people care about HighDPI (or whatever you want to call it), particularly Linux devs. But I can’t go back to lower DPI screens.
- als0 7y ago
  > I don’t think most people care about HighDPI (or whatever you want to call it), particularly Linux devs. But I can’t go back to lower DPI screens. I find this surprising. I'd say anyone who does any serious amount of multitasking (whether a Linux dev or not) would easily want one. I think people do care but they are just waiting on better pricing/availability.
  - noodlesUK 7y ago
    My experience with hiDPI on Linux has been pretty varied. On GNOME, everything just works, and I recommend GNOME to most first-time Linux users. I use i3, and the scaling situation there involves setting some environment variables globally, but is otherwise fine (GDK_scale or something like that). The only issue I usually run into is when Firefox opens my file browser, which breaks the scaling somehow. Other than that, hiDPI is as good as it is in windows. MacOS definitely leads in that regard, but things have certainly gotten better to the point of not really worrying about it in Linux these days.
    - crispinb 7y ago
      > On GNOME, everything just works This is far from true. Gnome shell itself is mostly OK (if buggy), but only a minority of real apps work properly. The standard Gnome apps (Nautilus, Gnome Shell etc) are fine, but that's where the support pretty much stops.

ISL 7y ago

I've been running fluxbox on Debian since ~2002. Works great; does everything I need.

coleifer 7y ago

Yes, it is so solid and also easy to customize for keyboard navigation, etc. Printing, wifi/vpn, keyring, graphics drivers... everything just works.

Torwald 7y ago

> Can I just say how happy I am with Xfce. Yes. > There are no unnecessary frills. My macOs machine doesn't have them either. > It just gets the job done. Mine does as well. Do you want to talk about frills?

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

edwinyzh 7y ago

What are the language and dev tools that you use that allowed you to freely transit from one OS to another again and again? Thanks.