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I switched from macOS to Linux and documented my experience as objectively as I could https://kvz.io/tobuntu.html https://kvz.io/tobuntu.html

by kvz 6y ago

lproven 6y ago
Jeez, that's quite a list. There are other, simpler ways of doing a lot of that stuff. If you want accented characters, enable the Compose key. E.g. https://www.setphaserstostun.org/posts/setting-the-compose-key-on-xfce/ https://www.setphaserstostun.org/posts/setting-the-compose-k... If you want Mac-style keystrokes, try Kinto: https://github.com/rbreaves/kinto https://github.com/rbreaves/kinto But there are other ways: https://medium.com/@petrstepanov/a-macos-like-keyboard-remap-on-ubuntu-linux-cae1d108a97 https://medium.com/@petrstepanov/a-macos-like-keyboard-remap... Me, I use old Apple mechanical keyboards on my Macs, and IBM mechanical keyboards on my PCs. The different feel engages different muscle memory, and I use Cmd-C etc on macOS and Ctrl-C on Linux without thinking about it. For terminal emulators, use Ctrl+Shift+C etc. I personally find this a much simpler solution, but YMMV. If you want an easier life, dump GNOME. I've tried every blasted desktop out there and XFCE makes my life easier and happier than any of them.
- kvz 6y ago
  Thanks! Will check it all out!
  - rbreaves 6y ago
    You will definitely want to backup your existing hotkeys on your DE and then try out Kinto.sh. Otherwise Kinto will assume that you are using default keymaps of the DE/distro. I will admit.. at some point adding in the logic to pull in the currently mapped keys into Kinto's config directly would be the preferred method and is doable.. that just isn't how Kinto works today. It assumes you are using your DE's or distro's hotkey defaults.
- rbreaves 6y ago
  Thanks for the referral! I am the author of Kinto and just made a major update to it a few days ago. It now has a system tray, gui and a simple setup wizard for Linux users as of v1.2. The system tray only works for DEs that support Appindicators however. And at one time I was like you in that I would just know what keys to press by OS or keyboard feel, but as I've spent more and more time in the terminal I've discovered I just like the mac way of doing things more and it really is more comfortable for long coding sessions, especially on a laptop.
  - lproven 6y ago
    :-) You're welcome. I left a comment on your project a year or 2 ago, seeking clarification what it was or did -- I did not understand from your original description. I hope that this was more helpful! I'm happy with my way, but if I may say, the desktop which really needs this kind of tool is GNUstep. http://www.gnustep.org/ http://www.gnustep.org/ There's a new GNUstep-based OS called LIVEstep, based on FuryBSD: https://github.com/probonopd/LIVEstep https://github.com/probonopd/LIVEstep At present, GNUstep uses Alt instead of the Mac's Cmd, leading to weird keystrokes which are neither Mac-ish nor Windows/Linux-ish. It's a mess.

I switched from macOS to Linux and documented my experience as objectively as I could https://kvz.io/tobuntu.html https://kvz.io/tobuntu.html

by kvz 6y ago

I switched from macOS to Linux and documented my experience as objectively as I could https://kvz.io/tobuntu.html https://kvz.io/tobuntu.html

lproven 6y ago

Jeez, that's quite a list. There are other, simpler ways of doing a lot of that stuff. If you want accented characters, enable the Compose key. E.g. https://www.setphaserstostun.org/posts/setting-the-compose-key-on-xfce/ https://www.setphaserstostun.org/posts/setting-the-compose-k... If you want Mac-style keystrokes, try Kinto: https://github.com/rbreaves/kinto https://github.com/rbreaves/kinto But there are other ways: https://medium.com/@petrstepanov/a-macos-like-keyboard-remap-on-ubuntu-linux-cae1d108a97 https://medium.com/@petrstepanov/a-macos-like-keyboard-remap... Me, I use old Apple mechanical keyboards on my Macs, and IBM mechanical keyboards on my PCs. The different feel engages different muscle memory, and I use Cmd-C etc on macOS and Ctrl-C on Linux without thinking about it. For terminal emulators, use Ctrl+Shift+C etc. I personally find this a much simpler solution, but YMMV. If you want an easier life, dump GNOME. I've tried every blasted desktop out there and XFCE makes my life easier and happier than any of them.

kvz 6y ago
Thanks! Will check it all out!
- rbreaves 6y ago
  You will definitely want to backup your existing hotkeys on your DE and then try out Kinto.sh. Otherwise Kinto will assume that you are using default keymaps of the DE/distro. I will admit.. at some point adding in the logic to pull in the currently mapped keys into Kinto's config directly would be the preferred method and is doable.. that just isn't how Kinto works today. It assumes you are using your DE's or distro's hotkey defaults.
rbreaves 6y ago
Thanks for the referral! I am the author of Kinto and just made a major update to it a few days ago. It now has a system tray, gui and a simple setup wizard for Linux users as of v1.2. The system tray only works for DEs that support Appindicators however. And at one time I was like you in that I would just know what keys to press by OS or keyboard feel, but as I've spent more and more time in the terminal I've discovered I just like the mac way of doing things more and it really is more comfortable for long coding sessions, especially on a laptop.
- lproven 6y ago
  :-) You're welcome. I left a comment on your project a year or 2 ago, seeking clarification what it was or did -- I did not understand from your original description. I hope that this was more helpful! I'm happy with my way, but if I may say, the desktop which really needs this kind of tool is GNUstep. http://www.gnustep.org/ http://www.gnustep.org/ There's a new GNUstep-based OS called LIVEstep, based on FuryBSD: https://github.com/probonopd/LIVEstep https://github.com/probonopd/LIVEstep At present, GNUstep uses Alt instead of the Mac's Cmd, leading to weird keystrokes which are neither Mac-ish nor Windows/Linux-ish. It's a mess.