ShareThis1 |
I will do this in stages using virtual machines (VirtualBox, VMWare Fusion etc), carefully evaluating my needs and whether they are adequately met. |
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1) Set up Ubuntu Jaunty in VirtualBox on my macbook (done already)<br/>
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(a) I hit a wall where I just can't do something I need to or <br/>
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I miss Linux. It'll be nice to get reacquainted on more than a command-line level. (I still use Linux servers all the time.) Apple's losing their touch as they are pulled in too many directions and I miss the stability (or lacking that, fixability) of Linux. |
Attempt to switch back from Mac to Linux
Created Sep 19, 2009
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Other
Comments & Observations
Matthew Cornell Interesting! I did the opposite switch a while ago, and the biggest headache by far was of my own creation: Converting my contacts database to Apple's shitty Address Book app.
Sep 20, 2009
Brock Tice This is going well so far, aided by the fact that Ubuntu has been aggressively ripping off Mac OS X as fast as they can for a while now. Which is not a bad thing at all, despite the connotations.
Sep 21, 2009
Matthew Cornell Ripping off ... UI? Usability?
Sep 21, 2009
Brock Tice Oh, both. Also the elimination of a regular root user (admin user + sudo instead), the visual sudo prompts, etc. It's also helped by the fact that there's now a halfway-decent clone of Quicksilver called GNOME Do. One of the themes for it includes a highly-functional OSX-type dock, among other things.
Sep 21, 2009
Brock Tice This is still going fairly well. I wasted some time on printer issues last week. Got WinXP running in VirtualBox today, seems to work normally. Want to have it as a fallback for the odd bit of software that requires it. Used to have it booting via BootCamp but got rid of that for this project.
Contemplating how to switch workstation over, need to set up a new backup plan (since Time Machine is no longer covering me).
Sep 28, 2009
Brock Tice I'm really enjoying having a better feeling of control over what's going on on the lower level of my computer. On the flip side, I've definitely spent several hours tracking down issues that never occur on Mac OS X, things that should just work.
Sep 29, 2009
Matthew Cornell I'm enjoying reading your progress, Brock. When I was the Linux guy (programmer using Linux, that is) I found things like setting up printer drivers to be iffy compared to the Mac. I trusted the "under the hood" part more than Windows, but now the Mac is pretty darn good in that respect. Re: Windows on same box, I was doing this too - I needed on particular feature that Word on the Mac frustratingly does not have, but when I restored via time machine I lost the Windows Parallels install. Screw it!
Sep 30, 2009
Brock Tice Ran into a few issues in the last day or so, not sure they're dealbreakers. 1) Google Gears isn't supported in 64-bit Firefox on Linux and 2) OpenGL stuff like Google Earth doesn't work as long as the Compiz graphical effects are on.
At this point I'm ready to switch my workstation over, but it'll probably be a full-day project, knowing how these things go. No time right now, maybe next week?
Oct 01, 2009
Brock Tice Unexpected bonus: Evolution and GNOME-Do allow me to send email and look at existing email without loading new emails. Even if you set Mail.app not to auto-sync, it still loads new stuff in IMAP whenever it connects (say, to get old messages). This helps with my quest to reduce email checks to one per day.
Oct 06, 2009
Matthew Cornell I love the "view but don't load" feature I wrote about a few weeks ago. My Mac desktop widget does this - similar feature, it sounds like.
Oct 06, 2009
Brock Tice Ran into a HUGE problem here when preparing to give a talk this coming Monday. My slide decks are all in Keynote format, which I had taken into consideration. I saved them to PowerPoint format and then imported into OpenOffice Impress. I was less than impressed. Things didn't look right, and it's EXTREMELY cumbersome to use. I'm too spoiled by OmniGraffle and Keynote.
Time's short and I'm not ready to deal with this right now. I'm restoring my Mac OS X installation on my MacBook from my Time Machine backup. I think I may end up with a Linux workstation and an OS X laptop, which is how I did things for a long time.
I was also dreading dealing with the projector hook-up in Linux.
How is the state of presentation software in linux *SO AWFUL* after all these years?
I guess I'll have to write something better :p.
Oct 16, 2009
Matthew Cornell Sorry to hear it, Brock. I used Oo in my Linux days, and it alwas so so.
Oct 17, 2009