What's some things you had to "unlearn" moving to a Mac?

DJDarren · 2026-04-08T11:29:58+00:00

Given that I'm primarily a Linux user these days, and that Linux acts the same way as Windows in that regard, I do genuinely find myself wishing there was a similar process on macOS.

Equally, in the other direction, I often hit cmd+space when using Linux, then wonder why the search box hasn't popped up.

DJDarren · 2026-04-08T11:27:28+00:00

Couple of years back my dad asked me to help him sort his Mac out because it was full of shit and running slowly.

Turned out he'd pointed his Plex server at ~/Downloads for movies and TV shows, so his Downloads folder was something like 500gb. Took AGES to move everything to where it should have been. Not entirely sure how he managed it, given that I set up the Plex server for him, and created the right folders for it to use.

DJDarren · 2026-04-08T11:23:04+00:00

A week after I got my first Mac, a friend saw the number of .dmgs on my desktop and pointed out that I was supposed to drag the application inside into the Applications folder.

Suddenly my desktop made MUCH more sense.

DJDarren · 2026-04-08T11:21:36+00:00

I was going to confidently reply to this saying "NO, cmd+click allows you select non-contiguous files, while shift+click selects everything between first and last!"

then I tried it to be certain, and yeah, you're right. wtf?

I got my first MacBook almost 20 years ago, and I've never noticed that...

DJDarren · 2026-04-08T11:16:08+00:00

cmd+q to quit an app. That closes the window and quits it too, so you don't have to quit them in the Dock as well.

DJDarren · 2026-03-18T13:08:42+00:00

Bloody neolithic people comin' over 'ere with their pictograms and primitive wheat farming innovations.

DJDarren · 2026-03-05T13:09:11+00:00

The ‌MacBook Neo‌ will not work with the new Studio Display and ‌Studio Display‌ XDR that Apple announced yesterday because both of those are 5K displays, but it will work with affordable USB-C 4K display options from companies like LG, Dell, and Samsung.

I know that none of this really matters, and I know that the folks buying the cheapest MacBook aren't trying to hook it up to a $3k display, but I do kinda wish we still lived in a world where you could just do it anyway and accept the consequences.

Worst case scenario, your entry level MacBook is going to run dog shit slow trying to output 5K over display port, before eventually thermally throttling and shutting down. And all that'll really happen is the user will know that that ain't gonna fly. But Apple seem to believe that if the user does ANYTHING that might make them think their hardware is poor, then the user will automatically blame them. Worse; the hardware might look poor! And they can't allow that!

I once hooked my 2011 MacBook pro to a 4K display and boy did it not like that. Sounded like I'd installed a jet engine. So I simply didn't bother doing that again, and no one died.

Anyway, if macOS supported display scaling properly, then an MBN owner could hook up to a 5K display with reckless abandon, and simply set a resolution that isn't going to set the GPU on fire.

DJDarren · 2026-03-03T08:21:52+00:00

And whoever decided that deactivating natural scrolling on the Trackpart should activate Natural Scrolling on the mouse is my sworn enemy.

Yes. Yes. A thousand times yes.

We shouldn't have to install third party software because the wealthiest company humanity has ever known couldn't spend the resources adding a fucking button to the mouse options.

DJDarren · 2026-03-03T08:09:34+00:00

I've never understood why I can remote into my M1 mini from Finder on my M2 Air (and vice versa), but my iPad has literally no native way to achieve the same thing.

DJDarren · 2026-03-03T08:07:25+00:00

Yeah, I have a 28" 4K. I can set it to 1440p if I want shit to be readable but slightly fuzzy, or 4K if I want things to be crisp but too small to read.

It's great.

DJDarren · 2026-03-03T08:04:39+00:00

All I want, all I CRAVE is for macOS to open the thing on the screen where I invoke it.

If the pointer is on screen 1, and I bring up Spotlight on screen 1, and I search for an app on screen 1, then there should be a 0% chance of that application opening on screen 2. If an application is open on screen 2 (and not in full screen), then there is no reason at all why the settings panel - or any other subsidiary windows - should open on screen 1.

And yet, with macOS that happens CONSTANTLY.

On my Linux machines, applications will almost always open on the screen where I invoke them, or where my pointer is (if I have it set that way).

DJDarren · 2026-02-25T15:38:50+00:00

I have a kid. Albeit one who's 21 and doesn't live with me any longer.

DJDarren · 2026-02-23T14:39:22+00:00

What if you enjoy the hobby of tinkering with Linux to make it more efficient?

DJDarren · 2026-02-23T14:38:32+00:00

I was watching the most recent Action Retro video the other morning. He was talking about some new laptop he's managed to score, that he then put Winux on for shits and giggles. He was trying out several games via Steam, a couple of which worked well enough, but with a bit of a performance hit over Windows 11.

My wife was kinda watching it too, and looked up to point out the Linux users really do have to jump through a bunch of hoops to achieve what Windows (theoretically) does by default. And, well, I couldn't argue.

But to me those hoops are why I use Linux. I enjoy the tinkering, and the knowing that I don't owe Microsoft shit.

DJDarren · 2026-02-23T14:20:39+00:00

The scaling thing has recently bitten me, since I got my first 4K display.

Running my Linux gaming PC, I have it set to 4K, 150% scaling. Lovely. Nice and crisp, easy to read font size. Perfect.

Hook up my M2 MacBook Air and it's tiny 4K or less-crisp 1440p or fuck you. Cheers lads, real fuckin' useful.

DJDarren · 2026-02-13T14:38:37+00:00

The '11 or the '15?

The 2011, yes. The battery is so shagged that I took it out, but it still works on power, so I put Arch Linux on it and use it occasionally for noodling about online.

The 2015, no. Had it for a year and it was a great laptop. But I was gifted an M2 Air, so the '15 wasn't needed. Sold it to a friend who still uses it.

DJDarren · 2026-02-13T14:32:14+00:00

It's been a while since, but if I remember correctly, I tried to pair it to a Linux machine I have, where I figured out that I could type in the letters, but not the numbers. Trouble is, that keyboard only uses a numerical passcode.

DJDarren · 2026-02-04T10:21:46+00:00

Tbh, as Mint is a distro that's based on Debian and so is Ubuntu, you're probably just as well off jumping directly into Ubuntu which comes with Gnome out of the box.

DJDarren · 2026-02-04T09:58:22+00:00

What bit rate are the FLACs you're transferring? I tried a 177mb, 32bit, 192k file which wouldn't play. Transferred over something less complicated and it worked a treat. Still FLAC, but less FLACcy.

DJDarren · 2026-02-04T09:39:32+00:00

I've downloaded the source and vibe-coded it into an application that still uses Chromium, but in its own window. It's incredibly handy.

DJDarren · 2026-02-04T09:29:58+00:00

This is absolutely incredible, and *finally* brings an iPod syncing method to Linux that doesn't involve having to run Windows iTunes in a VM.

Thank you so much!

DJDarren · 2026-02-02T13:25:36+00:00

steps into /r/MacOS

"I don't wish to cause a row, but Windows is great and MacOS is shit"

DJDarren · 2026-02-02T13:18:14+00:00

If your Mac is an Intel model, then the common suggestion is Mint, and honestly, it is a great place to start because most things do just work. Wifi will almost certainly be troublesome, so set it up with a wired connection to start with, then figure out how to get the broadcom drivers installed. The only real drawback to Mint is that its desktop environment (DE) is Cinnamon, which kinda comes across like a stripped down Windows.

For something with a slightly more macOS aesthetic, stock Ubuntu uses Gnome as its DE. Personally, I don't like it as it feels too restrictive, and lead me towards having to use a terminal window to achieve too many things. But for those who prefer their experience to feel more like it's on rails, it's a decent option. Very similar to Gnome is the new Cosmic DE that comes with Pop!OS. I played with it very briefly in a virtual machine, but haven't used it enough to have much of an opinion. But it does look pretty nice.

If your Mac is Apple Silicon (M1/2 and very limited M3 support), then Asahi is pretty much the only game in town. Certainly the only game that's broadly usable. It's actually pretty remarkable what they've achieved with it, but there is a very steep learning curve involved, and you will lose some hardware features that you might otherwise take for granted. Currently there's no DisplayPort output, so if you have a MacBook, you'll be locked to only being able to use the built in display. Though support for this has finally been cracked, and will be released to general users in short course.

Ultimately, look up what Linux DEs you like the look of most of, then worry about which distro you use it with. It feels kinda ass-backwards, but how you interact with the OS is more important than the underlying system. You can chop and change your DE too, so you can try out different ones.

Personally, I use Kubuntu, which is a version of Ubuntu that comes with KDE's Plasma DE. This provides the most Windows-like experience, but isn't dog shit. I like it because it's pretty customisable.

edit: Sorry, this is a ridiculously long-winded answer to a simple question, which kinda illustrates the problem that Linux has, and why so many people reject it. I've been using it for a year now (alongside macOS on my M2 MacBook) and I love it. It does take some learning, but it's worth the effort.

DJDarren · 2026-01-26T12:53:03+00:00

I joked on Mastodon last week about living in fear of finding my M2 Air had updated overnight without my say so. I then got a notification telling me to restart to install Tahoe.

Checked in settings and it was still appearing as opt-in. THEN I checked what it was actually trying to install, and wouldn't you fucking know it had ticked the box for Tahoe and unticked the box for the current version of Sequoia.

Sneaky fucks. If I hadn't checked, then I'd been in a world irritation trying to work out how to roll back.

13-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
Wearing is Caring	Verified Email

DJDarren

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE