Using Linux Fully without Any Additional System
Time has come to the end… The gradual switching is finished and now, it is time to use Linux fully without any backup or second operating…
Time has come to the end… The gradual switching is finished and now, it is time to use Linux fully without any backup or second operating system
If you read my articles up-to-now, you can clearly see that I am in transition period from Apple Macbook Pro to Linux. Linux has always been part of my technology environment (both desktop and server) but I have never made it main operating system. Making it main is one thing, I have never dedicated myself to Linux that much.
I planned that I will do gradual transformation while keeping my 2019 macbook pro in case of a need. It is the last version of non-Apple chipset and it still works OK — nowhere near to Linux as speed but fulfill my rare usage.
Recently, my wife came with a surprise that my 2017 macbook pro is not working anymore properly. It doesn’t get more than Ventura update but it is also unbelievably slow. Although she doesn’t use laptop so frequently, she still needs a proper one. First, I made a clean install for her laptop. It was OK but still, it makes crazy for more than a hour usage.
I had several options, like buying a mediocre Windows laptop, although she is in a full Apple environment. The main challenge is that I need to teach dozens of the things and I also don’t know Windows after Windows 2000 well. I have never used up-to-now. It should not be that hard but she needs specific software that I need to find Windows versions and teach how to use it…
Well, as you can imagine, I didn’t want to take this path. The second option was to purchase a new Apple laptop. I checked the website and several options but they are still very much expensive based on her usage.
The last option was giving my 2019 Macbook pro to her and everybody will be happy… Everybody? I am not that much because I still do need several image processing stuff, Office documents and PDF management. For these, I have used Pixelmator, Microsoft Office, and PDF Expert. I was also doing several development things as macOS interface is better for them (like Jetbrains IDEs, Docker Desktop, and font-rendering in general).
It was unexpected and a bit emotional for me… I have used Apple laptops for more than 2 decades and I needed to give up in a moment. Of course, I have always focused to do the full switch but you know, my old machine was kind of backup of me and guarantee…
I made a clean install and gave my 2019 Macbook Pro to my wife. Now, I am fully on Linux, specifically Ubuntu 24.10.
In this article, I will tell you what’s changed, how I replace the tooling and how I cannot find solution for several things…
No Pixelmator Replacement
I am aware of Gimp and Krita but they are not the exact and proper replacement of Pixelmator. I miss it a lot. At the beginning, I didn’t like it because I switched from Adobe Photoshop because of Adobe’s licensing model. Photoshop still has a special place in my life but I am not planning to be sucked by Adobe until my last drop of blood. In the meantime, I was used to use Pixelmator and began to like it. They are doing really good and it is like a fully native app. In that sense, Apple purchased Pixelmator.
I am doing several things with Gimp and Krita and considering to purchase Pixlr Plus although I am very much against to online image editors because I don’t want to upload private photos to edit. If I purchase Pixlr Plus, yes, I can do maybe 40–50% of my image editing properly but I still do need to wrangle with Gimp and Krita for the rest of my work.
If you have an option without running Windows virtual machine or half broken Wine Windows applications, please let me know.
Resolution with 4K Monitor — S*cks
I don’t know when and how they would like to solve this issue but it is so annoying. Fractional scaling doesn’t work properly, Gnome Tweaks only improves text size, “Large Text” in Accessibility settings is not the full solution… When I connect my Linux laptop to my beloved 4K monitor, I need to use binocular for several places and this binocular should have auto switch mode because some parts of the windows are properly visible.
I am using as is and not happy at all. I tried KDE which has proper scaling but I faced more issue than GNOME. You can check my previous articles about it.
Will KDE 6.1 Work?
New ToDo Application
Generally, I follow GTD method and for this case, I used Things 3 in macOS. It was nice, fast, and working for me. Things 3 is specific to Apple ecosystem and there is no application for other environments. I was also very angry with their developers as they are so slow and resisting heavily not putting photo attachments but as I paid money for all versions (yes, macOS, iOS, and iPadOS are separate payment), I didn’t want to give up until now.
I checked several applications and I liked TickTick the most. It also has a little bit buggy Linux application. This is one of two application that I am using as Snap.
New Music Application
As I was in Apple ecosystem fully, it made sense to have Apple Music. If you don’t give permission to make iCloud available online, you cannot use any Apple product from the browser. For security reasons, I have never given this permission so I cannot use any Apple product from browser. So, I needed a new music application. I tried several ones but at the end, even I don’t like its interface and controversial loyalty fees, I got Spotify. This is my second and the last Snap store application.
For a month, I tried to survive with Spotify but I hated it. Its interface, AI based playlists, pushing the same songs all the time… I just cancelled and continue with Youtube music. It is not that great and cannot use as an app -although majority of them are just Web embedding- but it does what it needs to do.
New PDF Manager
This was one of my biggest hassles… I tried many options, including paid ones during their trial period, but no, they were buggy, did not have enough features, and were basically too expensive for what they could do. I was aware of Stirling-PDF, but its installation required time and following the guidelines (because there is no Linux packaging), and the server version required frequent docker usage. In the end, I gave up, and now, I am using its server version.
Yes, it is not easy to use for everyone, but if you can use it because of technical requirements, it fulfills your needs. Its compression sometimes creates problems, but I am thankful for such an option.
Newish Notes Application
I have never understood how second brain things become popular because I have been doing it for a very long time. Creating a knowledgebase is very much normal to me. I was a very heavy user of Evernote but I dumped it after more than a decade usage. I switched to Bear Notes and Apple Notes. I couldn’t find what I want to have. The main challenge was that Evernote could search inside PDF, images, etc. Bear Notes got updated and provided this functionality but the app itself… I don’t know, it is not for me at least. So if I need to search something inside documentation, I put them to Apple Notes and the rest to first Notion, then Craft. I forced myself so hard to like Notion but I couldn’t. I am OKish with Craft although their “creative” approach to page elements don’t attract me.
The best part of Craft is that they have web version too. So, I can use it everywhere like I am writing this article in Craft Web.
New IDE
I am big fan of Jetbrains products and they make my life easier when coding. I have all products pack for a long time but cancelled recently. The main problem is their approach for Linux applications. If you install them via package manager like Snap and Flatpak, you cannot have full system integration because of package managers’ architecture. If you are using them for interpreted languages, it is easier but if you are doing compiling, the things are getting complicated. Yes, there are solutions but why I should spend time on hacky solutions which are generally abandoned with the new version upgrade.
I expect Jetbrains to have native packaging like .deb or .rpm. Yes, you can install as standalone but you sacrifice automatic upgrades and need to trigger from terminal.
Now, I am using VSCode and I am not so happy. I like Sublime Text but they cannot catch the trends anymore. VSCode ruined all of them and it is so suprising how Microsoft could do it such a heavy electron based thing. I was using Vim only in my younger times so it seems i need to recall my knowledge to get rid of VSCode.
New Database Client
Generally, I don’t use terminal for database connections because I would like to store SQL queries. For this use case, I was using Datagrip but when I cancelled my license with Jetbrains, it is not an option anymore. Now, I am using Dbeaver community edition which is like using Java application from early 2000. Still, I am thankful to its developer and contributors to give us a chance to have it.
New Cloud Storage
iCloud was never Apple’s goal — it started its life very bumpy. Apple never thought that it is a very important feature to have cloud sync. Nowadays, many integration has been done via iCloud so it is not only a file storage feature. It was challenging, I need to be honest… At the end, I could fully integrate my cloud storage to Dropbox which is not exact replacement of iCloud. I am happy although Dropbox’s Linux application is not good.
New Messages App
In a closed environment, you don’t need to think many things like messages. Normally, we are using Apple Messages in the family but I don’t have the interface to it anymore because I don’t allow Apple iCloud web. Currently, we are trying to use Whatsapp in the family but it is getting push back very heavily. I still do have Apple iPhone so generally I use Messages from my mobile.
Shared Photo Albums
I am a father of a toddler and we love to record every moments of him with my wife and we use shared photo albums. Now, I can’t access Photos from my laptop because I don’t allow Apple iCloud web. I don’t want to install self-hosted applications, NAS, or something similar, so I stopped using shared photo albums from my laptop.
Accessories
After being in Apple environment for a long while, I have Airpods and watch. I am using Airpods Pro (the first version) with my iPhone only and Airpods Pro Max with my iPhone and Linux laptop. There are some restrictions using Apple hardware with non-Apple environment (like Siri) but it is OK. If I decide to have Android phone, then I can sell them because Apple products are in demand. At the moment, I am not planning to stwith to Android because I use mobile phones minimum 4 years. My next mobile consideration is set to 2028.
What else?
If you have any suggestions, please let me know. That’s the beauty of open knowledge!