Desktop wise, I’ve been using PopOS for 7-8 months now, so it’s quite great to have that same setup in a portable fashion now.
- changing default shortcuts from CMD to CTRL. Is swapping the positions enough?
- Janky scrolling/no inertia ( i'm not on a framework (hp x360 spectre), is the framework better?
- all the small tuning software i have (Karabiner for remapping, Amethyst for tiling, BitBar etc)
- is there a quick look equivalent on PopOs?
I strongly recommend not to do this.
I did it and it was a nightmare: some of mac's hotkeys are like linux hotkeys but reversing Meta & Ctrl, but not all of them. I adjusted the most egregious hotkeys, but there were always more. This went on for around a month. In the end, it was impossible for me to get used to the differences: my muscle memory would betray me many times over the day, and it wasn't getting better.
Then I deicded to just reset everything back to my distro's defaults. It was painful for a couple days. I made a few mistakes in the next week... and then it all got in muscle memory. I can even switch from working on a mac to working on linux without issues now.
I should note to the OP that I almost exclusively use my HHKB[0] for all of those operating systems, which places the CTRL key where the Caps Lock normally is, abstracting caps lock functionality to a function key.
When I do use a different keyboard (or the laptop’s native keyboard), it takes a few minutes to adjust and every now and then I’ll accidentally tap the wrong key, but overall I would say negative impact is negligible
[0] https://www.hhkeyboard.com/uk/products/ (I have the Pro2, and for some reason the official site is not loading for me. This keyboard has lasted me 4+ years and I use it for gaming, coding, and everything in between. By far my favorite keyboard I have ever used, the toupre keys feel soooo so satisfying. Amazon link here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K9QHF4P/)
For me, I just adjust to using CTRL instead of CMD. It only takes me a day or two of consistent use for the muscle memory to switch over.
The most painful part is if I try and go back-and-forth between the Mac and Linux laptop, that causes pain. But if I just switch pretty completely over to the linux environment, the muscle-memory switches over pretty quickly.
If you don't need to go back-and-forth on an ongoing basis, I'd recommend just pushing through the transition period.
PopOS has a decent tiling manager built in now. (Icon in top right corner by default) though I should note it isn’t as “hardcore” as classic tiling managers and is instead built primarily for approachability over pure power.
Not exactly sure what you mean but quick look. If you mean spotlight, PopOS has a (imo better) equivalent bound by default to the Super key. If you mean the applications overview, they have that as well by default on a button in the top left of screen. Can also be bound to a shortcut.
Quick Look in this case is the quick open of files through finder by tapping 'Space'. Might be some equivalents, i'll look around.