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Comment by girvo | Hacker News Reader

Oh heck yes. Call me weird, but little hacks like this are why I'm struggling to decide what laptop to get. I want to get a MacBook Pro, but I enjoy using Linux so much (Ubuntu in particular) I'm struggling to decide whether or not I should!

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I've had two MBP since 2007 and I'm done with Apple for my next system. The hardware is fine but I always feel like I'm going to break something irreversably when I tweak something in OSX. The hardware doesn't justify the price either so just booting Linux on it does not appeal to me. The one other thing I can't standcabout MBPs is the keyboard. Too much space between keys.

Problem is finding a good non-Apple laptop I can put Fedora on... It's probably going to be a Dell or Lenovo.

I have a MBP, and recently bought a Lenovo X1 for Linux, but have found the trackpad is pretty awful compared to my MBP. Even with Windows, so it's not Linux specific. Despite numerous attempts at tuning one of it's 200 settings, I can't seem to get it to not move the cursor a few pixels before I tap it to click, and thus clicking the wrong thing. Good luck.

Yes, I've had the same issue on every Lenovo I've used, irrespective of OS and tweaking.

T430, T530, X220, X1 Carbon...

Fortunately, I love the TrackPoints, but the touchpad can be a dealbreaker for lots of ex-Mac users.

If you use synaptics try this. Should fix your issue. nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf (find Section "InputClass" and add this option) Option "FingerHigh" "8"

I love Linux and is in the same dilemma re MBPs - but this just makes my blood boil. How can this work well in Windows and OSX but require Linux users to hunt down magical incantations and fiddle hundreds of settings? Isn't it possible extract the settings from the running driver in Windows/OSX and apply those?

I have had good luck with Toshiba satellites. Running Debian on a P750 currently. This is my second Toshiba with linux, don't have any issues.

> I always feel like I'm going to break something irreversably when I tweak something in OSX

What do you mean? What exactly are you tweaking that you think will break things? And why do you think the OS is so fragile?

I was in the same boat. Get the MBP. The build quality is so great, the thing is a pleasure to use. And the OS is something I got used to very quickly.

With regards to programming, what are the benefits of the high-resolution of the Retina line? I'm looking at laptops and considering a System76 but the resolution is only 1920x1080.

Room for multiple text editors open, etc.

I can say that, having moved to the rMBP, I'd have a hell of a hard time going back.

Same here. Sold off my massive PC tower with multiple monitors for a single MBPr. I goddamn love workspaces.

You can see an awful amount of text on a @2x screen. 1080p just can't compare.

2 point doesn't count.

1080 is great

I've seen Retina and 1080p side-by-side. For my eyes, there isn't much utility difference as long as the 1080p panel is good, but the Retina sure looks nicer :)

I find that my eyes get tired rather more quickly when using LoDPI displays. (I have a non-retina MBP lying around that I use as a distraction-free writing desk, and using it is kind of a pain.) I'm not sure as to the exact mechanics of why, but I do notice it.

For the moment, high DPI support is pretty poor outside OSX. It will make a lot of things difficult to use in their default configuration. That being said, if you're willing to spend enough time tweaking things it can be pretty.

I like my MBP, but the super high resolution display is as much an negative as it is a positive. For now, at least.

I should've have said that I love OS X, and use it on all my other machines already! The only reason I'm considering something like a Dell XPS 13 dev edition is solely because having a Linux laptop to hack around on makes me happy. I'm thinking the Pro 13 + either a dual boot or Ubuntu in a VM will be the way to go, as you're right, they are amazing machines :)

Personally, I like the MacBook Air. I don't see why you couldn't get one of those and run Ubuntu on it.

I don't think you should. There are plenty of options other than MacBooks if you are an Ubuntu user. My top two would be: http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-13-linux/pd http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x1-ca...

> little hacks like this

What, small utility applications? This app could be written for OS X just as easily as it was written for Ubuntu.

That said, use whatever OS you like. Personally, I'm a big fan of OS X. But if you like using Ubuntu, that's fine.

Yes, they could (and are). The difference being, Linux often has more of them than OS X, and they are 99% of the time open source, whereas I have paid for all my utility apps on OS X (which I don't mind doing). I prefer open source, so I can edit them to what I need, which I do all the time. It's a "culture" thing overall, I feel :)

OS X has plenty of open source too.

And on that note, someone has now made an (open source) version of this tool for OS X: http://davidhsiehlo.com/blog/2014/04/27/digitalocean-droplet...

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