Linux -> Mac?

[Michael MacLeod]

On 5/5/07, JoeHill <joehill-rieW9WUcm8FFJ04o6PK0Fg at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>
> Michael MacLeod left a post-it on the fridge:
>
> > So, after using them both I still use them both, just each in their
> > respective niche. I've heard good things about beryl and xgl, but for
> all
> > that hassle, I could spend that time doing something more productive.
>
> Hassle? You mean 'apt-get/urpmi/etc beryl'? ;)
>
> --
> JoeHill
> ++++++++++++++++++++
> Bender: Hey! What kind of party is this? There's no booze and only one
> hooker.
> --


Actually, I spent some time recently setting up ubuntu feisty on my room
mates computer. Firstly, let me say that Ubuntu continues to impress. I've
been a fan since breezy, but it keeps getting better. Anyway, the computer
dual boots now, and it's specs are good enough to run oblivion well when
booted into windows. It's got an ATI X800 card (not my choice, like I said,
my room mate built it).

I decided to install beryl. For all the claims of "just do apt-get install
beryl" and it's done, that's just not true. But it took an hour and a half
to get beryl up and running. AIGLX vs. XGL, open vs. closed source driver,
making sure the xorg.conf had compositing disabled vs. enabled, etc. I'm
sorry, but for as wonderful as Ubuntu is (and I'm a fan), there are plenty
of things that still break *way* too often in linux. Yes, beryl is beta
software, and it gets a bit of a pass as a result, but don't try and pretend
it's just a matter of apt-getting it. GFTP is a matter of just apt-getting,
not beryl.

So yeah, that hour and a half could have been spent doing something else.
Plus the hour I spent going through the beryl config options getting them
"just right." I'm not complaining, I do this as a hobby because I enjoy it.
I'm subscribed to my local linux users group mailing list after all. But I
installed it on a spare computer, in some extra time I had. If I need to be
doing productive work (school work, coding, correspondence, photo editing,
etc) it happens on the mac, because It Just Works.

Part of it is that the operating system doesn't beg to be tweaked. I'm not
getting distracted playing around with beryl settings, making sure my system
clock is syncing accurately, or anything else. That's already taken care of
for me, and I'm free to focus on using my computer to accomplish something.
I have ADD, so I need to make my work environment as free from distractions
as possible. And since I enjoy playing around with my linux systems, I kinda
need to avoid them when I want to do productive things. This may be less of
a issue for others.
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