Getting started with Mac OS can be smooth if you follow some tips.
Getting started with Mac OS can be smooth if you follow some tips.
I suggest giving UTM a try for virtual machines—it's free and simple to set up. https://mac.getutm.app/ I also prefer Bear, a markdown app for iOS and macOS; it’s not free for syncing but the yearly fee is affordable. https://bear.app/ For web browsers, Arc is catching my attention in its closed beta phase. You can join the waiting list if interested. https://arc.net/
It was a really helpful recommendation. Initially I downloaded and configured the dropdown terminal. iStat Menus and Path Finder appear to be excellent options, although I strongly dislike the concept of software as a service. I’m open to exploring free alternatives first, but Path Finder seems to stand out among all I’ve tried so far (especially for my needs). Based on their subscription levels, I might consider paying for just one month and continuing without updates—since I’m budget-conscious. Maccy, no worries; I’ll set it up later today. I’ll check out some of these options. Appreciate the advice on Emacs shortcuts—I’ll remember them. It will likely take about a month to adjust from using ctrl+a and ctrl+e instead of relying on muscle memory. Don’t stress over the inconsistent behavior; I’ve faced worse before. Thanks for the suggestions on VM management—just what I need, whether it’s Windows or Linux, x86 or ARM native.
It's become extremely prevalent, and yeah, I'm also loathe to stacking up monthly expenses like that. The golden age might've been 5-10 years ago, when companies like Panic were pushing out high quality software for a one-time fee which far surpassed Windows/Linux offerings. Now the gap's somewhat closer and half of everything is Electron, but imo macOS still remains the best environment for coding and daily use. Looking again, Fantastical has a free version so I'll push that rec higher. It lets you easily enter events ("remind me 5 days pickup mail", "phone call 5pm tomorrow".) And I have no idea what Gnome window management is like, but Yabai and Amethyst are two others to look into if you're used to the tiling kind. Couple last brain dump tips: - Searching "awesome macos github" will pull up some curated lists of apps - HN search and https://camas.unddit.com/ are my go-to for gut checks on alternatives. Typing in "forklift path finder" or "istat menus" quickly gets you a sense of the landscape. Reddit just cut the latter off from access to new data, so tragically it's going to become less useful a few months from now, and then it's back to "site:reddit.com istat menus"
Started with Rectangle—it’s free and open-source. I rely on it now, even though I’ve been getting more comfortable with layered windows lately.
Yup, I think I mentioned it somewhere in this thread it's the one I've been using so far. It's functional and does everything I really need it to. I wouldn't say it's the best, it is a little clunky to use and I wish it had the Windows 10 style "fill the gap with one of these applications" menu as well as adjusting both windows simultaneously, but it works OK enough that I'll get used to it and don't really feel like putting effort into finding something new. I'll take a look at those, though for reference the Gnome window management is very much like Windows 10's window management, at least with the extensions I had running. It had drag to the top for full screen, corner for quarter, sides for half, and bottom for bottom half, and had the auto populate empty space options (by default I'm pretty sure it's just full screen and halves, no quarters or bottom half, as well as no auto populate). It's mainly configured around the idea of virtual desktops, with it being very easy to quickly throw one application from one to another and get around them very quickly, that way you don't have to have everything tiled to see everything. I can kinda emulate that workflow with Spaces (Mac OS's name for virtual desktops), especially after figuring out the setting you need to turn off to keep it from moving them around randomly, though if there's something to have to auto open and close spaces like Gnome's default that would be much appreciated rather than having to keep 5-6 spaces open at all times and scroll past 2-3 if I leave one empty for some reason. Not really needing something like i3wm or another tiling window manager if that's what those are like (I'll look at them later tonight).
If you own AirPods, I suggest using AirBuddy. It performs exceptionally well. I also agree with @float's suggestions for Maccy and Dozer. Once you're using Dozer and have full access to your menu bar, adding custom information might be beneficial. For that, I recommend SwiftBar. I've created three SwiftBar scripts myself in my menu bar consistently. One integrates temperature data from my outdoor thermometer with conditions from OpenWeather.