Thinking about moving to OS X from Windows/Linux

Hey everyone As I have posted in the hardware section, I'm thinking about buying an iMac next year, when the Ivy Bridge models come out. Apart from feeling like a great AIO, a big reason for me wanting to try a Mac is obviously OS X.

I've been fiddling with various Linux distributions all Summer, and currently only use my Windows 8 laptop for my technical drawing class homework and projects (Solidworks 2011). I've been really loving Linux

And that's basically my biggest reason for wanting an Apple PC. From my experiences with my friends' Macs, OS X feels like an extremely polished Linux, they share common concepts like a centralized software center, having various desktops/spaces, an open-source kernel, UNIX roots and an awesome terminal, a nice programming environment, etc.

Has anyone moved from Windows/Linux to OS X for similar reasons? Are they valid reasons?

Cheers

I moved from Windows XP years ago and have had OSX ever since ,do to a few programs at work I got Windows 7 a year ago and since this summer I have been playing with Ubuntu 11.04 now upgraded to 11.10. With that said my favorite by far
is OSX. They each have their place but if I had to make a choice of only one then
OSX would be it.

But do you agree in my assessment of Mac OS X as a "supercharged" and polished Linux?
I realize many more people come from a Windows background rather than a Linux one, but I really do need some piece of advice.

OS X is a fully application supported Unix. That is, you can actually run applications like Office, Adobe Suite, etc. With full support from the manufacturer. Linux, not-so-much.

I was in your boat about 10 years ago, dabbled a little in linux and wanted something not windows. Started using mac, ended up using linux. If you want to spend the money for a 'polished' unix os more power to you.

they share common concepts like a centralized software center

Click to expand...

Only apple product updates is centralized if I do recall there isn't a built in package manager like linux. You can always try using Fink if you like your repositories.

an open-source kernel

Click to expand...

OS X is actually a closed source with some parts you can configure.

awesome terminal

Click to expand...

Same functionality as any other unix/linux terminal.

a nice programming environment

Click to expand...

Dependent on your IDE.

If you don't plan on using terminal a whole bunch or wanting to configure services the way you want them, get a Mac you will enjoy it. But if you like to dig around and find out how things actually work Mac may not be right for you, you'd be better off trashing and re-installing free software. Please please please just don't make it a $2000 facebook machine

Blackened said:

And that's basically my biggest reason for wanting an Apple PC. From my experiences with my friends' Macs, OS X feels like an extremely polished Linux, they share common concepts like a centralized software center, having various desktops/spaces, an open-source kernel, UNIX roots and an awesome terminal, a nice programming environment, etc.

Click to expand...

This is primarily why I moved to OS X and I don't regret it in the slightest. The fact that I can run Linux VMs with ease is also nice.

Like Dysfunction said, you get the benefits of Unix plus the ability to run important commercial software like Office. For me, it's the best of both worlds.

What exactly do you mean by "centralized software center"? If you mean package manager, note that OS X doesn't come with one built in unless you want to call the App Store a package manager (which I wouldn't). You can however install third party ones including Fink, MacPorts or Homebrew. There's also Rudix which is a collection of Unix software prebuilt for the Mac (the previously mentioned package managers are all source based).

I moved to OS X from Windows and a history on BSD and SVR4 UNIXes, on both of which I had been an admin for several users (though not necessarily a very good one). I also think of OS X as an extremely polished UNIX. And I really like UNIX, compared to Windows. Of course, compared to Windows, CPM wasn't really all that bad, either....

I did think the App Store had free and non-Apple stuff, thank you for correcting me on that. However, I was also aware of those various other ones out there I have no trouble compiling from source if I have to. You can trust me when I say that it won't be a $2000 facebook machine, I'm studying engineering, I'll surely have work that needs to get done

But I am pretty much sure that the Darwin kernel that OS X is based on is open source. Am I wrong?

My main gripe with Linux is the fact that the various developers don't follow a single specification in terms of interface design. It's a highly fragmented environment, with Gnome applications looking radically different from KDE ones, things that should be in the same place and performed the same way across various applications are in remarkably different places at times.

Having a corporation-supported OS and strict guidelines for application developers corrects many of these issues. And so Mac OS X seems like the ideal OS for me, carrying over many of the concepts I appreciate in Linux. I realize the degree of configurability may be lower, but I think the payoff is nice enough.

blairtechguy said:

If you don't plan on using terminal a whole bunch or wanting to configure services the way you want them, get a Mac you will enjoy it. But if you like to dig around and find out how things actually work Mac may not be right for you, you'd be better off trashing and re-installing free software. Please please please just don't make it a $2000 facebook machine

Click to expand...

I spend my entire day in terminal sessions. Why should I not like it?

Seriously, it's BSD based. It's got it's own quirks, but they're not insurmountable.

Darwin, wow.. I'm not sure if that's open sourced anymore or not to be honest.

blairtechguy said:

OS X is actually a closed source with some parts you can configure.

Click to expand...

True, but the kernel is open source. See the source code here.

Blackened said:

Hey everyone As I have posted in the hardware section, I'm thinking about buying an iMac next year, when the Ivy Bridge models come out. Apart from feeling like a great AIO, a big reason for me wanting to try a Mac is obviously OS X.

I've been fiddling with various Linux distributions all Summer, and currently only use my Windows 8 laptop for my technical drawing class homework and projects (Solidworks 2011). I've been really loving Linux

And that's basically my biggest reason for wanting an Apple PC. From my experiences with my friends' Macs, OS X feels like an extremely polished Linux, they share common concepts like a centralized software center, having various desktops/spaces, an open-source kernel, UNIX roots and an awesome terminal, a nice programming environment, etc.

Has anyone moved from Windows/Linux to OS X for similar reasons? Are they valid reasons?

Cheers

Click to expand...

I have used linux since around 97. OSX should feel like a polished Linux, it's BSD based. One of the (many) reasons I moved to Macs.

Hopefully through this discourse you walk away with your questions answered.

I do have my questions answered, I'm pretty much craving for an iMac right now It's going to be hard waiting for Ivy Bridge to come out... But worth it


Cheers

How well does Parallels/VMware Fusion run various Linux distributions? And other random OSs, like Inferno or Plan 9 From Outer Space?

I can't speak for those two but I use VirtualBox and it handles Linux well. I've installed some smaller OSes in it as well (the BSDs and Haiku for instance) and they run but you can't install any guest additions (so, no full screen support and a few other small things). As for performance, it depends on your specs. I have a 2.1 C2D and I allocate 1.5GB of RAM to Linux distros and 2GB to Windows. They run fine - there's a bit of lag but that is expected since it's a VM. Since you'd be getting a much more powerful machine, I expect performance to be considerably better.

Blackened said:

How well does Parallels/VMware Fusion run various Linux distributions? And other random OSs, like Inferno or Plan 9 From Outer Space?

Click to expand...

I use VMWare - mostly because I have a history of working with their products in my professional life and I've grown to respect their stability and performance in that setting.

Parallels has pretty weak support for Linux in my experience. VMWare supports it very well. I've used it with CentOS and Ubuntu, both run as well as they would natively on my hardware, with the exception of Beryl/Compiz support (it doesn't seem that VMWare has gotten that level of OpenGL support working in their Linux video drivers yet) - but other than the eye candy, it runs very well. I wouldn't bother installing it natively.

Not familiar with Inferno or Plan 9, but I do love playing with oddball OSes (I was an Amiga user years ago, afterall). Will have to check them out.

My DR plan at work involves a linux imaging server in virtualbox, have never had any problems.

Cheers, thank you all for your help