Leopard Triumph! I guess..
Posted by hank, Tue Feb 05 05:25:00 UTC 2008
So I’ve been using Leopard to see if it is adequate for a laptop. So far, it has done nicely. I have a few complaints, but some of them are just old habits that die hard. Here is a short list:
Gripes
Python 2.4 from MacPorts fails to build (FIXED)
Wow. This is so freaking broken. It didn’t even call gcc. Why aren’t there just binaries I can install?
building '_zope_interface_coptimizations' extension
creating build/temp.macosx-10.3-i386-2.4
creating build/temp.macosx-10.3-i386-2.4/src
creating build/temp.macosx-10.3-i386-2.4/src/zope
creating build/temp.macosx-10.3-i386-2.4/src/zope/interface
-fno-strict-aliasing -Wno-long-double -no-cpp-precomp -fno-common -fno-common -dynamic -DNDEBUG -g -O3 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -I/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.4/include/python2.4 -c src/zope/interface/_zope_interface_coptimizations.c -o build/temp.macosx-10.3-i386-2.4/src/zope/interface/_zope_interface_coptimizations.o
unable to execute -fno-strict-aliasing: No such file or directory
error: command '-fno-strict-aliasing' failed with exit status 1
---> Installing python25 2.5.1_4+darwin_9
Python 2.5 seems to work.
You can’t drag windows to other spaces (FIXED)
I can’t drag it like I can in Compiz. I have to actually zoom out to do it or awkwardly hold the mouse button down while I hit option and the arrow key. Lame. As court3nay points out, you have to be patient while it figures out that you want to move it to another space. OK - where is this configured and turned off?
wget: command not found (FIXED)
No wget? How barbaric..
As court3nay points out, this can be fixed with MacPorts, which I already installed for other software abilities. MacPorts doesn’t seem half bad.
No ext2/3 or XFS support included
I want to mount my Linux filesystems. What gives? I can even do that in Windows..
Terminal keymappings are completely non-Linux friendly.
Shift-PgUp sends PgUp? PgUp actually scrolls the terminal up? These are reversed from UNIX - unacceptable. End doesn’t work? Home doesn’t work? This is weird. Could be my keyboard though.
Applications don’t close unless told to. (FIXED)
This should be customizable. If an application starts with a default window, when that window goes away, the application is gone as well. No default window, then it operates as it does now. I don’t see a reason that Firefox should persist when it has no windows. Link to fix!
Option to add menu to a window
(eg. Firefox has no File, Edit, etc…). This may sound strange, but when I have Firefox maximized on one screen and I’m watching a movie in the other, it’s a bit annoying to have to unmaximize the movie to access Firefox’s menu.
Installations are a bit annoying
After years with a package manager, the lack of one in OSX is pretty unbearable. I have to manually download the file, not just apt-get it (yes, I know of fink, but it’s not on Leopard yet :P), then actually make an effort to install it, and finally drag it to the trash. Oh, and then delete the “drive” it installed on my desktop - wtf is that?! This is opposed to the worst case on Ubuntu, which is downloading the deb into /tmp, having gDebi pop up and ask me if I want to install it, clicking yes, and forgetting there was even a file involved. The best case of course is the usual apt-get install basically-anything.
Applications are either on the bottom or hidden away in a folder
I could put them on the Desktop, but I hate desktops. I wish the Applications were a right-click away, or at least in the Finder menu.
Ruby is there, irb is there, gem is there, but there are NO RUBY HEADERS!
Not including ruby headers was a very bad idea when they included everything else. Since many things ruby need the headers to compile against, especially when using gems, this is very lame. To make it even more lame, the only solution I could find was to download XCode, a 1.1 GB monster application of doom for some lousy C headers. Unacceptable.
The directory structure is pretty insane
Some of it’s OK, but it’s a lot more like Windows than *NIX. One of those things where I’ll have to have someone tell me where I can, say, find all my libraries. Or all the headers. Hmm..
Youtube’s CSS is broken in Safari
I know, it’s Youtube’s problem, but I don’t think they’re going to fix it. The “more” button in the video details section is broken. This is a very small issue as I prefer Firefox, but it’s still annoying.
Copying and pasting by highlight and middle-click isn’t an option
I thought Macs had this option. I guess not. Please correct me if I’m wrong because my whole day is ruined because of this point.
I had to restart my computer after installing non-kernel software
I installed a printer. It told me I needed to restart. This is so Windows-esque.
The terminal is ugly
Black on White? Come on - why isn’t it sexy semi-translucent black with white text that wiggles? Took a lot of effort to change it how I wanted it. I downloaded 3 packages, one was a Cairo modification support package, one was a hack that added a “More” button to the terminal color options, and one was a theme that made use of it. The terminal now looks pretty good. URL’s aren’t openable instantly like they are in gnome-terminal. Also, if they made the text fade in as you typed it, that would be very awesome. Oh, and I can’t turn off the scrollbar - lame.
Scrolling up doesn’t move the cursor
I just noticed that I wanted to change something on the top of this post. I intuitively pushed PgUp a couple times, and then hit the up arrow key only to find my cursor where it started!! In other operating systems, the cursor goes with the paging so you can pinpoint the area you want without using the confounded mouse. This should be customizable.
Scrolling is weird
When I scroll my mouse wheel, I don’t expect the page to move 2mm. Maybe something like 5-10mm would be better. I found the progressively larger jumps based on scroll wheel spin speed made my brain explode, so I turned it off in about:config. Maybe there is some systemwide option for this.
Yet another construct for something as simple as DHCP
In Windows, it’s ipconfig /renew to get a lease. In Linux, it’s sudo dhclient. But here, it’s sudo ipconfig set en0 DHCP, which is completely ugly, hard to remember, and should just have a systemwide alias as dhclient. I was very confused when dh didn’t tab complete. Oh, and it gives no output whatsoever when you do get a lease. Very non-helpful IMHO. As far as the GUI handling everything, sometimes (as in every other mainstream OS) the command line is much quicker and more convenient, but certainly not in this case.
The zoom feature in Compiz beats the hell out of Leopard’s
OK, If there’s something Apple should have right, it is the zoom feature. I’m glad they have it and all, but it zooms both my screens, which compiz doesn’t, and is all jumpy when Compiz is smooth about it.
Compiz is much better at customization
I want to change desktops with Spaces using my side buttons on my mouse, which I can do with Compiz (though it was a real pain finding out how to do that). In Leopard, I can certainly make one of them zoom out to see the spaces, but not map it to switch to my knowledge.
You have to actually buy software
So, all the cool stuff people do with their Macs costs money! iLife is 80 dollars! Textmate is $60 (good thing I’m a vi whore). I’m not used to this after years of Open Source. It’s not an especially bad con since usually you’re dropping thousands of dollars on the hardware already, but it’s still a little lame. I’m not saying these products are bad - in fact, I really want to try a couple of them, but I’d have to blow a work day earning the money to reserve that right…
Hard disk weirdness
I have 7 hard drives (I know, I’m weird). I keep hearing them go to sleep, etc. It’s a bit lame. I’m going to try turning that feature off. But, regardless, there’s no way I can find to stop my Windows hard disk from appearing on my Desktop when I boot up.
The time won’t work.
I can’t get the stupid thing set right. (AHHHA! I had to click the automatically set checkbox, but that wasn’t enough. I had to also click on a time server*. Otherwise, the box would be unchecked the next time I opened it. Flaw!)
The installation tried to sell me something
For some reason, the developers really want to sell you .Mac during the installation. I mean, there’s not even an opt out option - you have to click through all their crap, and they finally concede and say “Oh, you’ll get one later anyway…” They need to add a “No” button at the beginning of those screens. Registration should also be optional.
Mousing over a scrolling area in an unfocused window doesn’t let you scroll it
You have to actually focus the window to scroll (unless, strangely, it’s a Terminal window..). This would get extremely annoying on single-monitor boxen.
Non-Gripes
I love the screensavers, visual effects, and wallpaper
Apple gets an A+ for the look of this operating system, and maybe a B for the feel. Hiring artists is the best. The word of the day screensaver rocks most anything default on Linux and Windows.
Spotlight
Spotlight is very awesome. Though I’ve only used it to open programs so far, using it for documents and such would be pretty neat. There are efforts to do this in Linux (Beagle), but I don’t use them.
Boot time and shutdown time
This thing boots up fast. It shuts down fast. That’s nice.
Disk Utility
Full-featured, easy, and slick. This is what all Apple utilities should be modeled after.
Settings panel
The settings panel rocks the casbah. If only there were more settings…
Stacks are cool
I like the stacks in the Dock. Neat.
Blog Posts
February 05, 2008 @ 08:22 AM
dude, macports. http://www.macports.org/
port install wget port install mysql +server
also, you CAN drag.. just hold the window on the edge of the screen for a second or two. You can also use expose to zoom out to all spaces windows and drag things around at will.
Finally, who uses dhcp on mac from the CLI? System preferences -> network will let you do amazing things (i.e., sharing ethernet internet to wifi or bluetooth with one click).
February 05, 2008 @ 01:26 PM
You might also wanna check out Quicksilver. I myself am addicted and have a lot of stuff mapped to various triggers. I can navigate my iTunes, call up documents and bookmarks, even search the web without touching my mouse or leaving my current window. The latter part is more helpful when controlling audio stuff, admittedly, since you have to move focus to the browser or pdf that you opened to read it and all. But it’s an amazingly powerful and unobtrusive little tool.