Random MacOS questions from a Windows user

NeuM

@tja said:

@NeuM said:

@tja said:

@NeuM said:

@SevenSystems said:

@ervin said:

@SevenSystems said:

@tja said:

@SevenSystems said:
@wim said:

I can think of some use cases where I would prefer to keep one monitor always displaying the same thing no matter what else I'm working on.

In that case, any remotely sophisticated desktop will offer you a "pin" or "on all desktops" toggle so you can keep those windows in view.

That's possible with the Dock on macOS!
Right-click on the dock-icon and then configure within Options.

Whoops, you're right. Sorry, the words "macOS" and "possible" in one sentence are a bit unexpected 😂

LOL 👌

My strategy is to admit (meaning not trying to fight) the facts, namely that

• Apple is still a brilliant hardware company but, at this point, a pretty backward software company

Hah, wow, someone else finally says it. Exactly what I've been saying for years. Their HARDWARE is decent, their SOFTWARE sucks (now). Most people for some intergalactic reason insist it's the other way around.

• I have no reasonable alternative to using their system for music production

I'm not saying this makes all problems go away, but at least I'm not wasting time and mental health trying to recreate all the good things, or just obvious stuff, that work on Windows or Android so well. 🤷

Well, if I had to return to full-time commercial music production again, I would probably try to settle on Bitwig on Linux. Most "power users", especially those stuck on macOS, would probably fall off their chairs if they saw what's possible on Linux with Plasma, and how flexible it is. The possibilities are truly boundless.

But good stuff always fails in the long run, because society is based on mediocrity </philosopher>

I’m sure you already know this, but you can install Linux on a Mac.

https://www.lifewire.com/dual-boot-linux-and-mac-os-4125733

Not possible on M1, I fear.

Anyways, I want to use a Desktop OS.
That used to be Windows, but I was willing to switch to Mac.
But I simply cannot configure that Mac in a usefull way.
Only disabling SIP could probably help, but I tried this already and it did not work as expected.

I may get a new Windows PC and only compile stuff remotely on the Mac, rendering it into a server without monitor, keyboard or mouse.
Not sure how to continue.

It appears to be possible to install on an M1, with some caveats.

https://igetmac.com/install-linux-on-m1-macs/

Oh, interesting.

Thanks!

But still, I don't want Linux for my desktop ...

Haha. At least there are options.

SevenSystems

@tja said:
Constantly, I get massive CPU and disk usage from mdworker, mdworker_shared and mdbulkimport processes.

And this does not seem to end ...

Ahhhhhhhhhh all too familiar. Yeah my (NEW!) Mac Mini also was completely unusable until I managed to disable that stuff after lots of Googling. I'm baffled how Apple get these "101.5% customer satisfaction" figures with macOS. Probably because the most 101.5% of their users use their Macs for is browsing a single tab in Safari or they all buy the most expensive machine with the largest amount of RAM and CPU power, so it stays bearable.

@tja said:
But still, I don't want Linux for my desktop ...

Ahhhh that is the biggest contradiction ever! A total control freak with Linux experience, dissatisfied with his desktop, but doesn't want to use Linux for his desktop

only compile stuff remotely on the Mac, rendering it into a server without monitor, keyboard or mouse.

Precisely what I've been doing since 2016. I just reserve one of my monitors on one virtual desktop for a fullscreen VNC session to my Mac running Xcode. All I use Xcode for is hitting the "Play" button (actually I've assigned ALT-X for switching to the VNC session, and CTRL-R as a macro (or automator or whatever it's called) for hitting the "Play" button, so I can just hit ALT-X CTRL-R anytime I want Xcode to recompile) and publishing to App Store. All editing is done over the network from my main (Linux) desktop with a separate IDE. (that may not be feasible though if you depend on / want all the handholding that Xcode does when writing in "Appleish" languages...)

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Liquidmantis

Yabai switches workspaces with no animation or delay...

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Liquidmantis

Yeah, I've been living in it for some time and can't live without it now. I love that Mac is largely the power of Linux (it's BSD! yadda yadda...) with a great design aesthetic and the apps I want/need. Yabai gives me the i3/AwesomeWM environment that all the cool Linux kids have. It's geeky to set up, but now my full desktop usage is based on the vim and tmux paradigm and language.

Liquidmantis

Oh, also I use homebrew to install Yabai (anyone prepping to tell me how homebrew is the debil can save their breath) and it's trivial to build from head that way.

Liquidmantis

2nd Oh! Yabai doesn't officially work on M1 Macs yet. The dev is waiting for the MBP refresh to get one. I think there's a fork but I'm also waiting for either the refresh or the M2/M1x MacMini before upgrading from my 2019 Intel MBP so I don't have any experience with it.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

NeonSilicon

@tja said:

@Liquidmantis said:
Oh, also I use homebrew to install Yabai (anyone prepping to tell me how homebrew is the debil can save their breath) and it's trivial to build from head that way.

I resorted to "Mac Ports" from a recommendation of @NeonSilicon
Homebrew seems to have some security issues or so.

But I resently deleted Mac Ports again, as I did not need anything for programming in Xcode with Swift so far and had strange library error messages.

Yeah, the issue I have with Homebrew is that they alter the permissions and ownership on system level directories. It's a security issue and it's silly. This may have changed recently because SIP is going to be continuously complaining about it, but I haven't kept up with Homebrew to know for sure.

Mac Ports is a good option if you need or want a "distro" like thing on your Mac.

I've never used Yabai, but it looks like it is available on my M1 Mini via Mac Ports.

SevenSystems

@tja said:

@SevenSystems said:

You managed to stop this?!?
HOWWWWWWWWWW?

Something with SIP?

My "instructions" are from 2017, probably not relevant anymore?

• Start macmini
• Login
• Hard-Kill softwareupdated, mds, mds_stores (uses 100% CPU and Disk indefinitely)

Liquidmantis

@NeonSilicon said:

@tja said:

@Liquidmantis said:
Oh, also I use homebrew to install Yabai (anyone prepping to tell me how homebrew is the debil can save their breath) and it's trivial to build from head that way.

I resorted to "Mac Ports" from a recommendation of @NeonSilicon
Homebrew seems to have some security issues or so.

But I resently deleted Mac Ports again, as I did not need anything for programming in Xcode with Swift so far and had strange library error messages.

Yeah, the issue I have with Homebrew is that they alter the permissions and ownership on system level directories. It's a security issue and it's silly. This may have changed recently because SIP is going to be continuously complaining about it, but I haven't kept up with Homebrew to know for sure.

Mac Ports is a good option if you need or want a "distro" like thing on your Mac.

I've never used Yabai, but it looks like it is available on my M1 Mini via Mac Ports.

This might be of interest:
https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/253404/how-does-homebrew-no-longer-need-ownership-of-usr-local

I've never had a SIP error from Homebrew. I HAVE had it yell at me when I switch to "Linux mode" and run "sudo brew update", telling me this is bad and to not run it as root.

On Yabai, I haven't been following the M1 issue, but it's tracked here. I'm guessing the MacPorts package is of this fork. I hope the main dev gets his M1 soon because he's taken a bit of a pause on Yabai development for now. I miss watching for interesting changes.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

SevenSystems

@tja said:

@SevenSystems said:

@tja said:
But still, I don't want Linux for my desktop ...

Ahhhh that is the biggest contradiction ever! A total control freak with Linux experience, dissatisfied with his desktop, but doesn't want to use Linux for his desktop

The first 6 minutes explain part of this:

That speech is 7 years old, this problem is largely solved with Snap and Flatpak, both for developers and users.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

[Deleted User]

@NeonSilicon said:

@tja said:

@Liquidmantis said:
Oh, also I use homebrew to install Yabai (anyone prepping to tell me how homebrew is the debil can save their breath) and it's trivial to build from head that way.

I resorted to "Mac Ports" from a recommendation of @NeonSilicon
Homebrew seems to have some security issues or so.

But I resently deleted Mac Ports again, as I did not need anything for programming in Xcode with Swift so far and had strange library error messages.

Yeah, the issue I have with Homebrew is that they alter the permissions and ownership on system level directories. It's a security issue and it's silly. This may have changed recently because SIP is going to be continuously complaining about it, but I haven't kept up with Homebrew to know for sure.

I recently reinstalled it and can say that it still changes the ownership of almost every dir in /usr/local. Though I was told it didn't do that anymore
I'm gonna try to modify its install script to change this stupid behavior
Have a look at this, why use /usr/local if you can use /opt

if [[ "$UNAME_MACHINE" == "arm64" ]]; then
    # On ARM macOS, this script installs to /opt/homebrew only
    HOMEBREW_PREFIX="/opt/homebrew"
    HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY="${HOMEBREW_PREFIX}"
  else
    # On Intel macOS, this script installs to /usr/local only
    HOMEBREW_PREFIX="/usr/local"
    HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY="${HOMEBREW_PREFIX}/Homebrew"
  fi

NeonSilicon

@yug said:

@NeonSilicon said:

@tja said:

@Liquidmantis said:
Oh, also I use homebrew to install Yabai (anyone prepping to tell me how homebrew is the debil can save their breath) and it's trivial to build from head that way.

I resorted to "Mac Ports" from a recommendation of @NeonSilicon
Homebrew seems to have some security issues or so.

But I resently deleted Mac Ports again, as I did not need anything for programming in Xcode with Swift so far and had strange library error messages.

Yeah, the issue I have with Homebrew is that they alter the permissions and ownership on system level directories. It's a security issue and it's silly. This may have changed recently because SIP is going to be continuously complaining about it, but I haven't kept up with Homebrew to know for sure.

I recently reinstalled it and can say that it still changes the ownership of almost every dir in /usr/local. Though I was told it didn't do that anymore
I'm gonna try to modify its install script to change this stupid behavior
Have a look at this, why use /usr/local if you can use /opt

if [[ "$UNAME_MACHINE" == "arm64" ]]; then
    # On ARM macOS, this script installs to /opt/homebrew only
    HOMEBREW_PREFIX="/opt/homebrew"
    HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY="${HOMEBREW_PREFIX}"
  else
    # On Intel macOS, this script installs to /usr/local only
    HOMEBREW_PREFIX="/usr/local"
    HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY="${HOMEBREW_PREFIX}/Homebrew"
  fi

Man, that's disheartening. I had hoped that they would have changed this by now. It's cost me a ton of time over the years with an unnamed open-source medical related app that's important to me. Luckily for me, that application no longer forces Homebrew on users.

MacPorts is a good alternative. It's definitely worth checking out if you want a package manager type interface on the Mac. It does everything in /opt/local by default. That really helps me because I do all of my own builds of software packages in to /usr/local so it helps me keep everything separate and reduce conflicts.

SevenSystems

@tja said:
I needed to enable the Mission Control option "Displays have separate Spaces" again.

This was needed, as my second monitor did go blank, as soon as I started something "full screen" on the other monitor.

So no typing and reading while having a video on the other monitor ... great ...
And the "cinema" mode was too distracting for me.

Really, Apple?

This is all so sad.

Humming along happily here on KDE with full-screen YouTube video on secondary monitor, either visible on all workspaces or just one, toggleable with a single right-click option 😉😉😉🤣

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

SevenSystems

@tja said:

@SevenSystems said:

@tja said:
I needed to enable the Mission Control option "Displays have separate Spaces" again.

This was needed, as my second monitor did go blank, as soon as I started something "full screen" on the other monitor.

So no typing and reading while having a video on the other monitor ... great ...
And the "cinema" mode was too distracting for me.

Really, Apple?

This is all so sad.

Humming along happily here on KDE with full-screen YouTube video on secondary monitor, either visible on all workspaces or just one, toggleable with a single right-click option 😉😉😉🤣

How did you do that?
A recommendation from above?

Just teasing... note "on KDE"

Liquidmantis

I seem to recall issues with the M1 Mac Minis and dual displays. I work on my external 5k monitor and have things fullscreen on my MBP's screen or vice versa all the time. I've never worked without having separate spaces though, as I hate having them coupled.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

SevenSystems

@tja said:

@SevenSystems said:

@tja said:

@SevenSystems said:

@tja said:
I needed to enable the Mission Control option "Displays have separate Spaces" again.

This was needed, as my second monitor did go blank, as soon as I started something "full screen" on the other monitor.

So no typing and reading while having a video on the other monitor ... great ...
And the "cinema" mode was too distracting for me.

Really, Apple?

This is all so sad.

Humming along happily here on KDE with full-screen YouTube video on secondary monitor, either visible on all workspaces or just one, toggleable with a single right-click option 😉😉😉🤣

How did you do that?
A recommendation from above?

Just teasing... note "on KDE"

But on Mac?
Or are you referring to Linux - still

Of course but I'll stop my evangelizing now!

[Deleted User]

@NeonSilicon said:
Man, that's disheartening. I had hoped that they would have changed this by now. It's cost me a ton of time over the years with an unnamed open-source medical related app that's important to me. Luckily for me, that application no longer forces Homebrew on users.

MacPorts is a good alternative. It's definitely worth checking out if you want a package manager type interface on the Mac. It does everything in /opt/local by default. That really helps me because I do all of my own builds of software packages in to /usr/local so it helps me keep everything separate and reduce conflicts.

I did a bit more research yesterday and I will be switching to MacPorts. I didn't pay attention to this issue before, but now when I know how Homebrew works, I just can't keep using it

[Deleted User]

Anyone regrets upgrading to Big Sur?
I'm still on Catalina and I plan to upgrade to Monterey when it's out. Can't decide what to do with Big Sur - just skip it or give it a try when I still have time before Monterey arrives

Very tempted to give it a try so that I have something to complain about. Though there's also 1Password and I doubt anything can piss me off more than 1Password 8

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

[Deleted User]

@tja said:
Try StrongBox, @yug !
Esp. on iOS, it is fantastic and still OK on Mac

Ok, thanks. I'll have a look
I plan to keep using 1Password 7. But eventually the browser extensions will break and I will be forced to look for an alternative

Masanga

@yug said:
Anyone regrets upgrading to Big Sur?
I'm still on Catalina and I plan to upgrade to Monterey when it's out. Can't decide what to do with Big Sur - just skip it or give it a try when I still have time before Monterey arrives

If Catalina is still an option, I'd say stick with it. Big Sur phones home all the time and makes bootable backups as hard as possible to create. I can't think of anything it's actually improved, and my Intel mini is very happy staying on Catalina. Of course M1 devices leave no option.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Masanga

@tja said:

@Masanga said:

@yug said:
Anyone regrets upgrading to Big Sur?
I'm still on Catalina and I plan to upgrade to Monterey when it's out. Can't decide what to do with Big Sur - just skip it or give it a try when I still have time before Monterey arrives

If Catalina is still an option, I'd say stick with it. Big Sur phones home all the time and makes bootable backups as hard as possible to create. I can't think of anything it's actually improved, and my Intel mini is very happy staying on Catalina. Of course M1 devices leave no option.

I thought you can just boot from a Time Machine disk?
No? 😳😱

No, annoyingly Time Machine disks have never been bootable, even in Catalina and earlier; you had to use third-party apps like Super Duper or ChronoSync. There is a Big Sur workaround which I've used successfully with the demo version of ChronoSync (full version, not Express), after which the Express version (included in SetApp, for those who have that) is sufficient for subsequent backups so long as you don't need to update the system version – which would require erasing the volume and starting over with a fresh Big Sur install. It might even be possible to use this procedure to make a bootable volume you could then use as a Time Machine backup, though Time Machine's heavy reliance on symlinks would make me nervous of trying.