I undid it. Leaving Linux to go back to Mac OS after several months was something that I did not foresee. However, this thing is more nuanced, and it's not the end of the line.
Technically, I had never left Mac OS, as I kept my MacBook Pro on Monterey (offline) for music production anyway. So, what happened? In a nutshell, it's pretty simple. I used Linux as a daily ride for months, on a 2015 MacBook Air, and I loved it. Until my eyes got strained, and the machine started to get progressively sluggish. Jumping from distro to distro failed to solve the decaying performance situation. To be fair, the MacBook Air had zero hardware issues with Linux — I even managed to have its FaceTime camera working during live video calls — but the non-retina tiny screen took a toll that I had not anticipated.
A few weeks ago, I managed to get a large 27" old-ish iMac from the office, to be used when working from home. That's where I now have migrated any music production activities. While I was very much looking forward to freeing my retina 15" MacBook Pro to become my improved Linux machine, reality hit differently. I suppose it might be due to the machine's internal workings, a dual Intel/ATI Radeon GPU, different hardware components. I have tried everything, again across multiple Linux distributions, but the machine never managed to sail straight like its tiny less powerful Air twin. Fans problems, cooling issues, unnerving crashes, random restarts, kernel panicking.
I also got slightly annoyed at the ever-changing idiosyncrasies between desktop environments, the disconnected plethora of different package distributors, extensions and whatnot. However, that was never a deal breaker. I figured I just need to settle on a distro, a desktop environment, a reduced selection of add-ons and configurations, and focus on that.
Which, in the end, I did.
While Linux is not my daily ride anymore, I've been happily juggling a hybrid situation where my MacBook Pro running Mac OS Monterey (mostly offline) is paired with the MacBook Air, now running Debian 12 Bookworm (mostly online). This set up has been quite stable and working very well. The two computers are mostly interchangeable. However, what decades with Mac OS have shown to me is how much I do appreciate a smooth workflow. Like it or not, Mac OS, when set up and used sensibly, is a damn stable and efficient Unix system, with a great — albeit ruined by vindictive engineers — consistent GUI.
A major personal realisation
Observing the way I've used my tech over the last year or so, one thing is clear: it has drastically changed. I don't feel a problem using Mac OS — even though my deep hate for Apple is not going anywhere — mostly because I've been moving away so much from their way of doing computing that it's now just another Unix distribution to me.
Looking at this granularly:
- I don't use their software, other than Text Edit and Preview.
- Every time I'm online with Mac OS, I make sure that Little Snitch catches and blocks everything I don't want to be near to. Including iCloud shit, Apple News crap, or anything that they've been working hard for their dystopian walled garden. Little Snitch is coupled with a pretty restrictive hosts file.
- Of course anything remotely connected to trackers and/or ads gets zapped at the source in the browser.
- Notifications are close to zero.
The above is coupled with my hardware situation: a 2015 MacBook Pro, 10-year old, repaired and maintained multiple times (screen, battery, logic board, SSD drive); a 2015 MacBook Air, 10-year old, acquired for free. Finally, a Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 from 2019, 6-year old, running Lineage OS 21 (Android 14). Fully de-Googled, with an always-on system-wide tracker blocker that's zapping anything at the source. The only notifications come from my alarm, the phone application, and Signal. Its battery capacity is still at 98.9%, which translates to 2.5 days of use before recharging.
I won't be purchasing anything new from Apple, or any other vile ultra-capitalist conglomerate. I'll keep using old hardware while it works. I also know that any future choice will be facilitated by knowing how easily I can switch between OSes.
I don't feel the need for hortodoxy or ideology at this stage of my life, the only thing I was looking for was principles, and freedom. My current setup sounds like curated freedom, and it feels good.
