I feel like I'm in an abusive relationship with Ubuntu.

I love it but whenever I'm with it it screws up my environment and doesn't work when I need it to.

I go back to Windows reluctantly and get everything set up and stable. I'm happy, but not excited about it. And then, within a few months, I get that thought. Maybe if I put enough work in I can make Ubuntu work for me as my main environment.

Sounds like you need to pick a minimal Linux system and learn by installing everything.

@jonjo I've been running Linux and Ubuntu for years and I run it on all of my servers as well as dual booting it on my desktop. My problem is that no Linux distribution is designed for ultrabooks, especially those with touch screens. I have the dell XPS 13, which I ordered with 14.04 on it. That worked alright, but 16.04 completely tanked all the drivers, and unity was never great for touch screens to begin with.

I get the same feeling about customizing my terminal.I revisit every few months to get it to look like something I use in a different environment.

@willbeddow I use windows 10 on mine... Linux on desktop and server only.

@jonjo yeah, that's what I always end up doing. But then Ubuntu calls to me again. At least it gets me to check my backups and clean up my ssd every couple months.

@willbeddow ubuntu shell on windows is pretty crap isnt it 😂

@jonjo good for ssh and literally nothing else

@willbeddow ssh works? 😅 am use to putty

And then you buy a Mac and everything just works.

@deusprogrammer yes, I'm sure buying a mac will give me the touch screen support I'm looking for.

@willbeddow what on earth does a developer need a touch screen for?

@deusprogrammer yes, because all anyone uses their laptop for is programming. I use my touch screen every day to take notes and sketch diagrams. It's also super convenient just browsing around the web or doing stuff. But I suppose you're right, I should just shell out $2000+ so I can have a system that doesn't support the things I want, but all the crap I don't want "just works".

@willbeddow touch screen is also great for making annoted quick "how-to" guides. I use a surface pro 4 - and this is one of my favourite aspects of the device.

@kunashe sounds cool. I was skeptical when I first ordered my laptop (I only initially got it because I couldn't get the higher resolution screen w/o it) but I find myself using it all the time. Another thing I use it for is Android Studio, I can try out a UI feature in the emulator instead of having to hook up my phone to see what it's like on a touch screen.

@willbeddow I own a Surface Pro 4 too. It is great for sketching and diagramming. But in general a $1000 Mac makes for a great Unix based development environment. But hey, thanks for the sarcasm mate.

@deusprogrammer I just don't think it's fair to say "everything just works" when you just admitted that you use a separate machine because not everything "just works". It's fine if you like OS X, but don't claim it's some magical OS that'll imbue any computer with unicorn tears and fairy dust.

@willbeddow I never made such a claim. I am just saying if you like Linux and you want an OS that you don't need to tweak to work with your specific hardware (goddamned wireless cards), then Mac is a great compromise. For specific needs (like touch screens with active digitizer), you really don't have a lot of options...especially not ones that really play nicely with Linux.

So I just carry a Mac for development and a Surface Pro for diagramming and sketching. Granted an iPad Pro would work nicely too. Unfortunately there is no such thing as something that will meet all of your needs. Usually you need a couple devices to accomplish that.

@deusprogrammer I think that carrying around two devices defeats the whole point of an ultrabook. And BTW, I have all of that, right now, on windows. It works great with the touch screen and thanks to bash on ubuntu on windows I have a unix workstation. My complaint was that I **wish** ubuntu had touchscreen support.

So when you said that buying a mac would make everything "just work", I object.

@willbeddow well then I think we misunderstood each other as that wasn't my intention.

@deusprogrammer have you heard about mobile devices? It seems a big thing now. XD

Dude. Really? Android! iPhones, tablets, gps, car tech, home systems. . .
The world is much bigger than the Mac OS video-effects/developer performance tools.

@Canilho no shit asshole

I swear, I mention that I like Mac and why I like it and everyone jumps down my fucking throat.

@deusprogrammer calm down m8.
Touch support is very important right now, even if our tech still has a lot to be done in this field.
And a Mac is not better (or worse) than any other linux system for that.(yet)

@Canilho you can test on physical mobile devices though. To me, having a touch screen (with an active digitizer) is great when you want to diagram or do remote collaboration with ease...but not so much for testing mobile apps. I'm not arguing the usefulness of a touch screen. Never was.