Switching From Mac to Linux
So, over the past couple of months, I’ve been working… somewhat actively on getting my digital life off of Mac and onto Linux. Namely, I bought a used ThinkPad from Raven ReTek and slapped Linux (specifically, PikaOS), Steam, Vivaldi, and a couple of games on it. In fact, so many games that I think I might need to install a new NVMe sooner rather than later.
Progress! … Er, not so much. Problem is, even though I installed a bunch of shit onto my new ThinkPad, it’s still not my daily driver. I’m typing this post out on my MacBook Pro and my ThinkPad is sitting on my nightstand. Truth be told, I don’t know when the last time I powered it up was.
Moving tabs from Firefox to Vivaldi… or otherwise triaging them
I have a LOT of tabs open across two browsers. Well, three if you include the stuff I have open on Brave since my last big browser migration. Okay, six if you include the browsers on my iPhone. Where were we? Ah yes, moving tabs from Firefox to Vivaldi.
The thing is, most of my tabs can be sorted into one of three categories.
Close the tab now.
The arguably least controversial of the three categories. Either a YouTube video I’ve already watched or the 50th instance of Facebook. Either way, these tabs can be closed without any regret. Thankfully, I was able to do this as I was starting to do the research for this post. Namely, I was able to close a couple of tabs that had research for one of my novels and bring it into Scrivener.
Can be triaged some other way.
Either through clipping it via Evernote or saved into a cart or faved on the Shop app. Most notably for stores on the Shopify platform. This is arguably easier to deal with as it takes these tabs out of the browser and puts them in a place where I can give them the attention they deserve (read: none at all until it’s time to buy the shit for products or Evernote/Simple Notes when it’s time to act.)
Thing is, every open tab should be something that is actionable. Preferably, something that is actionable in the next month or that I’m actively working on.
Needs to make the move.
It’s a tab that needs to be moved from Firefox to Vivaldi, which means finding the right workspace to shove it into and making the call.
Moving documents to Proton Drive
The next thing that needs to happen is moving documents from my Mac to Proton Drive.
No Linux GUI client, though.
The one problem I have with Proton Drive, though, is that there is no Linux GUI client. This is a problem, especially as someone who writes novels with Scrivener and might want a cloud backup.
Replicating the workflow (or finding alternatives)
Part of replicating my weebflow workflow means that the jump from my Mac to my Linux laptop should feel like an upgrade, not like I’m stumbling. But sadly, there are still some stumbling blocks that make it harder to actually make the leap and start thinking about repurposing my MacBook Pro.
Typing accents on characters
Having just wrote a novel where I have a character whose name is accented, I cannot fathom leaving her name as just “Elodie” instead of Élodie. In Mac, it’s second nature on how to type that accent above the é. Just hold the option key, hit e and then type the letter that gets accented. For example: á, ó, é, ú, í. I know how to do this for the accent aigu, the accent grave, the circonflex, the tréma, the cedilla, the little thing that goes above the ñ in Spanish sometimes…
I have a workflow that makes it incredibly easy, especially as someone who types on the Dvorak keyboard. How do I find a way to do this and make the leap in Linux?
Alfred
One of my favourite tools on my Mac is Alfred. Whether it’s copying the contact details for someone so I can shoot them a text or accessing my clipboard history, I use Alfred a lot. And part of the migration is going to have to be finding an equivalent to Alfred in Linux.
Scrivener
Unfortunately, it appears that I’m still having difficulty with installing Scrivener. Wine didn’t appear to work well when I followed this guide about installing Scrivener on Linux. I also attempted to install it with Faugus… and I’m wondering if it’s time to start looking at distrohopping? Maybe I should try Nyarch Linux next?
Making this blog live, on the public Internet
Lastly, this blog. Originally, when I started writing this post, this blog was not yet live on the public Internet… for reasons I’ve talked about. However, bringing the blog online has reduced one point of dependency on my Mac.
So, in summary, as much as I’d love to make the leap to having Linux be my primary OS, maybe I should do a little bit of distrohopping and install Nyarch?
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