What OS are we running these days?
The Surface Duo 2 was calling out to me from the shelf and I just love this little digital book. So I thought I'd go all Surface for a bit so I can use one pen on everything.
Windows has begrudgingly allowed me to install my cross platform note taking combo of Joplin and Saber, but fought both of them claiming they are not frequently downloaded and made me jump through so many hoops to install them. I hate windows. But this is my only option on the Pro X.
I like my iPad combo days when I use the mini alongside the big iPad on a magic keyboard. I especially like the big iPad for gigs as its got the built in cellular data. And the iPad mini is probably my favorite little one hand tablet. I'll admit I've been tempted by some older Macbook Airs on Facebook marketplace recently just to see what the whole ecosystem would be like. But I remember not liking MacOS at all the last time I used it.
Then I have a Samsung day and remember how much I love the spen, and for orchestral scores, the taller Ultra screen displays music bigger than the big iPad, but Android apps are missing so much. Android opens up so many hardware possibilities - the XPPen magic note with its nxtpaper screen and fantastic pen, the eInk tablets also with Wacom, the surface duo, samsung folds, so many wonderful and experimental form factors and hardware combinations.
Ubuntu has been great and I was basically good to go with that on the laptop until a few things pushed me back to windows - one game that I don't want to re-buy on steam but I can't get the EA app going on ubuntu, a firmware update for xreal one pros that required windows, and an admittedly very long zoom call that managed to take down about half the desktop functionality in a sudden and rather dramatic zoom crash. I don't know if I can trust zoom on ubuntu (and it may have destroyed windows in a similar manner), but I have to run zoom.
So what are you all running these days?
A little bit of everything except Android because Google doesn’t want me to have an account anymore. I had deleted my old account last summer and now if I try to make a new one they figure out I’m the same person and cancel it because of the multiple account rule—somehow they think my previous account still exists… probably their 🤬AI is hallucinating that it still exists. And going through the incredible hassle of getting to real people and resolving things is more trouble than Google is worth to me at this time. Screw ‘em.
I’ve been kind of rotating between MacOS, Windows, and Linux on M4 Pro Mac mini/RTX 4060 gaming laptop. iOS/iPadOS don’t change for mobile—I have no issues with my iPhone 16e & M2 iPad Air 11, the latter now with a Magic Keyboard I got myself for Christmas. I like it.
Windows 11 on the 1TB SSD on my Lenovo Legion gaming laptop is minimized, cleaned of crapware and neutered so that it never checks for updates (via Titus Windows Utility). It’s only for gaming that won’t play well on Mac or Linux, so only rarely connected to the internet (for Steam, GOG & NexusMods downloads). Often, if possible, I’ll download on my iPhone and transfer to the laptop via the LocalSend app.
Mac by preference for anything else.
Linux on my laptop’s 2TB SSD for an occasional, temporary change of pace—it always breaks my Skyrim modded setup sooner or later no matter what distro I try (too many dependencies maintained by too many different hobby/spare time programmers… most of whom hate Nvidia)—and I’ve gone through a dozen different ones in the past six months.
Kindle Paperwhite + Scribe round it out. I’m pretty satisfied with my assortment of devices at this time. Which is fortunate since the 🤬AI-bubble high-prices & shortage of RAM makes getting new stuff most likely out of my budget for a long time to come. Rumor has it that Valve will probably delay the Steam Machine for a better time some years from now. The price will be too high to be successful right now. 😿