Giving Apple yet another chance to convince me it is not just a bad joke.

[jar_]

I gave up on Apple products about a decade ago even though I had tried to find some redeeming features since the Apple IIe.

Times have changed though and so in my continuing pandemic replacement for most every other activity I've been finding old computer boxes and updating them and giving them new life. A few have been Windows, most by far have ended up as Linux Boxes and I've been able to give some to kids that otherwise would have not had anything and it's been fun and less expensive than golf or skiing or sail boats or sports cars or ...

I also set up a rotating herd of units that pretty much only let me test various software but mostly just do World Community Grid science calculations.

I found a Macbook Pro 13" 2012 model at a garage sale and have cleaned it up, upgraded RAM some and changed it to an SSD drive so performance has been okay. It's now running Catalina so that part is updated. Yet the whole OS is as annoying and clumsy and nearly impossible to use as what I found a decade or so ago. I just can't ever find a way to do what I want, even when it comes to what really should be simple like uninstalling stuff I don't want like podcasts, TV, Facetime, games ...

I have an old Mac Mini that I think last ran Snow Leopard and found where I'd packed it away and I'll try to get it back up and running; maybe this weekend. But sheesh, Mac OSx is jess plain the most annoying, least friendly, barely usable operating system I've had to deal with and honestly, I've worked with quite few over the last 40+ years.

I'll keep trying. Like my mom said; "Enjoy the things you don't have to keep in shoes, feed or send to college." But that may have been related to having five brothers and sisters.

 

[12stones]

I used to hate anything Apple too and found the OS the same way you describe above, but it was mainly because it was so different than Windows which was all I was used to. And when I switched to all Apple years ago, I struggled with the learning curve. But, now, I find that it's Windows that's clunky. I can smoothly find my way around my Macbook Pro (2013 model that still meets all my computing and photography needs). The seamless integration with my iPhone and iPad just make it all the easier.

 

[APBinNCA]

Good luck! Their ultimate goal is to make Mac OS indistinguishable from iPhone OS then merge the two. With their own proprietary chips now in the computers, they are well on their way. They seem to be completely unconcerned with the professional markets that still use Mac because of certain software.

 

[jar_]

I used to hate anything Apple too and found the OS the same way you describe above, but it was mainly because it was so different than Windows which was all I was used to. And when I switched to all Apple years ago, I struggled with the learning curve. But, now, I find that it's Windows that's clunky. I can smoothly find my way around my Macbook Pro (2013 model that still meets all my computing and photography needs). The seamless integration with my iPhone and iPad just make it all the easier.

So maybe you can tell me how to uninstall stuff like Facetime and Podcasts and AppleTv, the games and News and Social Media stuff.

 

[Lightcs1776]

I love a Linux OS on my my laptop. However, when NVME drives came on my last laptop and it wasn't supported by most versions of Linux, I made the switch to a MacBook Pro. I haven't been disappointed. It does everything I need and I don't have to screw around with Microsoft issues,, such as bad patches or software that slows down my system. I wouldn't mind going back to Linux, but I don't feel I have given anything up with Mac. However, my phone is still Android.

Edit: I found things different from Linux, making some of the things I normally did with ease more difficult, but the more I used it, the more comfortable it became. I still have to look up some things, like taking a selective screen capture. Familiarity makes the system much easier.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[rbscebu]

I only had one Apple product, their IIe Euro+. I couldn't bring myself to accept their "closed garden" approach to marketing. For a few decades after, I was a PC and M$ DOS then Windows user until the end of XP. That switched me over to Linux. Have never looked back.

A bit like SR shaving. Why didn't I start with that years ago?

 

[jar_]

I was mostly Unix and multi-user Dos initially with a little bit of Ultrix.

 

[Lightcs1776]

I was mostly Unix and multi-user Dos initially with a little bit of Ultrix.

I haven't followed it in a few years now, but OpenSolaris used to be pretty decent.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[jar_]

right now I have machines running Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, openSuse, Centos, Windows 10 and Mac OSx. I have several others that I run as tests in a VirtualBox.

 

[Rusty Blade]

I gave up on Apple years ago...and that's the way its going to stay. So much more pleased with my Android phone and Microsoft /Windows based laptop.

 

[jar_]

Saga continues.

I found a power cord for the old Mac Mini and got it to boot. First step was to do a deep format on the old 500BD HDD and then install Catalina. That went slowly but without too much drama. Then it was do the online updates and that took forever but finally even that was done. The old hard drive is an Apple original and while I thought it was fast a decade or so ago when it was new it certainly doesn't compare to modern SSDs.

I'm using an HDMI switch so the Mac Mini and one of the Linux boxes I built can share an old HP 24" monitor and that works pretty well. I had the old Apple wireless keyboard and a generic Bluetooth mouse. It took about three tries to get it to recognize the Apple keyboard but once paired all went smoothly.

The Mac Mini is definitely not as clumsy and annoying as the Macbook Pro but I'll keep working to get the Macbook Pro to respond the way I want rather then the way Apple wants. As usual I hid all the games and news and podcast and social networking stuff until I can figure out how to actually get rid of it. Replaced Safari and Mail with Microsoft Edge and Office 365 so I have Outlook available and Duck-Duck-Go as a search engine.

So far I can see the Mac Mini as certainly useful if slow and cumbersome and I'll get the Macbook Pro whipped into shape some day.

Turns out the Macbook Pro has only had 127 cycles on the battery so it's practically unused. The 2012 was also the last model with the user serviceable battery so odds are this one will still be going strong long after me.

 

[Eben Stone]

So maybe you can tell me how to uninstall stuff like Facetime and Podcasts and AppleTv, the games and News and Social Media stuff.

Not sure if this still works... open finder, applications, find the icon of the app you want to remove, drag it to the trash. You have to do that from the "applications" folder, if that's still a thing.

 

[jar_]

Not sure if this still works... open finder, applications, find the icon of the app you want to remove, drag it to the trash. You have to do that from the "applications" folder, if that's still a thing.

I tried that but it didn't seem to work.

It might be like the xbox stuff in the latest windows.

 

[Andris83]

Saga continues.

I found a power cord for the old Mac Mini and got it to boot. First step was to do a deep format on the old 500BD HDD and then install Catalina. That went slowly but without too much drama. Then it was do the online updates and that took forever but finally even that was done. The old hard drive is an Apple original and while I thought it was fast a decade or so ago when it was new it certainly doesn't compare to modern SSDs.

I'm using an HDMI switch so the Mac Mini and one of the Linux boxes I built can share an old HP 24" monitor and that works pretty well. I had the old Apple wireless keyboard and a generic Bluetooth mouse. It took about three tries to get it to recognize the Apple keyboard but once paired all went smoothly.

The Mac Mini is definitely not as clumsy and annoying as the Macbook Pro but I'll keep working to get the Macbook Pro to respond the way I want rather then the way Apple wants. As usual I hid all the games and news and podcast and social networking stuff until I can figure out how to actually get rid of it. Replaced Safari and Mail with Microsoft Edge and Office 365 so I have Outlook available and Duck-Duck-Go as a search engine.

So far I can see the Mac Mini as certainly useful if slow and cumbersome and I'll get the Macbook Pro whipped into shape some day.

Turns out the Macbook Pro has only had 127 cycles on the battery so it's practically unused. The 2012 was also the last model with the user serviceable battery so odds are this one will still be going strong long after me.

I had some colleagues who, when they got fed up, installed Ubuntu on their MBP. I guess it depends on the hardware, it might be worth some research.

 

[jar_]

I had some colleagues who, when they got fed up, installed Ubuntu on their MBP. I guess it depends on the hardware, it might be worth some research.

I could do that but I already have several boxes running Ubuntu including one laptop. Also a small light Lenovo IdeaPad running Linux Mint.

The exercise is really to test and see if I can make OSx useful or modify ME so I can enjoy OSx.

 

[Andris83]

I could do that but I already have several boxes running Ubuntu including one laptop. Also a small light Lenovo IdeaPad running Linux Mint.

The exercise is really to test and see if I can make OSx useful or modify ME so I can enjoy OSx.

I told my wife to get a MPB for work because it suits her needs, so she did. I tried it, god is it annoying for a Linux user. Also quite disappointing for the price, battery life is on par with a $400 budget laptop. The most annoying thing for me in "apple knowing better what is good for me" is the sleep. The damn thing decides for itself what "sleep" means, there is no way to make it disconnect from wifi during sleep, so it is hogging the network 24/7.
The only thing positive I see with Apple (especially IOS) is privacy. It isn't profiling you all day as your android phone.

 

[jar_]

Since my android phone mostly stays at home when I leave it is free to profile away.

 

[ZJ68]

You can't delete some applications, like the ones you've found. You can safely ignore them. The hard drives Apple put into Macs were the worst ones they could buy. They should all be replaced with SSDs.

 

[jar_]

You can't delete some applications, like the ones you've found. You can safely ignore them. The hard drives Apple put into Macs were the worst ones they could buy. They should all be replaced with SSDs.

Which I did today.

I cloned the little bit I actually had on the 500GB HDD onto an old 250 SSD I had in the pieces parts box.

The Mac Mini is feeling MUCH better now.

 

[Mempho]

Curious about why you run Ubuntu. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I've been away from Linux for the last three years. Is Ubuntu on top now?