Linux, and why I just can’t not be a dev
I’ve been on a mac for the last 8 years. My productivity has definitely increased by a big factor and I definitely like the fact that things just work. It has, at least for me. I’ve tried to learn a couple of new programming languages/tools in this 8 years and I must say I am able to focus more on the work than on anything else. It is sort of a kool-aid that I have fully drunk and have a big stash hiding away.
That said, I hate the new macbook pros. I am writing this on a 2015 model MBP. I feel that was the last sane model. Not that I hate the touchbar or anything — I have managed to graduate out of vim and emacs (and kinda lost that war to Sublimes and VSCodes). So I rarely punch the F-keys. But the idea felt it meant to impress the kids. Of course, the creative folks are all ranting about how AAPL may have ditched them. I guess the devs in between are fully affected — I don’t think this group was ever in AAPLs minds when they design or develop the macs. We may be incidental.
But hey, if this one gives up there is a very high chance I’d pick another MBP without the cool touch bar and live with the keyboard (another thing I hate in the new macs. They don’t seem to press down at all). Because the hardware stability is well worth it. And the software stability (even if locked down) is quite ok too. So long as the rest of the eco system continues to support this group.
In the last couple of years, though, I have been itching to get a linux box on stand by. To re-learn everything I was good at when I was hanging around with linux all the time. I am not really old enough to say — “in those days” but it does feel like that at times. So I set out to salvage our old MBA 2010 model with Kali linux. Too many unknowns. In the past years, so many things have changed that I felt stupid searching for BIOS settings for the MAC. Ok, not really but you get the idea. Kali because that’s the only distro that seems to reliably boot an MBA (and it does, btw). After a tonne of googling (as opposed to just brute forcing an installation that I’d have done 8 years back), I got a nice tutorial on how to do this. Precisely the reason I feel I need to have a good linux box around and spend quality time with it to stay sharper.
When I picked up the mac and started to drift away from the linux eco system, I was dreaming. I was dreaming that sooner or later, I’d stop writing code. I’d either write about writing code, talk about writing code or manage other people who are writing code. But in this 8 years I figured, even if I did all those things I don’t enjoy them as much as I enjoy writing code. I guess am wired to be a dev. And as a dev, not being in control of the machine seems like a bad place to be. So the salvaged machine has to be my ride back home.
I might not stop writing code and I might not start writing that code on linux either. I guess I’ll always hold a reasonably powerful macbook variant at all times. But I am sure I’ll always keep a handy linux box for all the hacking away at the new stuff. That is, perhaps, my only way to remain sharp enough to do meaningful work.
