new mac book air: from linux pc to macOS

[dakkar]

dear all,

I am really considering to buy the next mac book air as it will be released.
nowadays I am a linux user on PC hardware, and I am happy with it. The main reason for this change is the opportunity to use microsoft office, as unluckly it is used in my institute and I have to use it extensively.

I have done my mind so I am quite sure to buy the mac however I have some question to make you to speed up the transition and understand if I can really work as I want under macOS.

1) is the shell 100% compatible between debian and mac os? if not is there a way to make it?
2) Mosto of my work is done in command line and very few by mouse. I want to be able to work and administrate the system from command line. is it possible?
3) I really like apt-get like software manager. is there some project to have a complete and update repository with similar software manager?
4) can I install gnome and remove the graphics interface macOS?
5) can I install GCC to compile software?

thank you in advance

--
Claudio

 

[bp1000]

Why switch?

Sounds like the CLI style of working suits you

Run window xp in virtualbox and use office through that

 

[seepel]

1) is the shell 100% compatible between debian and mac os? if not is there a way to make it?
2) Mosto of my work is done in command line and very few by mouse. I want to be able to work and administrate the system from command line. is it possible?
3) I really like apt-get like software manager. is there some project to have a complete and update repository with similar software manager?
4) can I install gnome and remove the graphics interface macOS?
5) can I install GCC to compile software?

I was in your shoes a few years ago when I switched. I think you'll like it, Mac OS X is basically the most user friendly Linux Distro out there.

1) Not quite Scripting syntax is the same but many of the utilities are the bsd version rather than the gnu version so some options might be different.
2) It certainly can be, but I think you'll find the System Preferences GUI to be quite helpful
3) You bet there are two projects, macports and fink (I prefer macports) although these may be more like port from bsd or portage former gentoo they both get the job done
4) I believe this can be done if you really want to, though I think documentation is a bit scarce these days, I'd suggest you try it out for a while before you give up on it.
5) Yup it comes with the XCode Developer tools as an extra install and is a free download from Apple.

 

[rovitotv]

I am a huge Linux user myself

The switch between Linux and MacOS will cause you some difficulty. I love my Macs and don't want to discourage you but the mac is closer to BSD than Linux (as a previous poster already mentioned). The development tools on the Mac are nice and I have been successful with moving large scale development projects C++ (mostly) between Mac and Linux so it can be done. It is possible to triple or dual boot Macs and I do that often which might be an option for you. The MBA can be limiting in the regard to triple/dual boot because of the lack of disk space. Good luck I hope this post helps...

 

[firewood]

Easiest way to get exactly the Linux distribution you want, plus Mac Office & Mac apps, is to run your Linux distro in a Virtual Box VM under Mac OS.

You can run a Mac pretty much as a BSD Unix machine from the Terminal or X11 Term command line. That will be slightly different from Linux.

gcc, and the even better LLVM compilers come with an Xcode install. The latest version of Xcode is only $4.99 from the Mac App store.