I've only recently gotten a MacBook after using Linux Pretty much exclusively for over twenty years. And I have to say I'm really surprised how much I like it. For gaming it's all right, but not great. Factorio works but not much else.
But for that I still have my Bazzite or Steam Deck. I really encourage you to try Linux for gaming. It's incredible what Valve has achieved on that front.
Currently looking at the top 20 Steam games [0] for today, excluding non-games like Wallpaper Engine. 8 out of 20 work on Mac natively. Out of the remaining 12, 3 of them work with Crossover, so that makes it 11 out of 20. Almost all of the remaining 9 are competitive FPS games that don't work due to their kernel-level anticheat, almost all of which AFAIK won't work on Linux for the same reason.
Should've clarified: not much else from my collection of favorite games. And that's because of the limited GPU power of the M2 Air, not strictly because the game wouldn't start.
Oh i have a steam deck and am in the process of migrating to linux latest when Win 12 hits. Just some problems with some software like Fusion 360.
I do like Linux alot.
It really is a pity that there’s no working business model around open source maintenance for software like wine. I’m the guy who fixed the wine bug that blocked new iTunes versions, because I like to keep my music in iTunes for easy iPhone sync. I also have Fusion 360 working flawlessly in wine, but the setup process required multiple sessions stepping manually with a debugger to avoid crashes and packaging that as scripts and/or just documenting all the little issues and their fixes and keeping that up to date with fusion updates would be serious work. So nobody is doing it.
CrossOver sells WINE and WINE consulting; I've been a happy customer on and off for about 20 years. If you're bothered by open source WINE i'd say give them a shot. In my experience it's worth the $70 or whatever to get a well-paved GUI path and support.
I’m a happy CrossOver customer myself. But they don’t have enough resources to keep all major Windows apps working well. Which, to me, indicates that the business model of selling support only to those who are willing to pay, while letting everyone use the results for free, isn’t such a great business model.
I'm looking to switch from feeding the default android "recorder" app's .WAV into Gemini 3 Pro (via the app) with (usually just) a `Transcribe this please:` prompt; content is usually German voice instructions/explanation for how to do/approach some sysadmin stuff; there does tend to be some amount of interjecting (primarily for clarifications(-posing/-requesting)) by me to resolve ambiguity as early as possible/practical.
If e.g. parakeet can be run on my phone in real time showing the transcript live:
- with latency low enough to be "comfortable enough" for the instructor to keep an eye on and approve the transcribed instructions
[not necessarily every word of the transcript, i.e., a commanded "edit" doesn't need to be applied in the outcome as long as it's nature is otherwise clear enough to not add meaningful amounts of ambiguity to the final "written" instructions]
by glancing at the screen while dictating the explanation (and blurting out any transcription complaints as soon as that's possible without breaking one's own string-of-thought or spoken grammar too much)
, I'd very happily switch to that approach instead of what I was doing.
Bonus if there's a no-bulky-or-expensive-hardware way to accommodate us both speaking over each other so I won't have to _interrupt_ his speaking just to put a clarifying comment (on what he just said) in the transcript for him to see and sign off, where the at least "only" briefly interrupts his thoughts right while he actually reads my transcribed words (he doesn't have to hear them, and it's better if he won't; I can probably get him to put on earmuffs to not hear me louder than he hears his thoughts, and a sufficiently-smoothed SNR meter for specifically his voice should take care him regulating his volume while the earmuffs mute it and I occasionally talk over him)...
parakeet is amazing, it has completely ousted whisper for me. On Linux, both handy.computer and epicenter Whispering (using parakeet of course) work incredibly well for set-and-forget STT. I use it constantly to write messages on Slack/Teams, do debate with claude code etc. Both have minor bugs, but I can easily accept those, these apps being FOSS and all.
On Mac, I've been using VoiceInk and it's even better. VoiceInk (and MacWhisper too, IIRC) use the neural engine and the delay between dictation and appearance of the typed text is almost imperceptible.
I've been using my own domain for mail like that for over fifteen years now, and it happened only once that I've had to explain "no I don't work at $drugstore" when giving my "drugstore@mydomain.tld". And even that one time only got me like a weird look, but no further discussion. I enter my mail address into some form myself most of the time, after all.
That's not a typo, I actually own this device and couldn't believe at first this thing spins with ninety thousand rpm. A lot has happened since my last 5400rpm hdd bit the dust.
Well the inconvenience is kind of the point. I don't want another app on my phone to allow me to indulge.
The point is that I have to walk, physically move, to the corner where the plug is, push the button and be allowed to procrastinate. That is the design hurdle, not so high as to block completely, but just high enough that I don't get sucked into the endless feed each time I'm bored.
Edit: Also I want the granularity. Ads should always - without exception - be blocked. Social media should be allowed on demand and within the rules.
Alas, none of it is made up - honestly. My wife and I kept finding ourselves in the garden on a beautiful day scrolling reddit and instagram for up to an hour, on several occasions. We kind of know we're wasting our time, and we kind of want to, too. It's kind of a constant struggle of uber-me against animal-me and I really hope this moderation tool works how I image it.
After I read Neils post I've completed the entire setup - including blog post - in maybe three hours. So if this keeps me from doom scrolling for an hour at least three times, I've gained some time back.
You really are a very good technical communicator.
Me and the wiff (not a spelling mistake! - very silly joke) find ourselves doing a similar thing and we are probably rather older than you (50-60).
The world is changing very quickly and who knows what is "right"? I love your approach and that your missus obviously supports your mild madness. You clearly have a great relationship.
Keep an eye on what is really important and don't "sweat the small stuff" as our US mates say.
But for that I still have my Bazzite or Steam Deck. I really encourage you to try Linux for gaming. It's incredible what Valve has achieved on that front.
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