Linux Might Finally See Mainline Support For The Current Apple MacBook Keyboard/Touchpad

[Sonadow]

This is interesting work, but to be honest, if you want to run Linux on a laptop, don't use a Macbook Pro. You will fix one issue, only to encounter another one. System76...

...does not ship to China. That's a very good reason to not get one.

And I can purchase a barebones Clevo and build it to spec for lesser.

[Mangix]

Gonna just leave this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geGmC1xI4zo

Linux better than OS X. That's just hillarious.

[brrrrttttt]

Not a single PDF tool on Linux has the functionality of Preview.

Preview is waaaaaayyyy more than a PDF tool... And, yes, nothing else on any platform touches it by a country mile. I wish something on Linux could be even half as good.

[kgonzales]

...does not ship to China. That's a very good reason to not get one.

And I can purchase a barebones Clevo and build it to spec for lesser.

That’s not an out of the box solution. It also demonstrates the low value you place on your own time.

[kgonzales]

Preview is waaaaaayyyy more than a PDF tool... And, yes, nothing else on any platform touches it by a country mile. I wish something on Linux could be even half as good.

I agree! Instead there are a bunch of half baked tools focused on using different UI frameworks and not innovating the actual tool.

This is a huge blocker for me moving back to a Linux desktop. I’d even pay for a better solution for Linux that was nearly as good as Preview.

[kgonzales]

Even if this driver does add support for the keyboard and trackpad, it does not change the fact that the current Macbooks and Macbook Pros with the T2 security chip blocks access to the SSD if the OS is not macOS or Windows.

It has already been proven that a Linux installation ISO cannot see the onboard SSDs at all, even with 'No Security' selected on the Secure Boot configuration.

Exactly. The new Mac hardware is essentially purpose built for MacOS. There is a mountain of better hardware available for Linux.

[starshipeleven]

Your opinion of awful is not shared by everyone. I personally don't care about the ability to self-repair my laptop, replace the battery, upgrade, what have you. I was on that train and now I am off of it. I just want stuff to get done, and I want to migrate to a new piece of hardware with the least issues possible when I want to upgrade.

And since we are sharing opinions as facts... Pro Tip: If your main focus is productivity, you still want MacOS. There is nothing available on Linux which matches the functionality of the basic productivity tools on MacOS. Especially if you use CalDAV or CardDAV. Sad but true. Not a single PDF tool on Linux has the functionality of Preview. And Mail is demonstrably better than every other mail client on Linux. If quantity of free solutions is your game, sure, Linux. But quality? MacOS.

The added irony is that if you use a Google account, you have BETTER support for calendar and contact integration overall than if you use CalDAV and CardDAV with Linux. Same is true for Android vs iOS. CalDAV and CardDAV are not supported out of the box on Android. Works amazingly well on iOS. I wish Linux and Android supported more open standards...

There, fresh bait. Let the clicks begin.

I'll throw some gas on the fire:

The only thing you can compare MacOS to and still win is Linux.

Windows is much better bang for the buck and the hardware is not guaranteed to die within a couple years if you do any kind of intensive task with it or if you happen to spill a little water on it.

And this is especially true for people that want to "get stuff done", as that's where most applications are.

There are five zillions CalDAV/CardDAV sync apps for Android and Linux, so wtf are you on.

[rene]

Your opinion of awful is not shared by everyone. I personally don't care about the ability to self-repair my laptop, replace the battery, upgrade, what have you. I was on that train and now I am off of it. I just want stuff to get done, and I want to migrate to a new piece of hardware with the least issues possible when I want to upgrade.

And since we are sharing opinions as facts... Pro Tip: If your main focus is productivity, you still want MacOS. There is nothing available on Linux which matches the functionality of the basic productivity tools on MacOS. Especially if you use CalDAV or CardDAV. Sad but true. Not a single PDF tool on Linux has the functionality of Preview. And Mail is demonstrably better than every other mail client on Linux. If quantity of free solutions is your game, sure, Linux. But quality? MacOS.

The added irony is that if you use a Google account, you have BETTER support for calendar and contact integration overall than if you use CalDAV and CardDAV with Linux. Same is true for Android vs iOS. CalDAV and CardDAV are not supported out of the box on Android. Works amazingly well on iOS. I wish Linux and Android supported more open standards...

There, fresh bait. Let the clicks begin.

my points where facts, and nope, I do not want macOS anymore, full to peak bugs; https://twitter.com/search?q=peakbugs I still use it a bit, also for our commercial macOS software development, and whatever you click you find stuff not working. Why do you even hang on a Linux site when you prefer macOS? I heard macrumors is a fun site, too ;-)? Fun fact I meet few professional Mac users using Apple's Mail.app Im my professional computer scientist experience quality of Linxu is >>> than macOS where everything is clobbereted together with a sugar facade. Fact ist Apple increasingly removes features, ups the price, while having tons of hardware problems, from crappy keyboards, to bending devices, or desoldering ICs, and underrated capacitors. Not to mention soldered on SSD, glued in batteries, and a T2 chips that prevents full use on OtherOSs.

[rene]

I agree! Instead there are a bunch of half baked tools focused on using different UI frameworks and not innovating the actual tool.

This is a huge blocker for me moving back to a Linux desktop. I’d even pay for a better solution for Linux that was nearly as good as Preview.

hold my beer, guess I need to publish the PDF Viewer / Editor based on our in-house PDF library ;-) https://exactcode.com/technology/pdf/
Right now we only use the "viewer" fronted for internal debugging and testing, …

[Guest]

They have had quality issues with the keyboard, which they need to continue to address. But otherwise, how is the internals, the screen, etc. taking a step backwards?

Who said anything about the internals? I'm mainly referring to the horrible keyboard, the touch strip and lack of function keys and the limited port selection.