I have been using Linux on and off from the first shipped CDs from Ubuntu. Nowadays I mainly use OS X, because my employer provides us with MacBooks I can use in private and I like the UNIX base and I do not have to tinker to get things to work.

I just set up an old Thinkpad for my kids to start their digital journey with Linux Mint and am considering switching my private stuff to a separate computer.

What I really love about OS X is the consistent usage of alt and the command keys. It basically follows the concept: „you want to do something, press Command + …“ and „you want an alternative character? Press alt + …“.

My experience is that Linux key usage was inspired by Windows at first and Windows did not have a Command key.

Would it be hard to get the same behavior as on OS X with a Linux system?

  • @[email protected]English
    5•1 year ago

    If it helps, the Windows/Linux logic is basically:

    • Ctrl key for triggering actions within an application.
    • Alt key for navigating the UI of an application via the keyboard.
    • Meta/Super/Windows key for triggering actions outside of applications (on the OS level).

    Well, and Ctrl, Alt, Shift also serve for alternative characters when you’re typing. And some application or OS shortcuts wildly combine modifiers for more complex keybindings. And of course, some applications just didn’t get the note of how this generally works. I won’t claim, it really follows rules, but yeah, it’s not generally complete chaos either.