I also tried using Ubuntu with i3 for several months. I went back to an iMac, for two reasons:
1) a 5K 27" screen means I can have 3 or sometimes even 4 columns of code on screen in my Emacs at the same time, and there is no way to get 5K with a PC
2) the totally broken clipboard in Linux causes constant annoyance: I want reliable, predictable copy/paste for text that works the same in every application, with the same keystrokes, and that does not auto-copy on selection (this is important, because I often want to paste OVER a selection)
All the other complaints I had were minor: I was able to somehow get the hardware to work, I did not connect external monitors (which has always been a disaster in Linux), stuff mostly worked. But these two were showstoppers.
I don't understand your clipboard remark. Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V works everywhere.
Emacs by default uses a different copy-yank shortcut system, but that too works perfectly well with the clipboard out of the box since some years ago.
In order to have the clip stay alive when the sender closes, your desktop environment has to do something I think, but that too works out of the box in GNOME, I just tested it. If that was your problem, you were perhaps just missing something in your i3 setup? I think it is to be understood that choosing a more fiddly tool means having to be spend more time fiddling with it. A default install of the big distros are not fiddly.
In addition to that, you also have the convenient middle-button instant copy-paste thing.
By default ctrl-c is already taken for something else so the default is shift-ctrl-c/v. But yeah, sure you can open the settings and change it to that if you want.
I am not sure I understand what you mean? You can even run 8k screens, though gaming at that resolution is quite demanding on your GPU. What is the problem with 5k?
2) That is a setting in your clipboard manager, e.g. klipper. "Same in every application": You have three bindings to choose from (CUA, emacs, vim) and are free to pick just one.
> 1) a 5K 27" screen means I can have 3 or sometimes even 4 columns of code on screen in my Emacs at the same time, and there is no way to get 5K with a PC
I assume that you are using the native 5k resolution instead of the default 1440p resolution?
In any case, yes, it is sad that there are still no commodity 5K monitors yet, I want integer scaling for 1440p.
> 2) the totally broken clipboard in Linux causes constant annoyance: I want reliable, predictable copy/paste for text that works the same in every application
This is probably my number 1 rage point with Microsoft Office products. No matter what I do, it persists in trying to do some kind of fucked rich-text copy/paste that mangles whatever I paste into. It's so bad that I've taken to pasting into Notepad first and copying from there to try to ensure that I only get text.
Tangentially related, but I hate by-default enabled middle mouse paste on Firefox. I use autoscroll (hold middle mouse) to browsing, and it keeps sending paste on the site. Why is it enabled by default??
At best it's mild inconvenience, at worst it leaks company data to outside websites that bother to capture it.
Because this is how copy-paste always worked on X11.
I'm used to it, so I hate apps that don't respect it. The option to disable it is an app-specific option to override the environment's default behaviour.
I use quick kind of flicks, so it's not a long time total the button is pressed. It also requires quite minimal amount of force to press. Concern is appreciated though
Middle mouse doesen't scroll by default as far as i know, autoscroll has to be enabled from the settings. The functionalities seem to overlap when scrolling is enabled, which isn't expected.
Auto-pasting clipboard contents has security implications, whilst not having it only has inconvenience
I am addicted to the keyboard shortcuts and touchpad in OSX. I would love to know if there is a Linux OS that can replicate the keyboard experience of OSX. I can live with a subpar touchpad experience but not the keyboard.
Keyboard shortcuts are completely configurable in many Linux desktop environments. I use XFCE, where I simply open up Keyboard settings to edit them.
On my laptop that has a Synaptics touchpad that supports advanced gestures in Windows (with 2, 3 and 4 fingers), I was also able to get them to work under Linux with very little trouble and with complete configurability - I can assign any gesture to any action.
1) a 5K 27" screen means I can have 3 or sometimes even 4 columns of code on screen in my Emacs at the same time, and there is no way to get 5K with a PC
2) the totally broken clipboard in Linux causes constant annoyance: I want reliable, predictable copy/paste for text that works the same in every application, with the same keystrokes, and that does not auto-copy on selection (this is important, because I often want to paste OVER a selection)
All the other complaints I had were minor: I was able to somehow get the hardware to work, I did not connect external monitors (which has always been a disaster in Linux), stuff mostly worked. But these two were showstoppers.