[smt88]

Developing C, JS/Node, Go, Python, and Ruby on Linux rocks. I liked it way better than using OS X, but then again, all of the apps I used were cross-platform. Is there anything on OS X-only that you think you'd miss? For example, you should definitely investigate any RDBMS GUI that you use on OS X, because there's nothing great in that area for Linux.

Audio production is... another matter. Linux certainly has hardware weaknesses, even in areas that have been massively improved (like GPU drivers). I've also done kernel upgrades that randomly broke drivers and had to revert. So honestly the audio/CNC/laser cutter/3D printer thing is much more iffy.

Consuming media through the laptop is another sticking point. I had tons of bizarre issues with Chrome/Firefox and streaming video sites. It was just a mess.

I'd be very wary of Arch, as well. If this is your primary work computer, I strongly suggest a distro with a well-funded corporate backer. Arch is also going to give you cutting-edge updates, but sometimes (theoretically) at the expense of breaking things.

Have you considered a Hackintosh? And what's keeping you off of Windows? Since Vagrant/Docker, developing on Windows doesn't require huge sacrifices, and driver/media support on Windows is better than any other OS.

[adnanh]

Really good RDBMS GUI for Linux (and other platforms) https://www.jetbrains.com/dbe/

[smt88]

I honestly can't thank you enough for pointing this out to me. I love JetBrains products, and I had no idea this existed!!

[markhuge]

> Is there anything on OS X-only that you think you'd miss?

I've paid for a lot of software that can't run on Linux, but I feel like I've gotten the value out of most of them. In theory everything I do either works in Linux natively or has a Linux equivalent. I just haven't tried any of it on modern hardware to know if it'll actually work.

> Have you considered a Hackintosh? And what's keeping you off of Windows?

Most of the reasons for switching to Linux are related to OS/security/privacy/automation tweaks that I haven't been able to make work (or work reliably) in Windows/OSX. I have all that stuff working in Linux today, but my hardware is too out of date to do the bulk of my work on.

Honestly, I could probably spend some time in mastering powershell, and educating myself on the current state of Windows and maybe do everything I want, it's just not something I'm interested in doing.

> Consuming media through the laptop is another sticking point. I had tons of bizarre issues with Chrome/Firefox and streaming video sites. It was just a mess.

This has been my experience as well, but I'm also on 7 year old hardware.