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The everyday-laptop, my old Macbook from 2009

Autumn 2024

I mainly use either an old ASUS tablet or my stationary iMac for everyday computing. However due to various reasons I need a laptop to handle a few more tasks that the ASUS tablet isn't really up to par with. I've made a shortlist of functions that I will definately need in the long run.

There are also a few things that I am doubtful about including, but will at least try before deciding "permanently" upon wether it should stay or not.

A screenshot of my Macbook Pro 13

My Macbook Pro 13" running Lubuntu with apps Newsboat and Wordgrinder open

I decided to use my old Macbook Pro 13" from mid 2009 for this task. It's a fully functional computer that didn't have a use within my home, I like both the screen and the keyboard and most of all it's also already in my possession so no investment was necessary.

Fortunately I switched the hard drive for an SSD a number of years ago. It has also got 8 GB of memory so we're at max there. Unfortunately the battery was dead (or near dead) so I needed to order a replacement that set me back around 50 EUR. .

The goal I set was to have a computer that feels "snappy" and doesn't suffer from input lag. I'll be open for both GUI and terminal options for each software - whatever does the job best.

Decisions on OS

First of all I decided to evaluate wether OS X or Linux was the best choice. I had a basic installation of OS X Yosemite ready to go and started out there but ended up with El Capitan which is the latest compatible version of OS X for the 2009 Macbook Pro. There are hacks to install later versions but from what I've read online about the experience it totally contradicts the demand I have for a snappy and lightweight experience. I am not even sure the upgrade from Yosemite to El Capitan can be justified, but now that we're here I won't bother going back.

I also installed a Linux distribution, after some research I settled for Lubuntu which seemed to be the silver lining between a modern distribution while still being lightweight. The LXQt desktop environment also seemed like a pleasant companion.

Over time I will evaluate if OS X or Linux is the better option. I used rEFInd as boot manager and split the hard drive into two OS partitions and one shared Data-partition between them.

Key applications

The criteria for each application has been to provide a lightweight but still powerful enough experience that I am comfortable using it daily. I am open to a moderate learning curve, but honestly if it's too esoteric I won't have the time to learn it. This is a "use when needed"-laptop and not anything I'll spend 8+ hours a day on.

Browser

Lubuntu: Firefox, Falkon, Links2

OS X: Pale Moon, Safari

Given the nature of modern computing, finding a good browser is a key feature and also one of the more difficult tasks on old computers. Partly due to bloat, partly due to security issues. One of the key features of this laptop is to research topics related to renovating and maintenance of our house, which means I won't be able to limit my web searches to lightweight friendly webpages.

For OS X I've decided to use Safari and Pale Moon, while I'm using Firefox, Falcon and Links2 on Linux. All of them have advantages and drawbacks. Safari feels "snappiest" of the lot (except for text-mode Links2) and with this certificates-hack I can access all sites. It often doesn't display websites very well though. Firefox on Linux handles everything but feels a bit slow. Pale Moon works "ok" in all aspects, but not excellent in any. Falcon is quickly accessible and does a decent job on most pages but often run into problems displaying things correct and gives me a headache when I need to log in to BitWarden or visit the online bank (it just doesn't work). Links2 is more of a novelty to me, I seldom use it for any substantial browsing to be honest.

About a month in I'm using Firefox on Linux about 90% of the time. I've realized that 100% functionality will be the winner for me.

Youtube

Lubuntu: Firefox

OS X: Safari or Pale Moon:

A lot of information related to house maintenance lives on Youtube which made it crucial to be able to watch videos there. It's a bloated site to begin with and I have struggled to find a truly suitable replacement.

I evaluated terminal options (mainly ytfzf and yewtube/mps youtube) which worked okay I guess, but the drawbacks (no scrobbling, performance, prone to errors) were to severe to keep me interested.

At this point I have resided to just use Firefox on Linux or Safari on OS X and live with the slow experience. I'm not really happy about it but it works decent enough.

Word processing / text editing

Lubuntu: Wordgrinder, Libre Office, nano

OS X: Wordgrinder, MS Office 2011, nano

I found Wordgrinder earlier this year and instantly fell for it. Just the tagline "designed to get the hell out of your way" made it obvious that I would love it. It's a very useful writing tool that proves useful enough for most cases which has also proven to be true for the last month since it's been the only word processor I've used during that period. Luckily I got it to work on both Lubuntu and OS X.

I also have the Libre Office suite installed on Lubuntu but haven't used it at all so far.

On OS X I have my old installation of the Microsoft Office 2011 suite that still works absolutely good enough.

For text files I use nano because of simplicity. The learning curve for vim or Emacs is just too steep for my life situation and I don't really need more than nano can offer. It's also convenient that it exists on basically any platform (even including MorphOS). OS X internal editor is also decent enough. Since I left the Amiga and CygnusED I haven't felt a deep connection with any editor, so I use what's available. I might even install [Brackets] on the laptop somewhere along the road since I really like that on my iMac.

Playing music

Lubuntu: Musikcube

OS X: iTunes

Last month I decided to drop my Spotify account and instead spend roughly the same amount on buying music on CD, LP, MC or MP3. I've also started to rip all the music from my CD collection. This means that I could really use almost any player out there capable of playing MP3:s so I just picked Musikcube for Linux and native iTunes on OS X.

Musikcube is a terminal UI application that just does the job with some extra bells and whistles. It's simple enough and I like it.

In the future I'd like to include an Amiga Mod-player to the setup as well, but I haven't done so yet.

Reading RSS

Lubuntu: Newsboat

OS X: Vienna

Reading RSS-feeds is a leisure task and should be done in a convenient and stress free way. The terminal for some reason gives me that peace of mind so I settled for a TUI-based application on Linux called Newsboat. I'm very happy with all aspects of it, maybe with the exception of easily managed and visual category separation but it's not a key feature.

I particularly like the "Open in browser" feature because of it's simplicity. I wholeheartedly recommend using Newsboat if you haven't done so already.

For OS X I went to quite great lengths to install Newsboat as well. It should probably in theory be possible, but I just kept running into compilation errors no matter if I used a package manager (port is the only available option for El Capitan that I could find) or cloning the repository from GitHub.

So eventually I just picked one that seemed lightweight and was installable on El Capitan. It turned out to be Vienna and I am quite pleasantly surprised by the snappy and simple GUI. Turned out it wasn't a bad choice at all even if it was quite random.

Important note is that you have to update the system certificates (ie. do the procedure mentioned under Safari browser above) to get Vienna to download most feeds.

Site management

Lubuntu: Wordgrinder, nano, ScreenGrab, ImageMagick, sshfs, Midnight Commander

OS X: Wordgrinder, nano, OS X Screen Capture, ImageMagick, FileZilla

The needs for this site is very moderate. I need to write (Wordgrinder), edit html/css/dotfiles (nano), do screenshots (ScreenGrab), edit images (ImageMagick) and upload/download content via sFTP (sshfs, Midnight Commander). ScreenGrab were included in the Lubuntu distro so I just settled for that without considering options. ImageMagick was a very pleasant new aquaintance, especially the command line options for editing images. Was even more happy about that I could also include it on OS X setup.

I was able to more or less replicate the workflow for OS X with minor adjustments. Couldn't get sshfs to work (wasn't that surprised) so it'll have to be manual upload/download with FileZilla (last compatible version for El Capitan is 3.46.0) and I'll just use the included screen grab tool from OS X.

E-mail

Lubuntu: aerc

OS X: Thunderbird

I (currently) use a GMail account to gather my e-mail accounts, except for my day job which I won't include on this computer anyway. Some day I'll get rid of Google owning my mail but today is not the day. GMail web app is actually quite good following the principles of this article, but for this use case I'd like a non browser solution.

Also here I went for the TUI-option and use aerc with IMAP connection. It's a bit slow due to connecting with GMail so I'm dreaming of a future with local POP3 e-mail but that will just be too big of a project and at this point I honestly use private e-mail too little to justify the effort.

As with RSS reader and Newsboat, I went to great length to get aerc up and running on OS X as well but in the end I just failed. Same problem, I suppose too many dependencies have left El Capitan behind and the (probably) massive amount of time I would need to spend to solve it isn't justified.

I looked into using the native Mail app but immidiately ran into connection issues (even though I've updated my certificates. So I turned to Thunderbird and chose the last El Capitan-compatible version which turned out to be 78.14.0 released in 2021. Good enough.

Discord/Slack

So far I've just given up on those. Haven't found a suitable solution yet, maybe I will and maybe I won't.

Gaming

I don't really do gaming. Haven't played more than the occasional session since the nineties, so including gaming is just a novelty. But it might be fun at times.

So far I haven't played a single game, but I've set my eyes on trying to get Skyrim running decently. That's the most modern game I've actually spent some time with on an XBox 360 ages ago, and it actually seems like the specs of the Macbook will hold up. Time shall tell!

I haven't even bothered looking into options for OS X. It's not that important anyway. I suppose I might just dig up my old CD with an updated version of Pirates! that I bought somewhere around 2006 and install that. It should work. :)

My Macbook Pro 13

OS X running apps Vienna and Wordgrinder

Conclusion

It has been substantially more difficult to set up an attractive OS X environment when it comes to applications. Compatibility issues arise constantly. So within the setup phase (which is where I've been so far) the Lubuntu experience has been magnitudes better. Not unexpected but an obsolete OS forces the hardware to retire earlier than necessary.

That has also resulted in a lot more hours poured into the Lubuntu system, tweaking and learning new stuff. I haven't really been a Linux user before (dabbling with the occasional installation in the early 2000 doesn't really count) so the experience has been novel and inspiring.

I'm happy with the general setup of my Lubuntu boot at this point and I believe that I've met the target on most criteria. I'd love to find a better solution for Youtube files but it might in the end just be wishful thinking. A deeper understanding of the esoteric nature of NVidia drivers on Linux might also be helpful, but that's set for the future at the time of writing this.