Again not reading what I wrote FFS! I did not call you uneducated but said you were kneejerking by intentionally missing the point, which looks suspicious, then said you are being anxious, because you were not reading the comment, and making it about you instead of the previous commenter. It’s not an insult.

I didn’t even imply that, so I will now call you anxious.

I was defending people who write well and craft long detailed answers. Read it again.

Really, kneejerk somewhere else, some of us paid attention in school and actually format things properly while using decent grammar. Bonus if you’re an organized thinker. Definitely a touch grass moment, the internet is wearing on you.

I currently have it installed on a 2008 iMac and a 2012 MacBook Pro.

I also have ZorinOS On a MacBook Air that works great, and Debian on a MBPro 2014, and am about to install Fedora on another MBPro, 2013. Those are mostly server experiments, though.

Yes, I wind up with a lot of old macs that I am reluctant to recycle!

First, I hate Apple nearly as much as MS, and I am defending the common experience rather than company.

The dock does what it’s designed to do; “properly” needs to be defined. It is crappy, limited software and since it is mouse-oriented, slow and inefficient and merely one way to do things like open apps. Use spotlight or the app switcher with the keyboard instead and save time. (Spotlight has its own problems but is still much better than the dock!)

If the red button doesn’t close the window, the app isn’t using the developer interface guidelines. Also, try Command-W, it might work better for you.

Also, switching desktops (screens as you said) is trackpad oriented and one smooth gesture , no delay. Using a mouse is more clicky, yes, but normally no delay. Keyboard commands might be what you want here? Also, are you using oddball apps that are fighting the OS?

Regarding your sample set of experiences, I believe you, but trust that my sample set is unusually large due to doing user support for a long time, and few users with a healthy typical install of the OS overall have those complaints:

• setting default apps normally works consistently
• red button closes window on mainstream macOS apps, rarely otherwise
• dragging windows is pretty smooth between monitors (I have to demonstrate this after showing people how to arrange monitors)

I want it to stop hanging up when I drag windows from one monitor to the other.

That might be caused by a few things, such as the virtual arrangement of screens, but it’s not typical.

When I switch screens I want it to switch when I click on it and not click, wait, and click again.

Also unusual. Something odd about your setup.

I want the dock to disappear and stop consuming screen real estate, but I also want it to come back up when I need it.

Dock hiding is a basic setting. It could work better because I can trigger it showing by accidentally mousing to that edge. The Dock is kind of for beginners, and limited in functionality though, it won’t anticipate your needs. I advise moving to the left side and shrinking it.

I need the red x to actually close the window instead of just minimizing it.

It closes the window, not minimizes. That’s a misclick, or a broken app. On one-window apps it also quits the app.

All of these things sometimes happen and sometimes don’t, with seemingly no reason, which is the most frustrating part, and this inconsistent behavior spans iOS as well.

Again, your experience is unusual in these specific respects, so I suspect you are importing habits from other OS’s.

Are you sure you properly designated default apps?

• get info on the file
• change preferred app
• make sure you check the box indicating change for all

Edit: then close the info panel, of course.

Ignore the downvotes. Mint or Debian or Fedora can be great on Macs earlier than 2016.

Idiomatic usage of ‘intuitive’ regarding interfaces breaks down into

1. ‘familiar’, so, confusing intuition with knowledge, or

2. ‘discoverable’, which is more accurate and describes things like icons and tooltips and menus, where the rules of usage become more or less apparent with exploration and logic.

Ooo, cooling mat! Well then, no wonder it’s still running. One of the easiest laptops to fix, too, so you could just repurpose it.

Also, when you buy an Air, consider whether you are going to be gaming or not. If not, a M2 with 16 GB of RAM can be a lot cheaper than new, and my 16GB M1 is still awesome even for some intensive use.

Keep that thing off the internet if you can. Security is kind threadbare on that abandoned macOS.

Fantastic form factor for non internet tasks though. The 2011 model is worse for thermal management and the fans work harder so may need replacement, listen for rattles or silence from one side. Keep it ventilated on all sides including bottom.

Debian should run very nicely on that if you want modern software features and low-worry internet security.

Dude, now you’re making it personal with totally the wrong person. What a dork.

Yes, this is all self-evident to anyone who recognizes overconsumption and premature or planned obsolescence.

My point is that advertising and other misinformation makes it extremely difficult for the average person to make rational decisions about technical issues when making purchases, so blame lies much more with companies, governments, and culture than the teeming hordes you look smugly down on.

Oh yes, advertising doesn’t work, which is why it’s fucking everywhere

I just realized that I could have double-layered the m-dashes there, eh? Missed opportunity. Oh what the hell, I need to prolong lunch break juuust a little bit more, so

Well, full lulz as that was tongue in cheek although not wrong! And appreciation for the semicolon. Punctuators Rise Up!

It’s sad, because for most people the use-case for an m-dash is relatively narrow—a parenthetic interjection relevant to the topic but not sufficiently off-topic for brackets, and needing a subtle call to authority—it mostly popped up in academic or pseudo intellectual non-fiction, or in faulknerian ponderous fiction, but also as a hapless crutch for endlesss neurodivergent layers of qualification.

So I am going to claim disability discrimination about this brutal and unjust sudden boycott, on behalf of crew #adhd.

how would you know which places to patrol, and when?

This is an extremely regional problem to solve. Where I am, which is a village and exurban-ruural, you would go to the electronics recycling depot and see if they have any choice items. Also you could call the various independent pc repair people to see if they have anything no longer supported but functional for free or cheap.

Also there’s various thrift stores that sometimes have computers cheap.

The closest big city is Vancouver so to curb cruise there I would pick upper middle class neighbourhoods with alleyways, and drive around on garbage collection days. I wouldn’t really dumpster dive unless I knew of a likely source from hearsay.

I have a bunch of old macs here with different distros onthem, mostly Mint, that I have been trying to give away to locals (without being obligated to provide support, which is the stickler apparently). They all run great. One could dumpster dive or curb cruise, or around here, lurk at Recycling.

Not me, I am a damn dirty ape.