Moving from macOS to Ubuntu

Hi Gents,

I’ve been a macOS and iOS user for several years. If I’m to be honest, I have no qualms with Apple products, except for the upgrade limitations. I want to hook 4 screens up to my main development machine, and, after quite a bit of research, it seems I have to get one of the best Apple Studio offerings to support that. And with that, there’s no way to upgrade RAM if I make the wrong choice and not pick the right model to begin with. That’s just… well, you know… silly.

My go-to machine is a 2019 Macbook Pro. The magic bar is flickering, and my iPhone 12 is about due for a replacement. As such, I’m in a position where I could move to another platform. I don’t want to go back to Windows. And, I want a machine where I can easy upgrade components as my needs change over time. I am considering a custom-build with Ubuntu as the desktop.

I’m a self-employed software developer. Everything I use is SaaS-based, and I access through Chrome. Google Workspace is used for meetings, documents, spreadsheets, etc. The only other requirements for me is Visual Studio Code, a few Linux-compatible VPN clients (already checked - they’re Ubuntu compatible). That, and a decent RDP client for remotely connecting to Windows machines.

Outside of those, there are a few creature comforts I’ve gotten used to, and I was hoping to get some advice from Ubuntu users on here that know of acceptable replacements for Ubuntu:

  • SnagIt replacement - In addition to screenshots, I need to be able to screen capture to video. I also need to be able to annotate the screenshots with arrows, and highlight areas/text.
  • RoyalTS replacement - Looking for an RDP client where I can store multiple connections/configurations, and share a connection file with other developers. Preferably via Google Drive.
  • iOS & Android screen capture - From time-to-time I am connecting an iPhone to my macOS, and recording it’s screen using QuickTime. Is there an equivalent option for Ubuntu?
1 Like

I don’t know what snaggit is. But for capture to video, I use OBS. I recently installed nobara and my OBS performance on linux is better then windows.
All the best with your choice.

I’m not an Ubuntu user, my Linux desktop experience is from Fedora. With this out of the way, here is my feedback to your questions:

Fedora offers the best screen shot/live capture functionality I have seen with any OS. Simply tap the “PrtSc” button and the functionality pops up - ready to use. I think it’s out of the box Gnome functionality, so Ubuntu should have it, too.

RDP client: there are a bunch available for Linux. I have limited experience as I gave up on Windows and lost the need for this functionality a bunch of years ago. I think Remmina is one that works. Should be available directly from Ubuntu.

Yes, it is integrated into gnome shell, Ubuntu will behave the same. But it’s not the best. As OP noted - it’s not trivial to quickly annotate or highlight the screenshot, copy and send to your colleague like on Mac (this is where i miss macos quite a lot). There are some alternatives like Flameshot, yet still find that quite cumbersome.

  • SnagIt replacement - Screenrec seems featurewise on par with SnagIt
  • RoyalTS replacement - Remmina comes to mind. But I am unaware if you can share the connections
  • iOS & Android screen capture - You can achieve this through AirPlay. I think UxPlay can act as an AirPlay receiver for you to share your screen to.

These are excellent, lads. Thank you.

Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager seems to be a viable Linux-compatible alternative to RoyalTS.

Welcome to the tux side! You’re in the right place. I hope this goes well for you, as someone who has been using mostly-Linux for several years (and entirely Linux for the last year or so).

That said, I understand the reasoning behind Ubuntu and I think it will work fine for you - however I would recommend at least considering Debian instead of Ubuntu. Here’s why: Ubuntu is in a weird spot right now, where they have multiple package managers (mostly apt and snap). Last time I used Ubuntu, I found that the snap experience was less than stellar.

I had such a bad experience with snaps that I decided to switch to Debian (now I use NixOS - not recommended for beginners, though). Debian 12 is very stable, reliable, and fresh - meaning it has up-to-date software packages. The Debian community has mostly gotten over their hangups about including non-free software, so it’s much easier now to install things like nVidia drivers.

Anyway, I think you’ll probably be happy with Ubuntu, but I wanted to share my view on Ubuntu vs Debian and how I think Debian’s UX has improved enough to be much closer to Ubuntu (though Ubuntu is still more focused on new user experience than Debian is, so it’s probably still a bit better) and worth a try for most Ubuntu users.

Other folks have mentioned OBS & Screenrec for video recording - for plain-old-screenshots I think Flameshot is a great experience. I have been using it for a while and it’s simple and effective and I think has most of the features (annotation, drawing, etc) you’re looking for in a screenshot tool.

Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of input on your other software asks, but if you have other questions I’m sure we’ll all be happy to answer them!