I’ve recently switched from an Apple MacBook to a System76 Galago Pro with Ubuntu 17.04 as my personal computer. The reason why is to make some dots.

My observation is that we are converging on Linux as a deployment target for cloud applications and with .NET Core able to run on Linux, I felt inspired to learn about the operating system that powers the Internet. On top of this, I’ve also noticed that a lot of the tools and techniques adopted by enterprise over the last few years e.g. git, have their roots in Linux.

My initial impressions of the Galago Pro are quite favorable. The switch from macOS to Ubuntu is easy, especially if you are already accustomed to the terminal and it’s quite fun to be able to customise the desktop. I’ve chosen to use Gnome, since Ubuntu will switch soon anyway and with some theme tweaking it’s simple to get a great looking desktop. I’m finding Linux to be a blend of the best of macOS and the best of Windows, quite strange and unexpected e.g. keyboard shortcuts are identical to Windows for the most part.

From a hardware perspective the Galago Pro is capable, with an excellent keyboard and screen. I have 32GB RAM and a Core i7 Kaby Lake processor. Battery life is the only downside to mention, comparable to a Windows machine, but far behind the MacBook, of course. The Galago Pro is user serviceable, with most internal components being replaceable / upgradeable. A tech heads dream machine maybe?

I’ve setup software development environments for Node.js, Go and .NET Core, run Docker and TeamCity, building some simple CLI applications to get a feel for Linux as a platform for software engineering.