Allow me to clarify (for the readers, as I am sure you know this, just did not communicate it well) exactly how copy and paste works in linux.

You basically have 2 clipboards, one that hold data you store with ctrl+c (or Edit->copy) and one that you store with a simple mouse select. To retrieve data from your primary clipboard (the ctrl+c one), you simply paste as normal with ctrl+v or Edit->Paste. To retrieve data from the secondary clipbboard (the one from any selected text), you simply middle click.

Once you get used to this 2 feature clipboard, you never, ever want to go back to just one. A quick select of text to copy, and middle click to paste is great.

Note, these clipboards are independent of each other, so you can ctrl+c something to your primary, then select text all day long, then when you ctrl+v (primary paste), you get your original primary copied value. Very handy!

The only occasion when this might confuse someone, is if you are in a program (say the terminal) that does not recognize ctrl+c as the copy command. So you select some text, then press ctrl+c and it does not work (not saved to your primary clipboard).

Speaking of programs that don’t recognize ctrl+c (like the terminal), the secondary clipboard is a savior here, if ctrl+c does not work, and theres no edit->copy menu, your secondary (select and middle click) are your only options.

Again Very Handy.

FYI, if you are looking for a super fast (and keyboard binding configurable) linux OS try a distro that contains a window manager other than gnome or kde (try LXDE, FluxBox, OpenBox). These are not as up-to-date LOOKING as gnome or kde or xfce, but they are infinitely customizable (mostly by manual editing of .config files though). I encourage you to try installing one (crunchbang [a spin of ubuntu except with OpenBox instead of Gnome] is one of my many favorites) again, give it time, slow down and just play/google/learn. Once you spend the time and get all your keyboard binding PERFECT, copy those edited config files off so you can duplicate it later. You will be happy with the incredible speed and efficients of these window managers.

I asked flash related question and got answers like flash is evil and you dont need flash.

Well I do need freaking flash :).

@Ron – First off, thanks for all the Afae patches :-D (still trying to find time to do the next release). Maybe Google OS will pull the look and feel together somehow. (I can live with the odd man out program here and there though). It would be neat to build an OS with a suite of apps that only conform to some interface guidelines – so many ideas, so little time.

@Adam – yeah the mouse click bit was probably the Macbook, and I did install that. It just didn’t work very well. I would agree with your statement that copy and paste doesn’t work that way, but it was doing that so… It was again probably related to the fact that 3 finger click was a right click and it was somehow registering two fingers as well causing a middle and right click – or some such.

Anyway, on my work computer, where I use an external Microsoft mouse, I have it happen far less (though I have had it happen from time to time)

“On Apple hardware though, particularly a laptop, I’d stick to OSX, it’s just going to be an easier ride as everything works out of the box.” – I agree, I have Ubuntu on an Asus EEEPC and it works better on that. (I did mention that some of the problems were hardware and some were software though)

@Matt – Bummer. I tried to specifically write this not get that comment :) My main complaint isn’t that Ubuntu isn’t like OS X. That was why I referenced Windows and how I can do the things I am talking about on Windows as well – and the bash shell for that matter.

Like I said, I like Ubuntu (I use it at work every day as my desktop) and for the developer and some general tasks (email, web browsing), it is usable. It is not great though, and has a lot of room for improvement in the usability, workflow, and constancy department.

The question is, as a normal person, why would I choose to use Ubuntu? If you don’t have any money, ok got that one. Why else?

As always, to each his own. People should use what they’re happy with. As long as it’s not Windows. ;-)

I really don’t understand what you’re saying about copy/paste however. None of my Ubuntu installs behave that way. And as for the trackpad issue on a MacBook Pro, that definitely causes problems (I have Ubuntu as the main OS on my MacBook Pro), all of which can be solved by using a mouse. But I absolutely HATE trackpads so I wouldn’t use the thing other than in a pinch anyway.

Oh well, use what you feel happy with. I’m kind of the opposite, I also use Win & Mac but feel most at home in Ubuntu.

On Apple hardware though, particularly a laptop, I’d stick to OSX, it’s just going to be an easier ride as everything works out of the box.

I’m kind of in the same position: I use a combination of Mac and Windows boxes at work, and at home I switch between Linux and Mac on a fairly regular basis. I am still trying to find that sweet spot where I can settle for a single box of choice or even a common set of apps available across all of the platforms I use. Apple is the closest right now to being The One System for me, as much as I would really like to be Linux (probably more for philosophical reasons than anything else).

Your comment about the UIs on Linux: I’ve bumped into that quite a bit in my hunt for a common suite of apps I can use to do what I typically need to do across platforms. Wildly different, in many cases, from each other and from other apps on the same platform. Google Chrome is a good example, as is Eclipse, Aqua Data Studio (as much as I like it)…

I’m still looking.

At a high level, what I like about, say, Windows, is that it makes it easy to do the day-to-day stuff (music, video, office stuff, financial stuff, etc.). Unless you’re a Windows developer – and I’m not – setting up a dev environment is more difficult than it should be. Linux makes the dev environment as easy as it can possibly be, but makes it painful to do a lot of the day-to-day stuff.

OS X, for me, occupies that sweet spot. Unix-based, easy dev environment, easy lifestyle apps. I believe Linux has a place on the desktop, but not one mine (yet). I’m not willing to change my lifestyle and/or workflow to suit my tools. I want them to come to me.