iPad Pro with "Pro Mode" and/or dual booting Mac OS?

I actually have no problem with that as long as the developers get on board and start treating iPadOS as if it was a grown-up operating system, not a toy.

Like with the Ulysses app I’m doing a trial on: on Macs it has an easy option to customize an ePub export filter (edit the CSS stylesheet) but nothing at all on iPad. I have to use the Rename Shortcut to turn the .ulstyle to .zip, unzip folder, edit the Style.css in a third party editor, zip folder, use Rename Shortcut to change the extension back to .ulstyle, tap to install into Ulysses.

Clearly the iPad can do the operation but the developers don’t think people who use (only) the iPad are serious users. :anger:

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I think Apple is on that path. such as starting with IOS 14 and Mac OS Catalina creating app frameworks that work on both OS’s.

Unfortunately though,while they have been slowly closing some of those holes, Mac OS apps from third parties have a long history of “rolling their own” cough Adobe, cough Microsoft.

Developers never had the option to do that on IOS from the get go.

In other words Apple has some of the same legacy issues that plague Microsoft.

BTW The one time that Apple put their foot down so to speak with Mac OS was when MS wanted to bring the .NET frameworks to Mac OS.

Apple was “nope, not going to happen” on that one thank goodness.

I wanted to try Ulysses back when I only had the IPP, but after seeing similar feedback, I went in a mostly completely different direction and tried Notion. While I haven’t explored all of the options yet, the iPadOS version is much more robust than the Android version I have on my phone and so far seems to be near identical to the desktop version. I use it much more on my IPP than on my desktop, so there might be some features I’m missing that I just don’t really know about, but overall, it works really well. From what I can tell, Notion doesn’t support EPub anyway, but it does support PDF export, which is all I needed anyway.

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Well, the ePub export is the only snag with Ulysses I’ve come across yet when just using the iPad Pro. And the workaround, pain that it is, won’t need to be repeated after I tweak it how I want it (plus I’d be doing final ePub editing in Sigil on Windows anyway). So I think Ulysses will work out for me. It’s for long form writing so Notion isn’t what I’m looking for, but thanks for the recommendation. It might be good for others.

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I added the poll you had mentioned wanting. For future reference, just hit the gear wheel on the upper right of the ribbon and from the unfurled menu, select “Build Poll.” See below. :slight_smile:

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After some thought, that’s my vote. But I don’t mean it as actually grafting MacOS elements into iPadOS. What I mean is making iPadOS just as capable as a merging of the two but done however Apple envisions it. That probably won’t look like a traditional desktop metaphor. I don’t care, I just want the apps to be as varied and capable as Mac software while keeping everything that’s attractive about using an iPad. If that makes sense.

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So this to me seems a plausible next step for IOS to become a more robust OS. Still not a MacPad @dstrauss but something I think Apple would be much more likely to do.

iPad needs floating app windows to reach its full potential | Cult of Mac

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“One way this might be accomplished is by having larger iPads display applications sized smaller for iPhones. For example, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro has a 2,732-by-2,048-pixel screen that could show multiple applications sized for the 1,334-by-750-pixel resolution of the iPhone SE in floating windows… This is a vastly better option than slapping macOS on the iPad, which is suggested far too often. Apple’s desktop operating system isn’t designed for touchscreens or for being used without a keyboard. That’s why a MacPad would be a disaster. Making iPadOS more like macOS while still staying iPadOS is the better option.”

I know I am spitting into a gale force wind, but I strongly disagree with this DeX-like solution. MacOS IS designed specifically for use with a keyboard and mouse/trackpad. That’s why either dual-booting or running MacOS in a virtual window when you want a desktop experience makes far more sense than a mish-mash of floating windows trying to adhere to the iPadOS paradigm just to preserve “iPad-iness.” so what if that means I have to splurge for a minimum of 2tb of storage - LET ME MAKE THE DECISION.

I know you are right @Desertlap - this is probably the best we can hope for from Apple, but that still puts us in the real dilemma of who is going to program for this new paradigm - iPad developers who will scale up their iPhone projects; iPad developers who will do all the extra work to make their iPad apps behave correctly in this playground; surely not MacOS developers “downsizing” their full applicationss for the iPad - and THAT’S exactly what is needed for those of us wanting the MacPad - running FULL Office 365, Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, and all our other full scale desktop class applications. It’s “Applications” vs “Apps” that I am fighting for.

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You aren’t wrong but OTOH i can hear our apple reps saying it now, your way creates “friction” and we know how much Apple abhors that…unless they do it themselves and then it’s “innovative and magical” :grinning:

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If they are concerned about “friction” wait until they suffer through 3-5 interations of iPadOS-DeX…

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If Windows had been more successful with Windows 8, I wonder if we’d be seeing something different from Apple now. Honestly, a refined version of that experience is all I really want. If I had MacOS on an IPP, that when removed from the keyboard/dock/magic keyboard, etc, transformed into a touch friendly experience, it wouldn’t need to be iPadOS, but something more akin to a skinned version of MacOS that feels like iPadOS and supports some of the iPadOS apps that are the only reason I have an iPad, like Procreate.

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Update: I still think so, but I’m not writing this summer while occupied with my national park volunteering. So I canceled the free trial before the $50/yr kicked in. Maybe I’ll go for it in October in prep for NaNoWriMo… he says as if he’ll actually commit to doing it this time. :rofl:

Being real about it, iA Writer is enough for my occasional needs. One-time fee paid years ago and it’s still great.

I know you said Notion doesn’t work for you. Just curious as to why? I use it for long form writing as well as short notes. It’s different in how it works, but the ability to tag different things helps to find notes about a chapter, etc, and the nested documents is great for chapter organization and whatnot.

I downloaded the personal free version to check out again, but my first impression was as it advertises: “collaboration, notes, wikis” and when it gave me a list of activity checkboxes so that it could set up for my use nothing at all looked like what I wanted to do. Too overwhelming in options.

I can see that. I pretty much deleted everything it set up for me and started from scratch, but it does have tons of options I don’t personally use, though probably could for other things.

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I’ll take a closer look later but I’m pretty set on a minimalistic writing app with a typewriter mode that keeps your working line unmoving and that fades out everything but the line/sentence/paragraph you’re typing in.

Like this in iA Writer

So you are a Windows Notepad user at heart, like Mary Jo Foley…

Interesting. I’ve never used a writing program that only highlights the sentence you’re writing on. I can see where it would be helpful, but I think for me it would actually be more distracting than good overall. I’ve used minimalist writing apps in the past, that try to hide everything but the writing, sort of like a slightly nicer Notepad, but honestly, I really like having access to my notes and other chapters/ect for reference quickly. I guess it’s just a workflow thing. Each writer is different. Notion does let you hide the side bar, so it just shows the clean interface of what you’re writing, and (at least on desktop, haven’t tried on IPP yet) you can hover over the left side and it pops up when you need to access the other files.

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Absolutely. Here’s what it looks like uncropped and with the iPP on the Magic Keyboard:

Ulysses’ minimalist mode is very similar. Formatting purely with Markdown, no menus. It might be an acquired taste. I like it a lot.