Software. Everyone gets hung up on the hardware aesthetic and all, especially with this new phone's more... "questionable" design compared to the last ones, which were debatably more "cool." Nothing's supposed specialty is the software side, which goes beyond just a simple minimal monochrome skin or some fancy text.

According to most my friends with Nothing phones, it's all the little details and refinements... but yeah, I'd still buy a Phone (2) or 3a before this since it's otherwise an underpowered flagship. This formula's great when undercutting the competition price-wise, but this phone just feels like a substantial price bump SOLELY for a better processor... and still not the best one.

Okay, so I'm still testing things out in terms of the Homebrew installations, but things are working MUCH better this time around. For instance, both GIMP and Darktable actually downloaded the latest versions AND actually work, so this might well become my new solution for app installations for everyone!

Your last statement regarding the app updating though, the part where you said:

If a GUI tool can auto update, Homebrew leaves it to auto update and actually stops updating the tool.

I do want a bit more clarification if possible.

1. Apps like GIMP and Darktable DON'T auto-update, though apps like Latest will detect that new versions are available. Normally, this means I have to go to the application's website and download the new version myself. Will Homebrew automatically update these programs?
2. Further, for the apps that do get auto-updated, do they remain in my Homebrew catalog and all to where I'd be able to remove or configure them with brew commands?
3. Regarding apps that DON'T have built-in updaters like GIMP and the like, if I go to the developer's website and get the newest versions, do I have to do anything with the originals installed via Homebrew CLI or app wrappers like Applite?

Thank you sincerely for your time. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

I don’t exactly know what you mean about the “when you resize the view. Thumbnails don’t reflow” point, but the Cut option is valid. I use the app Command X which is a must-have at this point. I know it is also possible to make columns autofit to contents somewhere, but you may need an app like Onyx to enable it.

Sorry, I tried using MacPorts in a VM and installing Nautilus with sudo port install Nautilus as suggested on the MacPorts website, but this was the final result after like 20 minutes of "installing" data and the like to no avail.

(This was tested on a macOS Sequoia VM with an M4 MBA host running macOS Tahoe Beta 4. It is possible this may work better on an x86 Mac or older macOS version, but I wouldn't get too caught up in this.)

There is ONE other way to run Nautilus on macOS that I've used a bit, but it's kind of cheating and not that great: Containers. Specifically, Docker and similar programs should allow this (which I did test once), but more recently Apple introduced their own Containerization framework which I also tested and was able to get up and running. The issue is that Xquartz, which you'd have to use to get any GUI Linux applications on macOS, isn't very good in and of itself. No Retina support is the biggest dealbreaker for me, but this is also technically just running a micro Linux VM with access to your macOS files a bit like Windows Subsystem for Linux.

Answering your title question of “is it worth it,” considering that you seemingly either have to compile the app yourself or use an old bloated version with MacPorts, I would probably say “no.” I don’t think the time and difficulty you’d have to potentially go through just to run another file manager when you can’t even truly “replace” Finder is worthwhile.

I’m curious though, what exactly do you want out of Nautilus specifically? You could argue “aesthetic” or something, but that’s just going to look out-of-place on macOS. Unless Nautilus has some hidden superpower somewhere, it’s less functional, too. I could understand Nemo (Cinnamon’s file manager), and I’d definitely consider Dolphin (KDE’s file manager), but Nautilus (to me) has always just been the least powerful file manager with the only advantage being looking native on Adwaita… which wouldn’t even be true if you used it on macOS. Not a criticism, genuine question.

I have always been curious about MacPorts’s applications. Usually I’d assume they’re either really old versions that were once available for the platform natively (such as Safari on Windows), but that’s worth checking out.

Follow-up: Did a bit of research and looked into MacPorts. Yes, most their applications appear to be older versions, as I don’t see any indication that Nautilus (the GNOME file manager) or Dolphin (KDE’s file manager) is still in the works for macOS. I’m attempting to install this older version of Nautilus via MacPorts now in a virtual machine, and will follow up again with results.

In most instances, app installations via Applite went one of multiple ways:

• Just plain not available in Homebrew (very few)
• Available but depreciated or otherwise unable to be installed (few)
• Installs but crashed upon opening (some, including crucial apps for me like GIMP and Darktable)
• Installs but has some random error message (a few, including Inkscape, which didn’t save configurations to the app in my brief test)
• Installs but doesn’t allow checking for updates (all others, though this might just be because they update through Homebrew)

Again, 100% admit that I likely messed up somewhere doing something, hence why I’m redoing this test now. That. and the fact that almost no app that normally does allowed checking for updates within itself makes me think that all update checking is disabled since it’s just handled through Homebrew. By all means, please correct me anywhere I’m wrong there.

Believe it or not, you can actually do a decent amount of editing it in Quick Look. I discovered that myself not long ago, but you don’t have to open the Preview app or anything – Quick Look can handle it.

Just to make things simple regarding the Mac apps and tweaks, imma just go ahead and forward my “Mac app recommendation suite.” of course, not everyone needs all of these apps, and this isn’t over every use case, but this is just about every program I have on my system. You can check these out and determine if anything sounds like it could be beneficial for you. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pSsLcM4lVnqGt68yu-GgKFApOJBv2aIzMmUs_8iT_2c/edit?usp=drivesdk

Now then, specifically regarding window management and multitasking, I have a few key tips:

1. Learn to utilize the App Expose, Mission Control, and true full screen app switching. macOS inheritly handles things differently from other Operating Systems. The sooner you get a grasp on that, the sooner you may start to appreciate it, or determine what other apps and programs you may want to add with it. Don’t start just adding a bunch of apps and programs before you determine what all you need. For most people, just this and macOS’s built in tiling is enough… but from the looks of things, you and I would not be “most people,” so if you would agree, read along.
2. If you’re on a trackpad or Magic Mouse, you can enable and configure the settings easily within the System Settings application, and I’d argue macOS has the best trackpad experience in these regards.
3. If you’re on a non-Magic Mouse, get an app like Mac Mouse Fix. It is absolutely amazing and legitimately has become part of my essential application suite anytime I use a non-magic mouse. You can download the latest 2.x version on the developer’s GitHub (which yes, does work on Tahoe) to use it free forever, configure individual app settings for things like smooth scrolling, and my personal recommendation: Map the multitasking features with extra buttons on your mouse and/or gestures. Previously, I couldn’t use any regular mouse with macOS as it felt clunky and cumbersome, but now I’m just as eager to use one as I am my trackpad, and I don’t miss the Magic Mouse one bit.
4. Set apps to minimize into their application windows, then get an app like DockDoor to show window previews like Windows and most other operating systems.
5. DockDoor also has a pretty basic Alt Tab-style window switcher which could be enough for some, but the dedicated “AltTab” application is a lifesaver with the right tweaks and setups for you. You can set multiple shortcuts to show different things like only app windows on that virtual desktop, windows from a certain app, non-minimized windows, and so on.
6. You already said Rectangle, which I use as well. Just a general improvement over the built-in macOS window snapping (that only finally released in Sequoia or Sonoma).
7. Supposedly apps like BetterTouchTool and Swish are “essentials” for many, but for me, even across my sometimes-quintuple monitor setup, the things I recommended there are about all I really need. My advice? Don’t treat macOS like a tiling manager system. it likes to have virtual desktops and different full screen windows, so utilize those. Sure, supplement the OS with nice modifications from other Operating Systems if you like, but you don’t HAVE to use those. About the last program I use is just one called Dockey that wraps a GUI around a terminal command to make the dock animate faster so I can get more out of my screen, but that’s it. Let me know if you have any other questions. I am a power user, but I also do enough tech support that I try not to become too far removed from stock so that I can help others as well. More powerful window, tiling management apps and features definitely exist, and I’ve used a few here and there, but those are the ones that work for my use case.

As have I! 3.0’s been great, and I’ve learned a lot about GIMP as a whole since using it.

Any particular reason you don’t just sign in? Genuine question, and you could even create a dummy account that solely holds those extensions and anything else you would want to sync.

‘Nother former Asashi Linux user here (now using a Fedora VM on my M4 MBA until Asahi is natively supported 🤞); just here to say we are all for it! From the moment I first tested it on my M1 MBA, I knew this was the way for the future, and I am glad to see wider adoption of Linux on ARM device devices beyond Apple Silicon.