I guess the author actually meant to say “So long, OSX” as Macbooks (older than 2016 versions) actually are good hosts for running Linux. I myself run have two Macbooks (Air 13 and Pro 15) with dual boot setup, so I get the best of two worlds: perfect programming setup (i3) on Linux, perfect multimedia (I use Lightroom / Premiere sometimes) setup on OSX.
So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux
21–30 of 531 posts
Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux
#22I installed (ubuntu) Linux recently on my new HP Spectre x360. Unfortunately, there was some issues still. My webcam didn't work at all. The touchpad was bad in comparison to Windows drivers and the graphics drivers sucked. But overall it works much better today than like ~5 years ago. Got back to Windows and I am unsure if I will ever run linux on the desktop full time even if it is a distant dream and have been for…
I've had a lot of trouble getting it to work properly on the Surface Book Pro (wifi doesn't work upon resume from sleep), and Lenovo X1 Carbon 2nd Gen (can't adjust screen brightness on OLED screen, which is really bad because it's very bright, and will burn in very quickly). Both of these problems have hacky work-arounds that I can get working myself if I really want to, but it definitely detracts from the experience. Every other laptop I've ever tried has worked perfectly though.
Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux
#23I find the fetish for terminal-based music players a bit odd. I associate terminals with doing work, so the idea of having one whose sole purpose is playing music (presumably in the background while you do other stuff) to feel like a waste of screen real-estate and something I'm likely to accidentally pull up while trying to cycle between my other terminal windows where I'm doing stuff.
I much prefer something that I can kick off to play an album or a playlist and have it all but vanish from sight, either into the taskbar or, preferably, into the system tray.
Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux
#24I must say that the whole desktop looks like something from the 90s. If you find it fine for your needs, that's great. But I don't think it's a general solution. Linux is so half-baked with respect to desktop, very often it's getting as problematic as a Windows system, especially on laptops.
If you think that, try using the budgie ubuntu distro with the arc-dark theme. Way ahead of both macos and windows.
That sounds fantastic, I can Google but do you have a link? I love Ubuntu for my servers!
Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux
#25I guess the author actually meant to say “So long, OSX” as Macbooks (older than 2016 versions) actually are good hosts for running Linux. I myself run have two Macbooks (Air 13 and Pro 15) with dual boot setup, so I get the best of two worlds: perfect programming setup (i3) on Linux, perfect multimedia (I use Lightroom / Premiere sometimes) setup on OSX.
The author mentions, however, that he also bought a new Librem 13 laptop to go with it. So presumably he ditched the Macbook hardware as well.
Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux
#26What screen resolutions do the Librems support? Their tech specs don't actually list the resolutions, just the graphic card and size of the display. That's, honestly, one of the main things holding me to my mac: I want the retina display. That and the fact that all the PC hardware makers insist on offsetting the damned touchpad. Which, maybe it's just my preference, but I hate when they offset the damned touchpad.
Yeah, offset touchpads are a big thumbs down. Basically just look for the models without dedicated numeric pads. Fortunately those don't typically start showing up until around 15" form factors.
Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux
#27I recently installed Pop!_OS from System 76 on a newly purchased thinkpad x1 extreme and it has been an absolute joy. Pop!_OS's lineage is up the Debian/Ubuntu branch but has a lot of features that make for a practical experience. You can easily switch between Nvidia and Intel embedded graphics for example.
Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux
#28I installed (ubuntu) Linux recently on my new HP Spectre x360. Unfortunately, there was some issues still. My webcam didn't work at all. The touchpad was bad in comparison to Windows drivers and the graphics drivers sucked. But overall it works much better today than like ~5 years ago. Got back to Windows and I am unsure if I will ever run linux on the desktop full time even if it is a distant dream and have been for…
For laptop support, it really helps if you can get ahold of one of these “Linux-first” computers, like the OP. When the components all are supported, the experience is much smoother. But that’s also the downside — often the hardware isn’t supported. Desktop Linux devices just aren’t the top priority for developers. Honestly, if you want to go this route, it’s almost easier to just run Linux in a VM on top of Windows…
Well, I thought about that while ordering. Sent a mail to System76 which was the only company I knew about besides Dells XPS (that wasn't available in my country at the time). They didn't have chargers that fit with the european sockets and their system was still more expensive than the other options anyway. Plus, if something goes wrong, there is no real support available in my country. I would have to ship it half around the world for any support.
Even on hardware that are supposed to be supported, I have many times run into problems because of it only supports x distro or something like that. Sure it often is an pretty easy fix, but you still have to dig into to config files, read forums on the internet to get help.
Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux
#29I must say that the whole desktop looks like something from the 90s. If you find it fine for your needs, that's great. But I don't think it's a general solution. Linux is so half-baked with respect to desktop, very often it's getting as problematic as a Windows system, especially on laptops.
If you still want to try a more polished Linux dist, try Elementary OS: https://elementary.io/
Re: So Long, Macbook. Hello Again, Linux
#30I guess the author actually meant to say “So long, OSX” as Macbooks (older than 2016 versions) actually are good hosts for running Linux. I myself run have two Macbooks (Air 13 and Pro 15) with dual boot setup, so I get the best of two worlds: perfect programming setup (i3) on Linux, perfect multimedia (I use Lightroom / Premiere sometimes) setup on OSX.
The author mentions, however, that he also bought a new Librem 13 laptop to go with it. So presumably he ditched the Macbook hardware as well.
Yes, he didn’t have to ditch Macbook though.