macOS doesn't "just work", it works on computers specifically made for it.
There are lots of computers made for Linux and they all "just work".
Ask HN: Why is there no Linux distro that “just works” like macOS?
41–50 of 157 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no Linux distro that “just works” like macOS?
#42Wow, lots of disappointing answers. Easy: Apple hires TEAMS of designers, UX-experts/engineers [...]. The reward incentives in open source environments are not aligned with the required workload. People who seriously compare any modern linux desktop environment to the UX that macOS delivers must be lost in tunnel-vision/confirmation bias, it's not even close. Also, like some said, as Apple provides their own hardware…
I think this 100%. The problem with Linux is that it’s not controlled by a single company, there are many components developed by different contributors which have different interests. There is no single gui framework, no design guidelines so even the out-of-the-box software you get with any mainstream distribution doesn’t look cohesive. It simply lacks the polish of macOS.
Hardware wise I think if you use modern (i.e not older than 5 years) and also not just released hardware you are mostly ok. I haven’t had any driver problems, but that’s not to dismiss other peoples’ experience.
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no Linux distro that “just works” like macOS?
#43To people commenting how "well if you install Linux the right way on the right hardware like this here purpose-built laptop, it also 'just works'", what the OP is trying to underline isn't just the technical aspect of the OS booting flawlessly and recognizing its periphery, but also the whole experience that comes after. One special part of this, which is easily overseen, is the fact that Apple has poured hundreds of…
OP writes:
> I am talking about a distro, that you don't have to configure anything for. A distro that handles things like external devices screen recording without weird glitches.
I don't read this as a plea for better HIG? This is HN, so I'm assuming most of us live in the terminal anyway. I'll never understand why people prefer MacOS for development. From my experience, it is clearly worse in pretty much every respect (package management, container support, configurability, just to mention a few things).
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no Linux distro that “just works” like macOS?
#44For me, Fedora has worked pretty well.
It helps to run on less than bleeding edge hardware for which the drivers are mature. Also, while you still can, to disable Wayland in favour of Xorg.
With that done, on the typical 5 year old laptop, you tend to get (no guarantee, but in my experience) flawless suspend/resume, decent battery life/thermal management, wifi, bluetooth (with the very latest Fedora 35 and Pipewire, bluetooth headphones finally work reliably with all audio profiles), the custom buttons on the keyboard, performant WebGL and so on.
That being said, nothing is perfect. For example you still can't drag a window halfway across between the laptop's screen and an external HiDPI display and expect it to scale so that the two halves are the same size. And some recent gadgets may only "sort of" work. Example, a USB audio dongle (for headphone jack-less smartphones) from the dollar store. Works but only exposes three volume levels: Off, medium and crazy loud. But what do you expect, if the open source drivers all need to be updated by volunteers after the gadget is already out there, use gadgets that are more mature.
What does work is that the resulting machine will be stable. So much so that you can leave it with your 80 year old mom, who lives 8 hours' drive away, and expect less trouble than with a Windows machine (we don't have Apple products).
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no Linux distro that “just works” like macOS?
#45By “just works” if you mean seamless installation, boot and device recognition, it has to do with the wide range of hardware Linux has to support with less investment per piece of hardware. But for a decade or more it has been doable to get similar experience if you can buy specific hardware (like building your desktop or buying a prev gen Thinkpad) and pick a widely used distro. Of course, I have to say the out of box experience of Apple products might be the highest bar for general purpose computing there is at the moment.
… But if you are including daily casual and professional use, in my experience macOS has been considerably buggier than Linux. Upgrade to M1 caused sooo many headaches with the software I use, but even before this macOS has been getting buggier and buggier every month. Not a single week goes by without having issues with
- Apps like Chrome and Slack bugging out. They can’t find my camera and mic devices, their UI rendering gets corrupted with weird green matrix like artifacts, crashes…
- Bluetooth headphones made by Apple (Beats Flex) keep disconnecting every 15 seconds in a loop (fine with iphone, broken with Pro Max macbook). One day it almost deafened me because somehow Zoom was able to boost volume 10x beyond system maximum, caused me ear pain for more than a day.
- Good luck trying to set up a multi user system with Homebrew and stuff. Everything expects admin access, and even with two admin users you constantly have to fix permissions and switch users to install software. Did I mention everything you try to install and use wants admin access? You get bombarded by admin login prompts as even the most useless piece of software tries to auto-update itself multiple times every week, and sometimes breaking more than itself as it overwrites the wrong folder because of some buggy install script.
- Docker runs like crap. I thought it was bad on my Intel MacBook, I but it is horrible on M1. Surprise surprise, intel emulation is slower no matter how much people claim emulated intel on m1 is faster.
Funny thing is, after upgrading to M1 my main speed gain has not been because of faster hardware, and instead it was moving more work to EC2 instances in the cloud due to not being able to do my work on M1. I might as well “upgraded” to a chromebook.
- Every macOS upgrade breaks apps I rely on, from utilities installed by homebrew to Emacs or chat apps.
- Every time I plug in a screen, or a usb hub with peripherals, the whole thing goes nuts. I then have to start a dance where I spend five minutes turning devices on and off, unplugging cables just to get all of my monitor, keyboard, mouse, mic and cam working at the same time. It often drops at least one of them every time I get back to my desk. Restarts usually fix it (never had to restart a computer so much to fix issues).
- Many "magic" things that "just work" such as Handoff, wireless connection between macbook and iphone, some icloud features are only working 50% of the time. When it doesn't, there's no path to troubleshooting, maybe if you restart your computer, log out of icloud and back in or something it will get fixed.
I can keep going, but overall I am appalled by all the paper cuts of this supposedly premium hardware and software that cost an arm and a leg.
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no Linux distro that “just works” like macOS?
#46It depends what you want to do. If you avoid poorly supported hardware Linux has just worked for at least 10 years. However, if you buy random rather new hardware and expect it to support docking stations, Bluetooth, WiFi, multiple screens of different resolutions, great power saving, wireless modems etc. chances are that some feature(s) will be problematic. There has been no volunteer creating support for all of this, especially if it has not been sold very widely (yet). And most companies supporting Linux development either run servers or their specific embedded solution.
Myself I have used Linux as daily driver for at least 15 years. The more I avoid extra fancy hardware the happier I get. Saves the planet (well, at least my tiny share of it), my time and my nerves.
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no Linux distro that “just works” like macOS?
#47macOS only runs on compatible hardware. If you buy compatible Linux hardware then Linux "just works" too. It won't work with just random stuff you found in a basement the same way hackintoshes don't "just work" either. Also, after the trash fire that's M1 Mac external monitor support I'd strongly dispute the "just works" tag for macOS too.
Everything external display I’ve plugged my M1 Mac into has worked well. Monitors of various dimensions and a TV. It’s just-worked for me. What’s the trash for you’re referring to?
I have a sample of thousands of machines in my company and there's been a massive regression in external monitor compatibility with switch to Apple GPUs. There are many external monitors that outright don't work via USB-C on M1.
macOS 12.3.1 tried to address some things but it's nowhere near as compatible as Intel Macs.
But I believe you when you say that it works on the exact monitor models you own (it works with my home monitors too). But that's kinda beside the point in these debates.
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no Linux distro that “just works” like macOS?
#48I've been running Debian on my desktops, laptops (testing/unstable) and servers (stable) for more than 2 decades. It "just works" for me.
The same works for me but on the company laptop I use Debian Sid and on server testing, on desktop I use gentoo, and everything just works
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no Linux distro that “just works” like macOS?
#49If you claim that macOS "just works", then you have never insenely used it.
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no Linux distro that “just works” like macOS?
#50It's said that streaming using macOS is just to slow, streamers on twitch use or switch to Windows to get a good experience. So it seems like it doesn't "just work"!
If you care about details, you always need to fine-tune. There is no "not changing any settings" for serious work. :)