Ubuntu should zig to Apple’s zag • Hacker News Board

Re: Ubuntu should zig to Apple’s zag

#91

Post by GeneralMaximus » Sun, Oct 30, 2011, 4:14 AM UTC

veyron wrote: post #82

ashishgandhi wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you talk of "primary PCs" (OS X) it's as open as proprietary gets - more than say Windows - such as the kernel is open source.

Is that true of osx lion? How do you recompile and load the kernel?

Yes, that's true. You can do much more than just recompiling the kernel. For example, see http://puredarwin.org

Re: Ubuntu should zig to Apple’s zag

#92

Post by dfc » Sun, Oct 30, 2011, 4:19 AM UTC

div wrote: post #2

I don't really understand what the author is trying to say. Granted, it's been a while since I used Ubuntu, but as a developer I mainly live in my editor and terminal. Anything I ever wanted is just an apt-get away and is mostly installed in a sensible way. Ubuntu simplifying desktop features and changing defaults to be easier for users like my mom sounds like a great thing to happen to Linux. That stuff is mostly or…

If its been a while since you used Ubuntu do you think that might be part of the reason that you do not understand the point of the article?

Re: Ubuntu should zig to Apple’s zag

#93

Post by jvm » Sun, Oct 30, 2011, 4:22 AM UTC

wyclif wrote: post #31

rhdoenges wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seemed too bloated for me, so I switched to Arch Linux and dwm for my windowing. I hardly have to reach over to touch the mouse now and I feel like I control my own computer.

I like those things about Arch, but I would miss apt-get.

I use arch and I never can't find a 'reasonable' package in pacman. If I'm installing something weird or proprietary (e.g., Skype) I just get it from the arch unsupported repo, which is just as easy using a tool called packer. I've never come across something I wanted that I couldn't get from one of those sources.

I'd say if anything it's better than apt-get since the packages are updated so often!

Re: Ubuntu should zig to Apple’s zag

#94

Post by dfc » Sun, Oct 30, 2011, 4:23 AM UTC

If you swap gnome for ubuntu and gnome3 for Unity you have a brand new story. Part of me sort of blames Ubuntu or Ubuntu's influence for the terrible direction of Gnome in general.

Re: Ubuntu should zig to Apple’s zag

#95

Post by jvm » Sun, Oct 30, 2011, 4:25 AM UTC

vacri wrote: post #67

If people want a different linux experience to Ubuntu's offering, they're in luck, there are hundreds: http://distrowatch.com/ Ubuntu has specifically stated that they're aiming for the layperson, not the power user. If you cut your teeth on ubuntu and want more power in your linux box... try out another distro.

This. Every linux distribution is aimed at devs and power users. Ubuntu is the only one that's not!

Re: Ubuntu should zig to Apple’s zag

#96

Post by dfc » Sun, Oct 30, 2011, 4:25 AM UTC

I never thought of Ubuntu as a power user distro. I always thought Debian was for power users and Ubuntu was the gateway drug...

Re: Ubuntu should zig to Apple’s zag

#97

Post by dfc » Sun, Oct 30, 2011, 4:27 AM UTC

vidarh wrote: post #19

barumrho wrote: post #9

Do a lot of developers use Ubuntu nowadays? When Ubuntu first came along, I was a Linux user, and I tried Ubuntu on a few different occasions, but I never liked it mostly for the same reasons why people seem to be complaining. It just felt like eye candies tacked onto Debian. There are many other good distributions that are geared toward power users. Why are so many complaining?

Well, as a developer I got over wanting to tune everything about 10 years ago. I want things to mostly just work, and Ubuntu does that for the most part. I've yet to run into any situation where using Ubuntu has constrained me in any way vs. using another Linux distribution (and I've used a bunch of different ones over the years).

What does not mostly work from a vanilla debioan install?

Re: Ubuntu should zig to Apple’s zag

#98

Post by rhizome31 » Sun, Oct 30, 2011, 4:36 AM UTC

> Apple [...] things that just work for most people irrespective of prior computer usage.

I've spent way to many hours helping fellow developers, friends and relatives to debug their Apple. Apple does not make things that just work irrespective of prior computer usage. People get totally lost with Apple just as they do with other environments and that is indeed irrespective of prior computer knowledge, which means so-called developers also get lost (MySQL-python anyone? Or maybe you'd rather have another slice of RMagick?)

Re: Ubuntu should zig to Apple’s zag

#99

Post by phzbOx » Sun, Oct 30, 2011, 4:38 AM UTC

For me, Ubuntu has always been the "Linux for newbies" a little bit like Mandrake was in the time. I'm not saying that all Ubuntu users are newbies.. but Ubuntu is the distro to starts with if you're a beginner. Lots of my university friend who had no knowledge of Linux would get up and running with Ubunty in minutes. (A live cd, tool to help create partitions, [next], [next], automatically configure network). I mean, a Windows user would almost feel at home on Ubuntu.

Soooo, I find it weird that the author complains about Ubuntu saying it's not the right direction. We all know there are dozen of distributions and dozen of window managers. By all means, if you don't like the new updates, just take a WM more lightweight (For instance, fluxbox, awesome, stumpwm, xmonad, etc.) As for the distro, I'm using ArchLinux for a couple of years and I'm loving it.

It's not that I don't like beautiful intuitive UI; it's just that it's not for me (At least on my computers). However, I've got an iPhone and I love the fact that everything just work. But please, don't force me to use GUI everywhere on my desktop; let that for people who enjoys the everything just work.

But then, maybe I'm wrong. I assumed that Ubuntu always was axed for beginners.. Was I wrong with that assumption?

Re: Ubuntu should zig to Apple’s zag

#100

Post by RK » Sun, Oct 30, 2011, 4:41 AM UTC

I think part of Shuttleworth's philosophy is that he wants Ubuntu to be(come) an OS that the rest of the world can use, not just the traditional Linux power users, but even the emerging computer markets that may not be able to afford the latest and greatest hardware with a proprietary OS.