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The day Windows died

thomasbandt.com

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Re: The day Windows died

#461

Post by StrangeATractor »

dagw wrote: post #457
StrangeATractor wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's 2023, do people still have driver issues on Linux? Last I had to worry about that was when Ubuntu was (Admittedly, I've done well by staying away from nvidia)

2022 I spent several days trying to get Ubuntu to run stably without tearing on an AMD Ryzen APU.

It Works For Me!™

Seriously though, compatibility issues seem the exception to the rule nowadays. Getting wifi or display drivers working used to be...challenging, if not traumatizing. You could put that shit on your resume nowadays. "I set up X11 with native resolution and got WiFi working most of the time in 2003 without damaging hardware."

Re: The day Windows died

#462

Post by NovaDudely »

apatheticonion wrote: post #332

It's really sad that there is no where for us to go in the desktop OS space right now. I, weirdly, daily drive all 3 OSes. MacOS; Work issued laptop and longish-time user (about 6 years with it). Windows; Desktop PC mostly for games. I've been using Windows since I could walk. Fedora; Desktop PC, dual booted which I use for most everything else. I cannot believe how much of a dumpster fire Windows has become. From th…

Not sure if I just got used to it or my hardware setups just work but Linux systems have been pretty good for me the last few years. Desktop environments like Cinnamon and Mate still have that basic interface without the clutter but it definetly isn't for everyone.

That said, there is nothing quiet like a new install of Windows XP/Windows 7. Nothing captures that feeling. It is merely an interface for running programs and managing data then it gets out of the way.

Re: The day Windows died

#463

Post by mhh__ »

kccqzy wrote: post #330
joeman1000 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like hell. They will quickly be turned away from Linux and want something simpler. Yak-shaving in lieu of work sounds cool, but it sucks when you really need to do stuff other than dick around in the terminal.

My father first introduced me to Linux (an installation disc he borrowed from his employer). It didn't work. It just didn't click for me, and I didn't know why my Dad would consist that I use it. Fast forward a few years a couple of friends around my age introduced me to Linux; it was Ubuntu back when it was hipster and trendy and friendly. I started by dual booting (probably WUBI) and then switched completely. This…

It works for some people although I think the hacker spirit is quite correlated with being contrarian wrt to your parents.

Re: The day Windows died

#464

Post by thejackgoode »

safety1st wrote: post #353
apatheticonion wrote: post #332

It's really sad that there is no where for us to go in the desktop OS space right now. I, weirdly, daily drive all 3 OSes. MacOS; Work issued laptop and longish-time user (about 6 years with it). Windows; Desktop PC mostly for games. I've been using Windows since I could walk. Fedora; Desktop PC, dual booted which I use for most everything else. I cannot believe how much of a dumpster fire Windows has become. From th…

This post is basically about the author's nostalgia for his early days of computing with Windows 95 and how he wanted his son to have the same experience. This post is screaming out for Linux. Linux is the solution to his dilemma. If he reformats that drive and puts say Kubuntu on it - the kid's first PC experience is going to be a vaguely retro 90's style shell with a start menu, the start menu is going to have a Ga…

>Linux is the solution to his dilemma

Introducing a child to an environment where almost nothing works out of the box is also borderline risking developing a repulsion for life, you know

Re: The day Windows died

#465

Post by deely3 »

markgall wrote: post #275

I never used Windows in my life, but I got an old ThinkPad on eBay a couple months ago that shipped with Windows 11. I didn't have time to set up Linux, so I used it a bit to browse and so on for about a month before I finally got around to wiping it. It's really unpleasant. Aside from the ads, the battery life made me think I'd gotten a used computer with totally shot battery and I was ready to order a new one. Nope…

> I also kept getting random crashes requiring a reboot. I thought there might be bad memory or something. Nope, no issues whatsoever since putting Arch on.

Huh, crashes on a clean system is VERY strange issue. Please just to be sure, check your power adapter, memory, and maybe logs. If possible. For me it looks like hardware issue. (I know, I know, it looks like I defending Windows. It really is.).

Re: The day Windows died

#466

Post by wraptile »

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #417
grumpyprole wrote: post #370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you buy a laptop with good Linux support, e.g. a ThinkPad. It should be fine for well over a decade in my experience. That is better value than Apple offer.

Thinkpads are solid devices but they’re really falling behind in screen and trackpads. Most higher end Thinkpad models have 1080p screens with 300-400 nits of brightness at most. The base M2 Macbook Air is 2560x1664 with 500 nits brightness. And it’s cheaper than a Gen2 Thinkpad T14. And of course, all Thinkpads can’t hold a candle to Macbook trackpads

This has been discussed ad nauseum, trying to find objective truth to subjective device is a bit silly, isn't it?

Slightly higher resolution and brightness doesn't matter if you can't see anything because of Macbooks's glary screen. And of course, Macbook's trackpads can't hold a candle to Thinkpad's trackpoint.

The only objective truth here is that open software makes devices age better.

Re: The day Windows died

#467

Post by GeekyBear »

baq wrote: post #395
eastbound wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pricepoint: $2,499.00 for 16 inch MBP, M2, 12-Core CPU, 19-Core GPU, 16GB Unified Memory, 512GB SSD Storage (which is very small storage, and 1Tb starts at $2699).

This probably goes without saying, but I feel it needs to be said anyway: 16GB must be a joke by the market segmentation folks in Cupertino. I can just barely do comfortable development with the 32GB version. If docker was native, mayyyybe 16 would be almost fine…

> 16GB must be a joke by the market segmentation folks in Cupertino.

Isn't Microsoft still selling laptops with only 4GB of RAM?

Re: The day Windows died

#468

Post by jchw »

piyush_soni wrote: post #380
safety1st wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This post is basically about the author's nostalgia for his early days of computing with Windows 95 and how he wanted his son to have the same experience. This post is screaming out for Linux. Linux is the solution to his dilemma. If he reformats that drive and puts say Kubuntu on it - the kid's first PC experience is going to be a vaguely retro 90's style shell with a start menu, the start menu is going to have a Ga…

> And of course it's Linux, so there's infinite opportunity to get under the hood and tinker. - Or keep trying to fix the environment + hardware compatibility issues and not do the actual work/study. Or keep editing some random xorg.conf file because his monitor's display suddenly became weird. Or try to fix some other random files since the sound driver doesn't work. He's 10. I'm 40 and still horrified to deal with…

> Or keep editing some random xorg.conf file because his monitor's display suddenly became weird.

The truth is things like that are not as common as they used to be. Everything with Xorg is plug-n-play, input and video devices are greatly standardized, etc. Not to mention, if your machine boots into Wayland, there simply isn't an Xorg configuration to worry about.

That having been said, that was my experience when I was a kid, and I do not regret it at all. On the contrary, it was the perfect time to become proficient with Linux at a deeper level. Different strokes.

Re: The day Windows died

#470

Post by einr »

pjmlp wrote: post #459
einr wrote: post #456

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are talking as an adult with a job, not a 10-year old who likes computers.

When I was 10 years old, tinkering required going to the library, and if you couldn't find any Spectrum book there, the only tinkering left was LOAD "" or trying to understand what Timex 2068 manual was all about. I also hardly tinkered until I got into programming classes later on the high school, and then it wasn't tinkering, my time spent with Timex, Amiga and MS-DOS was about coding, demoscene and games, not fixi…

Tinkering and fun means different things to different people. That's okay. Your idea of fun wasn't to fix the OS -- mine was.

I went to the library in '97 and borrowed the Linux Bible, with a CD-ROM copy of Yggdrasil Plug'n'Play Linux that I installed on my 486, and the new world that opened up to me of being able to modify, tune and customize the entire OS to my liking with no restrictions was magic.

Today, I work as a Linux sysadmin and I have fun at work. Other people of the same persuasion are the ones who maintain Linux distributions or contribute to the kernel today.

The point here is that if a kid finds it fun and creative to futz around with "fixing the OS" then let them -- not only is it its own reward, it might lead somewhere. Don't say "no, this isn't fun in my opinion and you shouldn't have to do it".

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