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Back on Linux (after one year of Apple and OS X)

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Re: Back on Linux (after one year of Apple and OS X)

#321

Post by dedward »

mellifluousmind wrote: post #149
jrmg wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with the inactive memory is that it is not freed, it is swapped. So when hitting memory limits of my system, the computer started swapping. Just freeing the memory, in my case, would have been much quicker. Practically my machine was constantly swapping when the memory limit came up. That's just not true. If inactive memory is something that's already backed by disk (like a memory mapped file), it'll be d…

The problem with the way how OS X keeps data cached in the inactive memory is based on the assumption that you are going to re-use the same app within reasonable amount of time. With the current behavior/performance response (without knowing exactly how Apple engineers implemented it), it really feels like a giant garbage collection system that takes age to free up its own memory with no real sense of concept that if…

Interesting - I do about the same thing (Minus the Antivirus.... that could be your big pig there), with 8 gigs of physical ram, and I have paging (swapping?) disabled.... and I've never had a "not enough memory" crash or whatever. With vmware going, iTunes, Xcode building stuff, skpye, dropbox, item, mail, a few browsers, a bunch of tools..... a video going maybe on the second monitor. On a mid-2009 mbp.

Re: Back on Linux (after one year of Apple and OS X)

#322

Post by w0utert »

brdrak wrote: post #287
nailer wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After 10 years of Linux desktops, including purchasing a laptop with low-performance hardware just because it used entirely OSS drivers, I still has issues with basic things like multiple monitor support (it worked, but only when I disabled compositing, which makes redraw suck). Sorry, from my personal experience that still isn't true, as much as I wish it were.

I've been using dual monitor setups at home and at work for a few years now through several hardware builds, both desktops and laptops first using Ubuntu, then switching to Debian Testing for a rolling distribution about a year ago (after finally realizing I love the latest software, but don't want to spend time to upgrade/rebuild every 6 months to keep up with Ubuntu's release schedule or deal with the hassle of ins…

Well, I've been using Nvidia cards with the nvidia-driver and dual-monitor support as well, and it has been fantastic, until I upgraded my Ubuntu install, got Unity without asking for it, after which multi-monitor support was completely broken. My colleague who has 2 screens of a slightly different type (all are Lenovo ThinkVision) and is running Arch with Gnome 3, has been experiencing random multi-monitor glitches since day one. Sometimes for no apparent reason one of his displays doesn't get a signal after waking his laptop from sleep or hibernate, and the only way to resolve it is a reboot.

To make a long story short: we could exchange anecdotes all day about the state of 'Just Works' on Linux, but at the end of the day, I think no one with enough experience using various Linux distros and OS X, can honestly and sincerely say Linux is even close to OS X in that aspect.

Myself, I've been using Linux since Slackware 4 and have tried about 10 different distro's over time, alongside OS X for the last 5 years or so. Up to this day, I regularly run into problems that need fixing on Linux, particularly after upgrades, or when switching hardware. Whether it's Wifi cards, USB hardware, multi-monitor support, network configuration issues, software that stops working, system library problems: there's always something. OS X on 3 different machines, from OS X 10.4 through 10.7, I've only had one issue that required maintenance once, on a b0rked upgrade. It was pretty nasty, but fortunately OS X has Time Machine and target disk mode, so in no-time I was able to pull off any important data just to be sure, re-install the OS, restore my Time Machine backup, only to find out everything was back to normal, to the point I didn't even need the files I had to pull before the restore.

Re: Back on Linux (after one year of Apple and OS X)

#323

Post by ansgri »

ldesegur wrote: post #198

The issue with transitioning back to Linux is not the OS or its applications. The main issue to be able to find decent laptops that are able to run the software. Lenovo, HP, and Dell are among the brands that won't offer a quality experience (think antiglare screen, lightweight, battery efficient and decent weight.) Noise is also an issue with the fan level on most PC laptops today. SJ didn't like fan noise and it ma…

Except when you do serious computations the MacBook Pro begins to squall serously.

If you do nothing, then yes, it's better even than Windows.

Re: Back on Linux (after one year of Apple and OS X)

#324

Post by astrodust »

ricky_rozay wrote: post #124
saulrh wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LiPo batteries explode if you short them. Doesn't even need to be a very long short, or a very big one. They are incredibly sensitive to fast discharges. Water easily conducts well enough to cause problems, especially if it messes up another power conduit. It isn't guaranteed to catch fire, but the risk is certainly there, especially in such a thin form factor - you don't have much space in there for containment or f…

Id believe it just based on the ridiculous Amount of heat the mac laptops seem to generate. Im constantly turning mine off to cool down

They generate just as much heat as other systems with the same chip and chipset, but the metal case is much better at conducting heat.

Re: Back on Linux (after one year of Apple and OS X)

#325

Post by astrodust »

paulgrins wrote: post #296

The author is absolutely right. People tend to like Macbooks and iPads for irrational reasons. This is what has been described the "reality distortion field". It's all marketing hype and Apple fanboys who make Apple what it is, the technology has nothing to do with it. The obsession with "Think Different" has brainwashed these vulnerable people. The reality is that as an avid user of Macs since the old days when the…

Irrational reasons? Do you even know what people want in a computer? It's like pegging all BMW buyers as "irrational" because a Kia is just as good a car, all the same features, and comes at a fraction of the price.

I don't know what "walled garden" you're talking about. It was Microsoft that started locking down their systems with CD keys, Windows Genuine Advantage, and Windows Application Certification. DRM everywhere! Apple, on the other hand, has never had a CD key for their OS.

Your ignorance is staggering. Steve Jobs was working on NeXT in 1986, a BSD-based UNIX-type system at its core. Linus Torvalds was in high school. How did he rip off Linux, exactly, when it didn't even exist?

Your thinking is at least fifteen years out of date. Anyone who dismisses OS X as a "toy" doesn't know what they're talking about.

Re: Back on Linux (after one year of Apple and OS X)

#326

Post by leon_ »

mrich wrote: post #89

Regarding hardware quality: "...why there's no PC manufacturers that would have the same overall quality of the hardware." In my experience, business ThinkPads beat MacBooks by a mile for working (e.g. programming). I am surprised to see so many coders use MacBooks. Thinkpads have better ergonomics, are more robust and better performance/configurable hardware (e.g. RAM).

I've got a MBP and a Thinkpad and though the TP is by far the best PC (win/lx) notebook it's nowhere near the MBP if you compare build quality and ergonomics.

Re: Back on Linux (after one year of Apple and OS X)

#327

Post by zbuc »

ajross wrote: post #195
zbuc wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who uses both Linux(most familiar with Fedora and Ubuntu) and OS X regularly I have to say I completely disagree with you. My Linux systems are always a headache. Last week I pulled a recommended patch from the system updater and it broke Xorg. I had to remove it by hand and reinstall it.

I don't buy that at all. If a serious distro pushed an update that broke X, we'd have all heard about it. Which distro? What package was it that broke? Are you sure you weren't mucking about with non-distro stuff like the NVidia driver installer?

Ubuntu, and nope.

Re: Back on Linux (after one year of Apple and OS X)

#328

Post by p0wn3d »

For those of you who got sucked into this conversation. Use whatever OS you want and then use vagrant for your development OS. http://vagrantup.com/ I promised myself to never use Windows again. I'm happy with my 27 inch iMac and my two laptops running Linux. Life is good :)

Re: Back on Linux (after one year of Apple and OS X)

#329

Post by ebbv »

I developed under Linux for over a decade (along with Irix, BSD and Solaris), and started doing web development on OS X in 2010. It's completely painless and I have no idea what this guy is bitching about.

My MBP only has 4GB of memory and it's more than adequate for web development.

Re: Back on Linux (after one year of Apple and OS X)

#330

Post by tikhonj »

batista wrote: post #297
tikhonj wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, if Apple's users aren't the sort to dive into a command line, then most developers aren't Apple users. Also, have you seen any modern, user friendly Linux distros (e.g. Ubunutu)? You never have to dive into the command line there and yet it has nice package management that just works.

Well, if Apple's users aren't the sort to dive into a command line, then most developers aren't Apple users. Well if you have been to any developer's conference, you'd have deduced that most developers are Apple laptop users. It's just that they don't bitch about any package that breaks. Some of us also use a virtual machine like Fusion for an isolated environment if we want to do development with a Linux userland, w…

The doubtlessly depends on the developer conference in question; I bet an iOS conference and a .NET conference both have different distributions of mac users.

Looking at the recent StackOverflow survey[1] (I think it's fairly representative of developers in general), we see that about 20% of the respondents used Macs, another 20% used Linux and the rest Windows, so mac users emphatically do not represent "most" developers.

[1]: https://www.surveymonkey.com/sr.aspx?sm=2RYrV_2bFw2aZ2RfedWH...

But my real point--which I realize was poorly worded--was not that no developers use macs but rather that the ones who do are not "Apple's users" in the sense calloc used.

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