Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Linux Asceticism

rugu.dev

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 94 posts

Re: Linux Asceticism

#31

Post by binkHN »

vehemenz wrote: post #30

This argument would more compelling for BSD variants. That aside, I've noticed that certain kinds of users spend a lot of time thinking about their operating system. Personally, it's the opposite of what I'd like to do when I'm using a computer. For most people, I'd advocate that they buy the best hardware they can afford, which during the M1+ era has been a Mac, and Macs run macOS. Some users want something more spe…

> ...I've noticed that certain kinds of users spend a lot of time thinking about their operating system. Personally, it's the opposite of what I'd like to do when I'm using a computer.

This is why I stopped using Windows; it now negatively forces you to think about the operating system you're using when all I want to do is use the programs I installed on my computer.

Re: Linux Asceticism

#32

Post by masfuerte »

aucisson_masque wrote: post #23

I don't get it, for me a computer is a tool. I want to get away from it as fast as possible, having to tweak the environment is a waste of time . That's why I like macos so much, nothing is perfect but I know that whatever I do there are tools somewhat easy to use . For instance I wanted to read an epub on my computer that runs windows, believe it or not but finding a good or even descent epub reader is a nightmare.…

Microsoft's Edge browser used to have epub support. Then they removed it. Then they put it back again but hidden behind a command-line switch. Then they took it away again. It's mad.

Re: Linux Asceticism

#33

Post by nolist_policy »

diego_sandoval wrote: post #18
sevensor wrote: post #2

It’s funny, I feel quite the opposite. Using windows is a form of asceticism, and Linux is the easy way. Everything just works under Linux, but under Windows, things go wrong for no apparent reason, the system installs updates and reboots without me telling it to, there is massive network traffic that I didn’t initiate, none of my tools work properly, there are ads on the start menu, and software I know I installed i…

Using Windows is unnecessary suffering. You suffer only because someone decided that you should suffer. Using Linux, you suffer for better reasons that may even be worth it in some cases.

Linux only hurts you in ways that make you stronger.

Re: Linux Asceticism

#34

Post by sevensor »

Helmut10001 wrote: post #27
sph wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using Windows when you're accustomed to Linux is masochism, which is not the opposite of asceticism. I had to install Windows recently, and for all the few hours I used it I had Marie Kondo's voice in my head saying this does not spark joy.

Windows+WSL (1 and 2) is a viable route these days. Whenever you feel exhausted from Windows, just continue in a nice and clean Linux shell. Sometimes, there are still very good windows oss apps, like np++, sumatrapdf, typora, keypirinha. I enjoy these on windows and ignore the rest, thanks to WSL.

Linux in a VM is better than no Linux at all, but 60% of my complaints about Windows still apply so long as windows is the host. Network load, fans spinning up for no reason, the start menu ads, arbitrary reboot policies, plus the fact that I can’t bind Hyper. It’s weak tea compared to the real thing.

Re: Linux Asceticism

#35

Post by fulafel »

acomjean wrote: post #19

I don’t know. I’ve bought a few machines with popos. They’ve been so few issues, that I haven’t learned that much new about administering them. I’ll install stuff from the command line but generally stick to the gui tools. And they work. I’m able to do my programming tasks with minimal issues.

The article is about "using a minimal Linux distro" which is a bit different.

Re: Linux Asceticism

#36

Post by sevensor »

aucisson_masque wrote: post #23

I don't get it, for me a computer is a tool. I want to get away from it as fast as possible, having to tweak the environment is a waste of time . That's why I like macos so much, nothing is perfect but I know that whatever I do there are tools somewhat easy to use . For instance I wanted to read an epub on my computer that runs windows, believe it or not but finding a good or even descent epub reader is a nightmare.…

> Linux is even worst than windows on that matter.

You won’t use Linux because calibre isn’t pre-installed?

Re: Linux Asceticism

#37

Post by rustyminnow »

aucisson_masque wrote: post #23

I don't get it, for me a computer is a tool. I want to get away from it as fast as possible, having to tweak the environment is a waste of time . That's why I like macos so much, nothing is perfect but I know that whatever I do there are tools somewhat easy to use . For instance I wanted to read an epub on my computer that runs windows, believe it or not but finding a good or even descent epub reader is a nightmare.…

> for me a computer is a tool. [...] having to tweak the environment is a waste of time.

In woodworking and other circles, there are folks who only buy the best-est, most expensive tools money can buy. Then there are folks who take regular tools and modify them for the job at hand, creating a better tool that money can't buy.

Point is, there are many kinds of folks out there and if you need a good ball-hitting hammer - well you won't find THAT at Home Depot, but someone creative could probably put together something better.

Re: Linux Asceticism

#38

Post by fsflover »

yathaid wrote: post #17

As a software engineer, this post resonates with me. But, you can find this attitude pervading the whole linux desktop ecosystem. This post may as well be titled "Why it will never be the year of the Linux Desktop".

> This post may as well be titled "Why it will never be the year of the Linux Desktop".

"There will never be a year of minimal GNU/Linux distros on desktop."

Fixed that for you.

Re: Linux Asceticism

#39

Post by Liquix »

mr_mitm wrote: post #28
sevensor wrote: post #2

It’s funny, I feel quite the opposite. Using windows is a form of asceticism, and Linux is the easy way. Everything just works under Linux, but under Windows, things go wrong for no apparent reason, the system installs updates and reboots without me telling it to, there is massive network traffic that I didn’t initiate, none of my tools work properly, there are ads on the start menu, and software I know I installed i…

You need to be more specific when you say "Linux". I use Debian Unstable and stuff breaks all the time. Which is to be expected, so I'm not complaining, it's on me. My understanding is that Microsoft has shifted QA to the users quite a bit in recent years, not unlike Debian Unstable. And I am part of the QA process I guess.

we're not talking bugs or stability here - we're talking about the objective suffering experienced when forced to use the highly polished spyware & ad delivery platform that is win10/11

Re: Linux Asceticism

#40

Post by jwells89 »

sevensor wrote: post #2

It’s funny, I feel quite the opposite. Using windows is a form of asceticism, and Linux is the easy way. Everything just works under Linux, but under Windows, things go wrong for no apparent reason, the system installs updates and reboots without me telling it to, there is massive network traffic that I didn’t initiate, none of my tools work properly, there are ads on the start menu, and software I know I installed i…

It depends a lot on what hardware one has and what software one uses, in my experience. A laptop that’s a generation or two behind built without discrete graphics, Intel networking, and a display that’s usable at 1x UI scaling? Smooth sailing. A bleeding edge tower with off-brand integrated networking and an Nvidia card hooked up to a monitor that requires fractional scaling on the other hand might be more trouble.
Post reply on HN