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Linux has better hardware support than OS X

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Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#2
The current problem with linux is apps and the desktop itself. Apps - where do I start? There are so many to choose from, yet most will never do the complete job. Most desktop environments have devolved into a sorry state in the name of 'organic UI' and mostly unusable graphics animations by the window managers.

Things are becoming much easier these days though since everything is moving to the cloud and steam has arrived.

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#3

The current problem with linux is apps and the desktop itself. Apps - where do I start? There are so many to choose from, yet most will never do the complete job. Most desktop environments have devolved into a sorry state in the name of 'organic UI' and mostly unusable graphics animations by the window managers. Things are becoming much easier these days though since everything is moving to the cloud and steam has ar…

I think that more 'consumer-oriented' or maybe 'convention over configuration' distros have this kind of thing covered. I recently installed Crunchbang Linux and it already has suggested, pre-installed apps for "terminal/file manager/editor/media player/web browser/task manager/screenshot" over on the right hand side of the desktop.

But yeah, the 'which app do I choose?' problem is very real.

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#4
That's not a double standard at all. OSX having superior hardware support because it runs in a walled garden on hand picked hardware from Apple themselves is entirely by design and something Apple put a lot of energy, money and dedication into. OSX absolutely should benefit from this over other OSes, as it did not come for free.

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#5

The current problem with linux is apps and the desktop itself. Apps - where do I start? There are so many to choose from, yet most will never do the complete job. Most desktop environments have devolved into a sorry state in the name of 'organic UI' and mostly unusable graphics animations by the window managers. Things are becoming much easier these days though since everything is moving to the cloud and steam has ar…

I disagree. The default gnome2 desktop (provided by Mate) is top notch. Outside of this there are a core of decent, consistent apps and an ancillary of total crap. This is the same with Windows and OS-X.

In fact most non-core Windows and OSX apps are absolutely criminal.

Sure the cloud and Steam are more convenient, but this form of convenience will be the fall of us all and convert us into consumption targets ready to be milked regularly.

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#6
Actually, even ThinkPads aren't the inofficial reference platform these days either... I've had this W520 for the past 2 years and, while running with NVIDIA graphics, I can neither boot without specific kernel options (pci=noacpi) nor can I change the brightness after the kernel is loaded (pre-kernel changes are fine and stay after boot. Even changing brightness after kernel load but before loading of the nvidia module causes a silent crash)

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#7
post #4

That's not a double standard at all . OSX having superior hardware support because it runs in a walled garden on hand picked hardware from Apple themselves is entirely by design and something Apple put a lot of energy, money and dedication into. OSX absolutely should benefit from this over other OSes, as it did not come for free.

Exactly -- and Linux is designed to run on pretty much anything!

This was a stupid article. "Gee, water is wet and sand is dry! (usually)"

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#8

The current problem with linux is apps and the desktop itself. Apps - where do I start? There are so many to choose from, yet most will never do the complete job. Most desktop environments have devolved into a sorry state in the name of 'organic UI' and mostly unusable graphics animations by the window managers. Things are becoming much easier these days though since everything is moving to the cloud and steam has ar…

Having been away from the Windows world for so long, I'm curious just how different it actually is. Sure, there are obvious choices for business use in many fields. Even Office is a somewhat obvious choice for most places. However, as a standard consumer, it is much too expensive to "just have." And, really, finding the correct software to just "make a greeting card" or something similar is terrible. Then there is the joy of trying to find software that organizes photos and such well.

Then there is printer support. I cringe when I think of trying to scan or print something in Windows, my last experiences being so terrible. Nowdays, though, in Linux this is something that really has "just worked" for a while now.

So, is it really that much more rosy in the application choice of other platforms? Or is it just more visible in the company you keep?

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#9
post #8

The current problem with linux is apps and the desktop itself. Apps - where do I start? There are so many to choose from, yet most will never do the complete job. Most desktop environments have devolved into a sorry state in the name of 'organic UI' and mostly unusable graphics animations by the window managers. Things are becoming much easier these days though since everything is moving to the cloud and steam has ar…

Having been away from the Windows world for so long, I'm curious just how different it actually is. Sure, there are obvious choices for business use in many fields. Even Office is a somewhat obvious choice for most places. However, as a standard consumer, it is much too expensive to "just have." And, really, finding the correct software to just "make a greeting card" or something similar is terrible. Then there is th…

As a Windows and Linux user on a daily basis, I'll tell you that no-one bothers with Office unless they are running a business. Everyone else seems happy with ancient copies of OpenOffice that their cheap laptop came with or LibreOffice if they have to get involved in installing anything.

Also, people don't organise photos with additional software now. Windows Explorer itself is pretty damn good at it to be honest and does what 99% of people will need. If they need anything else they'll probably use what came with their digital camera. I use ViewNX2 which came with my camera.

Printing just works - plug in and go. Although to be honest I have a 8 year old Brother laser printer and send anything else away to be printed elsewhere.

It's all fine everywhere. The ages of "it just works" are pretty much here.

It's not the XP days any more :)

Linux however does like to poke me in the eye with power management and hibernation issues. That's not been resolved ever, even though I've got a 7 year old machine!

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