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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

#11

Post by btbuilder »

city41 wrote: 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.

I guess it depends on the used definition of hardware support. Traditionally when I hear hardware support I think of how many devices are supported, not how well are the supported devices supported.

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#12

Post by loser777 »

th0br0 wrote: post #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 mod…

Yup, this is increasingly the case. Kernels 3.9.x still have power consumption issues when using suspend/resume on Tx2x (Sandy Bridge) machines. If you managed to buy a ThinkPad from that generation with "Thinkpad Wireless," good luck getting reliable wireless connectivity, as the binary blob 8188CE drivers are worse than garbage.

As much as people talk about how AMAZING hardware support on linux is, if you want a "just works" experience, the lowest common denominator is usually Intel CPU, Intel Wireless, Intel Graphics.

And that exotic keyboard layout with function keys? Hope you like configuring xbindkeys.

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#13

Post by cabirum »

Linux "supports" most of current hardware by using generic drivers offering minimal functionality for any given device. The device will work, but not any of it's non-standard or advanced features.

E.g. want to switch DPI in your new shiny Logitech mouse? Or customize behavior of it's buttons? Nope, sorry, not supported.

I, for one, do not consider this a supported hardware, even if basic functionality is there.

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#14

Post by aeroevan »

th0br0 wrote: post #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 mod…

I think that was the nvidia optimus switchable crap that had very little Linux support.

I think some of the most recent NVIDIA drivers have some support, but my T410 thankfully doesn't have that.

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#15

Post by archon »

DrJokepu wrote: post #10

Linux doesn't "just work" on Apple hardware. None of the major distros can currently get the Ethernet adapter on recent Mac Minis working. As a result, we have to run OS X on a bunch of Mac Mini servers we've planned to run Linux on.

Just curious, if you were just planning on running Linux, why buy Mac Minis?

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#16

Post by masklinn »

btbuilder wrote: post #11
city41 wrote: 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.

I guess it depends on the used definition of hardware support. Traditionally when I hear hardware support I think of how many devices are supported, not how well are the supported devices supported.

Yeah basically there are two axis of hardware support: breadth (how much hardware is supported) and depth (how well the supported devices are supported).

When people talk about OSX hardware support they tend to talk about depth, Windows or OSX is more breadth.

Though the depth of OSX's hardware support is debatable as well, GPU support has historically been fairly dismal.

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#17

Post by rubiquity »

It's always been a little mind boggling to me that in Web Development where we deploy to Linux servers nearly 100% of the time so many people, especially in the Ruby community, develop using OS X instead. Personally, I use OS X at work because that's what my employer gave me but at home I use Linux that runs just about perfect with a Dell Vostro laptop.

That said, there are some great, modern tools that people have made for OS X that won't work on Linux (brew, pow, rbenv, etc. - ok rbenv works on linux but its spotty) that I miss from when I switch to Linux at home. And while I know Linux has equivalents of the three examples I listed I think the interface of those tools, and many others on OS X, are just nicer and easier to use in general. It would be nice to see a focus on better tooling for Linux users and less OS X only tooling in the future.

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#18

Post by ewzimm »

taeric wrote: post #8
general_failure wrote: post #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 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…

Printing on Windows is so bad that people are employed just to fix it. Office crashes a lot and has compatibility issues with certain formats, and I often just direct people to LibreOffice, which in every case has fixed the problem and run smoothly. Any minor Windows system problem usually results in sending the machine to be re-imaged. If you're on Windows 8, a lot of old stuff simply doesn't work, and in the absence of old versions, the most stable solution is often to run Wine. It's definitely still a mess.

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#19

Post by primelens »

Change the statement to "OS X has better hardware support on the Mac" (and conversely Linux has better support than OS X on everything non-Mac) and there would be no need for this article. One's a walled garden - albeit I am glad that it's at least a POSIX garden - and another is a truly open platform running on every hardware imaginable. It's like saying iOS sucks on the Google Nexus or Android sucks on iPhones.
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