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Linux has better hardware support than OS X

devblog.avdi.org

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Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#111

Post by hdra »

DanBC wrote: post #27
cabirum wrote: post #13

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.

Linux's "basic functionality" used the full resolution of my integrated graphics card to allow me to run my monitor at native resolution. Windows 7's basic functionality didn't let me run my monitor at native resolution, thus I had to put up with blurry fonts until I downloaded the (huge!) new driver. At the moment there's lots of anecdote - "This worked under one OS, but not the other" - but a comprehensive review o…

Not sure what kind of hardware you have, but the last time I experienced something like that was in XP.

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#113

Post by virtualwhys »

bdcravens wrote: post #109
virtualwhys wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"MBP-equivalent Thinkpads are typically more expensive" More expensive than what? MBP with 2.8Ghz, 16GB runs at least $3K. With the exception of the screen, hardware-wise Thinkpads and Dell Precisions are far superior to MBPs. Max 16GB RAM and can't even stick an i7 extreme CPU in MBPs. Whoops, 17" MBP, sorry, that's been discontinued -- as a Mac user you have NO choice; the hardware and software offerings are fixed…

I'd argue that the trackpad on MBP's and Airs is the best anywhere. Every other computer I've ever used resulted in funky stray swipes, sometimes even when I hit a key near the trackpad. (Haven't tried a Dell Precision's, and I haven't had a Trackpad since the IBM days) I believe the X1, which Avdi referenced, maxed at 8GB? (same as Air) The W series of course can have crazy hardware in it, but it's quite the anomaly…

Yes, have heard good things about MBP trackpad.

My Dell Precision lives on laptop stand, use mechanical KB and trackball mouse -- detest trackpads ;-)

W530 is beast-able, but prefer Precision series, dual fans are big plus with quad core and Nvidia chips.

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#115

Post by LeonidasXIV »

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…

Oh and when booting with nvidia disabled, the Intel card in the T420 is not entering power save after standby, this regression is open since kernel 3.6.2 (October 2012).

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=150743&p=16 https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/32025

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#116

Post by epynonymous »

why not use the best of both worlds, i.e. run both linux and os x at the same time via virtualization. i develop rails on ubuntu in a virtual machine on top of os x, works great, but then again i do have 16G memory, 8G is probably the minimum. and there are great tools to get ruby 1.9+ working on mac, but i prefer to run code on the production os so running virtualbox, vmware fusion, or parallels works wonders, try it out.

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#117

Post by beagle3 »

edent wrote: post #28

Interestingly, I run Ubuntu on a MacBook and a MacBook Air. As they are a "fixed" target, I figured that at least one developer would have made sure that they "just worked". And, indeed, they did. The installation tutorial was comprehensive, the out of the box experience was great, and upgrades have gone smoothly. The only thing to note was that I was able to manually update the WiFi drivers for (supposedly) better p…

Can you list your "known working" platform (Macbook model, Linux distro and version, etc?) or a good place to find those, if you know one? I'm going to replace my laptop soon, and am considering a Mac, but I've been running only Linux since 2005, and would love to know how to pick a Mac that would allow me to continue doing that.

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#118

Post by sangnoir »

coldtea wrote: post #103
jlgreco wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that stuff hardware from Lenovo? I am not familiar with any of it but briefly googling it, it does not seem to be. I think you might be misunderstanding the claim that is being made.

Huh? The claim was just that Linux has good working drivers for the standard Lenovo parts? Trackpad, monitor, GPU, HD controller, sleep/wake-up, etc? That's barebones basic stuff. Of course that should work out of the box... It's all the other stuff driver-wise that matters...

You seem to be contradicting yourself, earlier, you said "And yet, Linux doesn't have all that great driver support ..."

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#119

Post by vacri »

coldtea wrote: post #51
coldtea wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet, Linux doesn't have all that great driver support in that handpicked hardware from Lenovo. Lots of stuff have Win/Mac only drivers.

Yes, I do. Most stuff in my field of multimedia, from top notch quality items available for other platforms (Apogee stuff, UAD Apollo, Black Magic Cinema camera) to prosumer products, including many consumer stuff which only have some community drivers that don't let you use all the functionality.

If you pick and choose industries, of course you can shape arguments to suit your favourite OS. How does OSX deal with managing SCADA systems?

Or back when I was in neurology, there was EEG hardware for Win and Lin, but no mac.

I mean, you're responding to "Use lenovo as a reference model" with "looking at a bunch of other suppliers from a niche industry, it doesn't match up". It's not just apples and oranges, it's not even the same ballpark.

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#120

Post by shurcooL »

lyudmil wrote: post #53

> This is a double standard. To have its “great” hardware support, a given release of OS X has to support a few dozen hardware configurations. Agreed. Linux and Windows, as operating systems, are solving a much different and more difficult problem than OS X is. You can get them to run on a wide variety of hardware relatively easily. By that metric, both Windows and Linux have "better hardware support" than OS X. The…

No, they're solving the exact same problem: to provide a good computing experience.

Now, how they go about solving that same problem is radically different. Windows and Linux tries to support as much hardware as possible and be general. OS X tries to limit scope to own MacBook hardware only, and benefit from the advantages of that approach as much as it can (clearly, it has some disadvantages it suffers from too).

I'm not sure it's easy to say which approach is more difficult overall. Linux and Windows approach is clearly much more difficult on the software side. However, OS X has to have is own hardware made by the same company. If Apple falls behind in hardware, OS X is screwed. So there's a lot more importance and difficulty in making sure the hardware is great (if a Dell makes bad hardware, Linux and Windows can be okay as long as any other hardware company makes something good).

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