My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done • Hacker News Board

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#181

Post by Mikeb85 » Sun, Oct 27, 2013, 8:31 AM UTC

eropple wrote: post #158

davexunit wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Finding and installing that missing wifi driver That "missing" wifi driver is not there because it's proprietary. It doesn't make sense to blame a free operating system for faulty hardware. In any case, I know that in Ubuntu, the user is informed of nonfree drivers being available and it's trivial to install the drivers from that point.

> It doesn't make sense to blame a free operating system for faulty hardware. This mindset is toxic because it does not adequately think about the end user. I mean--drivers? What's a driver? Why do I, a user, care that it's difficult for Ubuntu to do something that Windows does? It doesn't work, that's all I care about.

> Why do I, a user, care that it's difficult for Ubuntu to do something that Windows does?

It's not Ubuntu that can't do it. It's the hardware manufacturer that refuses to do it.

I personally choose to vote with my feet. I only buy computer hardware/software that works with Linux. If someone refuses to support Linux, they don't get my business.

If everyone does this, eventually everyone will support Linux or go out of business.

There isn't anything that Linux can't technically do. It's simply a matter of who is willing to support Linux.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#182

Post by girvo » Sun, Oct 27, 2013, 8:31 AM UTC

ivanbrussik wrote: post #75

I've been using Linux since Redhat 4.0, whatever kernal version that was. I've always been a "desktop" user but very much know my way around bash and can throw together pipes and scripts. Last week I setup a fresh Ubuntu box in our office, on a fairly new Dell PC in order to view a webinar. I wanted to show off Linux (ended up looking like a moron.) Flash issues on Firefox rightaway, no matter what I did it would not…

I've had that experience with Windows (7, as it happens) myself. That said, I also agree that there are a number of rough edges that haven't been smoothed out, which frustrates me. That's why I'm getting involved in development with Elementary OS :)

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#183

Post by girvo » Sun, Oct 27, 2013, 8:33 AM UTC

ezequiel-garzon wrote: post #131

davexunit wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Finding and installing that missing wifi driver That "missing" wifi driver is not there because it's proprietary. It doesn't make sense to blame a free operating system for faulty hardware. In any case, I know that in Ubuntu, the user is informed of nonfree drivers being available and it's trivial to install the drivers from that point.

But doesn't Ubuntu give you the option of installing third-party software? Why doesn't this take care of such issues?

It does, at least for hardware I've installed that requires a proprietary driver -- on first boot, it pops the screen asking to install it. That's my experience anyway.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#184

Post by Mikeb85 » Sun, Oct 27, 2013, 8:33 AM UTC

Ecio78 wrote: post #138

ams6110 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is Windows XP, with all its warts, will still run comfortably on a 6 or 8 year PC that was low-end when it was new. A few weeks ago, when my wife's old XP computer finally wouldn't boot anymore I got a new hard drive and tried to run Ubuntu on it. Couldn't even get through the installer without it freezing up. Lubuntu installed but wasn't stable. OpenBSD with KDE was pretty good, and I would have stayed wit…

I'm running the latest Linux Mint on an old Dell XPS M1330 (Centrino Duo and 2GB Ram, end of 2007) and it runs quite well. Ubuntu is too heavy for an old machine like the one you're talking about, try Mint

Mint is just as heavy, unless you're talking the XFCE edition.

DE's matter more than the distro when it comes to the amount of resources consumed...

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#185

Post by qb45 » Sun, Oct 27, 2013, 8:35 AM UTC

nitrogen wrote: post #142

javajosh wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is an interesting phenomena, but it's pretty easy to explain: the barrier for an older person is "using a computer". The barrier for a younger person is "using linux". The older person doesn't know or care about the operating system - they are going to use the computer (or not) for very specific things. The younger person, who is probably more of a power user, is going to be more "enmeshed" with the details of the…

It's funny; ten years ago the explanation was exactly the opposite. "Maybe young people can pick up Linux, but there's no way my grandma could ever figure it out." I'm inclined to believe that both are post hoc rationalizations of a phenomenon whose true cause is entirely unrelated.

Because ten years ago you had to partition your HDD with fdisk and configure WiFi network by editing /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf.

I'm pretty sure none of the nontechnical users mentioned here would be willing to do that.

Ubuntu moved lots of configuration to the GUI, making it easily discoverable and usable for people who don't already know where to look for things. Ubuntu may be sucky, buggy and inflexible, but it's much easier to use than old-style GNU/Linux.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#186

Post by Mikeb85 » Sun, Oct 27, 2013, 8:35 AM UTC

skuunk1 wrote: post #111

awesomerly wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please define "shoehorn an OS". Linux generally runs on most modern hardware and arguably is a better general purpose OS than Windows.

I am a huge Ubuntu fanboy (I am even installing it on my old Vaio as I write this), but I would love to have it running on hardware that was designed from the ground up for Ubuntu instead of having to patch together various drivers and troll through forums looking trying to find out how to get the mic and camera working (etc...).

Get an all-Intel Thinkpad. Everything works out of the box except the fingerprint sensor, which works with a single apt-get install...

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#187

Post by itsbits » Sun, Oct 27, 2013, 8:36 AM UTC

I see many people against windows...I have 2 PCs one with linux(programming) and windows(gaming)..Windows is not that bad for programming as well...its just the set up for your coding env matters....i do sometimes end up programming in windows after playing some game..so i have some tools etc installed which give me almost equal experience of doing it with linux...saying that i still prefer linux laptop for coding, one reason can be addictive games missing in linux...

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#188

Post by chmike » Sun, Oct 27, 2013, 8:36 AM UTC

The only reason I keep a windows machine around is because of Word/Powerpoint. I can get ork done with these. Open/libreOffice are pale copies.

I also played some games like TF2 or Age of Empire, but the former is now playable on Ubuntu. Steam is doing an impressive work.

For programming, I prefer QtCreator to Visual Studio. I regret QtCreator can't be used with other languages like D, Go, Java.

I don't think I'll make the switch to windows 8. My father 82 bought a new computer and Dell only sell Windows 8 on these. This costed him a lot of time to adapt for no justified benefit.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#189

Post by fsniper » Sun, Oct 27, 2013, 8:36 AM UTC

I'm a Pro-linuxer and never have any Windows machines near my home.

So this means, Ubuntu netbooks and laptops all around and my mom and sister is very familiar with Linux. They are using these easily.

Once I found out my sister tried to install wine via source code :) She needed some windows software for some firmware update and all her research lead her to wine and source code install. The thing is she did not asked me anything about the whole process.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#190

Post by hrkristian » Sun, Oct 27, 2013, 8:36 AM UTC

n1ghtmare_ wrote: post #128

ivanbrussik wrote: post #75

I've been using Linux since Redhat 4.0, whatever kernal version that was. I've always been a "desktop" user but very much know my way around bash and can throw together pipes and scripts. Last week I setup a fresh Ubuntu box in our office, on a fairly new Dell PC in order to view a webinar. I wanted to show off Linux (ended up looking like a moron.) Flash issues on Firefox rightaway, no matter what I did it would not…

That's pretty much my experience with Linux (Ubuntu). I used it for 2 years and I like it, but dude I was in config files and consoles all the freaking time, I mean it, every single day something.

That was my experience with Ubuntu as well, then I switched distro. That mess gets too much hype.