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Why I Quit OS X – Geoff Wozniak

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Re: Why I Quit OS X – Geoff Wozniak

#61

Post by glesica »

ggreer wrote: post #11

It's important to notice that he's switching to a desktop running linux. Running linux on laptops is still a gamble. Sometimes things work great. Sometimes you spend months trying to fix basic stuff like screen brightness[1][2] on hardware certified by Ubuntu.[3] I think there's a market for a linux distro that targets a limited set of premium hardware. I'd gladly pay money for an OS that worked out of the box on any…

I have long argued that the marketing of various GNU/Linux distros as something you can install on any PC if you get tired of Windows for whatever reason was a huge mistake on the part of the community.

This attitude created the insane expectation that Ubuntu (or whatever) should run on any machine that previously ran Windows. That is a (hopelessly) tall order to fill, especially considering that new versions of Windows itself won't always run on machines that previously ran an older version of Windows.

We, as a community, mistakenly emphasized the sheer number of installs over the quality of those installs and the happiness of their users. The best way to market GNU/Linux, in my opinion, is to show someone a fully compatible, fully working machine that "Just Work[ed]" out of the box and explain, honestly, how it was achieved (by buying the right machine and using a distro known to work with that machine).

I believe that the "we can make any machine work, sort of..." attitude created a lot of crazy expectations, which hurt "switchers" and thus actually hurt the sale of fully compatible machines. Very sad.

I'm with you though. I bought a Mac solely for the battery life and the screen. If I could get a well-built machine, with a screen that didn't look washed out and a battery that consistently lasted more than four hours without weird tricks I would gladly pay Mac prices for it.

Re: Why I Quit OS X – Geoff Wozniak

#62

Post by iwince »

owenwil wrote: post #52

I don't think Yosemite is as bad as people are making out; there have been some odd bugs, but many of them are caused by odd legacy migrations from old laptops or botched upgrades it seems. A fresh install seems to fix many problems experienced by many. Even if OS X Yosemite is buggy, I don't think it's worth the switch to Linux for a desktop machine. It's a step backwards.

I never [bought] a Mac, always looked like a control freak's dream, a step down from even Windows, let alone Linux.

Re: Why I Quit OS X – Geoff Wozniak

#63

Post by zenpusher »

o_____________o wrote: post #21

Photoshop remains the reason I haven't used Linux as my primary OS for a couple years now. I held out for a long time, but it's just a singularly useful piece of software with no reasonable equivalents.

I use Windows but Gimp is my "go to" graphic design app. It's a solid alternative to Photoshop.

Re: Why I Quit OS X – Geoff Wozniak

#64

Post by TD-Linux »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #27

I've been using OS X since 10.2, though I keep a Windows box around for games. I also feel that OS X has become less stable and performant in recent years, and every now and then I spin up a Linux distro on a spare hard disk just to try it out. These experiments rarely last very long, and almost always end because the video/graphics support is just so terrible. I have yet to find a reliable way to play videos without…

I had the same complaints wrt video tearing, however in very recent distros (F21+) the issue has largely been resolved.

In non-composited environments, tearing would happen unless a hardware overlay used.

In composited environments, tearing would be inevitable because the compositor would use a nonsynchronized back-to-front-buffer copy. This has largely been replaced with a synchronized buffer flip, so that there is no tearing at all.

The one remaining issue I have is with fullscreen Firefox videos. These get "direct" output (they skip the compositor) but don't use a hardware overlay, and therefore tear. There are a couple solutions for this that I'm playing with.

Re: Why I Quit OS X – Geoff Wozniak

#66

Post by LaSombra »

cbhl wrote: post #47

Oddly enough, I switched from Ubuntu Linux to OS X because of upgrade pains of my own -- regressions in the Intel display drivers on my older hardware, suffering performance as a result of Unity, and cloud services making changes to messaging protocols in ways that constantly broke Pidgin/libpurple/Empathy. At one point, I had a workflow consisting of a Chromebook + Chrome + GMail + Secure Shell[0] + Linux VPS runnin…

Have you tried other Linux distributions before the move?

Re: Why I Quit OS X – Geoff Wozniak

#67

Post by Ologn »

ebiester wrote: post #43
mikebelanger wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't know a 'paid Linux OS' but system76.com makes PCs specifically for Linux, which is effectively a limited set of premium hardware.

Do check the reviews, though. For a while, system76 had a terrible reputation for quality, and none of them compare to my t420 even today, as far as I can tell.

I bought a System76 laptop this summer, to replace one I bought in 2012. Both worked great for me. My Ubuntu 14.10 upgrade went off without a hitch, and the 2012 laptop has upgraded without problems as well.

Re: Why I Quit OS X – Geoff Wozniak

#68

Post by neveragain »

tunesmith wrote: post #19

I'm getting more interested in dipping my toes back into linux laptops, partly for privacy and control reasons, and partly because I'm finding it more difficult to develop on OS X as I am more frequently using micro services and docker and virtualization. I haven't picked a platform yet though because I would like to see how "free" (libre) I can get for privacy/control reasons, and it's time-consuming to make the rig…

No idea if these guys will ship or not, but this is another option: https://www.crowdsupply.com/purism/librem-laptop

Re: Why I Quit OS X – Geoff Wozniak

#69

Post by vacri »

brandonmenc wrote: post #12

I did this once. Biggest waste of time, ever. Went from NetBSD to OS X in 2002, then to Linux in 2008, then back to OS X in 2011. I spend almost all of my time in cross-platform apps, but the little inconveniences of Linux on a laptop just weren't worth the trouble back in 2011, and I'd be surprised if anything has changed since then. OS X at its ugliest and least stable wipes the floor with Linux at its best, imo.

At my last workplace, the OSX laptops were all 2-3+ years old... and were all incredibly slow. I was always surprised that people could get any work done on them. One woman had an OSX laptop that would boot up with the entire 4GB of memory in use, with no applications or agents loaded except maybe spotify. All the shiny UI in the world doesn't make you more productive when you have to wait for a mouse click to register.

The linux machines were whiteboxes of the same age, and while there was a curl or two in setting them up, were still just as speedy and usable when aged as they were when new.

Re: Why I Quit OS X – Geoff Wozniak

#70

Post by kungfooguru »

ggreer wrote: post #26
kungfooguru wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thinkpads work great.

Did you not see my links to where a ThinkPad, certified by Ubuntu, has broken screen brightness? I own an X140e and it has been a nightmare. I've had it for a year and I still can't get bluetooth to work[1]. I've also tried a Carbon X1 and it leaves much to be desired. Like I said, it's a gamble. Sometimes the hardware and drivers and phase of the moon is right and everything works. Sometimes no amount of kernel flag…

Damn.

I use a Carbon X1 and have had no issue. Before I've been through other X's and a W.

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