Back on Linux (after one year of Apple and OS X)
1–10 of 334 posts
Re: Back on Linux (after one year of Apple and OS X)
#2just tried purge on my macbook, and it really did freed some memory. never heard before about this command... any ideas why OS doesn't do it automatically from time to time by default? I agree that it doesn't make sense to use swap to move inactive memory.
Re: Back on Linux (after one year of Apple and OS X)
#3Last July I bought one of the new Macbook Air's. The price for the hardware you got was unbeatable, and that was ignoring build quality! While previous Air's were anemic tarted up netbooks, the 2011 Air's were (and are) powerful enough for everyday use.
There was just one problem with the Air however. Horrible Linux support. I'd been using Kubuntu happily for years. After looking at all the ugly dirty hacks people were using to get their Air's running, I decided to give OSX a trial for 6 months or so. Long enough for Linux support to mature. I hadn't used OSX since the early 2000's and it looked like the OS had come a long way. To be precise, what really changed my mind was how far the OSX modding community had come. Despite being hated and loathed by Apple, they had managed to fill in some of the gaping holes in core functionality that Apple philosophy forbade, such as a way to remap keys (in all applications, not just some). I could finally remap the Apple key to something that didn't break my touch-typing habits on all the other OS's I use daily!
6 months later, I'm ready to jump ship. I like OSX Lion's touchpad gestures, but beyond that, I'll miss little else about the OS. OSX isn't bad mind you, but it's infuriatingly difficult to modify when it does something you don't like. It's buggy. It's actually pretty dated and ugly looking now too. OSX's virtual desktop management has absolutely nothing on KDE's.
Unfortunately, just as the next version of Kubuntu was starting to look like a good one for the Air, Canonical announced that they are ceasing paid development of Kubuntu. My favorite KDE distro is now officially on deathwatch. Maybe it will live on with community support, like any other distro has to, or maybe it'll fall by the wayside. I appreciate what Canonical is trying to do with Unity, but it's not for me. I'd long felt like Kubuntu, despite it's many virtues, was being treated like a red-headed step-child. This tears it. I haven't decided what distro I'm going to yet, but it will be one that puts KDE first, and that rules out anything Ubuntu.
Re: Back on Linux (after one year of Apple and OS X)
#4Last July I bought one of the new Macbook Air's. The price for the hardware you got was unbeatable, and that was ignoring build quality! While previous Air's were anemic tarted up netbooks, the 2011 Air's were (and are) powerful enough for everyday use. There was just one problem with the Air however. Horrible Linux support. I'd been using Kubuntu happily for years. After looking at all the ugly dirty hacks people we…
Why can't you just take a standard Ubuntu and install the KDE packages? As far as I understand Kubuntu it's exactly the same as vanilla Ubuntu, but just uses different default packages.
Re: Back on Linux (after one year of Apple and OS X)
#5Last July I bought one of the new Macbook Air's. The price for the hardware you got was unbeatable, and that was ignoring build quality! While previous Air's were anemic tarted up netbooks, the 2011 Air's were (and are) powerful enough for everyday use. There was just one problem with the Air however. Horrible Linux support. I'd been using Kubuntu happily for years. After looking at all the ugly dirty hacks people we…
Reports of Kubuntu's death may well be greatly exaggerated. Ceasing paid development means pulling the funding of one developer, a developer who was previously absent for a release cycle when he was on he Bazaar rotation instead - and Kubuntu still managed to make a release. At the same time, other Kubuntu developers have pointed out how this change will actually make it easier for the community to put Kubuntu together in some ways, due to the move of their packages from main to universe removing the need to get Canonical's sign-off for various things.
Re: Back on Linux (after one year of Apple and OS X)
#6Last July I bought one of the new Macbook Air's. The price for the hardware you got was unbeatable, and that was ignoring build quality! While previous Air's were anemic tarted up netbooks, the 2011 Air's were (and are) powerful enough for everyday use. There was just one problem with the Air however. Horrible Linux support. I'd been using Kubuntu happily for years. After looking at all the ugly dirty hacks people we…
Why can't you just take a standard Ubuntu and install the KDE packages? As far as I understand Kubuntu it's exactly the same as vanilla Ubuntu, but just uses different default packages.
This is true, but realize that the Kubuntu team is maintaining those packages, so "taking a standard Ubuntu and installing the KDE packages" does nothing to remove one's dependence on them. For why this still is nothing to immediately panic about see my earlier reply to parent.
Re: Back on Linux (after one year of Apple and OS X)
#7Last July I bought one of the new Macbook Air's. The price for the hardware you got was unbeatable, and that was ignoring build quality! While previous Air's were anemic tarted up netbooks, the 2011 Air's were (and are) powerful enough for everyday use. There was just one problem with the Air however. Horrible Linux support. I'd been using Kubuntu happily for years. After looking at all the ugly dirty hacks people we…
I've read that OpenSUSE is one of the best KDE distro's around.
Re: Back on Linux (after one year of Apple and OS X)
#8Last July I bought one of the new Macbook Air's. The price for the hardware you got was unbeatable, and that was ignoring build quality! While previous Air's were anemic tarted up netbooks, the 2011 Air's were (and are) powerful enough for everyday use. There was just one problem with the Air however. Horrible Linux support. I'd been using Kubuntu happily for years. After looking at all the ugly dirty hacks people we…
Kubuntu isn't on death watch, there was one person being paid to work on it, the rest was community support. The last version he didn't even work on (he was off working on bazaar or something)
If Kubuntu does die it will be at least like 3 releases out.
Re: Back on Linux (after one year of Apple and OS X)
#9I have been a Mac user for the last four years. I used to really like it, everything was stable and polished and just worked really well.
But in the last few months, things started falling apart. My computer would freeze every few days, syncing would destroy parts of my data, the iPhone would crash every now and then, there would be weird random glitches...
I'm certainly not ready to abandon ship yet, but I can see it coming. The Mac is not what it used to be any more.
Re: Back on Linux (after one year of Apple and OS X)
#10Last July I bought one of the new Macbook Air's. The price for the hardware you got was unbeatable, and that was ignoring build quality! While previous Air's were anemic tarted up netbooks, the 2011 Air's were (and are) powerful enough for everyday use. There was just one problem with the Air however. Horrible Linux support. I'd been using Kubuntu happily for years. After looking at all the ugly dirty hacks people we…
I've read that OpenSUSE is one of the best KDE distro's around.
Personally, I'm fond of Fedora's KDE offering as I explained the other day: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3561927
Again, not that there is any reason to leave Kubuntu if you're presently happy with what it offers you.