MacOS is owned by private comapny and hence run like a centralized dictatorship. Whereas Linux is FOSS, so largely decentralized without anyone coordinating the efforts in order to provide a nice, unified experience (Ubuntu is trying to do that, but they don't have nearly enough money).
Ask HN: Why is there no Linux distro that “just works” like macOS?
11–20 of 157 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no Linux distro that “just works” like macOS?
#12These days, you want to use someone that's based on ostree - so either:
- https://silverblue.fedoraproject.org/
- https://endlessos.com/ (based on Debian)
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no Linux distro that “just works” like macOS?
#13You can buy Linux PCs that "just work", see e.g. System76, Dell, etc.
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no Linux distro that “just works” like macOS?
#14Give Linux Mint Cinnamon a try. I'm a macOS lover, but at work I've used Mint exclusively since 2016 and I think it's pretty darned alright - it's definitely not macOS, but it really is alright.
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no Linux distro that “just works” like macOS?
#15My personal experience is that it's been like this for years already. I'm mostly using laptops (Dell XPS at the moment) with some Ubuntu-derived distro with KDE Plasma on top, bluetooth peripherals, external monitor, and external USB-connected drives, and it all just... works.
Other people are reporting less good experiences, of course, so anecdotes aren't worth too much.
I think the real answer is that macOS runs on very specific hardware, and as such it is much easier for Apple to make sure every part works together. Buying a laptop designed for Linux (or even better: a specific distro) would probably be similar to a general macOS experience.
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no Linux distro that “just works” like macOS?
#16I have never seen a macOS installation that "just works", and troubleshooting was insane. Even as recently as a few days ago I was trying to make it use the correct sample rate for USB sound card and failed. In my personal experience, GNU/Linux is much closer to be worry free and when things break (as they always do no matter the OS) it's usually much easier to figure out what's wrong and fix it there.
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no Linux distro that “just works” like macOS?
#17> Why do you think that is the case?
Good Question. Short answer is here: [0]
The most obvious failure of the Linux Desktop is the sheer alternatives of alternatives madness of not having a simple standard way of creating a sane desktop environment. This is why you have system components not working in an integrated fashion like what you see on macOS.
There are multiple system projects fighting, competing amongst themselves and reinventing the wheel to replace each other in one part of the desktop stack to prove they are the smartest out there rather than have a standard set of components to stick to that does its job well and integrates with other parts of the stack. Not create yet another competing alternative for the sake of it.
This is where the bugs get created and good luck figuring out where the bug is and 'defining' Linux Desktop support. Is it in systemd? Wayland? GNOME? dbus? or maybe it is happening in pulseaudio or was it ALSA? See what I mean? Which distros are affected? Hundreds? or is it 'that' user who has a customized install and tweaked a system component or kernel setting somewhere and it only affects them?
macOS does not have this level of unpredictability in the default install, unlike the hundreds of thousands of Linux distros one has to look at and trace the issue and maintain. That is why macOS, 'just works' on the software level.
The hardware level is a different story where to spoil it; on Macs it still just works. Hence the reason why this ex-Linux user moved to macOS [0]
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no Linux distro that “just works” like macOS?
#18I feel that this kind of stuff is always a matter of what OS you are used to. When I need to use MacOS there are numerous things that I find hopelessly broken, because I am used to them working differently on Linux. And I'm sure the same will happen to Mac people trying to use Linux.
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no Linux distro that “just works” like macOS?
#19Apple owns the hardware and MS managed to get HW vendors to adjust everything to Windows.
IMHO, owning the Hardware or agreeing on one existing HW among devs is a good approach. These come to mind:
Dell XPS notebooks, which specifically support Ubuntu or
https://system76.com/ They build or assemble hardware specifically for their Linux distribution Pop! OS
No personal experience with neither, but a colleague uses XPS with OpenSuse and talks about a seamstress experience.
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no Linux distro that “just works” like macOS?
#20To people commenting how "well if you install Linux the right way on the right hardware like this here purpose-built laptop, it also 'just works'", what the OP is trying to underline isn't just the technical aspect of the OS booting flawlessly and recognizing its periphery, but also the whole experience that comes after. One special part of this, which is easily overseen, is the fact that Apple has poured hundreds of thousands of man-hours and millions upon millions of dollars into HIG (human interface guidelines) studies, which is something no other vendor has bothered themselves with.