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Sick of Windows but can't afford a Mac? The cynic's guide to desktop Linux

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Re: Sick of Windows but can't afford a Mac? The cynic's guide to desktop Linux

#101

Post by bmitc »

hollandheese wrote: post #94
bmitc wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One mans lackluster features is another mans streamlined interface. MacOS at least goes out of your way most of the time. That is really just not true. I don't even think one could consider it an opinion. Irregardless of what Windows does, macOS constantly gets in your way. Try to rename iTunes, because that's the only way to keep it from opening every time you connect your non-Apple Bluetooth headphones (there's a…

iTunes doesn't even exist anymore on macOS. > Try to rename iTunes, because that's the only way to keep it from opening every time you connect your non-Apple Bluetooth headphones (there's a convoluted procedure to do so) Never happened once with any of my non-Apple Bluetooth headphones. What the ** are you talking about? Do you constantly hit the play button on the headphones when you connect them? That's the only ti…

If by Retina display you mean an Apple display and not resolution, then yes. Because my monitor is 5k and should be able to be handled. And I already use the Thunderbolt port on the right side, having researched this a bit. Auto-updates can be turned off on Windows as well. I still get updates I didn't expect on macOS, often when I've told it explicitly not to do so (like when you get the notification requesting it). And sometimes, like for work computers, auto-update is not able to be disabled (I no longer use Macs for my personal use), and so macOS doing the update whenever it wants is problematic.

Regarding the headphones, it's a common issue. In our case, it was done when the Bluetooth headphones (a model sold in Apple stores!) simply connected, as another commenter mentioned. There's all sorts of forum posts about this with a litany of solutions. The only solution that worked for us was to rename iTunes (the name at the time).

Re: Sick of Windows but can't afford a Mac? The cynic's guide to desktop Linux

#102

Post by kube-system »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #100
kube-system wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was mostly just asking the question, as I'm not an expert in the nuances of DRAM timing/latency/etc nor chip design. ... but we also didn't define whether we were using "possible" in an academic or commercial sense.

What do you mean by "commercial sense"? There are literally Intel and AMD based laptops sold right now with socketed high speed DDR5 sticks, so of course it's commercially possible.

It depends on the market segment of the device. Many of the segments that ARM devices compete with are also segments where sockets aren't common in x86 either. I mean, we all know Ampere devices typically have socketed RAM, but that's because different compromises were made in those devices vs. the compromises made in a thin low-power laptop.

The thin-and-light segment has some pretty tough competition, and the best sellers are not the devices with the most sockets.

If you're choosing to put an ARM processor in a laptop, you're probably doing so because it helps you accomplish some of the things this market wants: a smaller thermal solution, lower power consumption, slick packaging, etc. Adding sockets doesn't really help you commercially position that particular product any better, it only hurts you.

Re: Sick of Windows but can't afford a Mac? The cynic's guide to desktop Linux

#103

Post by dmitriid »

iLoveOncall wrote: post #81
dmitriid wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What amazes me is that people who pride themselves on being smart when faced with Apple always resort to the laziest and most stupid of explanations for Apple's popularity: "marketing". While marketing does play a bog role, it is still rooted in the reality: Apple makes good products (that are often leagues better than the competition in several areas), and as a whole the experience of using Apple products is better…

What amazes me is that Mac fanatics never have any factual argument as to why it would be better than Windows. All I hear are attributes that are supposed to be better (spoiler, they're not), but always without a single concrete example.

> What amazes me is that Mac fanatics never have any factual argument

First, stop calling people fanatics. And then, and only then, you will hear all the factual arguments.

Re: Sick of Windows but can't afford a Mac? The cynic's guide to desktop Linux

#104

Post by ChuckNorris89 »

kube-system wrote: post #102
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by "commercial sense"? There are literally Intel and AMD based laptops sold right now with socketed high speed DDR5 sticks, so of course it's commercially possible.

It depends on the market segment of the device. Many of the segments that ARM devices compete with are also segments where sockets aren't common in x86 either. I mean, we all know Ampere devices typically have socketed RAM, but that's because different compromises were made in those devices vs. the compromises made in a thin low-power laptop. The thin-and-light segment has some pretty tough competition, and the best…

>The thin-and-light segment has some pretty tough competition, and the best sellers are not the devices with the most sockets.

Again, the original comment I addressed was the fallacy that it's technically impossible to have socketed RAM on SoCs, which is false, not whether the device with more sockets is better seller which is probably also false, but again, this was not the main topic and we can continue to discuss forever on the pros and cons of RAM sockets, so, having made my technical point clear, I will end the conversation here.

Re: Sick of Windows but can't afford a Mac? The cynic's guide to desktop Linux

#105

Post by lproven »

paol wrote: post #17

> It is a truth universally acknowledged that all operating systems suck. This could be engraved in stone. I know the title isn't really serious, but not being able to afford a Mac is not a good reason to use Linux. Use what you want/need/feel comfortable in, otherwise the experience will be miserable.

[Article author here]

> This could be engraved in stone.

Glad you liked it. :-)

Re: Sick of Windows but can't afford a Mac? The cynic's guide to desktop Linux

#106

Post by lproven »

hvs wrote: post #50
paol wrote: post #17

> It is a truth universally acknowledged that all operating systems suck. This could be engraved in stone. I know the title isn't really serious, but not being able to afford a Mac is not a good reason to use Linux. Use what you want/need/feel comfortable in, otherwise the experience will be miserable.

So, your suggestion if you can't afford a Mac is to... buy a Mac?

Used Macs are a thing. Old ones can be quite cheap.

I still run a 2009 MacBook Pro (for my partner) and a 2011 Mac Mini. Both max out at 10.13 but they work 100% fine, run the latest browsers etc., and do all we need.

Re: Sick of Windows but can't afford a Mac? The cynic's guide to desktop Linux

#107

Post by lproven »

mark_l_watson wrote: post #77

That was a strange article: skip it and just read the discussion thread here. I downloaded Slackware over a 2400 baud modem, so I was early on the Linux train. Now, I occasionally use my System76 laptop. My workhorse is using VPSs with mosh or ssh and tmux. A wonderful Linux experience. Either my M1 MacBook Pro or my very nice and very inexpensive little Lenovo Chromebook suffices to reach various VPSs. Since there i…

What was strange about it? I wrote it; I'd genuinely like to know.

Re: Sick of Windows but can't afford a Mac? The cynic's guide to desktop Linux

#108

Post by lproven »

iLoveOncall wrote: post #7
10x-dev wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on this one comment, I think you should learn to disambiguate between facts and your subjective opinion. We all have our preferences, obviously, but to assert that MacOS UI is 'a masterclass in bad design and lackluster features' is a grandiose exaggeration stated as fact.

I'm pretty sure the finder lacking basic features such as cut-paste or copying the path to the current folder is a fact. The finder alone would be enough to justify my statement, but it's just a small part of the numerous issues of MacOS. The dock leaving empty space on 50% of the width of your monitor is also a fact. Or having to run a weird command in the CLI to add an empty space as separator in the dock. Or havin…

Try to bear in mind that while there is nothing wrong with wanting what you want, others may not share your desires.

I've been using Macs since 1988 and I've never wanted your point 1, 3, or 4, and my dock doesn't take 50% of the width of the screen, it takes about 5% of it because it's on the side where it belongs and where it was on NeXTstep.

So none of this has ever applied to me, and TBH, I can't even imagine it applying to me.

Re: Sick of Windows but can't afford a Mac? The cynic's guide to desktop Linux

#109

Post by lproven »

severak_cz wrote: post #67

They missed Elementary OS - Linux distro designed to look like open source/bootleg version of Mac.

Hi. Article author here.

No, I didn't. Also, if you wish, you can read my review of Elementary from a few months ago: https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/21/elementary_os_61/

To counter your points:

• I tried to pick 10 of the most widely-used distros. I do not think Elementary would make that list.

• I don't think it has any more than a trivial cosmetic resemblance to macOS.

• While I admire the coherence of its design, I found its usability and customizability notably poor, and its UI rather annoying.

Re: Sick of Windows but can't afford a Mac? The cynic's guide to desktop Linux

#110

Post by lproven »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #61
jitl wrote: post #22

I think my ideal Linux OS is probably Ubuntu/CentOS + something like macOS’s .app bundle file format for distributing end-user applications. When running personal Linux, I want things to generally “just work”, which means staying away from the distro package managers on Debian/Redhat derivatives. Given enough “hobby time” I manage to twist my base system’s packages into pretzels and/or break workflow critical softwar…

> In short I want the ROX desktop dream, but for all Linux apps. http://rox.sourceforge.net/desktop/about_rox.html Seconded. AppImage is admirable and FlatPak is tolerable, but Linux has become a hopelessly fragmented and complex ball of abstractions and everyone's best efforts to deal with that so we can just install some goddamned applications already have been significantly hindered by it. Best I've managed so far…

Agreed re ROX, by the way.

ROX Desktop on top of GoboLinux, with self-updating AppImages, sounds like a great combination to me.

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