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Linux has better hardware support than OS X

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Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#131

Post by S201 »

mathnode wrote: post #64
edent wrote: post #28

Interestingly, I run Ubuntu on a MacBook and a MacBook Air. As they are a "fixed" target, I figured that at least one developer would have made sure that they "just worked". And, indeed, they did. The installation tutorial was comprehensive, the out of the box experience was great, and upgrades have gone smoothly. The only thing to note was that I was able to manually update the WiFi drivers for (supposedly) better p…

What about over heating? I tried ubuntu 12.04, and 12.10 on a 2011 macbook air 4,2. I followed the information here, some of the tweaks weren't needed on 12.10: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBookAir4-2 But the fans were spinning almost constantly. This was with just firefox and vim usage. OS X seems to do a better job of running Apple hardware at a sensible temperature.

I'm using this project on my Macbook retina and it works wonderfully: https://github.com/dgraziotin/Fan-Control-Daemon The fans only spin up when I'm doing something intensive and go back down to completely silent when finished.

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#132

Post by pyre »

jfarmer wrote: post #88
perssontm wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have a valid point, but theres another side to it. The hardware that works great are the hardware that developers tend to use. The worst low-end lexmarks which are barely good enough for one cartridge cycle is not something any computer enthusiast/programmer would spend time on makeing work. Since I switched to linux on my laptop 100%, around 2003 somewhere, I always tried to pick hardware which is professional g…

Sure. But still, let's imagine I did professional work that required professional hardware. Further, let's imagine that Linux supported my current setup perfectly. My setup won't be my setup forever. Maybe some new hardware comes out and I want to experiment with it. Will it work with Linux? Will the person making that hardware have Linux in mind when they're building it? If my current hardware breaks, will it be eas…

  > Is memorizing the list of "professional-grade"
  > hardware that works with Linux -- or perhaps just
  > the list of exceptions if that's the smaller list
  > -- worth my time as a professional?
Why the focus on 'memorizing?' When you research the best appliance to buy, do you complain that you had to memorize the specs of (e.g.) different refrigerators? Or do you just do research/comparisons, buy the thing, and promptly drop all of that from memory?

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#135

Post by Intermernet »

coldtea wrote: post #41

> This is a double standard. To have its “great” hardware support, a given release of OS X has to support a few dozen hardware configurations. Not really. It's the field Linux choose to play. But let's constrain it if you like. Does Linux have "better hardware support" than OS X for even a single, specific, hardware product from a specified vendor? At least for my multimedia work, the answer is a resounding no.

What multimedia specific hardware are you having problems with? I've found that Linux works absolutely perfectly with high speed storage devices, and the proprietary drivers for most high end GPUs are equivalent between systems. What other equipment are you using?

There are entire video production houses that run on Linux (Weta comes to mind immediately, but many others use it as well).

Also, if you look at the total hardware vendor and device ID lists supported by both OS X and Linux, you'll find that Linux will leave OS X for dead. OS X just doesn't care about entire device classes as average computer users will never encounter them.

I'm still not sure where the myth that Macs are better for multimedia comes from. I can imagine that, if you work with people who use Macs in their workflow, you can fit into said workflow more easily with a Mac, but If you're working for a company that uses Linux (or even Windows) in the majority of their workflow, then your Mac is just going to be a stumbling block.

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#136

Post by beedogs »

jfarmer wrote: post #68

This is silly. Although I'm sure it's gotten much better since I regularly used Linux on the desktop, you always had to do some amount of due diligence about what hardware worked well with it and what hardware didn't. For example, because I use OS X, I can go to any store, purchase my choice of Lexmark printer, and be on my merry way with a minimal amount of checking. The fact that I have to know that there's a "refe…

This comment was probably more relevant 10 years ago.

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#137

Post by Samuel_Michon »

brown wrote: post #100
jfarmer wrote: post #68

This is silly. Although I'm sure it's gotten much better since I regularly used Linux on the desktop, you always had to do some amount of due diligence about what hardware worked well with it and what hardware didn't. For example, because I use OS X, I can go to any store, purchase my choice of Lexmark printer, and be on my merry way with a minimal amount of checking. The fact that I have to know that there's a "refe…

I generally agree with your main point (that knowing about reference hardware is burdensome). However, your specific example (printers) is outdated. Both Linux and OSX use CUPS, which was acquired by Apple in 2007. Linux printer support is pretty spectacular these days. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CUPS#History

CUPS drivers are only used on OS X when there aren’t any official drivers made available by the vendor. That’s mostly the case for very old printers (pre-OS X or non-USB). With CUPS drivers, you can get a printer to work, but the experience is nowhere near as good as using official drivers. So no, printer support on OS X and Linux is not equal.

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#139

Post by jebblue »

driverdan wrote: post #21

Valid points but the author highlights one of the original reasons I switched from a ThinkPad running Linux to a MacBook. All high end Linux laptops have driver issues, including ThinkPads. Last thing I knew you still couldn't switch between discreet NVIDIA graphics and the Intel 4000 without a reboot. I've been told some laptops still have issues with sleep / hibernation. Maybe the Dell XPS 13 highlighted in the art…

>> All high end Linux laptops have driver issues, including ThinkPads.

That wasn't my experience with mine, so apparently at least one ran fine.

Re: Linux has better hardware support than OS X

#140

Post by nkorth »

Doesn't Linux technically have better hardware support than Windows, too? I've seen many laptops where a fresh install of Windows will be very broken until you load up the manufacturer's pile of drivers. Linux just has more useful built-in drivers, but I'd say that equals better hardware support.
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