141–150 of 170 posts
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Who cares about sleekness? Linux has looked sleek for decades but still behaves like ass
“Looks sleek” was only ever a surface level reason why macOS was a good UI. Far more important was that it was highly opinionated, and those opinions were very consistently applied, resulting in a highly predictable interface. This has been degrading over the past decade, unfortunately.
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> of course NeXT Mach is one of the most widely-ported kernels of all time... actually the broader Mach kernel, not specifically the NeXT variant, is the one with a documented history of extensive portability
The NeXT variant did run on the following architectures: 1. Motorola 68k (the original NeXT hardware had 68030 and 68040 chips) 2. Intel x86 (NeXTSTEP 3.1 for Intel was released in 1993) 3. HP PA-RISC (I have an OPENSTEP 4.2 CD that can run on Motorola 68k, x86, PA-RISC, and SPARC hardware) 4. Sun SPARC 5. 32-bit PowerPC (Rhapsody, the original Mac OS X 1.0 that was essentially still Rhapsody, and of course Mac OS X…
I would very much like to see that quad-fat OS4.2 CD; most NeXT releases around that era drop PA-RISC and are only tri-fat. I only have a 3.3 RISC (HPPA+SPARC) ISO for HPPA coverage.
The big ones you're missing are the Intel i860 (used as a graphics accelerator on NeXTdimension video processing boards—also the original target platform for the Win NT kernel) and the Motorola 88k family, which was briefly explored for the "NeXT RISC machine" in the mid-90s; only one prototype is known to exist. There were non-NeXT ports of Mach to m88k, which may have influenced the decision.
Of course, if we add in the other branches of the Mach family the number of ports gets absurd! It originated on the VAX; OSF/1 adds MIPS and AXP to the list... ultimately RISC-V and Itanium are the only significant ≥32-bit CPUs of the last forty years to not see some kind of Mach port.
But—the ultimate point is that the lion's share of actual work porting the kernel to new hardware is thanks to NeXT and/or NeXT cosplaying as Apple.
What would be required to achieve this?
I guess one thing macOS users like is the default UI. So this is probably an area where Linux lacks - both GNOME and KDE have shortcomings when compared to that UI. (They are mostly fine if one does not have that as a use case, though I find GNOME to really want to simplify everything to the point of having almost no features left.)
This is so cool, the little mini screenshots look gorgeous because it replicates MacOS. I’m not sure if a lot of people feel the same but over the years I always thought it was a shame that Linux’ overall UX and aesthetics seemed a little bit more rushed and “crowd sourced” (in the sense that it felt diverse in terms of ui opinions and taste etc). It almost makes me want to try Linux again just for that look and feel…
Can Linux replace macOS? What would be required to achieve this? I guess one thing macOS users like is the default UI. So this is probably an area where Linux lacks - both GNOME and KDE have shortcomings when compared to that UI. (They are mostly fine if one does not have that as a use case, though I find GNOME to really want to simplify everything to the point of having almost no features left.)
Also no one bothers making the beautiful native apps now, everything is electron, which is equally inconsistent everywhere.
So I think the advantage over time Vs a Linux system is diminishing... Slowly.
> A BSD-based OS project that aims to provide source and binary compatibility with macOS® and a similar user experience. I am curious - what is the motivation for this project? Is it to replicate macOS? - If yes, why? Is it to provide application compatibility on a non-macOS? If yes, why a full OS? Why not take the route like Wine or other such layers that make compatibility possible? Also, is there such a need for r…
A lot of these questions are answered here: https://ravynos.com/faq To summarize... There is a WINE-analogous project, called Darling: https://www.darlinghq.org/ The goal for ravynOS is to be analogous to ReactOS. Much like ReactOS and WINE, ravynOS and Darling share a lot of Cocoa code. For the problem of OpenStep implementations specifically, a bespoke software stack has the benefit of being able to put Mach messag…
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I have the same sentiment. I am forced to use a MacBook in my new job while waiting for them to procure a laptop that I can put Linux on. I can say that Linux with KDE Plasma desktop is in almost every way superior to Mac OS. Much better UX, configurability and core applications. And even little things are more polished and thought through compared to what a trillion dollar company was able to produce. It's really be…
Just curious... did your employer agree to getting you a Lennucks Bocks 'cause you asked nice or were they frightened of running afoul of one of the many #a11y or security evaluation frameworks?
Security on a Mac, the same (SIP, Keychain, Secure Enclave, great tools for fleet management)
What specifically is in violation of "#a11y or security evaluation frameworks"?
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First party DLLs have copyright.
No, these are specifically ‘redistributables’. In the rare case they aren’t, you just require the user to obtain it, wink and nod.
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Typically in Microsoft redistributables there are terms in the license that says they can only be licensed for use with a Windows license.
Here's the Visual Studio redistributable licensing requirements: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/license-terms/vs2026-ga-v... There's nothing about Windows licenses in there. There is a specious claim that I can't modify the DLL in some circumstances, but I doubt that's enforceable in any jurisdiction Microsoft could reach me, and to the careful reader the license almost admits as such. If I'm NVidia in this case,…
Also the ones downloaded directly via Windows Update from Microsoft servers.
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Where are you seeing ads?
Maps, news, stocks are all installed by default and supported by ads. Opting out eliminates personalization. One needs to install an app like lulu to block background calls even with personalization turned off. This started with the twitter integration many years again and while social is no longer tightly integrated, the philosophy around user fingerprinting “while not being tied to your identity” is still very much…
I do use Preview quite a bit. I sometimes use TextEdit, Terminal, or Safari, but I more often use Vim, iTerm2, Firefox, DuckDuckGo Browser, or sometimes Chrome.
It helps not to judge a whole OS by three free apps included with it. Microsoft meanwhile puts ads in the main menu and in the task bar. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Windows desktop wallpaper on the Home editions become ads.