Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Warning: 2016 MacBook Pro is not compatible with Linux

reddit.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 285 posts

Re: Warning: 2016 MacBook Pro is not compatible with Linux

#231

Post by imtringued »

eridius wrote: post #153
cyrus_ wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An Apple developer account costs $99/year. The ethical problem on macOS is that Apple is imposing artificial technical barriers to push people to pay Apple what amounts to "protection" money. On iOS, there is no reasonable way to bypass the app store for the vast majority of users.

The fact that you apparently don't understand the security implications here and the reasons why Apple is pushing for codesigning does not mean that Apple is putting up artificial barriers out of greed. That's a pretty ludicrous claim - do you really think the $99/year Apple gets from developers (who aren't already paying for iOS) even registers as a blip on their balance sheets? The next time you see something you d…

$99 every year is enough to be a barrier to entry for individuals but low enough to for malicious actors to obtain the ability to sign code.

It doesn't matter how much it costs. Even if it only costs $0.01 a year it would offer the same level of protection.

The only thing the fee does is limit the number of developer certificates to one per bank account.

Re: Warning: 2016 MacBook Pro is not compatible with Linux

#232

Post by loc_00000000 »

nightski wrote: post #229
21 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And for the price of a Ferarri you can get 5 Toyotas, 2 scooters and monthly passes for the subway for a year. I'm not sure what you're trying to say.

Except Ferarris are fast. A MBP has what, a Radeon Pro 455? That is laughable compared to a GTX 1060.

Speed isn't the only thing you're paying for in a Ferrari

Re: Warning: 2016 MacBook Pro is not compatible with Linux

#233

Post by dotancohen »

derekp7 wrote: post #139
mwambua wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangential Question: Would you say that Thinkpads are still the safest bet if you're looking for good RHEL/Fedora support & updates?

For the Thinkpads, yes. Lenovo is one of the companies that maintains a list such as this: https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/pd031426 (This is a list of computers that they have certified one or more Linux distros against -- typically RHEL and Ubuntu). Any of the problems that you usually hear are typically on their non-Thinkpad lines.

Unfortunately, currently that supported machines list is empty!

Re: Warning: 2016 MacBook Pro is not compatible with Linux

#234

Post by pjmlp »

SiVal wrote: post #84
_opc6 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have incredible amount of cash reserves. An investment in Linux drivers would go against their mission of OSX penetration. It has nothing to do with being unable to do it.

I agree that it's not a lack of resources, but I don't think it's about OSX penetration. They don't seem to care much about OSX penetration anymore. If they did, they would make a wider range of OSX devices and sell them at a more competitive price or license it to other hardware makers who would do so so they could get OSX into more hands. It's about control. Apple doesn't want YOU to replace OSX, they want to do it…

Just like any other computer manufacturer, it was an historical accident that PC compatibles turned out differently.

However thanks to the razor thin margins and the desktops being replaced by laptops with docking stations, they are a dying breed.

Re: Warning: 2016 MacBook Pro is not compatible with Linux

#235

Post by pjmlp »

DomreiRoam wrote: post #219
AceJohnny2 wrote: post #44

Macbooks were never good choices to run Linux on, and it's naive to think it would've gotten any easier. Apple's version of EFI is slightly different than the standard. The laptops are filled with custom hardware that you won't find anywhere else. It took Dell months of effort by a dedicated team [1] to get all the features of a subset of Dell XPS13 laptops working under Linux. I'm actually considering buying one as…

I did buy one od these XPS developer edition. It comes with ubuntu. If we want to signal to the market that we want laptop with linux we need to support this kind of initiative. The fact that linux just work without any changes is great.

I did the same with Asus, when they sold Eee PC 1215B with GNU/Linux here in Germany.

It is the only computer I own that runs GNU/Linux on the metal instead of a VM.

I no longer care for long weekends trying to get something to work.

Re: Warning: 2016 MacBook Pro is not compatible with Linux

#236

Post by nicky0 »

std_throwaway wrote: post #40
adiabatty wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple seems preternaturally constrained by engineer time; I can't see why they would devote a scarce resource like that to qualifying drivers for anything older than Windows 10 Anniversary Edition.

They could pay a third party to do this and provide them with the necessary documentation of the internals (which probably don't stray very far from standard hardware). A simple announcement as in "We're working on it. Expect Linux drivers in 6-12 months." would suffice to calm the waves.

Has Apple ever released Linux drivers before?

Re: Warning: 2016 MacBook Pro is not compatible with Linux

#237

Post by nicky0 »

loopbit wrote: post #85
eridius wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It blocks or impedes the installation of software that it has unilaterally decided is against its interests What software are you thinking of? Apple maintains editorial control over what's in the App Store, but I can't think of any case where Apple has blocked software distributed outside the app store. The closest I can think of is the fact that the default settings of the computer require apps to be codesigned wi…

> by changing the security settings on the computer Sierra has disabled the "install from any source" option (although you can re-enable it with some terminal magic). How long until they disable the identified developers option too and leave a system like the iphone?

Actually they haven't. You can still install from any source by right clicking and choosing Open.

Also one of Sierra's new features is adding support for non-MAS apps to use iCloud features. If they were planning to freeze out non-MAS apps, why would they do that?

Re: Warning: 2016 MacBook Pro is not compatible with Linux

#238

Post by [deleted] »

loopbit wrote: post #85
eridius wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It blocks or impedes the installation of software that it has unilaterally decided is against its interests What software are you thinking of? Apple maintains editorial control over what's in the App Store, but I can't think of any case where Apple has blocked software distributed outside the app store. The closest I can think of is the fact that the default settings of the computer require apps to be codesigned wi…

> by changing the security settings on the computer Sierra has disabled the "install from any source" option (although you can re-enable it with some terminal magic). How long until they disable the identified developers option too and leave a system like the iphone?

[deleted]

Re: Warning: 2016 MacBook Pro is not compatible with Linux

#239

Post by rbanffy »

Honestly curious here: I understand running Linux on a laptop that came with Windows installed, but a Mac comes preinstalled with a fairly reasonable Unix environment. Why bother?

Even on Linux I usually develop inside a VM with a stable OS (CentOS, Ubuntu LTS) that's older than the host environment (current Ubuntu or Fedora).

Re: Warning: 2016 MacBook Pro is not compatible with Linux

#240

Post by nicky0 »

cyrus_ wrote: post #124
givinguflac wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please provide one example of Apple blocking an application from running on MacOS. What's that, you don't have an example? Because this is false.

First off, I didn't say that Apple was blocking apps on MacOS. I mentioned it because the OP was disparaging Lenovo as a whole because of unethical behavior in one product line. As such, it's only fair to do the same for Apple. Second, Apple most definitely does "impede" the installation of apps downloaded independently by requiring you to perform an obscure dance to execute them.

You only have to to the "right click and Open" dance if app is unsigned.

Even for unsigned apps, I don't thing two clicks instead of one is all that obscure.

Post reply on HN