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Warning: 2016 MacBook Pro is not compatible with Linux

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

#271
post #6

There are other nice machines to run Linux on. AFAICT people buy Apple laptops to run macOS; for that you have pretty little choice.

Can you recommend a good Linux-compatible laptop. I saw that Dell no longer sells Linux pre-installed on its XPS machines. What are some good alternatives?

My choice is consistently ThinkPad T series. This, among other things, was one of the machines Google supplied to their engineers as a Linux laptop.

The high-resolution screen story of these laptops is somehow underwhelming. OTOH a matte screen by default is priceless; I can withstand a full HD 14" screen pretty well. Especially because X has much better font anti-aliasing for smaller fonts than OSX, so my Emacs and terminal windows look more readable even with lower DPI.

A Thinkpad series T is not sleek, but I don't care. I care about the ability to cram a lot of battery power into it, though.

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

#272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, I see the first mention of Ubuntu was far down the page, long after all the machine specs which only show Windows. Thanks for pointing that out. I wonder what the community feels about these XPS linux boxes.

What a strange site. It mentioned Ubuntu at the bottom, but when you go to customize and order a machine, Ubuntu is not an option.

Strangely, it depends on the amount of RAM you choose.

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

#274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

It isn't when I bring it up -- I wonder if there is a javascript issue that is causing a problem (such as with noscript, or an adblocker?) I'm seeing about 25 pages of systems. For current systems, I'm seeing the T460, T460p (with Ubuntu 14.04), and T460s with both Ubuntu and RHEL 7.2. Also seeing the X1 carbon, and X1 carbon yoga with Ubuntu certification.

For the X260, for example, it has these links: https://access.redhat.com/ecosystem/hardware/2199571 http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/hardware/201511-20298/

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

#275
post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've used lots of Windows laptops at home and work over the years. From $800 to custom-built $3k business-class workhorses. I maintain my claim that the build quality and integration on a MacBook is still among the best.

I'll agree that the build quality is excellent but the promise of the stability of an OS built for hardware from the same vendor has been a disappointment. OS X on my late 2012 13" MBP Retina has been the most unstable platform I have used in years. It completely freezes on me about once a month. I haven't had a blue screen of death or lockup on the various Windows laptops I've been forced to use for work since some…

I must say i probably have lot of luck. I have 2011 nonretina macbook pro without ssd and i never had problems. I even dropped it once on hard ground (slipped from opened bag pocked). I use it every day, abuse it, travel all the time i do cpu intensive shit and even 3D sometimes. It still works very well without single repair (just added 16gb ram).

I never was much of a apple fan but this notebook was so good investment. I wish i would get something equaly good again. Unfortunately all that unrepairable glued bullshit is just sad.

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

#276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't just throw money at a problem and it magically gets solved. Adding additional requirements puts strain on your core team, there's no way around it. If you could 100% compartmentalize this, have people working on it independently, maybe you could minimize impact, but how can you justify that spending? They know the open-source community is capable of working to fix problems like this.

Seems to me your statements are contradictory. The open-source community has no contact with Apple's core team. Either the open source community can't do it, or Apple could do it without adding strain to its core team.

Every employee of Apple adds to the organizational weight. If they're throwing money at something that money needs to be accounted for, there needs to be check-ins and reviews and...

The open-source community can do it. Look, we got Linux on the PS4. This isn't even hard by comparison.

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

#277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't just throw money at a problem and it magically gets solved. Adding additional requirements puts strain on your core team, there's no way around it. If you could 100% compartmentalize this, have people working on it independently, maybe you could minimize impact, but how can you justify that spending? They know the open-source community is capable of working to fix problems like this.

They could sponsor a developer or provide hardware to willing developers.

You really don't get how Apple works, do you?

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

#278
post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you deliver a byte per interrupt to be compatible with PS/2 then your system has to wake up more frequently than a DMA/SPI interface. Nothing says Apple couldn't just add DMA capabilities to a PS/2 controller, sort of like how bus-master IDE works. USB can be configured to directly store the data in memory, so that in the ISR the operating system simply scans memory. That's just DMA, but the USB controller itself…

> Nothing says Apple couldn't just add DMA capabilities to a PS/2 controller, sort of like how bus-master IDE works. Except cost. > That's just DMA, but the USB controller itself has to physically poll the bus. Who cares? The USB controller requires a fraction of the power that the CPU does. If I have to choose between a microcontroller polling for "interrupt endpoints" and the CPU, you know what I'm going to choose.…

You must wait for inb(0x64) & 1 before reading from 0x60.

The code clearly shows that all the ISR does is read from the status port, and if there is data available, read it from the data port. It only does nothing in the unlikely case that no data is available (could be a spurious interrupt.) I have written code like this before. There is no waiting, no polling. Receive an interrupt, read a byte. Some devices will actually let you read multiple bytes (just keep reading until one of the bits in the status register goes off.)

You're claiming it would significantly increase cost to enhance an existing interface (as opposed to redesigning everything and the nontrivial NRE of that?), on a laptop that itself costs far more than the majority of others using a standard or slightly enhanced standard interface.

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

#279
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It goes both ways. By buying Apple you're funding walled gardens and anti-choice design patterns, abusive labor practices including child labor and sweatshop conditions at their prime contractors, and collusion with NSA et al via PRISM.

This comment is just ridiculous. Apple does more than ANY manufacturer to improve working and supply chain conditions, anywhere, and most OEMs use the same facilities so blaming Apple specifically is doubly silly. How is the Mac even close to a walled garden or anti choice??? They allow Windows and any app you want to be installed.. What are you talking about? And please, do provide a source for your "collusion with…

Wow bud, sorry to have insulted your favourite company.

They did in fact participate in PRISM, sorry to get you so worked up.

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

#280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All previous models were compatible out of the box.

There's a 17 month old bounty to add support for the 2015 MacBook: https://www.bountysource.com/issues/35422234-macbook8-1-12-i... . The 2012 Retina MBP also didn't work correctly at first but that was fixed quickly. The only models that were compatible out of the box were the ones which didn't change much.

my bad
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