281–290 of 514 posts
I have said this 10 times on HN and i ll say it again. Release a version of Windows 11 called "Windows Optinmal" that has 0 telemetry, 0 trackers, 0 bloatware that runs faster than Windows 7 on modern hardware. Charge 4x the prices if you want, I ll pay happily
This is an excellent article as well as a sign of the times. I wish the list of Linux choices had included Mint, which is essentially Ubuntu without Snaps. Snaps are a partly closed-source Ubuntu project that contradicts the open nature of Linux. Linux users can install the free software suite LibreOffice, which not only replaces Office but reads and writes the same file formats. Many similar choices exist, this is j…
> contradicts the open nature of Linux How do you feel about binary blobs required to run most WiFi cards in Linux? And, I am pretty sure that both NVidia and AMD have similar (binary blobs).
> And, I am pretty sure that both NVidia and AMD have similar (binary blobs).
Yes, all true, and as more powerful GPUs appear, this is likely to become a more contentious issue.
So I say, choose where we have a choice.
I switched my at home setup to MX Linux just in the last 2 months for dissatisfaction with even Win10. Win11 is a hard no, I’m keeping a laptop with Win10 for the small amount of games I play. I will likely even try WINE for them soon but just haven’t got around to it.
Steam Flatpak works great if your games are on Steam.
I'm sure I will regret this, something will change and I'll be "F.U. Win11!". But, I'm on Windows 11 Pro (upgraded from Windows 10 Pro) and I have barely noticed a difference. Maybe because it's Windows Pro, not Home? Maybe because I have 2 profiles. The one I used to install it which required a microsoft account, and a separate, local only account which is the one I use always. I can't remember the last time I had t…
I thought that was not possible
I agree with all of the articles points except for the first one: TPM and Secure Boot do not reduce user choice or promote state or corporate surveillance. If you want to be able to prevent root kits you need secure boot, and if you want to store secrets that don't need a user password to unlock and can't be stolen by taking apart the computer, you need a TPM; or you need substantially similar alternatives. I would s…
I am starting to see the benefits to secure boot and TPM from a gaming perspective. I realize this can still be tampered with but it eliminates so many casual cheaters that the edge case is practically irrelevant. I don't see how my TPM module will prevent me from using the machine the way I want. The offer of a cryptographic assurance to a 3rd party is something I happily provide in order to gain access to a competi…
"Your version of TPM is unsupported. Please update your hardware to enjoy playing Battlefield 7". Your 69.99 per try just went up to 769.99 _for legitimate users_ because you need a new CPU with updated TPM for every new version. I'm being hyperbolic, but only slightly.
If you want a real example of this, Windows 11 requires TPM 2.0 to run. Hardware predating wide TPM2 adoption can be powerful enough to run Windows 11, except the company decided you need a new computer to do that.
The best path forward for home users and small business for non-technical users: Install Fedora with KDE. Install Firefox, Thunderbird and Chrome. Install uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger. Install LibreOffice & bookmark Google Docs. Install multimedia support, h264/h265, VLC/mpv/ffmpeg, enable DRM in browser. Install Steam if applicable. If they have a printer, connect it and show them how to print a page. Configure & t…
I don't have issues with Nvidia drivers in Archlinux (using cinnamon and X) after pacman updates that sometimes update kernel and/or Nvidia drivers, I'm curious what's different in your setup to get these issues Also, how are the graphics drivers affecting LUKS for you? They are two independent and unrelated things for me, Nvidia drivers aren't doing anything disk or pam related > If they have a printer, connect it a…
Furthermore, last time I tried printing, it was a surreal non-deterministic process. It wouldn't print, then it would, then it would get stuck in a handshake or something, rebooting wouldn't fix it, but rebooting twice would, then turning off the printer would break it again, and so on. No system update in between attempts. I genuinely want to know what the fuck the engineers for those machines are doing.
[Disclaimer: in the above process there was the extra hurdle that the printer was one of several on a local university network that may also have had cooky configuration]
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't imagine trying to replace MS word with libreoffice for businesses. I respect the project and the complexity of the task, but it's just not there for even light professional use. As an example, I recently submitted a manuscript following standard format [0] with libreoffice. Nothing difficult, just basic professional functionality. The only way to do it involved editing global default page styles (because cust…
> I can't imagine trying to replace MS word with libreoffice for businesses. I respect the project and the complexity of the task, but it's just not there for even light professional use. Exactly. Just work in the finance or insurance industry for a year, and you will see how it is part of the daily workflow to use very obscure, advanced Excel feature combined with VBA. If a proposed Microsoft Office alternative cann…
Most people using Excel/Sheets/Word/Docs are not power users. Pretty much all home use is covered by OpenOffice and that is the majority by user count.
A number of customers are leaving Windows for Linux ahead of Windows 11. To support them, we had to offer a linux equivalent for a bunch of C# .NET desktop apps. After evaluating a lot of options, pyQT + nuitka gave a reliable cross-platform result (can target distros based on Debian and Enterprise Linux easily.) And we are still able to target Windows for the customers that remain there.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am starting to see the benefits to secure boot and TPM from a gaming perspective. I realize this can still be tampered with but it eliminates so many casual cheaters that the edge case is practically irrelevant. I don't see how my TPM module will prevent me from using the machine the way I want. The offer of a cryptographic assurance to a 3rd party is something I happily provide in order to gain access to a competi…
I don't think it helps for cheaters, you have cheaters on console and it's even more locked down than that.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It just sounds as if you haven't reached whatever your capacity is for "having to setup the OS to get out of your way". And that's a personal choice for everyone. Windows 10 eventually breached my capacity due to the number of defaults I had to change post installation, and then often, again, post-patch/update. This was very soon after Windows 10 was released, and I already didn't like Windows 8's hybrid monstrosity…
Forced updates were the last straw for me - after several iterations of using my machine until late, then being forced to let it update itself for another 30-60 minutes when I just wanted to switch everything off and go to bed, and noting that Proton made almost every game playable on Linux (thanks Valve).... the switch was a no-brainer.