Live data from Hacker News

Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

github.com

591–600 of 636 posts

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#591
post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Although, still some annoying bugs, the most annoying being when I open an application on my 1440p screen, KDE often opens it on my second monitor for no real reason. This here is my most hated thing about KDE. I run it on Debian so my version is pretty old compared, has it been fixed in newer versions? I have been thinking about switching to Neon, but I don't care for the Ubuntu base verses vanilla Debian.

Neon is not that much better and doesn't fix a lot of the issues. I've found XFCE and cinnamon are the most stable/reliable DE's. I'm rocking Manjaro cinnamon right now.

XFCE had some weird virtual desktop behaviour where when I opened an application from the tray, it would open in my current desktop and not the desktop that I'd placed it.

Aside from that it was great, and there was probably some configuration option to stop that behaviour but I could not find it.

Actually I quite enjoyed Cinnamon, I cannot even remember what things I disliked but I'd just saw the new release of KDE and those small niggles were enough of an excuse to switch back to KDE hah.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#592
post #553

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds like you're trying to buy brand new laptops and then slap distros with years old kernels on them. With most laptops, the network card is the only area where support is still not solid.

I think in general there is just very little hardware as attractive as a MacBook Pro that supports Linux well. If we take the requirements as being roughly: HiDPI screen, thin and light all metal body, USB C charging, tenkeyless keyboard with centered trackpad and reasonable expectation of mostly working out of the box with a standard Ubuntu iso. Your options are pretty much just the Dell XPS/Precision line and the L…

Seriously? Intel MBP now has proprietary T2 chip, has other non-common chips, useless TouchBar instead of F keys, poor cooling design. It's also no future for Linux because they transitioning to Apple Silicon. It uses ARM for cpu march but they use original GPU that I think never be used for Linux. It also uses original boot sequence rather than UEFI.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#594

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I bet dockerhub alone has more linux-capable software than windows has anywhere. I also expect that a randomly chosen GitHub repo You are confusing a subset "developers who use linux-compatible tools" with the set "users".

Is the userbase size relevant? I'm not saying "I have more tools than you have cars" because I think it makes me win at something. I'm trying to point out that the ecosystems are so different that it's hard to quantify which side has "more".

> Is the userbase size relevant?

Yes

> I'm trying to point out that the ecosystems are so different that it's hard to quantify which side has "more".

No. In response to "there's 100 times more software in Windows." you started speaking about dockerhub and git. That does not encompass all software, especially software that is required by non-programmers.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#595

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Doesn't add up. You're a programmer, write a script if it bothers you? It does add up. "I'm a programmer" doesn't mean "I want to program every little thing in my life". I want to be not a programmer for a significant portion of my life. You don't expect a surgeon to perform surgeries all the time, do you?

No but it's a lot like saying "I'm a mechanic but it's too much of a burden for me to change my own oil or tires." I probably wouldn't use your services.

"I'm a surgeon, but it's too much of a burden for me to perform surgery on myself". I probably wouldn't use your services.

See how stupid it sounds?

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#596
It is one of these discussions that simple don't matter. Firstly Linux can be an optimal answer to certain problems and also curiosity can give you different perspective. However the issue is that smart people in certain parts of this in industry constantly fall for these ideological traps that imply paths to glory, while actually they propose tradeoffs, at best. In reality these are just choices that have marginal impact for the vast majority of people and projects. These types of discussions really crumble on themselves when you ask the correct questions like: "Is it the best way to spend my time as a developer in order to improve myself" or the blatant "Will using Linux on its own bring me closer to becoming a tech billioire"?

Spend your time well, people. Solve real issues, have real impact.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#597
post #178

I started my journey with linux at the age of 12 when Canonical was sending out free CD's of Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04. After nearly 13 years of usage I am a happy user of Windows 10 now. My reasons are: * Horrible font rendering that makes me not even want to code * Terrible application support * Audio and touchpad support is noticeably superior on Windows * Small things that you have to tinker with in order to get ev…

i don't expect this to win you back, but i can't recommend this highly enough: http://www.webupd8.org/2013/06/better-font-rendering-in-linu... you can choose between different system font rendering styles, including macos and windows

I did use Infinality on Arch circa 2015 to 2017. It was pretty good. Then it stopped working.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#598

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's part of what's getting worse: Fracturing/deterioration of the use of distribution package management, instead of improving and expanding it. Indeed, the popularity of docker, flatpak and hobby/fad distributions and language-specific package managers is leading to many security nightmares and harming traditional distributions. There are reasons for painstakingly vet and package software: - security - stabilit…

> language-specific package managers I wouldn't include those on the same list. It makes sense for various (source-form) libraries to be maintained and updated and made available independently of the OS and uniformly across operating systems. I don't see this as undermining Linux distributions - as these are used when you're making your own builds anyway. Otherwise - yes, agreed, and it's also about redundancy and bl…

> these are used when you're making your own builds anyway

That's the problem: they encourage building with tons of random stuff pulled from the Internet on the fly, sidestepping OS distributions completely and providing no reproducible building, no vetting, no license review, no long-term security.

The leftpad disaster is a good example.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#599
> In principle, UTF-16 would have the advantage of constant time addressing of single characters, but in practice most programming languages do not provide data types for this, with the exception of Go and rust.

No it wouldn't - UTF-16 is a variable-length encoding of Unicode codepoints just like UTF-8. Not to mention that what most normal people think of as "characters", i.e. grapheme clusters, are variable length even with UTF-32.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#600
post #44

Linux runs better on both new and older hardware. Better as in programs open faster, the file manager opens faster, the task manager opens faster. Everything uses less memory and less CPU cycles. Everything is snappier. Linux users don't have to worry nearly as much about malware, trojans, viruses, exploits. It's more secure. Linux distros generally don't annoy users with stealthy automatic forced updates. Linux dist…

> Linux runs better on both new and older hardware . Seriously asking - Please do suggest a good, powerful laptop and distribution that works issue-free with linux, most specifically: 1. Zero problems with sleep and resume. 2. Zero problems with bluetooth or wireless. Please recommend what vendors work well here. 3. Minimal issues with Slack or Teams. 4. Error free desktop environment. 5. Updates do not break stuff l…

I just bought a Thinkpad L15 (AMD) a week ago, slapped Arch on that bad boy. Please keep in mind that all what im about to say required some manual work since it's Arch, but should all work "out of the box" in any other distro with a recent kernel. Suspend / resume works perfectly out of the box, backlight worked after updating (which you should anyways after installing). Wireless worked perfectly out of the box, with NetworkManager. I use KDE Plasma, and it works well, too, without any complaints. All the function-buttons work, including volume, screen switching, sleep, mic mute. Webcam works. Didnt test slack or teams, but discord, atom and vscode (all electron apps) work perfectly fine. Firefox & Chromium work perfectly fine.

I think in general, if you check the ArchWiki page on Laptops, there is a wonderful (and extensive) list of most common laptops and their issues (if any). Thinkpads seem to work very well, and, worst case, have good drivers made by the community for anything that doesnt work.

Post reply on HN