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

Linus Torvalds on why desktop Linux sucks (2014)

youtube.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 116 posts

Re: Linus Torvalds on why desktop Linux sucks (2014)

#91

Post by pitay »

tachyonbeam wrote: post #43
Gwypaas wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows 8.1 reached end of mainstream support on January 9, 2018, over three years ago. Windows 8 support ended on January 12, 2016. No wonder you ran into issues if you installed it and tried getting it "updated" recently. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/faq/windows#windo...

Here is a post from 2016 outlining the same problem I was describing: https://superuser.com/questions/1103966/windows-update-doesn... There is a bug in the Windows Update client on Windows 8.1, and it can't update itself.

Do note that Windows Update may just not offer a major update because such as Windows 10 2004 because of concerns about driver compatibility. It happened to me because Microsoft and the manufacturer of the PC didn't come to an agreement about driver compatibility. Windows update gave me warning about updating to the new Windows 10 version (to 2004 or 20H2), but there was no update for it in Windows Update, I had to download the update manually to get it installed. Also had to do that manually for a previous version as well.

Re: Linus Torvalds on why desktop Linux sucks (2014)

#92

Post by nucleardog »

crossroadsguy wrote: post #75
tomrod wrote: post #12

My family and I have used Linux desktops since 2008, when Windows Vista failed to run full screen video with BSOD. There was a learning curve for a few months, but I've never regretted the shift and it has made for significant contributions to my career. YMMV.

I’m looking for a laptop. I can’t find any good laptop with 16-32GB RAM at a non-Apple price. Also they all have windows preinstalled. Defeats the purpose. That’s how it is.

Got a Thinkpad during one of their sales last year for $1300 that had a generation old i7 and 48gb of RAM. Had the Dolby HDR 4K screen and a bunch of other odds and ends as well.

Didn’t look if there was an option without Windows preinstalled since it was for my wife.

Added bonus: lots of ports, onboard HDMI, onboard ethernet

If you need something now probably not a huge help, but if you’re not in a rush might be worth keeping an eye on.

Re: Linus Torvalds on why desktop Linux sucks (2014)

#93

Post by yyyk »

bawolff wrote: post #13
SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #3

Worth watching. But if you don’t... [Linux desktop sucks because application writers don’t make binaries that “just work”, pushing the user to always just have to recompile for their system, they try and address this in the kernel by not breaking things, but the distributions to and screw it all up, because breaking is fine so long as it’s “improving”] Tons of contrary points I’m sure, but duh. It’s really nice to be…

> Windows 3.1 code on a Windows Server 2019 Can you? I was under the impression 64bit windows dropped support for 16bit windows.

Windows 3.1 had some 32bit support - via Win32s. I think that these apps should still work.

Re: Linus Torvalds on why desktop Linux sucks (2014)

#94

Post by bcrescimanno »

myk9001 wrote: post #65
bcrescimanno wrote: post #45

While I think a lot of the complaints he raises here are still relevant 7 years later, it's interesting that both MacOS and Windows have trended more towards a package management system with their respective app stores--with MacOS especially discouraging downloading or running any apps from outside that ecosystem. Since one can reasonably expect to target "Windows" or "MacOS" the packages in these app stores can be m…

Agree. And want to add one point which people seem to ignore in discussion like this. >> needing a newer version of a package because the older one flat out doesn't work for me The reverse situation is also a problem. For me personally, even a bigger problem. Imagine, you're happy with a supported Ubuntu LTS version and don't want to upgrade to a non-LTS version. If there's a new version of this one package you would…

Thanks for sharing! I do think that reverse situation is an often overlooked problem; though, one that I've never found to affect me personally.

I honestly don't know enough about Snap or Flatpak to really comment on them and their advantages and disadvantages. I've always shied away from them because I can't shake Xzibit in my head, "Yo dawg, I heard you like package managers so we put a package manager in your package manager!"

Re: Linus Torvalds on why desktop Linux sucks (2014)

#97

Post by atatatat »

bawolff wrote: post #19

What he's saying is true, but also i think the app-store type approach that apt-get provides is a major benefit. With windows i have to find some random program, hope its not malware, possibly pay for it, etc. With linux, i have reasonable assurance that packages (from main repos) aren't evil, they are free (as in beer), and i can easily search through and find something for my usecase. I can't really do that in wind…

> With linux, i have reasonable assurance that packages (from main repos) aren't evil

Fallacy.

https://blogs.sap.com/2020/06/26/attacks-on-open-source-supp...

Re: Linus Torvalds on why desktop Linux sucks (2014)

#98

Post by schmorptron »

throwaway77388 wrote: post #96

People who haven't tried Linux on desktop for some years might like these distros: Pop OS KDE Neon Linux Mint (Cinnamon version) MX Linux (ahs/Advanced Hardware Support version)

I'd add Fedora 34 (Or anything else that runs Gnome 40) to that list, the gnome team really outdid themselves with how polished and snappy it feels, especially when you're on a laptop using the trackpad gestures.

Re: Linus Torvalds on why desktop Linux sucks (2014)

#99

Post by schmorptron »

myk9001 wrote: post #71
SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #3

Worth watching. But if you don’t... [Linux desktop sucks because application writers don’t make binaries that “just work”, pushing the user to always just have to recompile for their system, they try and address this in the kernel by not breaking things, but the distributions to and screw it all up, because breaking is fine so long as it’s “improving”] Tons of contrary points I’m sure, but duh. It’s really nice to be…

>> It’s really nice to be able to run Windows 3.1 code on a Windows Server 2019 You can also run the same version of a newest app on Windows 7 and Windows 10. At least, you could back when 7 was still supported, and you probably still can, but I didn't check. Try installing a package targeting Ubuntu 21.04 on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS? :) (Replace Ubuntu with a distro of your choince in the previous sentence.) For all its fla…

Flatpak solves this :)

Re: Linus Torvalds on why desktop Linux sucks (2014)

#100

Post by schmorptron »

macksd wrote: post #5
SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #3

Worth watching. But if you don’t... [Linux desktop sucks because application writers don’t make binaries that “just work”, pushing the user to always just have to recompile for their system, they try and address this in the kernel by not breaking things, but the distributions to and screw it all up, because breaking is fine so long as it’s “improving”] Tons of contrary points I’m sure, but duh. It’s really nice to be…

Instead of thinking of Linux for non-technical users, I think you can actually segment non-technical users into people who use a computer and people who use a browser. People who just use a browser for virtually everything (i.e. people who can use a Chromebook and think that it's basically the same as a normal laptop) are actually very common and can use Linux just fine. I had a friend who needed a home computer but…

For Zoom: Even better, you just type flatpak install zoom or snap install zoom and get a community maintained version that has many potential incompatibilities taken care of. Or any user that doesn't want to use the terminal can just search gnome / ubuntu software and find zoom in there and click install.
Post reply on HN