Getting familiar with Ubuntu after Mac OS X?

[janey]

Great post, thanks! But, sorry, I have to ask - why do you hate Ubuntu?

i like portage, which is the package management system for Gentoo. I absolutely freaking hate installing things on Ubuntu. And it's not because I'm a ricer (I swear to god...), just Portage is a lot nicer to me. YMMV.

Eventually you're going to have to edit a configuration file to tell your system what monitor you've got and probably install a driver patch to get your video working right.

Most of the time this isn't always the case, if it is...is it REALLY that hard to open up xorg.conf or whatever to add a couple of lines? There are PLENTY of people on $distro forums, mailing lists, and IRC willing to help out.

Oh wait, you want to play MP3s? Gotta go download a package for that. (MP3 is proprietary, it's illegal to bundle it). Oh wait, you use AAC encoding and have M4A files? Sorry! That codec is only available as as source file.

So uh, it's a bad thing that a mass volunteer effort doesn't have the kind of cash to bundle MP3 support when all you do is run a couple trivial commands to get it working? Or maybe they don't wanna be sued...

Or...how hard is this?!?!

Even the current state of Ubuntu isn't ..well...entirely "free" in that sense. That's what Glossy Gnu is all about.

Anyone who recommends Gentoo for a first timer has a tenuous grip on reality. Just my humble opinion, of course.

Gee, thanks. Maybe it's recommended for the subset of linux newbies who have some technical ability and are willing to put up with a harsh learning curve in order to get really down and dirty, and in the end, familiar with things people SHOULD know when running any distro of linux as a primary/significant OS.

As in, I would never ever *&%$ing tell my mom to go install Ubuntu or Fedora herself when she barely knows how to force quit an app on her Mac. I'd install Ubuntu for her.

But a friend who's also a CS major who wants to get started with Linux? sure, why not Gentoo.

I like Gentoo as I've been using it for a few years now and would willingly torture myself installing Gentoo on the likes of an 800mhz P3 just for Portage (lack thereof is a deal breaker for me). I also have fond memories of stage1 installs, and I honestly think many newbies could stand to learn a LOT from the simple act of installing gentoo - everything from fdisk to basic command line skills, setting up and fixing issues with grub or whatever bootloader of choice..what else..the existence of cron? that there are other filesystems out there? barely skimming the surface. I didn't get that kind of valuable education in such a timesaving useful way with any of the distros I had tried before Gentoo.

Seriously I have never understood people's fascination with this program and why it keeps getting trotted out as a photoshop alternative. If it was a commercial product no one would buy it.

Maybe if it was a commercial product, it wouldn't be this horrible

 

[mason.kramer]

So uh, it's a bad thing that a mass volunteer effort doesn't have the kind of cash to bundle MP3 support when all you do is run a couple trivial commands to get it working? Or maybe they don't wanna be sued...

That's missing the point. I understand the legal issue involved (I even alluded to it in my post). However I think you are missing the point.

I like Gentoo as I've been using it for a few years now and would willingly torture myself installing Gentoo ...I honestly think many newbies could stand to learn a LOT from the simple act of installing gentoo ...I didn't get that kind of valuable education in such a timesaving useful way with any of the distros I had tried before Gentoo.

First of all, I want to point out that you weren't a linux newbie when you installed Gentoo, you'd already tried other distros. Beyond that - while I understand your point of view, I think it is important to realize that most people do not want to know how it works. People do not want the "valuable education" that a gentoo install brings. They have other tasks in mind when they go to a computer. In fact it could be said that your job as a software engineer is to make sure they never have to think about "how it works" so that they can spend more time thinking about how they work. There's one tech company out there that's really taken this design philosophy to heart, and they seem to be doing well from it. I won't mention who, but I think you probably have some idea of which company I'm referring to...

 

[janey]

That's missing the point. I understand the legal issue involved (I even alluded to it in my post). However I think you are missing the point.

Well I wasn't the one who stated Linux just works...no it doesn't, but some distros make it easier for things to "just work" than others.

First of all, I want to point out that you weren't a linux newbie when you installed Gentoo, you'd already tried other distros.

Actually, I tried Debian first...gave up on slack, didn't really like mandrake (does that date me? ). Then I tried Gentoo...other than trivial installation and common commands, I was pretty much a noob.

Beyond that - while I understand your point of view, I think it is important to realize that most people do not want to know how it works. People do not want the "valuable education" that a gentoo install brings. They have other tasks in mind when they go to a computer. In fact it could be said that your job as a software engineer is to make sure they never have to think about "how it works" so that they can spend more time thinking about how they work. There's one tech company out there that's really taken this design philosophy to heart, and they seem to be doing well from it. I won't mention who, but I think you probably have some idea of which company I'm referring to...

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/3556373/

If Apple really does take such a philosophy to heart, why is Finder and Automator alike both so limited that a one line bash script can easily do what takes forever (and a looooooot more work) in both apps?

Guess what, I know all that bash scripting and sed and regex knowledge partly stemmed from the likes of managing a Gentoo install. And it comes in handy, ALL the time. Visor and quicksilver are probably in my top 20 most used apps on my Mac...in the same list as Safari, Colloquy, NetNewsWire, Adium, DevonThink, iTunes, Eclipse and Intellij, TextMate and so on.

Computers are tools, and the command line is a very important tool that lets me do my work faster. That is why I like Mac OS X - I can get similar if not the same tools I am familiar with and use them just like I would in Gentoo or any other distro.

I can spend more time thinking about my work (not learning anything about the command line) and trying to do it with limited tools...or I can spend more time thinking about my work (not wasting time with limited tools) and just do it. I vastly prefer the latter.