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Mike’s Linux challenge - Does Linux "Just Work?"

I think that any job can be done with any OS with almost any hardware. Time, quality and framerates may vary, of course. Heck, one can write a novel on Nokia dumbphone if he wants too. The thing is that time is too precious thing to spend it on maintenance and updates alone.
 
nickdalzell1 said:
I'm basing it on a lot of things. The way Windows took out useful visual cues such as progress bars or error codes and replaced them with 'Something happened ;(' or 'We are updating things for you, sit back and relax while the magic happens' and so forth
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I installed Windows recently few times and they have progress indicators in percentage (like 85% installed etc). Copy and download have very good progress bars, probably better than Mac OS.
 
MBAir2010 said:
in a couple of years down the road, we will all need to learn linux or forfeit our older macs for new boxed ones.
case in point Mountain Lion 2012 still works, but nothing apple related as for downloading programs, and iCloud sync'n.
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I'd prefer upgrading both hardware and software. I had i7 8700 24GB of RAM Hackintosh, which I upgraded to i9 10900, 32GB RAM, 1TB m2 SSD, I have Catalina on that. Tried Monterey but that was difficult so now on latest Catalina. on MBA M1 I have latest Monterey.
 
The last video was good, Linux simply isn’t a replacement for Windows and Macs for the broader masses yet. As a desktop system I mean.
 
MBAir2010 said:
if he is soooo busy, he should not be playing games!
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So he's not supposed to have any hobbies, or leisure time or activities to blow off steam? That's really a sad outlook. Why after spending 10+ hours at work, does he want to spend a few hours trying to get app X or game y working when on a different platform, he can get app X or game Y working from the get go.

Don't get me wrong windows and macOS isn't all unicorns and rainbows but by and large if a program is native to either one you won't probably have to jump through hoops to get it to work

MBAir2010 said:
forfeit our older macs
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That is the order of things for most people - I can see a photographer upgrading his/her Mac, and keep using Lightroom then perhaps trying to learn a new platform (which eats into his/her time to make money), and convert his/her images to another product since Lightroom doesn't run on Linux

Its an assumption and I could be wrong but I would say that the the majority of consumers would rather just go out and buy a new computer and replace their 2012 Mac then try to figure out Linux

grmlin said:
Linux simply isn’t a replacement for Windows and Macs for the broader masses yet
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Nope, and this challenge was could Linux be a viable alternative to those who like to game. I think its a viable alternative for some but if we're using broad strokes then we can point to how things just don't work and still require some amount of tweaking/configuration.
 
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maflynn said:
So he's not supposed to have any hobbies,.....
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there is a much used phrase "i have no time to play games" when people get frustrated or lose patients over mundane and annoying things, when i read that Linus is too busy to play games, i laughed, and still am!
i think much differently compared to most people and members here and like to add humor when possible.

as far as replacing with new  products, the website company were i frequently freelance since 2007 offered a new MacBook Air m1 shipped down to my house, with my specs. I declined mainly because Big Sur is not for me,
 
maflynn said:
Why? Please provide some details that you feel you need to laugh at someone who wants to spend time gaming instead of troubleshooting?
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that would be impossible to explain, it just my mind and how that processes, my friend!

as for the longevity of computers and usage i decided to stop at Mojave because ei feel very comfortable with that OS and everything extra like CS4, my music and movie viewing and that screensaver is outstanding!
 
Prefer path of least resistance so currently Windows but also a proponent of having alternative license free OS options like Linux to run Windows apps and games. Hopefully the effort will lead to a future where apps and games are 100% OS agnostic.
 
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JMacHack said:
Windows: acceptable behavior and “just werks”
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JMacHack said:
Linux: too hard, not gud enough :(
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werks, gud???? I'm not sure what point you're making ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I will say that I've been up front that windows itself is not perfect and I never said Linux was hard. My point is that if you download a game in windows, 9 times out of 10 it will work. Download a game in linux and the odds are high you as the user will need to spend time trouble shooting as to why it doesn't work.

Linux can be a great tool for many people, but there is going to be an investment of time and effort, more so then in windows or the Mac.

Luke of LTT mentioned in the above video that his work PC is now running linux because he felt it offered him the best opportunity to get his work done, well a subsequent LMG clip he had to switch back to windows simply because the multi-monitor support in Linux suddenly stopped working.
Here's the video

Linux wasn't too hard for him, and clearly Windows was at times a point of frustration for him, but yet here he is, stating why he had to switch back
 
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Bottom line.

Windows for the masses and the masses seem to do just fine with it.
MacOS for the 10% that have a real beneficial/productivity related need or the 90% that just want to say "I use Apple".
Linux? If you really need it, it will find you, don't go looking for it.
 
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Last time I tried #LOTD was a few years ago. Installation went smoothly, everything recognized (HP Z820). Plugged in a flash drive. Error - need to find some library or other to read (FAT / Ultra-FAT??) formatted devices.

Deleted partition.
 
I have been using Linux since the late 90's and it has come a tremendously long way.

The problem with Linux is that the way everything just works is through back engineering drivers etc. There are a few OEM's that now sell a PC with Linux pre-installed and most of there time most of the hardware on those machines works but for the rest of us installing on non-officially supported hardware in my experience nothing always just works!

On top of basic functions not always working often times a kernel update would bork the system and I would have to wipe and re-install. Sometimes installing an app from a repository works and sometimes it doesn't or the package you need isn't in the repo or it is outdated. Then you have to try and find a work around. Some of the apps functions don't work because someone who volunteers on the app left the project and on and on.

If you are super technical and love tinkering with your system most of the time then Linux is great. For me I can get Linux to work for most of my needs by installing Fedora or Ubuntu and it mostly just works out of the box. For the things that don't work I just use a different OS to do it because I am not smart enough and patient enough to troubleshoot everything. Then there are some machines that just don't play nice with Linux.

I have an HP Spectre with a 4k OLED screen and fingerprint scanner and windows hello camera and no matter what distro I install there are a lot of functions I can't get to work and that is with Terminal commands and everything. There is a driver issue and I can't get sound on the speakers working no matter what I do and I have spent hours and on forums to resolve the issue and apparently it is a driver update HP needs to release but because the machine didn't come with Linux HP will not do it. So I have hardware that I just can't get to work in Linux. Fingerprint scanners usually never work either.

The thing that is great about Linux is privacy and choice. No OS is perfect and all have their strengths and weaknesses. Windows is great for certain things and MacOS is great for certain things and Linux is great for certain things.

I was going to buy a Dell XPS developers edition laptop with Ubuntu but the config I was looking at was almost $2k and had 11th gen Intel chips-NO AMD!! I was deciding if I was going to save up for the new MBP or get the Linux machine.

The other appeal to Linux for me is hardware support in terms of length. Basically I should never run into a situation where my Linux laptop hardware is no longer supported since you can run distros for very old hardware and this was a major plus for me. The problem was spending so much money and having to buy an 11th gen Intel chip. Of course there are other manufacturers that sell OEM Linux laptops but the hardware on those was not very good. Lenovo was another consideration but the repo for Dell seems to be a lot better supported. So spend close to 2k or slightly more for an excellent device but I just know those 11th gen chips are not going to age well in a couple years so I decided Apple was the best choice right now.

The other issue is optimization. Windows is not great in this area but does a lot better than Linux. Since most Linux installs are not on officially supported hardware the software is not really optimized for the hardware. That is why people like Gentoo and other distros where you had to do all the configuration yourself and compile the system yourself. You can get a very responsive system this way but it is very time consuming and beyond my technical abilities. So most Linux installs are not very optimized for the hardware they run which leads to bad battery life and heat and other issues.

It would be really nice to see a commercial Linux distro if that is even possible with GPL but something where maybe an OEM partners with a distro or makes their own sort of like System 76 Pop OS. Ubuntu has some decent funding and so does Fedora through Red Hat and those are some of the best Linux distro's. I know that the idea of open source is free but without some type of incentive the software suffers in my opinion. I also don't mind paying for a Distro with better hardware support but I haver yet to see any of the current ones like Zorin OS really offer anything that I can't do on my own.

So in the end my answer to your question is NO. Linux is not an OS that just works for all hardware but I would imagine that no OS can just work with any hardware without some configuration.
 
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this year i wanted to watch and follow all this Linus linux stuff, since they seem informative and entertaining!
but luckily stumbled upon a macMini and was busy getting some vital parts and accessories this month.
Hopefully Mojave will be usable because most post are waring us on linux.
and they wont air sync with out iPads, etc.
 
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The only way “work out if the box” will happen is if the box maker does all the work including adding patches.
 
DaveFromCampbelltown said:
System76 does this already, with their hardware and Pop!_OS. I think there may be other companies that do the same.
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Only for so long though and probably not very long depending on how often they update the devices being offered. There is no money for them in supporting old devices beyond a certain point in time.
 
DaveFromCampbelltown said:
System76 does this already, with their hardware and Pop!_OS. I think there may be other companies that do the same.
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If I were to get a system with linux on it, System76 would be the one. I've only heard good things about them, and their laptops.
 
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