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Why Run Linux On Macs?
jones_supa writes Apple has always had attractive and stylish hardware, but there are always some customers opting to run Linux instead of OS X on their Macs. But why? One might think that a polished commercial desktop offering designed for that specific lineup of computers might have less rough edges than a free open source one. Actually there's plenty of motivations to choose otherwise. A redditor asked about this trend and got some very interesting answers. What are your reasons?
Power Mac G4: Debian 8 runs like a champ. The latest Mac OS won't even install.
The best question is "Why buy a Mac to run Linux", and the answer is conspicuous consumption. To show that you can.
If you already have the Mac, OS-X vs Linux is usually just a matter of personal preference. They both do the job.
No, you don't get how systemd works.
You run systemd to get linux on macbook, like Soviet Russia even.
Systemd don't depend on nobody but systemd.
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
To install python libraries like scipy, matplotlib, etc. Apparently that is such a pain in MacOS, and there are so many half-assed distributions methods that you can really botch your system. It makes sense to run a Virtual Machine with Linux on it.
NB: The message above might reflect my opinion right now, but not necessarily tomorrow or next year.
However, the Apple trackpads are limited to two fingered use on non-Apple operating systems through the use of crippled drivers and therefore something like a Logitech T650 is far superior when using a non-Apple OS.
Wrong. At least on my 2009 MB Pro 3- and 4-finger touch has been working out of the box on Ubuntu for many years.
To answer the question from TFS, I can only echo what others already wrote. When I purchased this laptop, the MB Pro had by far the nicest product design for my needs, and the PC laptops I found in the same price range did not come close: Full-body aluminium instead of plastic, smooth outer shell instead of little knobs and slits everywhere (important, e.g., when having to remove the laptop from the bag at airport security check), low-key LEDs instead of a blinking christmas tree telling me useless stuff like my wifi working (I know, no need to blink for every packet!!!) but require the use of tape when you want to watch a movie.
"When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
PCs are a ton cheaper and in most cases just as good.
Nothing compare to the Air or the 5k iMac.
In laptops? The Dell XPS 13 competes with the Macbook Air. Similar config is $150 more than a MBAir. It does have better screen resolution.
The Lenovo X1 Carbon costs more too. (Lots more if you get the high res screen.)
In all-in-ones, the Dell XPS 27" w/ 16GB ram is $2599. The 5k iMac w/ 16GB RAM is $2699. That isn't "a ton cheaper" in my book.
And sure, you can buy crap systems for less. People who are buying Macbook Air and 5k iMacs aren't shopping against the crap systems. Apple tax? What Apple tax? (Yeah, haters gonna hate. Mod me down, I don't give a crap.)
If you already have the Mac, OS-X vs Linux is usually just a matter of personal preference.
Exactly. I bought my Mac back in 2011 because nothing came close to the battery life and those specs at that price while being slim enough to be able to fit in my bag every day. Now, Yosemite really does look like an awful OS upgrade, visuals aside, there are some seriously bad bugs, the new spotlight (desktop search) sends every query to Apple (no idea why) and Microsoft (for Bing) and the fact that most of the new features require a recent iPhone. I'm clinging on to OSX Mavericks for now, but I will move to Linux if the battery life is decent.
Why does my post history abruptly stop? I want to laugh at the stupid things I posted as a kid.
Apparently you don't live near a big American City. There's nothing wrong with that, but one of the trade-offs for doing that is you there are no Apple stores.
I've gotten free repairs on them for parts I admitted I broke simply by going to the Apple Store in-person and being polite. For example, there was one time I spilled Dr. Pepper on the keyboard. Another time the MagSafe board (a daughterboard attached to the motherboard that allows the laptop to connect to the AC Adapter) died. It was out of warranty/ Any company but Apple would have charged me $500, forced me to do the two-week shipping thing you hated so much, and probably fucked it up because the guy reading the work order did the wrong thing. They charged me some ridiculously tiny fee for the part ($10-15) and that was it.
Yeah, and how many apps in Ubuntu understand and use it?
None apart from Unity itself as far as I am aware of, but the claim I responded to was "However, the Apple trackpads are limited to two fingered use on non-Apple operating systems through the use of crippled drivers".
"When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
Well Mac OS X doesn't kill applications when you press the "close" button, it only kills/detaches/hides/whatever the window
So I think what he thinks is residual inactive memory is probably used memory from any "closed" application.
Actually, there's some weird stuff going on in Yosemite.
1) They now name the per-page webkit processes with the url of the page. So if you look at your processes, you can see which pages are hogging CPU and/or RAM. You'll also see that in many cases, long after you close a page, the process is still running.
2) Starting way back, I noticed that when you close a document in Preview, the file is still kept open by preview. But in Yosemite it's worse, fucking *quit* Preview, then run lsof, and you'll see the files still open in some preview process.
Also, an unused application with all windows closed should not slow down the machine. Prior to Mavericks I would have stated "will not", but now I have to say "should not, but may well do so, considering how badly Apple seems to have fucked up the performance of virtual memory."
Windows 7 is a good solid OS with true color support that matches Apple if you have a decent monitor. Not sexy but just boring solid.
I use vmware and virtual box is free for my turnkey Linux appliances for backend stuff like php. Best of both worlds. Check out www.turnkey linux.Com if you want something that turns on and just works?
If I did own Mac I would still use vmware workstation which is much much cheaper on a mac for Linux stuff so I can keep Dreamweaver and office on my host.
http://saveie6.com/
EFI updates. On Mac hardware, they can only be delivered by a Mac OS update. Run Linux exclusively, and you will not get firmware updates.
I'm as Mac a fanboy as one can be - but if you want to run Linux, build yourself a nice PC - far less pain that way.
I've found two reasons for this in the more than a decade since I got my first PowerBook. There's two things: there's always a few hardware features that come at a premium, and the mac stuff has some hardware niceties that I like regardless of what OS I'm running.
Everything comes and goes in cycles, feature parity is always shifting around.
For example, when I got my first G4, comparable PC laptops didn't have:
- bluetooth
- firewire
- target disk mode
- a widescreen IPS display
- gigabit ethernet
without getting really expensive.
When I got my first intel mac it was:
- dual link DVI
- a backlit keyboard
- a builtin camera
On my current macboor pro, which I bought about two years ago it was:
- thunderbolt and the ability to drive an insane number of displays
- that screen, when the first retina came out, that screen was unmatched
Laptops that had all these features have always come in at similar costs. There's sort of an 80/20 rule in play, and Apple just doesn't bother too much with things below the 80, but this seems to change a little more every year.
Also, I really love how my current MBP plugs into my display. One cable for power, USB, and display. The thunderbolt displays are basically a solid docking station.
If you dig the hardware and want some premium features (usually really current IO options) the cost makes sense to me.
I dislike the malls too, but truthfully - I consider the Apple retail stores a net positive, and another reason to keep buying Macs instead of something else.
If I don't want to visit a "Genius Bar", I don't have to, and neither do you. Apple has a toll free number you can call for service and support, which I've used several times before. They'll even overnight you a postage paid return mailer box to pack up your machine in, to go back to them for service, if needed. (This is identical to the service procedure I've gone through in the past with Toshiba -- except Apple is much quicker to answer their phone, vs. leaving you on hold for 45 minutes first.)
The GPU problem you're complaining about on your 2011 model of Macbook? That was a WELL known issue, across the board, with just about ALL notebook manufacturers who used those GPUs. So it's not even fair to use that as a reason you feel Macs lack quality or reliability. By contrast, I've got a 17" Macbook Pro that's from early 2010 which I leave on 24 hours/7 days (typically in a Henge dock on my office desk these days) and it's never needed service at all. It's my main work computer, and with a 512GB SSD I put in it a while back, it still feels pretty fast too. 5 years of daily use isn't bad at all for a portable, no matter what the brand.
I agree that Dell, arguably, does Apple one better in the area of service by sending out on-site technicians. BUT, I've worked for years in places that used exclusively Dell so I'm very familiar with that whole process too. Especially in more recent years, those techs are notorious for not showing up when they're scheduled, or bringing out an incorrect repair part, causing you the inconvenience of waiting around for them to show a second time.
For what it's worth, too.... Apple does have a couple of different programs you can join if you're a business user of their machines, to make the repair process a lot easier. They don't advertise these as well as I think they should, but they do exist. With one of them, you can get your own employees certified as Apple technicians so they can troubleshoot problems themselves and call Apple to get repair pairs overnighted to them under the warranty.