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Why Run Linux On Macs?

Posted by timothy on from the horses-for-courses dept.

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?

4 of 592 comments (clear)

  1. Because by Hognoxious · · Score: 0, Troll

    Because you're bisexual, obviously.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  2. Re: a better question by denisbergeron · · Score: 1, Troll

    Nothing compare to the Air or the 5k iMac.

    --
    Ceci n'est pas une Signature !
  3. Re: a better question by bazmonkey · · Score: 1, Troll

    Almost exactly (hehe, see that?) what I settled on. I like OSX. It is arguably the most polished, coherent desktop OS out there. Sure, Linux understands multitouch... but it doesn't use it most places, programs don't know what to do with it. However, I work with HPC. I much much prefer to dev in Linux for that. An all-inclusive package manager is invaluable here. Yosemite has this thing where a maximized window is treated like a separate desktop. So I full screen a VM of Linux (and I have several) and it's presented as just another desktop. One little swipe of the touchpad and I can go in between them. I get the perks of OSX (battery life, compatibility with some apps I need for the workplace, etc.) and the benefits of Linux (dev ease, stronger control of the system) AND the benefit of my work being in a snapshottable VM. Truth be told, I'm actually sitting in the VM most of the time.

  4. Re: a better question by jedidiah · · Score: 1, Troll

    > There are a lot of things Mac hardware can't do,

    Exactly.

    Macs are overpriced and inflexible compared to PCs. End of story. Lame excuses won't impress anyone outside the cult.

    For a brief moment in time Mac hardware managed to do well in a particular niche (HTPC). Once cheaper suitable PCs came along I immediately moved on.

    Macs are great for people who love to make excuses for paying more to do less. That demographic doesn't seem to overlap with Linux users much.

    --
    A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.