[geeks] Can't decide on an OS

[J. Alexander Jacocks]

On Wed, Sep 25, 2013 at 1:18 PM, rjtoegel <rjtoegel at gmail.com> wrote:

> It's funny how I have been hearing more of this since Apple went Intel.
>  Just
> an observation (well...you know what I mean).
> On Sep 25, 2013, at 12:36 AM, Andrew Jones <andrew at jones.ec> wrote:
>
> > OSX exploits exist in the wild.  I cannot recommend running an
> unsupported,
> unpatched copy of OSX just as I wouldn't suggest unpatched Solaris or
> Linux.
> >
> > In fact, it's probably worse, since we know people target OSX web
> browsers
> now.
> >
> > On 09/24/2013 05:06 PM, Jonathan Katz wrote:
> >> Run an older OSX. Or, disable stupid things like system-wide search,
> >> dashboard, and command center. Or switch to an ssd. Or add ram.
> >>
> >> Jonathan Katz
> >> Indianapolis, IN
> >>
> >>> On Sep 24, 2013, at 4:44 PM, Cory Smelosky <b4 at gewt.net> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Hello,
> >>>
> >>> I've gotten too angry at OS X being too slow and bloated to the point I
> >> needed to pick another one.  Windows is...windows I don't really think I
> need
> >> to explain that.  Linux makes me tremendously angry due to how easily I
> can
> >> break it along with all the politics involved (really, the distro I can
> stand
> >> isn't installing for me).  The BSDs have lacklustre X support
> (especially
> on a
> >> macbook pro).  CP/M isn't going to run quite right and I don't think
> FreeDOS
> >> would support my hardware quite right.  Haiku isn't going to have the
> kind
> of
> >> hardware support either.
> >>>
> >>> If I can swap out the MBP's wifi chip for an ath5k (ath9k eventually,
> but
> I
> >> have an ath5k on hand I might be happier.)
> >>>
> >>> Are there any sane OSes i'm forgetting?
>

I wasn't going to get involved in this discussion, but these last few
comments have forced my hand.

I do agree that it's not fair to judge Mint based on it's MacBook
performance.  I also run Linux on Apple hardware, and it is quite a
challenge for any distro to support, thanks to Apple's non-documentation of
basic functionality.

On the other hand, though, grub2 is a _complete_ and _utter_ disaster.  I
recently added Memtest86+ to the grub2 menu on my software development
laptop (a Dell), and it took me almost 2 hours!  I had to first figure out
which of the n+1 submenu configs that needed editing, and then, my changes
were repeatedly ignored, due to some random config item that I obviously
forgot to do.  The documentation on the process is almost nil, to boot.
After the simplicity and reliability of grub 1.x, grub 2.x is a board to
the face.  In fact, now that I am forced to use it, I'd really like to have
a one-on-one with the designers, to try to figure out what the heck they
were thinking.

As to proselytization, the Free Software community _is_ somewhat like a
religious group, in that it is always seeking new converts, and people are
often members based on what they believe.  So, some measure of
advertisement is to be expected.  There are plenty of Linux communities,
however, where such things are frowned upon, and you'll not be accosted by
someone who wants you to use Gnome/KDE/vi/emacs/whatever.  Also, all OS
communities (even Windows') suffer from some "recruiting drives" by their
more die-hard members.

- Alex