6 ms·

iPad-only is the new desktop Linux

43 points by tdurden 10y ago

benbristow 10y ago
I really don't see the hype around the iPad Pro. Doesn't it make sense to get something like the Surface instead which is a full Intel machine in the same form-factor running the desktop version of Windows 10; rather than limiting yourself to Apple's walled garden?
DiabloD3 10y ago
Except iPads don't run Linux, and iOS is ridiculously locked down and has very few usable apps for typical desktop needs (Android also has this issue, so I'm not shitting on iOS only).
- derefr 10y ago
  What are "typical desktop needs"? Microsoft Office? Web browsing? What else?
  - ajarmst 10y ago
    Emacs. And, uh, some kind of browser, I guess.
    - zyxley 10y ago
      > Emacs You seem to have confused "my desktop needs" for "typical desktop needs".
      - sixbrx 10y ago
        Context is Linux desktop.
- chatmasta 10y ago
  Jailbroken iPad has all the "Linux" essentials you might need. Combined with a Bluetooth keyboard and SSH to a remote server, you've got a decent dev machine.
  - chmod775 10y ago
    Sorry, but imho a cheap Dell would be more comfortable to work on than some weird ipad/bluetooth keyboard/whatnot combo. And decent only starts on the far other side of that spectrum.
    - addicted 10y ago
      I think it would be interesting to see the amount of productivity people lose using their iPads. In my experience my iPad means I am using my laptop a lot less, but it's taking me more time to do the same things I did on the laptop on my iPad.
      - wutbrodo 10y ago
        With the advent of ultraportable laptops a few years ago, I've almost entirely stopped using my tablet(s). The upsides of a smartphone's form factor are self-evident, but a suitably light laptop is (IME) so far superior to a tablet in comfort, usability, and efficiency that the category has been practically obsoleted for me. My current laptop has a 13 inch screen and roughly the dimensions of an 11 inch macbook air. There are very few times I find it less convenient than a 7 inch tablet, and almost none compared to a full-sized tablet.
      - chatmasta 10y ago
        There may be value in using an iPad as a dev machine simply because it provides a separate environment for only doing dev work. Given that habit (and thereby procrastination) depends greatly on environment, it's possible that using an iPad strictly as a dev machine could increase productivity by subconsciously associating the iPad environment with efficiency. That is, if you're on your iPad, you know you shouldn't be messing around, and you use it only for work. Whereas if you're on your laptop you might be tempted to lapse into time sinks that you already associate with your laptop.
ajarmst 10y ago
Still waiting on a terminal-emulator/external keyboard combo that handles alt and ctrl in an emacs-friendly way (I simply can't retrain my brain to use esc for M-). If it also allows me to remap caps-lock to ctrl, I'll rename a child after it.
__Duncan__ 10y ago
But linux is easier to use than windows?
- bhaak 10y ago
  Not anymore. You can run bash on Windows now.
jcbeard 10y ago
Used this for awhile on my old iPad when my main laptop was broken. iSSH, a wireless keyboard + cloud virtual machine and you can pretty much do anything you need for dev work as long as you have a cellular or wifi connection.
niftich 10y ago
This seems to be making the point that using an iPad is a 'badge of pride' because it's 'challenging'; trying to make the point that Linux is also difficult to use. Except, it's not the same type of challenge at all. Linux usability can actually be pretty good, but it's dependent on familiarity, the desktop environment, the distro, the choice of installed applications; everything is customizable, and making most of that customization requires a willingness to research, understand, tinker. An iPad is locked down to the point of hurting usability, the 'share' system is vastly inferior to Android's 'intents', split-screen mode just recently arrived, mouse support is intentionally missing. Trying to use it as a desktop replacement is borderline masochism. Frankly, it's nothing like desktop Linux, even if you're in an unfamiliar desktop environment.
- teach 10y ago
  I started using Linux on the desktop in 2001 and have only used other OSes casually since then. Linux is incredibly productive for me and I'm pretty worthless on other operating systems. And I'm old enough that I'm no longer willing to put in the time to learn a new one. Ubuntu does what I want; I don't have to configure things and It Just Works 99% of the time. Plus it's free, so there's no financial incentive to use something else.
  - dogma1138 10y ago
    Can I ask you a honest question? How much time do you spend on ISM that the OS actually matters to you that much? I've heard a lot of people saying I'm more productive on X, but in every case I never had real examples of OS specific reasons why they were more productive as in every case it boiled down to the Application ecosystem they end up using. Say you are a Java (it's easy, common, and cross platform) developer this means you need your Eclipse/Netbeans IDE, a JVM and or some Java based web server. So you have your IDE+JVM on the OS, and development/deployment & test environment on a virtual machine, does it really matter to you if you are running Linux, Windows or OSX in this case? All you use and see is Eclipse, a text editor, Virtual Box and a web browser.
    - 10y ago
unsignedint 10y ago
iOS and Android works fairly well if all you are doing is working on one App at a time. Considering something simple as copying a password from a password manager to paste on target app is already very awkward process on Android... Something I can do in less than 5 seconds on desktop takes 30 seconds in those, so I'm not sure how they can be compared to Linux desktop.
placeybordeaux 10y ago
For me the article boils down to this: > No, hear me out. See, Linux users don’t care how much easier we say it is in our non-Linux worlds. Sure, they say it’s because of open access and free as in scotch ale and yadda yadda yadda, but really? They like the challenge. This statement is completely unsubstanicated. If you don't agree with it, don't bother reading the article, it all henges on it.
- tinco 10y ago
  The article is not actually about desktop Linux. The author tries to draw an analogy, it does not actually matter much whether it resonates. The article boils down to: using an iPad for your day to day tasks is possible but so restrictive you might wonder why people would try to. Much like many people try (tried) to use Linux for day to day tasks and found it is (was) too restrictive. I myself can't argue. My current main os is NixOS and I've found it usable but as a newbie much more restrictive than for example Ubuntu or Arch. Would I recommend it? Would you like to use the next generation of more perfect operating systems? Only if you like a bit of a challenge..
VLM 10y ago
Its fun just to try and list the cultural clashes in the article, like the linked author tried to include as many as possible. My school age kids use ipads as their primary computer at school and that carries over into home use. No matter what the linked article's author experienced as a professional journalist as "normal", to today's kids the ipad will be the new "normal". Maybe they'll be a human interest article in a decade about trying to use old fashioned desktops and laptops to do real work, instead of professional tablets that everyone uses. Much like linux is useless on the desktop because no matter how many desktops its deployed and used upon, if it can't run Excel2013 then the small segment of the population that uses that software will never shut up about it being useless to everyone because its useless to them until their itch is scratched. Just like a skyscraper without parking for every employee is obviously useless because over 90% of the countries population drives cars to work. You just can't argue with special snowflakes who refuse to acknowledge they're special snowflakes. There is a side dish that when I got started with computers in 1981 the UI was not user friendly and almost everyone was a noob, and now we have no noobs left but the UIs are all weird and exclusively noob focused. Its a stereotype that any discussion of "ease of use" WRT computers isn't a discussion about actual use, its a discussion about fads and styles in UI design and 99% of everything has been tried, heavily promoted, and discarded in the past. Therefore its unsurprising that today's standard sucks because UIs have always sucked and always will. That makes all this "easier" "harder" stuff just nonsense. Merely different ways to do things. In the linked article he doesn't like which directory in dropbox Byword links to, blah blah who cares. For all past and present and eternity it'll always be possible to complain about UIs and its completely content free.
- Laforet 10y ago
  The linked post not really about hardware or UI design but how per app sandboxing and lack of a shared local FS has restricted productivity on the iPad pro. I've always likened iOS to living in a bunch of lavishly outfitted tents: they look great and are really comfortable. However each tent could only be of a certain size since there is no solid foundation and when the heavens decide to rain it is impossible to go from your bedroom to the kitchen without getting wet. The other OS may be an ugly Stalinist house with very small windows and unpolished concrete floor, but they are objectively better at serving the purpose of in door dwelling I.e. shielding people from the elements.
bunderbunder 10y ago
I think it depends heavily on what you're using your computer for. One of my parents owns both an iPad and a laptop, and the laptop barely sees any use anymore. He's got a keyboard case, and, while I hate that keyboard, he's perfectly happy with it. Email and browsing are about equally good on iPad as they are on a computer. Browsing might even be better what with the no flash. It plays video games & runs Netflix, and that's about all that matters. I don't think he cares two beans about multitasking. The iOS office apps may or may not be good enough; the last time he cared about document editing was pre-retirement so I don't know that he's really put them to the test. Challenging? Nah. I'm pretty sure he settled into it because, for him, it's easier.
gcb0 10y ago
someone took 20years to understand what a walled garden design means. I am trying really hard to not be offensive in this comment...
edtechdev 10y ago
Seems like a good scenario for a Chromebook. You can buy two or more for the price of one iPad. And install Linux on it if you want.
- waiseristy 10y ago
  I think this would provide another good alternative https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andromium/the-superbook-turn-your-smartphone-into-a-laptop-f https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andromium/the-superbook... Who knows how well it would work in practice though
wtbob 10y ago
I don't get this idea that desktop Linux is challenging, not at all. I've been using a Linux box as my primary desktop since 1999, and as my sole desktop since 2000. It's not challenging, it just works. I won't say that there are never challenges, but they are rare and — unlike Windows and macOS — if I search a little I'll find an answer and am able to bend the OS to my will.
- Nadya 10y ago
  I disagree entirely - as someone who has dual-booted w/ Linux since 2002. 1) Driver issues (becoming less of a problem as time goes on) but it used to be a headache even for tech-savvy people to get their drivers to "just work" and so help you god when you decided to update... 2) While a large majority of users need little less than a working internet browser - there is a large niche for gaming that has only recently started to be supported by developers on Linux distros - Steam only in recent years. Likewise for many professional niches - the software is developed for Windows/Mac and may or may not support Linux at all. 3) UX of many things is either missing or lackluster. This has made great strides in the past 5ish years but many things still rely on users having at least some knowledge about config files and knowing their way around a command prompt. At the least, RTFM. All are arcane black magic to many computer users. Not to mention, package what-nows? sudo? It isn't user-friendly in the least for the common user. It's powerful and "not too hard to Google a few things" for more tech-savvy users, but tech-savvy users aren't most users.
- coldtea 10y ago
  >I don't get this idea that desktop Linux is challenging, not at all. I've been using a Linux box as my primary desktop since 1999 Isn't that fact a huge tell-sign that perhaps you're not the kind of person for whom desktop Linux would be challenging? You speak of 2000, but historically even people like ESR, Linus Torvalds, JWZ etc have found Linux bad at usability and ease of installation. Of course people used to tinker to e.g. get 3D working, or with basic setups that don't need anything special driver-wise, won't notice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHGTs1NSB1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHGTs1NSB1s http://news.oreilly.com/2008/07/linux-torvalds-on-linux-distri.html http://news.oreilly.com/2008/07/linux-torvalds-on-linux-dist... https://plus.google.com/115250422803614415116/posts/hMT5kW8LKJk https://plus.google.com/115250422803614415116/posts/hMT5kW8L... http://gensho.acc.umu.se/pub/debian-meetings/2014/debconf14/webm/QA_with_Linus_Torvalds.webm http://gensho.acc.umu.se/pub/debian-meetings/2014/debconf14/... http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cups-horror.html http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cups-horror.html https://www.jwz.org/blog/2005/06/that-was-in-fact-the-final-straw/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2005/06/that-was-in-fact-the-final-... https://www.jwz.org/doc/linuxvideo.html https://www.jwz.org/doc/linuxvideo.html https://www.jwz.org/doc/linux.html https://www.jwz.org/doc/linux.html
xlayn 10y ago
From the creators of "PC is dead, long live IOS" Remind me again the argument for using the ipad instead of a... say mac air... or the macbook? 1 pound? 2? Sure there are some people for which this is critical... like the guy who is 40 pounds overweight but buys a new 10000$ new road bike because it's 1 pound lighter...
- rahoulb 10y ago
  11 hour battery life, built in SIM card, drawing UI sketches for clients (not an Air though, I have a pro)
bhaak 10y ago
Windows didn't get the top position in desktop usage because it had such a good UI. Neither does the iPad really work well as a desktop replacement. It's all about laziness. If (for whatever reasons) I use this device for most of my tasks for most of the day, I have an incentive to use it for all of my tasks. This might lead to a "challenge" but at least I don't have to start up the laptop with Windows or boot into Windows to get my tasks done. And sometimes, you just decide that this "important" task wasn't that important after all and just work around it.
jdbernard 10y ago
> See, Linux users don’t care how much easier we say it is in our non-Linux worlds. Sure, they say it’s because of open access and free as in scotch ale and yadda yadda yadda, but really? They like the challenge. Figuring out how to do what they used to do on a Mac or Windows PC is part of the allure. Sigh... This again? Figuring out how to do things is not part of the allure. Linux is my native ecosystem. I never have to "figure out how to do what they used to do on a Mac or Windows PC." It's the other way around: I have to figure out how to do what I normally do on Linux elsewhere, and very often the answer is, "You can't do it, " because Windows and Mac don't provide the same level of customization. Many of my regular workflows are just not possible on Windows/Mac.
mark_l_watson 10y ago
I think the author is correct that some people use an iPad as a badge of honor - I am a little guilty of this. Both my iPad mini 4 and iPad Pro are fine for writing books in markdown, using an online publishing platform like leanpub, performing research and note taking, accessing servers via SSH terms, and consuming content. For work, the trick is getting really fast at switching between apps and have a good memory when you can't see things side by side. Where they fall short is in programming. I do a lot of work on remote servers and have SSH + term + Emacs set up nicely, but sometimes I really need IDEs like IntelliJ or RubyMine to be really productive programming. So, I keep a few Ubuntu laptops around.
jkot 10y ago
I think that is very bad comparison. I have an Android tablet with proper Debian desktop installed. With keyboard, mouse, USB hub... It even runs Java...
- 5ilv3r 10y ago
  Is it arm or intel? If it's arm, please give us the model number. I wants.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
znpy 10y ago
I always found peculiar of computer science in general the fact that once something has got good enough, people in the field feel the urge to throw everything out of the window and rebuild the whole thing, just a tiny bit differently, possibly making the same mistakes that have been done in the past.
Q4Dyslexia 10y ago
Ive been on the fence about this, with my last two years of schooling coming up, i really don't want to carry any books, most of which I'm able to find online. I also have to commute across the bay which takes 90min, can't leave shit in my car because there is no locked trunk (if i don't take BART) This 2009 15in literally is the only 15in macbook no to have video card issues released in the last 10 years? But the downside is that its heavy. Okay so that leaves 2-3 options realistically. Retina Macbook nice screen, light weight, downside the keyboard is really small, fingers become cramped, computation power might become an issue, although a deeper dive into the benchmarking might give insight into that. 15in Retina, Screen+ , Speed+, Power+, Cost(---): seriously these 15in computers are baller, but i can buy another car for the price of this computer..... iPad Pro + Virtual OS X host - get to have something light weight, easy to do things with (read,code,surf,roll blunts), downside can't always be online unless getting cellular, VNC might be destroying data caps, memory also becomes problematic, as well as what the author stated which was broken workflows with documents.... Anyone have input to this? What works for y'all?
- Q4Dyslexia 10y ago
  its never going to happen, but OS X on iPadPro would be the solution to all of this >.>
simbalion 10y ago
I think the headline and comparison of iOS to Linux shows the author doesn't really understand the technology being written about.

43 points by tdurden 10y ago

I really don't see the hype around the iPad Pro. Doesn't it make sense to get something like the Surface instead which is a full Intel machine in the same form-factor running the desktop version of Windows 10; rather than limiting yourself to Apple's walled garden?

DiabloD3 10y ago

Except iPads don't run Linux, and iOS is ridiculously locked down and has very few usable apps for typical desktop needs (Android also has this issue, so I'm not shitting on iOS only).

derefr 10y ago
What are "typical desktop needs"? Microsoft Office? Web browsing? What else?
- ajarmst 10y ago
  Emacs. And, uh, some kind of browser, I guess.
  - zyxley 10y ago
    > Emacs You seem to have confused "my desktop needs" for "typical desktop needs".
    - sixbrx 10y ago
      Context is Linux desktop.
chatmasta 10y ago
Jailbroken iPad has all the "Linux" essentials you might need. Combined with a Bluetooth keyboard and SSH to a remote server, you've got a decent dev machine.
- chmod775 10y ago
  Sorry, but imho a cheap Dell would be more comfortable to work on than some weird ipad/bluetooth keyboard/whatnot combo. And decent only starts on the far other side of that spectrum.
  - addicted 10y ago
    I think it would be interesting to see the amount of productivity people lose using their iPads. In my experience my iPad means I am using my laptop a lot less, but it's taking me more time to do the same things I did on the laptop on my iPad.
    - wutbrodo 10y ago
      With the advent of ultraportable laptops a few years ago, I've almost entirely stopped using my tablet(s). The upsides of a smartphone's form factor are self-evident, but a suitably light laptop is (IME) so far superior to a tablet in comfort, usability, and efficiency that the category has been practically obsoleted for me. My current laptop has a 13 inch screen and roughly the dimensions of an 11 inch macbook air. There are very few times I find it less convenient than a 7 inch tablet, and almost none compared to a full-sized tablet.
    - chatmasta 10y ago
      There may be value in using an iPad as a dev machine simply because it provides a separate environment for only doing dev work. Given that habit (and thereby procrastination) depends greatly on environment, it's possible that using an iPad strictly as a dev machine could increase productivity by subconsciously associating the iPad environment with efficiency. That is, if you're on your iPad, you know you shouldn't be messing around, and you use it only for work. Whereas if you're on your laptop you might be tempted to lapse into time sinks that you already associate with your laptop.

ajarmst 10y ago

Still waiting on a terminal-emulator/external keyboard combo that handles alt and ctrl in an emacs-friendly way (I simply can't retrain my brain to use esc for M-). If it also allows me to remap caps-lock to ctrl, I'll rename a child after it.

__Duncan__ 10y ago

But linux is easier to use than windows?

bhaak 10y ago
Not anymore. You can run bash on Windows now.

jcbeard 10y ago

Used this for awhile on my old iPad when my main laptop was broken. iSSH, a wireless keyboard + cloud virtual machine and you can pretty much do anything you need for dev work as long as you have a cellular or wifi connection.

niftich 10y ago

This seems to be making the point that using an iPad is a 'badge of pride' because it's 'challenging'; trying to make the point that Linux is also difficult to use. Except, it's not the same type of challenge at all. Linux usability can actually be pretty good, but it's dependent on familiarity, the desktop environment, the distro, the choice of installed applications; everything is customizable, and making most of that customization requires a willingness to research, understand, tinker. An iPad is locked down to the point of hurting usability, the 'share' system is vastly inferior to Android's 'intents', split-screen mode just recently arrived, mouse support is intentionally missing. Trying to use it as a desktop replacement is borderline masochism. Frankly, it's nothing like desktop Linux, even if you're in an unfamiliar desktop environment.

teach 10y ago
I started using Linux on the desktop in 2001 and have only used other OSes casually since then. Linux is incredibly productive for me and I'm pretty worthless on other operating systems. And I'm old enough that I'm no longer willing to put in the time to learn a new one. Ubuntu does what I want; I don't have to configure things and It Just Works 99% of the time. Plus it's free, so there's no financial incentive to use something else.
- dogma1138 10y ago
  Can I ask you a honest question? How much time do you spend on ISM that the OS actually matters to you that much? I've heard a lot of people saying I'm more productive on X, but in every case I never had real examples of OS specific reasons why they were more productive as in every case it boiled down to the Application ecosystem they end up using. Say you are a Java (it's easy, common, and cross platform) developer this means you need your Eclipse/Netbeans IDE, a JVM and or some Java based web server. So you have your IDE+JVM on the OS, and development/deployment & test environment on a virtual machine, does it really matter to you if you are running Linux, Windows or OSX in this case? All you use and see is Eclipse, a text editor, Virtual Box and a web browser.
  - 10y ago

unsignedint 10y ago

iOS and Android works fairly well if all you are doing is working on one App at a time. Considering something simple as copying a password from a password manager to paste on target app is already very awkward process on Android... Something I can do in less than 5 seconds on desktop takes 30 seconds in those, so I'm not sure how they can be compared to Linux desktop.

placeybordeaux 10y ago

For me the article boils down to this: > No, hear me out. See, Linux users don’t care how much easier we say it is in our non-Linux worlds. Sure, they say it’s because of open access and free as in scotch ale and yadda yadda yadda, but really? They like the challenge. This statement is completely unsubstanicated. If you don't agree with it, don't bother reading the article, it all henges on it.

tinco 10y ago
The article is not actually about desktop Linux. The author tries to draw an analogy, it does not actually matter much whether it resonates. The article boils down to: using an iPad for your day to day tasks is possible but so restrictive you might wonder why people would try to. Much like many people try (tried) to use Linux for day to day tasks and found it is (was) too restrictive. I myself can't argue. My current main os is NixOS and I've found it usable but as a newbie much more restrictive than for example Ubuntu or Arch. Would I recommend it? Would you like to use the next generation of more perfect operating systems? Only if you like a bit of a challenge..

VLM 10y ago

Its fun just to try and list the cultural clashes in the article, like the linked author tried to include as many as possible. My school age kids use ipads as their primary computer at school and that carries over into home use. No matter what the linked article's author experienced as a professional journalist as "normal", to today's kids the ipad will be the new "normal". Maybe they'll be a human interest article in a decade about trying to use old fashioned desktops and laptops to do real work, instead of professional tablets that everyone uses. Much like linux is useless on the desktop because no matter how many desktops its deployed and used upon, if it can't run Excel2013 then the small segment of the population that uses that software will never shut up about it being useless to everyone because its useless to them until their itch is scratched. Just like a skyscraper without parking for every employee is obviously useless because over 90% of the countries population drives cars to work. You just can't argue with special snowflakes who refuse to acknowledge they're special snowflakes. There is a side dish that when I got started with computers in 1981 the UI was not user friendly and almost everyone was a noob, and now we have no noobs left but the UIs are all weird and exclusively noob focused. Its a stereotype that any discussion of "ease of use" WRT computers isn't a discussion about actual use, its a discussion about fads and styles in UI design and 99% of everything has been tried, heavily promoted, and discarded in the past. Therefore its unsurprising that today's standard sucks because UIs have always sucked and always will. That makes all this "easier" "harder" stuff just nonsense. Merely different ways to do things. In the linked article he doesn't like which directory in dropbox Byword links to, blah blah who cares. For all past and present and eternity it'll always be possible to complain about UIs and its completely content free.

Laforet 10y ago
The linked post not really about hardware or UI design but how per app sandboxing and lack of a shared local FS has restricted productivity on the iPad pro. I've always likened iOS to living in a bunch of lavishly outfitted tents: they look great and are really comfortable. However each tent could only be of a certain size since there is no solid foundation and when the heavens decide to rain it is impossible to go from your bedroom to the kitchen without getting wet. The other OS may be an ugly Stalinist house with very small windows and unpolished concrete floor, but they are objectively better at serving the purpose of in door dwelling I.e. shielding people from the elements.

bunderbunder 10y ago

I think it depends heavily on what you're using your computer for. One of my parents owns both an iPad and a laptop, and the laptop barely sees any use anymore. He's got a keyboard case, and, while I hate that keyboard, he's perfectly happy with it. Email and browsing are about equally good on iPad as they are on a computer. Browsing might even be better what with the no flash. It plays video games & runs Netflix, and that's about all that matters. I don't think he cares two beans about multitasking. The iOS office apps may or may not be good enough; the last time he cared about document editing was pre-retirement so I don't know that he's really put them to the test. Challenging? Nah. I'm pretty sure he settled into it because, for him, it's easier.

gcb0 10y ago

someone took 20years to understand what a walled garden design means. I am trying really hard to not be offensive in this comment...

edtechdev 10y ago

Seems like a good scenario for a Chromebook. You can buy two or more for the price of one iPad. And install Linux on it if you want.

waiseristy 10y ago
I think this would provide another good alternative https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andromium/the-superbook-turn-your-smartphone-into-a-laptop-f https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andromium/the-superbook... Who knows how well it would work in practice though

wtbob 10y ago

I don't get this idea that desktop Linux is challenging, not at all. I've been using a Linux box as my primary desktop since 1999, and as my sole desktop since 2000. It's not challenging, it just works. I won't say that there are never challenges, but they are rare and — unlike Windows and macOS — if I search a little I'll find an answer and am able to bend the OS to my will.

Nadya 10y ago
I disagree entirely - as someone who has dual-booted w/ Linux since 2002. 1) Driver issues (becoming less of a problem as time goes on) but it used to be a headache even for tech-savvy people to get their drivers to "just work" and so help you god when you decided to update... 2) While a large majority of users need little less than a working internet browser - there is a large niche for gaming that has only recently started to be supported by developers on Linux distros - Steam only in recent years. Likewise for many professional niches - the software is developed for Windows/Mac and may or may not support Linux at all. 3) UX of many things is either missing or lackluster. This has made great strides in the past 5ish years but many things still rely on users having at least some knowledge about config files and knowing their way around a command prompt. At the least, RTFM. All are arcane black magic to many computer users. Not to mention, package what-nows? sudo? It isn't user-friendly in the least for the common user. It's powerful and "not too hard to Google a few things" for more tech-savvy users, but tech-savvy users aren't most users.
coldtea 10y ago
>I don't get this idea that desktop Linux is challenging, not at all. I've been using a Linux box as my primary desktop since 1999 Isn't that fact a huge tell-sign that perhaps you're not the kind of person for whom desktop Linux would be challenging? You speak of 2000, but historically even people like ESR, Linus Torvalds, JWZ etc have found Linux bad at usability and ease of installation. Of course people used to tinker to e.g. get 3D working, or with basic setups that don't need anything special driver-wise, won't notice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHGTs1NSB1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHGTs1NSB1s http://news.oreilly.com/2008/07/linux-torvalds-on-linux-distri.html http://news.oreilly.com/2008/07/linux-torvalds-on-linux-dist... https://plus.google.com/115250422803614415116/posts/hMT5kW8LKJk https://plus.google.com/115250422803614415116/posts/hMT5kW8L... http://gensho.acc.umu.se/pub/debian-meetings/2014/debconf14/webm/QA_with_Linus_Torvalds.webm http://gensho.acc.umu.se/pub/debian-meetings/2014/debconf14/... http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cups-horror.html http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cups-horror.html https://www.jwz.org/blog/2005/06/that-was-in-fact-the-final-straw/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2005/06/that-was-in-fact-the-final-... https://www.jwz.org/doc/linuxvideo.html https://www.jwz.org/doc/linuxvideo.html https://www.jwz.org/doc/linux.html https://www.jwz.org/doc/linux.html

xlayn 10y ago

From the creators of "PC is dead, long live IOS" Remind me again the argument for using the ipad instead of a... say mac air... or the macbook? 1 pound? 2? Sure there are some people for which this is critical... like the guy who is 40 pounds overweight but buys a new 10000$ new road bike because it's 1 pound lighter...

rahoulb 10y ago
11 hour battery life, built in SIM card, drawing UI sketches for clients (not an Air though, I have a pro)

bhaak 10y ago

Windows didn't get the top position in desktop usage because it had such a good UI. Neither does the iPad really work well as a desktop replacement. It's all about laziness. If (for whatever reasons) I use this device for most of my tasks for most of the day, I have an incentive to use it for all of my tasks. This might lead to a "challenge" but at least I don't have to start up the laptop with Windows or boot into Windows to get my tasks done. And sometimes, you just decide that this "important" task wasn't that important after all and just work around it.

jdbernard 10y ago

> See, Linux users don’t care how much easier we say it is in our non-Linux worlds. Sure, they say it’s because of open access and free as in scotch ale and yadda yadda yadda, but really? They like the challenge. Figuring out how to do what they used to do on a Mac or Windows PC is part of the allure. Sigh... This again? Figuring out how to do things is not part of the allure. Linux is my native ecosystem. I never have to "figure out how to do what they used to do on a Mac or Windows PC." It's the other way around: I have to figure out how to do what I normally do on Linux elsewhere, and very often the answer is, "You can't do it, " because Windows and Mac don't provide the same level of customization. Many of my regular workflows are just not possible on Windows/Mac.

mark_l_watson 10y ago

I think the author is correct that some people use an iPad as a badge of honor - I am a little guilty of this. Both my iPad mini 4 and iPad Pro are fine for writing books in markdown, using an online publishing platform like leanpub, performing research and note taking, accessing servers via SSH terms, and consuming content. For work, the trick is getting really fast at switching between apps and have a good memory when you can't see things side by side. Where they fall short is in programming. I do a lot of work on remote servers and have SSH + term + Emacs set up nicely, but sometimes I really need IDEs like IntelliJ or RubyMine to be really productive programming. So, I keep a few Ubuntu laptops around.

jkot 10y ago

I think that is very bad comparison. I have an Android tablet with proper Debian desktop installed. With keyboard, mouse, USB hub... It even runs Java...

5ilv3r 10y ago
Is it arm or intel? If it's arm, please give us the model number. I wants.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

znpy 10y ago

I always found peculiar of computer science in general the fact that once something has got good enough, people in the field feel the urge to throw everything out of the window and rebuild the whole thing, just a tiny bit differently, possibly making the same mistakes that have been done in the past.

Q4Dyslexia 10y ago

Ive been on the fence about this, with my last two years of schooling coming up, i really don't want to carry any books, most of which I'm able to find online. I also have to commute across the bay which takes 90min, can't leave shit in my car because there is no locked trunk (if i don't take BART) This 2009 15in literally is the only 15in macbook no to have video card issues released in the last 10 years? But the downside is that its heavy. Okay so that leaves 2-3 options realistically. Retina Macbook nice screen, light weight, downside the keyboard is really small, fingers become cramped, computation power might become an issue, although a deeper dive into the benchmarking might give insight into that. 15in Retina, Screen+ , Speed+, Power+, Cost(---): seriously these 15in computers are baller, but i can buy another car for the price of this computer..... iPad Pro + Virtual OS X host - get to have something light weight, easy to do things with (read,code,surf,roll blunts), downside can't always be online unless getting cellular, VNC might be destroying data caps, memory also becomes problematic, as well as what the author stated which was broken workflows with documents.... Anyone have input to this? What works for y'all?

Q4Dyslexia 10y ago
its never going to happen, but OS X on iPadPro would be the solution to all of this >.>

simbalion 10y ago

I think the headline and comparison of iOS to Linux shows the author doesn't really understand the technology being written about.