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I've run Arch Linux and NixOS on a Chromebook Pixel, Macbook Pro, Thinkpad X1 Carbon (3rd gen), a custom built PC (nvidia) and an Intel NUC. The Pixel required

I've run Arch Linux and NixOS on a Chromebook Pixel, Macbook Pro, Thinkpad X1 Carbon (3rd gen), a custom built PC (nvidia) and an Intel NUC. The Pixel required a custom kernel, but even that was a one-line command to install from AUR. Everything has been a completely straightforward install. Yes, even the latest MBP, force touchpad and all. The only issue you discuss that I've experienced is the problem with mixed-DPI monitors, and it's supposed to be resolved in the next release of GNOME. I don't hate closed source software (Plex is probably my favorite software product ever), but I certainly have an extreme distaste for Windows. I've wasted way more time reinstalling Windows than I have debugging any Linux installs. (I'm at ~4.5 years of rolling releases in Arch and I've only had to take corrective action once or twice and it was announced ahead of time. And I'm running [testing] repos...) When I read things like "On OSX setting my shell via chsh worked, Ubuntu ignores the same exact command" I start making some assumptions about user error since `chsh` works just fine in Ubuntu... And then this "Applications can't just register themselves without distro specific tweaks so half don't bother, so every install I was firing up alacarte" simply hasn't been true for... 8+ years. I literally had to look up alacarte to remember what it is. Alacarte doesn't even do anything in a GNOME3 environment. But anyway... I don't think anyone should really feel guilty about their OS preference. (I also think that most of the anti-Windows10 FUD is completely blown out of proportion and often borders on dishonest.)

BoorishBears 10y ago
The two examples you mention as "user error" are things that happened on my last try, which was last week. I don't get why "Applications can't just register themselves without distro specific tweaks so half don't bother, so every install I was firing up alacarte" is out of date when no less than 4 times that I installed software I had to fire up alacarte to add it. The closest Linux has to Windows-style "Start Menu/Programs" is the "applications" folders for .desktop files, but if I had to guess why applications weren't installing .desktop shortcuts like I'd like them to it's because there's nothing forcing the application menu to load from there, where OSX and Windows both have a singular application menu that installers know end users will have, and expect to see an entry in. A lot more software I installed didn't bother with .desktop files. I'm sure people would blame the software's creators for not including a .desktop file in the right location as part of installation, but to me it's just a symptom of the "freedom" you get with replacing DEs. And the shell problem is just me describing a situation exactly as it happened, chsh would not change the terminal that Gnome Terminal used, I had to manually change another setting. It's not that chsh didn't work, it's that the default terminal application installed in the DE didn't respect it. OSX's default terminal respected it just fine. It's not a major gripe, I just thought it was suboptimal. And on a somewhat unrelated note, I've always noticed if I say something is broken in OSX or Windows I get the usual "Well what do you expect, it's OSX/Windows" (usually with a "What are you doing in X install `whatispetdistro`"). With Linux I get "Well I don't know what you're doing wrong because X has worked for me just fine". Half the time what they considered fine is what I consider broken or suboptimal. But that's anecdotal, it might just be the people I've interacted with in the past.
- colemickens 10y ago
  >is out of date when no less than 4 times that I installed software I had to fire up alacarte to add it. Alright, I'm curious... what software and what DE? The XDG spec defines a standard place to look for these files, and it's honored by KDE3, KDE4, Gnome2, Gnome3, MATE, Cinnamon, Budgie, ... and probably more that I'm forgetting. So, if it's not happening, it's either a bug on the software for flat out not shipping it, or a packaging bug on the distribution's part for not placing in the correct place. But like I said, I've not encountered this in the wild for longer than I can remember. >And the shell problem is just me describing a situation exactly as it happened, chsh would not change the terminal that Gnome Terminal used, I had to manually change another setting. :/ I just tried it on a 16.04 install and on an Arch Linux install it worked as expected. Gnome-terminal defaults to "Run my shell" but has options to override it which are not on by default. You can see here where it uses your user set shell: http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~vcs-imports/gnome-terminal/master/view/head:/src/eggshell.c http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~vcs-imports/gnome-terminal/mast... >With Linux I get "Well I don't know what you're doing wrong because X has worked for me just fine". From my experience, most times when I sit down with a user, and walk through troubleshooting, I see things, ask and hear back "Oh right, I forgot I tried fiddling with that too, did that make it worse, oops!". If these things are so easily repro'd, there are people who would love to have bug reports for them. I've filed a couple GNOME bugs before, it was a straightforward experience.
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BoorishBears 10y ago

The two examples you mention as "user error" are things that happened on my last try, which was last week. I don't get why "Applications can't just register themselves without distro specific tweaks so half don't bother, so every install I was firing up alacarte" is out of date when no less than 4 times that I installed software I had to fire up alacarte to add it. The closest Linux has to Windows-style "Start Menu/Programs" is the "applications" folders for .desktop files, but if I had to guess why applications weren't installing .desktop shortcuts like I'd like them to it's because there's nothing forcing the application menu to load from there, where OSX and Windows both have a singular application menu that installers know end users will have, and expect to see an entry in. A lot more software I installed didn't bother with .desktop files. I'm sure people would blame the software's creators for not including a .desktop file in the right location as part of installation, but to me it's just a symptom of the "freedom" you get with replacing DEs. And the shell problem is just me describing a situation exactly as it happened, chsh would not change the terminal that Gnome Terminal used, I had to manually change another setting. It's not that chsh didn't work, it's that the default terminal application installed in the DE didn't respect it. OSX's default terminal respected it just fine. It's not a major gripe, I just thought it was suboptimal. And on a somewhat unrelated note, I've always noticed if I say something is broken in OSX or Windows I get the usual "Well what do you expect, it's OSX/Windows" (usually with a "What are you doing in X install `whatispetdistro`"). With Linux I get "Well I don't know what you're doing wrong because X has worked for me just fine". Half the time what they considered fine is what I consider broken or suboptimal. But that's anecdotal, it might just be the people I've interacted with in the past.

colemickens 10y ago
>is out of date when no less than 4 times that I installed software I had to fire up alacarte to add it. Alright, I'm curious... what software and what DE? The XDG spec defines a standard place to look for these files, and it's honored by KDE3, KDE4, Gnome2, Gnome3, MATE, Cinnamon, Budgie, ... and probably more that I'm forgetting. So, if it's not happening, it's either a bug on the software for flat out not shipping it, or a packaging bug on the distribution's part for not placing in the correct place. But like I said, I've not encountered this in the wild for longer than I can remember. >And the shell problem is just me describing a situation exactly as it happened, chsh would not change the terminal that Gnome Terminal used, I had to manually change another setting. :/ I just tried it on a 16.04 install and on an Arch Linux install it worked as expected. Gnome-terminal defaults to "Run my shell" but has options to override it which are not on by default. You can see here where it uses your user set shell: http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~vcs-imports/gnome-terminal/master/view/head:/src/eggshell.c http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~vcs-imports/gnome-terminal/mast... >With Linux I get "Well I don't know what you're doing wrong because X has worked for me just fine". From my experience, most times when I sit down with a user, and walk through troubleshooting, I see things, ask and hear back "Oh right, I forgot I tried fiddling with that too, did that make it worse, oops!". If these things are so easily repro'd, there are people who would love to have bug reports for them. I've filed a couple GNOME bugs before, it was a straightforward experience.

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