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I switched to Mac as well but it's not the applications that keep me from going back, it is the wifi and printer support. This is just so much better on a Mac t

I switched to Mac as well but it's not the applications that keep me from going back, it is the wifi and printer support. This is just so much better on a Mac than on Linux.

nickysielicki 10y ago
I hear this a lot, and I really don't understand it. # apt-get install network-manager network-manager-applet # systemctl enable network-manager # systemctl start network-manager $ # put "nm-applet &" into your ~/.xsession And now you're done. I think most people would find Network-Manager's applet easier to use than if they had to configure a network in Windows 10.
- misja111 10y ago
  It's not the UI, the problem is that driver support for Linux is not as good as for OSX. OSX connects to wireless networks much faster, and also occasionally Linux won't connect to a network at all while OSX does. This might not be a problem when you just use your computer at home but if you are a consultant and you're at the customer's office, you just don't want to run into those connection problems which Linux occasionally gives.
  - cesnja 10y ago
    I can give you a counter anecdote. At my university, I have the most stable wireless connection (eduroam) among my peers, using NetworkManager and a recent kernel. You just have to find a reasonably supported device - Thinkpad laptops, for example.
  - erlehmann_ 10y ago
    > It's not the UI, the problem is that driver support for Linux is not as good as for OSX. Driver support for new hardware platforms or one where the hardware producer does not help enough might not be that good: I think Intel's Skylake platform might serve as a good example – an older Linux kernel had a bug where laptops would crash when the lid was closed; now that Skylake is older the bug has been fixed. That being said, Linux has drivers for many more stuff out of the box than every other operating system. Of course, for the perfect out of the box experience, you have to choose matching hardware – same as with OS X actually.
krylon 10y ago
Ironically, perhaps, when comparing current desktop Linux distros ("current" meaning "less than ten years old") to Windows, printing on Windows seems like an exquisite form of self-torture. CUPS (both on OS X and open source Unx systems) just puts Windows printing to shame. As for Wifi, none of the devices I own have given me any problems. I've heard people curse NetworkManager, but it has always worked nicely for me, including VPN support. Maybe I just got lucky, but I have never run into any problems. (My desktop is a MacMini, just to be clear, but all my other computers run various Linux distros or BSD; I mainly stick to OS X on my desktop because I need to access my Exchange mailbox at work, and on OS X it "just works", while on Linux/*BSD, it only sorta-kinda works - except, apparently, for CentOS 7 using GNOME 3 and Evolution. It's not like I am particularly unhappy with OS X, though.)
- lj3 10y ago
  This is another problem with switching to linux. When somebody makes a perfectly cogent complaint that hundreds of other people have also experienced, the popular refrain among linux zealots is "It works for me. You must be doing it wrong." That must be nice for you, but that type of response makes the rest of us gladly run back to Windows. At least when we complain about bad windows features, we're not going to get gaslit.
  - pfranz 10y ago
    That response is frustrating, but that's not a fair criticism. I feel like "You must be doing it wrong" is a hyperbolic simplification, too. This will happen in any community where you're getting voluntary support. Hell, when I'm supporting people at work I will sometimes start with, "Hmm, well, I'm not having a problem doing this." (and try to put that in a way that's not dismissive, but informative) Then I go and dig into and fix their problem. It is one of the first steps in troubleshooting. e.g. http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ If you're not paying for support that might be where your support ends. At least you have a clue that it's not completely broken. "At least when we complain about bad windows features, we're not going to get gaslit." I feel equally frustrated troubleshooting Windows/Linux/OSX and third-party software. Most often I'll find someone with the same error, the first reply is something like "it's working for me, can you post a full log?", a full log is posted, and there was no further correspondence.

I switched to Mac as well but it's not the applications that keep me from going back, it is the wifi and printer support. This is just so much better on a Mac than on Linux.

nickysielicki 10y ago

I hear this a lot, and I really don't understand it. # apt-get install network-manager network-manager-applet # systemctl enable network-manager # systemctl start network-manager $ # put "nm-applet &" into your ~/.xsession And now you're done. I think most people would find Network-Manager's applet easier to use than if they had to configure a network in Windows 10.

misja111 10y ago
It's not the UI, the problem is that driver support for Linux is not as good as for OSX. OSX connects to wireless networks much faster, and also occasionally Linux won't connect to a network at all while OSX does. This might not be a problem when you just use your computer at home but if you are a consultant and you're at the customer's office, you just don't want to run into those connection problems which Linux occasionally gives.
- cesnja 10y ago
  I can give you a counter anecdote. At my university, I have the most stable wireless connection (eduroam) among my peers, using NetworkManager and a recent kernel. You just have to find a reasonably supported device - Thinkpad laptops, for example.
- erlehmann_ 10y ago
  > It's not the UI, the problem is that driver support for Linux is not as good as for OSX. Driver support for new hardware platforms or one where the hardware producer does not help enough might not be that good: I think Intel's Skylake platform might serve as a good example – an older Linux kernel had a bug where laptops would crash when the lid was closed; now that Skylake is older the bug has been fixed. That being said, Linux has drivers for many more stuff out of the box than every other operating system. Of course, for the perfect out of the box experience, you have to choose matching hardware – same as with OS X actually.

krylon 10y ago

Ironically, perhaps, when comparing current desktop Linux distros ("current" meaning "less than ten years old") to Windows, printing on Windows seems like an exquisite form of self-torture. CUPS (both on OS X and open source Unx systems) just puts Windows printing to shame. As for Wifi, none of the devices I own have given me any problems. I've heard people curse NetworkManager, but it has always worked nicely for me, including VPN support. Maybe I just got lucky, but I have never run into any problems. (My desktop is a MacMini, just to be clear, but all my other computers run various Linux distros or BSD; I mainly stick to OS X on my desktop because I need to access my Exchange mailbox at work, and on OS X it "just works", while on Linux/*BSD, it only sorta-kinda works - except, apparently, for CentOS 7 using GNOME 3 and Evolution. It's not like I am particularly unhappy with OS X, though.)

lj3 10y ago
This is another problem with switching to linux. When somebody makes a perfectly cogent complaint that hundreds of other people have also experienced, the popular refrain among linux zealots is "It works for me. You must be doing it wrong." That must be nice for you, but that type of response makes the rest of us gladly run back to Windows. At least when we complain about bad windows features, we're not going to get gaslit.
- pfranz 10y ago
  That response is frustrating, but that's not a fair criticism. I feel like "You must be doing it wrong" is a hyperbolic simplification, too. This will happen in any community where you're getting voluntary support. Hell, when I'm supporting people at work I will sometimes start with, "Hmm, well, I'm not having a problem doing this." (and try to put that in a way that's not dismissive, but informative) Then I go and dig into and fix their problem. It is one of the first steps in troubleshooting. e.g. http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ If you're not paying for support that might be where your support ends. At least you have a clue that it's not completely broken. "At least when we complain about bad windows features, we're not going to get gaslit." I feel equally frustrated troubleshooting Windows/Linux/OSX and third-party software. Most often I'll find someone with the same error, the first reply is something like "it's working for me, can you post a full log?", a full log is posted, and there was no further correspondence.