5 ms·

Yeah, and it's funny how Android is never called Android Linux or God forbid GNU/Linux/Android and you know somehow Android seems qualitatively different from L

Yeah, and it's funny how Android is never called Android Linux or God forbid GNU/Linux/Android and you know somehow Android seems qualitatively different from Linux but it's not! Just re-skinned; although it is a heck of a re-skinning. I'm going to pop 10.10 the most Maverick of Meerkats onto my Macbook in a couple of days to see how well it plays with the hardware. I've dual-booted Windows and Linux countless times but Mac hardware seems trickier by the looks of it - they've got this EFI thing (is it?) and not the BIOS yer granma knows and loves so it'll be a chain of new tech for me until I get them OSX and 10.10 working side by side. (Funny, all the tens.) Yeah, Upstart is a good attack at an old problem.

wmf 16y ago
I wouldn't call Android a "re-skinning"; it uses no traditional GNU userland, no X11, nothing from GNOME or KDE, etc.
- igravious 16y ago
  Hey, I did say one heck of a re-skinning :) There's no GNU userland? I find that hard to believe ... Care to expand? So you mean I can't grumble (all Stallmanesque-like) when my Mom doesn't say GNU/Android? grumble grumble grumble
  - blasdel 16y ago
    As far as I know the only pieces of GPLed software in AOSP are the Linux kernel and the userland half of the bluetooth stack. Neither have any copyright assigned to the FSF or any relation to GNU. All the Google-authored userland code is under the Apache license.
- burgerbrain 16y ago
  It's my impression that android installs typically have Busybox userlands. Busybox might not be a GNU project (although it's licensed under the GPL), but in that respect it's no different than shittons of other linux devices. Most consumer grade routers, most likely your dvr/[cable/satelite] settop box, other UI centric consumer devices like the kindle (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200203720 http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=2...) all use Linux kernels with Busybox userlands and (often) proprietary frontends. Android devices are no less "Linux" than any of these things. Lack of X11 and traditional X desktop environments are particularly beside the point.
bkudria 16y ago
10.10 works fine on the MacBooks. But I didn't bother keeping OSX.
- igravious 16y ago
  I've got a Macbook5,2 which is documented here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBook5-2 https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBook5-2 I am presuming other models have similar treatment. I salute you on your ditching OSX, but do you not miss it at all? My biggest gripe is the lack of something like apt-get / synaptic for OSX, if Jobs really was super-smart he'd bake something like that in real quick and no, I do not mean the App Store though that could have been a chance to get a whole repository thing going for OSX. Say I read about Haskell on HN and I think, I'd like to play with that - on OSX I have to fire up a browser and find out what is the best way to install it, on Ubuntu it's just apt-cache search haskell and apt-get whatever seems to be the compiler. Sigh I'd miss the eye candy though. And I'm presuming that suspend/resume works. And battery life is good. And. And!
  - wmf 16y ago
    You're kind of derailing the thread here, but between Fink, MacPorts, Homebrew, etc. you have an embarrassment of riches in the package manager department.
    - bkudria 16y ago
      Yeah, I wish those compared to Apt.
    - rmc 16y ago
      Fink, MacPorts, Homebrew, etc. That's part of the problem IME. I want to install something, OK, I have to check Fink, it's not there, let's check macports, ah it's there. But it depends on something else, so it needs to download that. I have that installed with fink, but it needs its own version in it's own place (/usr/local, vs. /opt IIRC). It's not as easy and seamless as having one place you can get all your software. Apt also has a much larger number of software available than fink and macports.

wmf 16y ago

I wouldn't call Android a "re-skinning"; it uses no traditional GNU userland, no X11, nothing from GNOME or KDE, etc.

igravious 16y ago
Hey, I did say one heck of a re-skinning :) There's no GNU userland? I find that hard to believe ... Care to expand? So you mean I can't grumble (all Stallmanesque-like) when my Mom doesn't say GNU/Android? grumble grumble grumble
- blasdel 16y ago
  As far as I know the only pieces of GPLed software in AOSP are the Linux kernel and the userland half of the bluetooth stack. Neither have any copyright assigned to the FSF or any relation to GNU. All the Google-authored userland code is under the Apache license.
burgerbrain 16y ago
It's my impression that android installs typically have Busybox userlands. Busybox might not be a GNU project (although it's licensed under the GPL), but in that respect it's no different than shittons of other linux devices. Most consumer grade routers, most likely your dvr/[cable/satelite] settop box, other UI centric consumer devices like the kindle (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200203720 http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=2...) all use Linux kernels with Busybox userlands and (often) proprietary frontends. Android devices are no less "Linux" than any of these things. Lack of X11 and traditional X desktop environments are particularly beside the point.

bkudria 16y ago

10.10 works fine on the MacBooks. But I didn't bother keeping OSX.

igravious 16y ago
I've got a Macbook5,2 which is documented here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBook5-2 https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBook5-2 I am presuming other models have similar treatment. I salute you on your ditching OSX, but do you not miss it at all? My biggest gripe is the lack of something like apt-get / synaptic for OSX, if Jobs really was super-smart he'd bake something like that in real quick and no, I do not mean the App Store though that could have been a chance to get a whole repository thing going for OSX. Say I read about Haskell on HN and I think, I'd like to play with that - on OSX I have to fire up a browser and find out what is the best way to install it, on Ubuntu it's just apt-cache search haskell and apt-get whatever seems to be the compiler. Sigh I'd miss the eye candy though. And I'm presuming that suspend/resume works. And battery life is good. And. And!
- wmf 16y ago
  You're kind of derailing the thread here, but between Fink, MacPorts, Homebrew, etc. you have an embarrassment of riches in the package manager department.
  - bkudria 16y ago
    Yeah, I wish those compared to Apt.
  - rmc 16y ago
    Fink, MacPorts, Homebrew, etc. That's part of the problem IME. I want to install something, OK, I have to check Fink, it's not there, let's check macports, ah it's there. But it depends on something else, so it needs to download that. I have that installed with fink, but it needs its own version in it's own place (/usr/local, vs. /opt IIRC). It's not as easy and seamless as having one place you can get all your software. Apt also has a much larger number of software available than fink and macports.