4 ms·

Can we please stop this? When you don't like Linux on your desktop, don't use it. It's that easy.

by KonradKlause 15y ago

nagnatron 15y ago
It's feedback. From someone who's been using Linux for a long time. It's hardly random whining.
mkr-hn 15y ago
Stop what? People saying why Linux doesn't work as a desktop OS for them, or people posting those articles to HN?
- KonradKlause 15y ago
  The latter ;-)
dexen 15y ago
`Don't use Linux' is not `that easy'; pause for a moment and think about it. He can't go *BSD way, because drivers are scarcier, and that's a big no-no for him. And even more scarce on other less popular OSes, like Plan 9. He can't go MS Windows way, because it's less usable for him (duh). He can't go MacOS X because, uh, I dunno, personal preferences? Pricetag of the hardware+software? He whines and rehashes old arguments because he feels trapped in Linux, got nowhere else to go :-) Indeed, not a piece of News for Hackers.
- KonradKlause 15y ago
  Hehe, fair point.
- carmen 15y ago
  he could throw a maximized webkit and editor in ~/.xinitrc but he wouldnt have anything to complain about
  - twopoint718 15y ago
    Haha, take it just a bit farther. When you get hooked on a tiling window manager, all this twisting in the wind over what KDE/GNOME 3.0/Unity will do next really evaporates. The "surface area" of the GUI is so small there's very little to find issue with.
ryan_brunner 15y ago
The thing is, these complaints usually come from people who WANT linux to succeed on the desktop. I'm certainly one of those people - one of those poor unfortunate souls doing RoR development on a PC. Windows isn't a great option for me because the development ecosystem around Ruby on Windows is still fairly immature. Linux would be a perfect solution, if I could get more than a hour of battery life out of my laptop, my touchpad worked even remotely as well as it does in Windows, and selecting the wrong update didn't completely trash my system.
- pandeiro 15y ago
  Give up or don't give up, but agonizing about it accomplishes nothing. 6 months ago I received a new laptop that "just didn't work on Linux." I did a lot of research, tried different distros, hacked on it a lot, and now it is a dream to use, gets excellent battery life, and even suspend/resume work beautifully. Hackers don't agonize over this kind of shit, they get to work. If you don't want to invest the time, your choice is investing your $$$ in a Mac. Personally I am so happy with my laptop now that if someone offered me a brand new Macbook Whatever, for free, I'd say "No, thanks." Seriously. Good luck.
  - wonnage 15y ago
    Well, you also have the bias of wasting several weeks of your life trying to set up a laptop. Yeah, I said waste. Most people will counter by saying "but I learned linux!" No, you didn't, you learned to futz around with a bunch of conf files. I remember trying to make Pulseaudio work with my USB soundcard. Several hours of dicking about with asoundrc later and I a. still had a nonfunctional sound card b. still don't know how pulseaudio works Not that it isn't an accomplishment. Just, while it may be a source of personal satisfaction, don't expect people with less time than you do to feel the same way!
    - teyc 15y ago
      +1 It is like solving sudoku. There's a rush when you solve it, but it is not like you have made a genuine progress.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
KeithMajhor 15y ago
It's a little bit hypocritical. But can we stop _this_. If you don't want to read articles about distaste of desktop linux. Don't click the link and/or downvote.
- gnosis 15y ago
  HN doesn't let you downvote articles. However, they can be flagged, if you feel they are inappropriate for HN.
reirob 15y ago
I really do not think that it is that black and white. First it is not about people who do not like Linux on the desktop but about people who used Linux on the desktop for many years, promoted it at their schools, at their companies, to their friends. And then after many years struggling against the same problems all over again they discover that it is not worth their time. Then there is another question - does it make the Linux desktop better if people (like the author and me) stop using it?

Can we please stop this? When you don't like Linux on your desktop, don't use it. It's that easy.

nagnatron 15y ago

It's feedback. From someone who's been using Linux for a long time. It's hardly random whining.

mkr-hn 15y ago

Stop what? People saying why Linux doesn't work as a desktop OS for them, or people posting those articles to HN?

KonradKlause 15y ago
The latter ;-)

dexen 15y ago

`Don't use Linux' is not `that easy'; pause for a moment and think about it. He can't go *BSD way, because drivers are scarcier, and that's a big no-no for him. And even more scarce on other less popular OSes, like Plan 9. He can't go MS Windows way, because it's less usable for him (duh). He can't go MacOS X because, uh, I dunno, personal preferences? Pricetag of the hardware+software? He whines and rehashes old arguments because he feels trapped in Linux, got nowhere else to go :-) Indeed, not a piece of News for Hackers.

KonradKlause 15y ago
Hehe, fair point.
carmen 15y ago
he could throw a maximized webkit and editor in ~/.xinitrc but he wouldnt have anything to complain about
- twopoint718 15y ago
  Haha, take it just a bit farther. When you get hooked on a tiling window manager, all this twisting in the wind over what KDE/GNOME 3.0/Unity will do next really evaporates. The "surface area" of the GUI is so small there's very little to find issue with.

ryan_brunner 15y ago

The thing is, these complaints usually come from people who WANT linux to succeed on the desktop. I'm certainly one of those people - one of those poor unfortunate souls doing RoR development on a PC. Windows isn't a great option for me because the development ecosystem around Ruby on Windows is still fairly immature. Linux would be a perfect solution, if I could get more than a hour of battery life out of my laptop, my touchpad worked even remotely as well as it does in Windows, and selecting the wrong update didn't completely trash my system.

pandeiro 15y ago
Give up or don't give up, but agonizing about it accomplishes nothing. 6 months ago I received a new laptop that "just didn't work on Linux." I did a lot of research, tried different distros, hacked on it a lot, and now it is a dream to use, gets excellent battery life, and even suspend/resume work beautifully. Hackers don't agonize over this kind of shit, they get to work. If you don't want to invest the time, your choice is investing your $$$ in a Mac. Personally I am so happy with my laptop now that if someone offered me a brand new Macbook Whatever, for free, I'd say "No, thanks." Seriously. Good luck.
- wonnage 15y ago
  Well, you also have the bias of wasting several weeks of your life trying to set up a laptop. Yeah, I said waste. Most people will counter by saying "but I learned linux!" No, you didn't, you learned to futz around with a bunch of conf files. I remember trying to make Pulseaudio work with my USB soundcard. Several hours of dicking about with asoundrc later and I a. still had a nonfunctional sound card b. still don't know how pulseaudio works Not that it isn't an accomplishment. Just, while it may be a source of personal satisfaction, don't expect people with less time than you do to feel the same way!
  - teyc 15y ago
    +1 It is like solving sudoku. There's a rush when you solve it, but it is not like you have made a genuine progress.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

KeithMajhor 15y ago

It's a little bit hypocritical. But can we stop _this_. If you don't want to read articles about distaste of desktop linux. Don't click the link and/or downvote.

gnosis 15y ago
HN doesn't let you downvote articles. However, they can be flagged, if you feel they are inappropriate for HN.

reirob 15y ago

I really do not think that it is that black and white. First it is not about people who do not like Linux on the desktop but about people who used Linux on the desktop for many years, promoted it at their schools, at their companies, to their friends. And then after many years struggling against the same problems all over again they discover that it is not worth their time. Then there is another question - does it make the Linux desktop better if people (like the author and me) stop using it?