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I was using a combination of windows/linux for a while until my archlinux laptop shit the bed after an update and I decided to say, fuck it, I'm finally buying

I was using a combination of windows/linux for a while until my archlinux laptop shit the bed after an update and I decided to say, fuck it, I'm finally buying a macbook because at least then I can still do unix shit without having to worry about everything working the next day. I'm not happy about "Apple Silicon", it does feel restrictive and often times the only way to get around it is to use licensed VMs, which feels like a bit of a rip off. At the same time, my laptop runs phenomenally well, does everything I need it to do, and it never dies or gets overheated under normal use. I can't really complain.

wbear 4y ago
You might like your macbook's hardware more than you think. It's a pretty open platform with a standardized instruction set and on open bootloader than can run Linux with pretty good hardware support for such a new platform.
rakoo 4y ago
So you went from archlinux, a system explicitly telling you you have to get involved in your own computer to make sure it works, to a macbook where everything is taken care of for you. What did you expect with archlinux exactly ?
textread 4y ago
I would love to know more about what you mean by 'archlinux shit the bed'. If you dont remember the exact error code, any text from the error screen, or even vague description is fine. I believe that spending 15mins on the arch forums or IRC would probably result in somebody helping you out with the right pacman incantation. YMMV, my personal experience. On a tangent, I would love to hear more about any Debian stable users out there and their experience with the conservative approach to updating. I am particularly fond of this Debian wiki article on DontBreakDebian: https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian
prmoustache 4y ago
Archlinux is a rolling release distro. Which mean you are supposed to: - update them very frequently - check the news before any update which mention any manual intervention needed This is definitely a distro for people who want to get involved in the sysadmin part of it. A distro like Fedora will have a new release every 6 months and each release and ~390 days of support. You aren't expect to do manual intervention, just let it update itself upon reboot/poweroff from times to times and do a major upgrade, every 6 months to 1 year. Debian has 2y releases cycles and +- 3y of support, in the ubuntu world it is like Fedora or LTS (5y of support). If you want the longest extended lifecycle, RHEL and its clones have pretty much 10years of support without any fuss. Add to that the immutable distros like Fedora Silverblue, OpenSUSE MicroOS and some others where it is virtually impossible to make it shit the bed, even while being stupid. So in the linux world you can definitely choose your poison, from the less eventful one to the one needing more attention. It looks like you didn't choose wisely. If I had to setup a distro for the least knowledgeable people, I would set it up with an RHEL or Almalinux and install a more modern browser through Flatpak. As long as the hardware is supported from day 1 they would expect a desktop that do not change at all for 10years.
tpoacher 4y ago
This makes zero sense.

wbear 4y ago

You might like your macbook's hardware more than you think. It's a pretty open platform with a standardized instruction set and on open bootloader than can run Linux with pretty good hardware support for such a new platform.

rakoo 4y ago

So you went from archlinux, a system explicitly telling you you have to get involved in your own computer to make sure it works, to a macbook where everything is taken care of for you. What did you expect with archlinux exactly ?

textread 4y ago

I would love to know more about what you mean by 'archlinux shit the bed'. If you dont remember the exact error code, any text from the error screen, or even vague description is fine. I believe that spending 15mins on the arch forums or IRC would probably result in somebody helping you out with the right pacman incantation. YMMV, my personal experience. On a tangent, I would love to hear more about any Debian stable users out there and their experience with the conservative approach to updating. I am particularly fond of this Debian wiki article on DontBreakDebian: https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian

prmoustache 4y ago

Archlinux is a rolling release distro. Which mean you are supposed to: - update them very frequently - check the news before any update which mention any manual intervention needed This is definitely a distro for people who want to get involved in the sysadmin part of it. A distro like Fedora will have a new release every 6 months and each release and ~390 days of support. You aren't expect to do manual intervention, just let it update itself upon reboot/poweroff from times to times and do a major upgrade, every 6 months to 1 year. Debian has 2y releases cycles and +- 3y of support, in the ubuntu world it is like Fedora or LTS (5y of support). If you want the longest extended lifecycle, RHEL and its clones have pretty much 10years of support without any fuss. Add to that the immutable distros like Fedora Silverblue, OpenSUSE MicroOS and some others where it is virtually impossible to make it shit the bed, even while being stupid. So in the linux world you can definitely choose your poison, from the less eventful one to the one needing more attention. It looks like you didn't choose wisely. If I had to setup a distro for the least knowledgeable people, I would set it up with an RHEL or Almalinux and install a more modern browser through Flatpak. As long as the hardware is supported from day 1 they would expect a desktop that do not change at all for 10years.

tpoacher 4y ago

This makes zero sense.