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I feel exactly the same way, sadly. I sometimes sense in people a degree of enjoyment in the process of tinkering with Linux on a Mac (or any other hardware) t

I feel exactly the same way, sadly. I sometimes sense in people a degree of enjoyment in the process of tinkering with Linux on a Mac (or any other hardware) to make it function properly. This mirrors the satisfaction programmers often find when grappling with a compiler or achieving the ideal abstraction. However, it seems that this sense of accomplishment, while valuable in its own right, shouldn't be derived from the tools I use for my primary tasks. I prefer my machine to just work, so I can focus on addressing higher-level, more significant challenges. I say this as someone who would be absolutely delighted if a few distros just worked 100% seamlessly on an MBP or similar. That would be a dream honestly.

LeFantome 3y ago
They will work. It will just take a while. Someday, I will buy a used M2 MBP, run Linux on it, and it will be awesome. That may be a few years from now though.
- baz00 3y ago
  I think that's a little hopeful on the basis you can't really buy a used PC laptop and it'll be awesome. I've been trying to do that for 25 years and it has never been awesome. There was an inflection point around 2006 where a Linux desktop machine was usable and comparable to a windows or mac machine but they have since left it in the dust. Linux didn't do a whole lot other than keep changing the UI and never finish it since 2006.
  - kakwa_ 3y ago
    Have been doing the secondhand laptop+Linux for 15 years and I have never felt like I was missing out on OS features. And while true circa 2006 (these Broadcom wifi cards...), I have not experienced compatibility/lack of drivers in ages.
- kakwa_ 3y ago
  I kind of did that with PowerBooks back in the days. The hard truth was that used Thinkpads were a better option. For the same price you could get 3 years old ThinkPads which were more powerful and in better condition than 6 years old PowerBooks. But I did installed Gentoo on my PowerBooks G3 and G4 (it just took 2 days to compile Firefox). And ironically, this knowledge proved useful in my first job when I repurposed old IBM Power servers with it.

LeFantome 3y ago

They will work. It will just take a while. Someday, I will buy a used M2 MBP, run Linux on it, and it will be awesome. That may be a few years from now though.

baz00 3y ago
I think that's a little hopeful on the basis you can't really buy a used PC laptop and it'll be awesome. I've been trying to do that for 25 years and it has never been awesome. There was an inflection point around 2006 where a Linux desktop machine was usable and comparable to a windows or mac machine but they have since left it in the dust. Linux didn't do a whole lot other than keep changing the UI and never finish it since 2006.
- kakwa_ 3y ago
  Have been doing the secondhand laptop+Linux for 15 years and I have never felt like I was missing out on OS features. And while true circa 2006 (these Broadcom wifi cards...), I have not experienced compatibility/lack of drivers in ages.
kakwa_ 3y ago
I kind of did that with PowerBooks back in the days. The hard truth was that used Thinkpads were a better option. For the same price you could get 3 years old ThinkPads which were more powerful and in better condition than 6 years old PowerBooks. But I did installed Gentoo on my PowerBooks G3 and G4 (it just took 2 days to compile Firefox). And ironically, this knowledge proved useful in my first job when I repurposed old IBM Power servers with it.