Hacker News Reader

Comment by josteink | Hacker News Reader

> I don't believe it. They said the same thing more than a year ago

On the flip side... Does it really matter?

I just checked and I could get a $100 off my ThinkPad of choice by selecting “no OS”. To me that’s more than sufficient.

I’ll setup my Linux the way I want it anyway, and you better believe that’s going to be from scratch.

Edit: from scratch with a vanilla installer. Nothing zealous or crazy.

Edit 2: I also found out my (Lenovo) work-computer is seamlessly receiving BIOS- and other FW-updates seamlessly via fwupdmgr in Linux. I have no reason ever to boot Windows on that thing.

All in all, happy Linux-using Lenovo-customer checking in.

View on HN

I also enjoy to install linux from scratch. But having a laptop available with linux installed is a big plus. That way, I am sure that all hardware problems (correct throttling, hybernating, etc.) are my fault and not lack of hardware support. I also have an example install with working drivers. Then, I do the installation from scratch, if it is for me. Or if it is for a new postdoc that just needs a linux laptop I can leave it as it is.

I hope you mean Linux from scratch in the generic sense and not http://www.linuxfromscratch.org. Though I suppose it's to each his/her own.

LOL, I meant installing a regular distro such as debian on a new laptop.

(I also did the linuxfromscratch.org tutorial on a virtual machine several years ago, and it was an enjoyable learning experience, but this is not what we were talking about.)

> and you better believe that’s going to be from scratch

Unless you're doing it for the education, this sounds like a form of self-harm.

Depends on exactly what "from scratch" means. It could just mean "I don't trust what the manufacturer pre-installs and intend to reinstall immediately", which seems to be good advice on Windows and reasonable advice on Linux distros. Like... I wouldn't necessarily advise hand-configuring everything starting from a netinstall shell, but I do set up my systems by running a vanilla installer to lay down the base OS and then running my ansible playbooks against the system to make it fully functional; does that not count as "from scratch"?

Knowing whats on it, configuring it the way you like, selecting a different distro you prefer, certainty that if you needed to you actually could deviate from the OEM install... There are plenty of good reasons to load your own OS on your own hardware, that aren't purely for the exercise.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com