Comment by bacchusracine | Hacker News Reader

Comment by bacchusracine | Hacker News Reader

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I'm a bit disappointed that this is getting downvoted without a response.

I had a Macbook Pro 8,1 I ordered specifically for the intel video because at the time Nvidia support was lacking and I got that model with the express purpose and idea that if OSX changed to where I no longer liked it or if the hardware was no longer supported by Apple I could just install Linux and keep going. I had nothing but nightmares trying to get Linux to work on that thing. Consistently things would be fine and then suddenly grub would randomly eat itself. The idea of buying hardware and installing an unsupported operating system seems like insanity to me after that experience.

I'm genuinely trying to understand why people would do this because it seems to make no sense. I doubt any of the people hitting the downvote will see this post in response but I'd really like to hear why anyone would do this. This is supposed to be a commenting and discussion board, I'd like some discussion. Thanks.

My two cents (i'm not one who was downvoting).

Reasons to do it: 1. Enthusiasts are having fun 2. They increase their skill in Linux driver development 3. This can generate patches usable by ARM linux in general, not only viable for Apple hardware.

If she manages to succeed, perhaps with help of others, then we have Linux desktop there. Linux gaming and 3D acceleration wasn't always a thing, and people were still using Linux.

But I agree that apple hardware would still be hostile, and not sure if it is worth it. VM can be used with same success. People who by new macs should be ready to be vendor locked.

But to extend this topic.

Many parts of x86 linux drivers are community developed. Either by individuals, or by companies as RedHat. Yes major hardware vendors, like Intel and AMD makes sure that chipset and CPU are supported, but many motherboard vendors and laptop ones don't give a damn. As far as I know Realtek gigabit ethernet chip was community driven driver.

And most printer drivers are not from vendors.

Now I am curious to search statistics, how much of drivers are made by vendors?

But generally, there is still a problem, that person decide to try linux, and their hardware is unsupported on x86. Laptops especially.

I tend to check linux compatibility first, even if I don't use Linux regularly(actually going to switch soon). I've used linux for a while on my DELL laptop, and experience was great. But my daily driver is windows desktop. Going to try it out. Hope my Wacom tablet would work in Linux, as from my research Wacom is best shot for L.

By the way. I don't know anything about ARM laptop. I know that there are some models. But have no idea how it is going.

I guess having another option won't hurt, and would increase applications adoption.

To be honest: supporting such uniform hardware as Apple's is way easier than supporting bunch of different vendors. So this is doable, if won't be one-man project.

But you are partially correct. If people can concentrate on other, more mainstream and easier to fix hardware, it would be more beneficial for comunity in general.

But people is doing it for free, and getting fun. So that's their choice.

Thank you for the response. I was busy so I didn't see it at first.

You helped me see what was happening too, so thank you for that too.

I'm not for a second saying that if people want to hack away on the hardware to have fun, to scratch their own itch, etc etc they shouldn't be allowed to do so. They want to do it, they should have as much fun as they can while doing so. I wish them well. No on is served by petty administrator types demanding the whole world act as an offshoot of their corporate needs and abandon what is fun for them to work on the stuff that any one individual needs. Linux grows like it does because so many people are having fun with it and I'd never want to stop that.

The people I don't understand are the ones who buy Apple hardware with the intention of running Linux. They're the ones taking the gamble and buying something which was never intended to work under Linux from a vendor who is actively hostile to them doing so. At these prices, why gamble? Why fight? Do you want a toy for geek cred or are you buying hardware to use?

It's different if they're planning to develop on the hardware alongside the hackers getting Linux to run or are trying to target their code on the ARM type that Apple is using with hopes of future portability. That makes sense and is their business, whether for work or for pleasure. I just don't understand why the average Linux user would want to do this.

Sure Apple's ARM processor is pretty much leading the pack when it comes to ARM hardware set up for daily use. The hardware is very cool and I dearly hope that someone will release something intended for Linux that can compete and give them a run for their money. I just don't think it's a gamble worth pursuing if your goal is to simply use the hardware as opposed to developing or hacking on it.

Thanks again for your response, it helped me understand how I was coming off and I apologize to everyone for the misunderstanding my wording caused.

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