hmm the forum is throwing 403. Interesting.
(ok I found out why the forum doesn’t like when I type cmd . exe
in plain text (without the spaces).
(attempting to continue discussion from elsewhere)
very funny. I actually kinda like this comparison.
Expanded toolset for expanded functionality. License sold separately.
Linux is, well, to my understanding, a very open set of tools/utlity that you can kind of allow you to kind of do whatever you want with the hardware. Since only the kernel is (mostly) consistent people have created different flavors of GUI, features and utility that expand from it. And why it is daunting to the user – sometimes, even for a avid computer user it’s not necessary to invent a (really) brand new interface that is 10% better than the “stock” one but is magically incompatible with 8% of the hardware. Having to choose between them and having to circumvent/solve the 8% is what that, well, I felt, for the most part.
(the following happened around Fall 2020)
I, for example, is instructed to use WSL (Windows subsystem for linux) for one of my programming courses so I can familiarize myself with command line interfaces and using g++.
I did that, but I first did it on another laptop, which I set up a frech Ubuntu install (clean SSD and everything).
I’m not against command line interfaces. I sometimes dabble in cmd myself. Mostly diskpart, because the gui doesn’t allow certain operations, but sometimes other things. such as chkdsk.
However the first task I am instructed to do is to, well, download(and install) g++. And I am instructed to do it with the linux package manager (APT I think). Through the command line interface. Weird, but ok.
However when I do that, it throws a random error (forgot exact details, but it went something probably like “can’t parse/access package”.
Why? And how?
I still don’t know, but I eventually figured that I need to update the package manager (from a fresh install). Why isn’t there like, I don’t know, a prompt to warn the user that the package manager might be outdated?
Anyhow I basically missed the assignment from the first week because of this. And also because the office hour queue is either unreachable or is filled with other students. Which is a big bummer, but ok.
Then comes the driver support. It’s a pretty old … Intel platform, I think. 2009, so 32nm or 45nm is the go-to. Basically first-gen or second gen intel mobile chip. Right alongside the Core 2 Duo times.
It come with … Intel graphics.(?: does Intel have integrated GPU by then? If not it’s a equally-ancient AMD one)
Anyhow. The system cannot find a proper driver for it (the basic display does work, just like on windows, but stuff like brightness control don’t work. As a result laptop have a run time of 2 hours)
I looked for linux drivers and it does seem like Ubuntu have a … group of people that have legacy Intel graphics drivers. However they don’t have the driver for this specific … Intel model.
The networking seems to be working out of the box, which is great. But that doesn’t really solve the problems.
The sound probably doesn’t work either. And the included minesweeper doesn’t even run well. (lol)
I can’t even play minesweeper! There’s no brightness control, sleep is completely broken (cannot wake from sleep), the system clock is broken, there is no sound… Terrible.
Now I get that with a somewhat more Linux-oriented hardware the experience is going to be better, and I cannot disagree. But it’s something the user have to be very clear of, and, as tech-savvy as I am, I’m not really making it work. Especially consider that this is from Ubuntu, the biggest (if not second biggest) Linux Distro. Now imagine smaller ones.
What Linux seem to be good at is everything that is not a personal computer. Linux server seem to be absolutely slapping, and many other things (atm? cash registers?) seem to run on linux as well. Mostly failt-free, too.
And I would love to give Linux another try. However I am well past the time of playing with computers (versus playing on computers).
Now, I have to say that this machine come pre-installed with Windows 7. So obviously the Windows experience is going to be absolutely fantastic. Windows Update grabbed the driver from Windows Update, WiFi is not working from the get-go but Ethernet is, and auto-update driver worked most of the time. I have brightness control, the speaker works, everything just turned out absolutely fine. Well, except that it’s a bit sluggish. But, well, it’s a 11 year old laptop, so there you have it.