On Fri, Jul 15, 2016 at 05:02:55PM -0700, Walter Bright via Digitalmars-d wrote: > On 7/15/2016 3:43 PM, H. S. Teoh via Digitalmars-d wrote: > > One of the many reasons I gave up on Windows many years ago, and > > never looked back. ;-) > > I have my grump list for Linux, too. Tried to install it once on an HP > laptop, and the installer crashed with some long error message in hex. > Like a good boy, I posted a bug report on it on the distro seb site. > One of their devs closed it the next day because I wouldn't attach a > remote debugger to it.
I have my list of gripes against Linux, too. The good thing about Linux, though, is that if something doesn't work, you can go under the hood and fix stuff. Dig into config files and stuff -- which are plain text as opposed to opaque, unreadable binary format -- and if you're up for it, download the source and fix it yourself. And there's lots of online resources about how to get under the hood and fix things. You can even replace system executables with your own, if it doesn't do what you want. In Windows, basically the hood is welded shut, and if there's a bug in system software, you're basically screwed. Plus, Linux software generally are much more resilient to customization, so I can customize the heck out of my system and make it resemble nothing anyone else would know how to use. Replace system components with alternatives. Dispense with GUI bloatware altogether and install ratpoison. Kill off the rodent. Use Adam's graphical terminal. Streamline everything to suit the way I work. In Windows, even something so trivially simple as changing to lazy focus causes tons of programs to break left, right and center, because everything is built around a set of implicit assumptions of how the user is supposed to use the PC. Trying to do anything other than the "Windows way" is an exercise in frustration. Not to mention those endless menus hidden inside submenus that give me an aneurysm just trying to find that one obscure checkbox that may or may not exist and may or may not do what I want. Whereas on Linux I just edit a system config file, restart a daemon or two, and off I go. No need for my hands to ever leave the keyboard. > The Ubuntu printer install isn't any better than Microsoft's. I wonder > what it is about printers. I can plug in USB drives, internal drives, > all sorts of things, and they just work. > > Even when it's working, the simplest things fail. I learned to never > queue a second job until the first one is completely finished, else it > botches up both jobs. > > It's not like it's a weird printer, either. It's an HP LaserJet, fer > chrissakes. Haha, yes, this is one of the annoying things about Linux. You have to be careful about what hardware you buy, 'cos some hardware doesn't have drivers, or only has proprietary drivers (which are inevitably horribly out of date or somehow incompatible with your system unless you have 100% the exact hardware environment and software settings they used to test it 15 years ago), or worse, just no driver at all. If you're lucky, there's a generic driver for it, but be prepared for malfunctions, missing features, or just outright breakage. When you get the right hardware, things Just Work. But when you don't, it's an endless journey of pain. You'd think distros like Ubuntu ought to have gotten their act together in this respect, but sometimes it's still a shot in the dark... Plus, I hate the default Ubuntu install because it comes with all sorts of cruft I'm not interested in. I rather just install a plain vanilla no-frills Debian base system, then add individual components that I actually need, as I need them. A couple of years ago I got a new PC with Ubuntu preinstalled, and the first thing I did upon bootup was to uninstall the default GUI and a whole bunch of useless stuff, change /etc/apt/sources.list to point to the Debian repo instead, and install the exact packages that I need. Now it has been transmogrified into a custom Debian system, and I like it that way. :-P T -- People tell me that I'm paranoid, but they're just out to get me.
