linux = impossible? (no offense meant!)

Taavi Burns taavi-LbuTpDkqzNzXI80/IeQp7B2eb7JE58TQ at public.gmane.org
Thu Nov 13 02:30:29 UTC 2003


On Wed, Nov 12, 2003 at 12:41:29AM -0500, Byron Q. Desnoyers Winmill wrote:
> because a lot of stuff is being crammed into bundles.  Don't ask me how
> this is any different from resource forks (more portable, but it is
> serves the same function), but the drag'n drop installation is a lot
> better IMHO.

More portable and you can browse the resources without any specially
added software.  Though the resource forks are still used; copying
a .app to a *NIX box with FTP and then back renders the .app useless.

> I'm only running Mac OS X and Linux on this machine.  BTW, have you had
> any luck with XFree86 under Linux on your PowerBook?

It worked fine for me(*).  Closing the lid even made the pb go to sleep
without a hitch.  :)  A short Google search turned up one particular
webpage w.r.t Gentoo on Apple laptops which was most helpful.  With very
little work all the funky buttons work, too.  :)

> This is the bit which really impressed me: yes the standard utilities
> are there, but Apple included their own CLI utilities for the netinfo
> database, managing disk images, setting up AppleTalk, and certainly
> others.  You can certainly use Mac OS X without the GUI, but you may
> as well use Linux if you are going to to that far.  (Why lock yourself
> into a subset of the available applications or restrictive licenses?)

Because the users of Macintosh labs like their Macintoshes.  There are
still applications which are not available on Linux (Denemo and
Rosegarden are NOT replacements for Finale and Sibelius, and many
graphic design people would have large complaints about the GIMP
versus Photoshop).

> The GUI isn't an artform, and that is the whole point of Apple's HI
> guidelines.  The GUI should provide a consistent interface, and be based
> on solid research.  Unfortunately, X11 applications do not offer either,
> which may be why people find Linux difficult to use (recall, they think
> the GUI is the OS).

Good point.  Many of the older X interfaces and Windows interfaces aren't
even works of art, though.  Apple seems to have managed to do both good
science and art, and have the technology to back it up.

I tried burning a CD with some random Roxio CD burning utility, and could
barely comprehend what it wanted me to do.  If I didn't know how CDs
were actually burnt, I'd have been totally lost.  Even the old EasyCD
Creator was easier to use.  Then there's iTunes: pure bliss to burn audio
with!

-- 
taa
/*eof*/
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