Hacker News

points by cyberclimb 2 days ago | 0 comments

100% stable for me at the level of any other linux machine. True the USB-C display doesn't (officially) work yet but I have 0 issues with the HDMI.

I've been daily driving it for months with no blockers. You can tell Linux uses the battery less efficiently than MacOS though so that's good to know.

[–] andreash 2 days ago

Also really happy with Omarchy on Macbook. I installed the nightly kernel that has usb-c and it works really well. Connects fine to both LG Ultrafine 5k, and Studio Display. https://x.com/AGTPinsights/status/2106564829532328331

Still some tiny issues with waking from sleep lid closed, but I'm expecting to get that fixed myself with some prompting this week. The people working on Linux on Mac are really impressive (and have access to unlimited tokens), so I expect all issues to be fixed very soon.

Being able combine agents, linux software and Apple hardware is so much fun.

[–] IshKebab 2 days ago

> at the level of any other Linux machine

So, 97% stable then? (Downvote me but it's true.)

[–] esperent 2 days ago

I've been running Ubuntu on an MSI Ge66 gaming laptop, Intel + Nvidia gpu for a couple of years now. I did have some teething problems with wifi and sleep but after resolving those it's been rock solid. I'd say 99.9% stable if we're throwing out random percentages here.

[–] alerighi 1 day ago

Funny that Linux is perceived as unstable, I have to fix a Windows laptop where Windows starts up fine 1 time out of 10, while normally it freezes (not even blue screens) on the boot loading spinner, I've done everything possible (including of course running a 2 hours RAM test, and testing it with a Linux live USB) to exclude hardware problems, so what is remains is... Windows of course.

One of my coworker that uses a Mac has an issue with a USB dongle that stopped working randomly, not even with a system update. If he uses on its laptop the external monitor remains blank, the same dongle with another monitor and another identical Macbook with the same macOS version works, the same dongle with the same PC and another brand of monitor works, the same PC with the same monitor and a dongle of a different brand does work, but a different dongle of the same model doesn't. So I guess for some reason macOS saved the ID of that dongle and the setting got corrupted. Tried to reset the hell of it and it doesn't work.

I've never had similar issues with Linux. Most of the time when something doesn't work with Linux you just look at the logs, figure out what is wrong, correct it, and it start work fine again. Configuration of the system is predictable, if you install a software and then you uninstall it the system is left in the same state as before installing it, it doesn't leave files that waste disk space, as well as when you upgrade the system (yes, every Windows or macOS update leaves old stuff behind that it's impossible to delete, effectively "leaking" disk space at the point you have to perform a clean install).

[–] dannyw 2 days ago

While not Asahi/M1, I can tell you my desktop has been Linux Mint for about 5 years, including through distro upgrades, etc and I have had to troubleshoot it like once.

[–] cevn 2 days ago

97% is a high estimate based on my linux efforts.. just yesterday some kind of update, i think kernel, took out my amd graphics.. still wouldn’t pick anything else.

[–] csomar 2 days ago

Funny you say this. I had my issues with Linux during the years but last 2-3 years I have been running it with no issues whatsoever on a Dell XPS 9xxx series. I recently got an M5 Max and it had more issues than the Linux/Dell duo.

[–] radlad 2 days ago

PEBKAC

[–] educar 2 days ago

Love your bait

[–] IshKebab 1 day ago

It wasn't meant to be bait. I'd really like it if Linux was as rock solid as Mac or Windows. But it clearly isn't and it doesn't help anyone that so many Linux fans pretend it is (look at the replies!).

That said, I do have hopes that AI will basically solve this. It's extremely good at diagnosing low level bugs, reverse engineering drivers and so on. A silver lining of AI taking our jobs at least!

[–] radlad 1 day ago

> I'd really like it if Linux was as rock solid as Mac or Windows. But it clearly isn't and it doesn't help anyone that so many Linux fans pretend it is (look at the replies!).

It is perhaps also possible that others have different experiences with both Windows/Mac and Linux than you do. It's common for people to not notice what's broken, or what they have to workaround, with the software they use every day. People also have different workflows and priorities that determine whether their use of a tool is "rock solid" or not. (Something I certainly wouldn't say about Windows—or Mac!)

[–] wredcoll 1 day ago

I had to disable sleep mode on my windows desktop because half the time it wouldn't wake up again.

Windows is rock solid?

[–] unethical_ban 1 day ago

I don't think Linux is any worse than Windows at this point. Distros the burden of supporting every machine ever made while Windows gets pre-installed support by vendors. However, consumer Windows on my relative's HP laptop is absolutely horrendous experience. Online accounts, popups from crapware, constant ads in all the built-in apps.

Meanwhile my Windows install can't see either of the wifi devices, even when I try to install drivers from the manufacturer. CachyOS autodetects everything and it just works.

So, not pretending, I have fewer issues on multiple devices right now with CachyOS and Fedora than I do with Windows. If my relative had any capacity for learning new hotkeys, I'd already be wiping his machines and putting Kubuntu LTS on them.