[Tfug] 2 weeks of Hackintosh fun..

[Bexley Hall]

--- On Sun, 11/9/08, Jim Secan <jim at nwra.com> wrote:

> I am not looking for a fancy glitzy desktop, I am looking for one
> that works and I don't have to fiddle with all the time.

Bingo.  I think this is the essence of the "problem".  For folks
who want to "tinker", being able to get under the hood is a real
plus (though I wonder how many true "tinkerers" there are -- aside
from folks who just want to try installing 'free' applications
to see how they work...).

But, if you're using a machine to get *real* work done, Linux (and
damn near all the other "free" OS's) is usually not the right way
to go about it!

> OS X does that for me.  The point
> here is NOT that I paid for my desktop OS, but that I gave
> up on the free
> Linux desktop because it has not met my needs and probably
> won't (without
> more time than I have to spend on it) in the near future.

Agreed.  And, for Joe Casual User, they don't want to spend
*ANY* time fiddling with it!  This is why MS and Apple can
keep selling product -- and why Apple can hammer on MS
incessantly (since Windblows is anything *but* "hands off")
 
> On Linux, I spend 99.999% of my time on the command line in
> a terminal window anyway, or I don't have a desktop even running.

Ditto.  On NetBSD, I typically run lots of xterms, emacs and a
debugger.  *Maybe* xearth to give me a sense of time passage
without the "nag" of a real clock -- otherwise just "root weave"
as my background.  I'm writing/debugging code, why do I need lots
of pretty pictures and dancing bears to distract me?  :-/

> With OS X as my desktop, I can stop worrying about what WM
> to use and focus on my real job.  If I were a computer hobbyist,
> I'd probably feel different.  I expect I will always spend more
> time "in" Linux than "in" OS X, but not for desktop apps.

Agreed.  I sure as hell wouldn't shell out kilobucks for high
end CAD applications running on Linux -- *which* Linux?  How long
before that kernel is obsoleted arbitrarily (and, thus, my
expensive applications)?  Which of those tools will run *together*
on some particular variant of Linux?  Can I drag the mechanical
dimensions of the circuit board I just laid out into a solid
modeling program so I can begin designing the case in which it
will be housed?  Or, will I have to move it to another machine
running a different flavor of Linux because that tool wasn't
supported on the same platform as the EDA tool?

Computers are what HiFi was in my generation -- something you
threw money at and spent countless hours arguing over the
minutae of various specifications... all the while knowing that
you couldn't *hear* the difference (i.e., desktop A == desktop
B == desktop C...).  But, it kept you distracte enough so
you didn't have to actually *accomplish* anything  :>

If you want to "tinker" with cars, you buy an older model vehicle
(e.g., carbureted, simplistic etc.) as you can find *all* the
documentation for that vehicle available publicly (worst case,
a few hundred bucks for a shop manual).  And, with this, you can
do damn near anything you have the patience to tackle.  Without
being hindered by the various BFM in current model cars.

OTOH, if you just want to get to work each morning with minimal
hassle, you buy something *new*/"reliable" (ahem).  And leave
the older model machines to the weekend mechanics.

Aside:  I wonder if "age" has anything to do with the tinker vs.
non-tinker attitude?  Do folks with "three kids" end up in the
"no tinker" camp just out of necesssity?  (i.e., no spare time
*to* tinker!)

--don