As some of you may know, I had my very first taste of Mac a few weeks ago. I got a Macbook Pro (Penryn) which comes with the standard OS X Leopard. But for the sake of sanity, I immediately installed Linux, in particular Xubuntu “Gutsy Gibbon” on that new Apple hardware of mine with the aid of BootCamp.Xubuntu works on my MBP, but not that well as there are still important hardware issues that need to be fixed. I decided not to repair the problems any longer and just wait for the release of “Hardy Heron”. So while I waited, I used Leopard more and more the past week.
At first, I enjoyed playing with Leopard. I used it like an ordinary computer user and didn’t want to set-up my coding and development tools yet. I surfed the web, wrote emails and blog posts, took some funny photos using Photo Boot, watched videos, and listened to music all in that glorified operating system called OS X. I find its new multi-touch function really handy, and extending my laptop display to a secondary monitor was no sweat. Its fast start-up time is also worth noting. I’m beginning to love that sleek and cool-looking OS and have almost forgotten my humble Xubuntu partition…almost.
It started with an audio problem. While playing my favorite tunes on iTunes (duh!), I heard this crackling and popping sound coming from my Macbook Pro’s built-in speakers. I was worried because I began to think that it was a hardware trouble, but when I searched for answers by reading posts from several Mac forums, I learned that this was after all caused by MBP’s sound card that automatically turns off (or is turned off by OS X) when the computer is idle to save battery life. So I assumed that that was just a software glitch which can be patched up soon, I hope.
Next up is the web browser issue. Because I don’t like using Safari, I installed the greatest and safest browser in the world which is Firefox. Several days later, while visiting a number of trusted sites including my own site, Firefox automatically downloaded a file and then opened a new window containing some weird codes and an animated links to some advertised sites. I thought this can be fixed by cleaning the cache or browsing history, but it didn’t. I also tried using Safari but the same thing happened over and over again.
The last thing that I’m going to complain about my Mac OS X adventure is speed. While Leopard booted really fast, it was slow to open an application and seemed always running sluggish. I would rather start slow and be the first to finish, than to start fast but ends up last. I’m really into speed and it's the main reason why I prefer using lightweight Linux distros.
For now, I decided to quit using Leopard (except when I want to take funny and distorted pictures), and I am more determined than ever in making Linux (Xubuntu) fully compatible with my Macbook Pro. You may ask why I think Linux rocks. Perhaps an article here, here, and here can somehow help explain my line of reasoning.
If you agree or disagree with me, feel free to comment.
35 comments:
Dude seriously those are your complaints? Look I'm no Apple Fanboy and I am a huge supporter of Linux but you've got to do better than that.
The sound card issue I'll give you. I haven't heard it myself as I don't have a Apple Laptop but I will assume its significant enough to bug you. There seems to be a way to over ride that. Typically anything that is "automatically turned off" has a way to override.
Your browser problem. You couldn't clear your cache before writing your article? No instead lets complain about it. It's highly unlikely this is a OS related issue. Stop visiting so many porn sites :-)
Speed issue, hard to address based on the information you provided in your article. "seemed always running sluggish" isn't really a bench mark. I will say apps on my Ubuntu do fire up pretty quick compared to other OSes I've used but only by a second or two maybe as a biggest difference. Once up, they respond the same.
If your going to state one OS Sucks and how superior another might be, you may want to have a better argument. This equates to one persons interruption of their limited experience.
nteresting article! I though mac is always more stable.
Never sused so i wouldn't know. I will stick to ubuntu! Just buy myself a 300$ pc and it will work!
@Not-an-Apple-Fanboy: Search for "Macbook pro audio problems" in Google to know more about that serious glitch.
The browser issue is partly OS related. If you really are a Linux supporter then you will know that Linux is far more secure than OS X which means web browsing is much safer. By the way, I would rather surf porn in Linux where Firefox is a lot faster :)
"Ubuntu do fire up pretty quick compared to other OSes I've used but only by a second or two maybe as a biggest difference."
-If you open up plenty of applications the whole time then those seconds are crucial.
I know that I didn't make the best argument here, but at least I tried. :)
Well your first mistake is buying hardware from a vendor which treats its customers like shit.
Second, if you're linux doesn't work on MPB don'y cry. Next time buy a laptop from a company that supports linux.
here's a list: partial
system76, dell, sub300, linuxcertified,
empororlinux, zonbu, and probably more.
BE WISE, SAY NO TO APPLE, They are seriously worse then microsoft.
You are right. But these will not be the reason why I dumped Mac.
It should be the cultrue and personality. Apple is even worse than MS, why? For example, there are some libraries, MS buys books for their paid users to read, while Apple takes those free books to feed their users and require monre membership fee. While Linux is library all for free. Only Linux cares human being and the knowledge for all the world. This is why I love linux. What gentle and generous compared with Apple.
All of you are nucking futs. No substantive evidence offered by anyone. Comparing a lightweight Linux distribution to OS X is like comparing DOS/Gem or OS/2 to Vista. Yes, it probbably will take a few more seconds for Vista to boot. Firefox throws up unwanted pages, and it's an OS issue? "BE WISE, SAY NO TO APPLE, They are seriously worse then (sic) microsoft." WTF? Vague enough? Seriously, you don't have an argument.
Dear Jun,
I normally Like you posts, but this one was highly disappointing. You said that Mac OSX sucks and did not offer any valid reason to substantiate it. Your comments were vague. This was not expected from you.
Looking forward to your article on Xubuntu 8.04, when it releases. I would love if you can make it as technical as possible.
poor reasoning in a poor article. it seems you had your mind set on Xubuntu being better and OS X worse and nothing would change that.
That last paragraph pretty much sums up your bias and your article does not convincingly prove that Linux is better than OS X or even Windows.
I don't need to disagree and can't agree with you since you haven't really said anything substantial or conclusive.
if you are going to be a fanboy about linux at least provide something more than your opinion about why its better than OS X.
man with your reasoning i could do the same and say windows is the best OS in the world with the rest of the OS's feel like DOS to me.
@Abhay: Thanks for being here. I respect your opinion and I accept that some of my comments were a bit weak because all I did was complain about the personal problems I had with using a Mac. But, I’m glad that I shared it to you all.
I was just highly disappointed with OS X as I expected it to work well with its own Apple hardware. Linux may have plenty of hardware issues but it is understandable, and you can always find a way to make it work. In OS X, it's all locked up.
Yeah Abhay, I will be looking at Xubuntu “Hardy Heron” soon. So, stay tuned.
Best regards,
Jun
Haha Jun,
Ingon ana ang mga mac users. Kung imong silang sultihan parte sa problema sa MAc, magbalos sila (bisan kun tinuod ang problema)! Salamat sa article gihapon. I agree with you.
Dallin
@Dallin:
Thanks a lot, (Salamat kaayo) I really appreciate it. You are right (sakto ka). Some Mac fanatics really act that way.
Anyway, I’m so happy to know that someone from a foreign country is trying to learn or is interested in our culture. Really nice to have you here man (bay). Balik-balik unya diri sa Bohol.
Jun
I do agree, OS X Leopard sucks.
4 weeks ago I got a new 24-inch iMac Alu.
I had the same experience with both Safari and Firefox on OS X Leopard.
Also the way to operate OS X Leopard is for idiots, that are afraid of doing multi-tasking.
When I get the ATI driver problem fixed I will install Linux. Currently, the ATI driver for Linux is not working :-(
Right now I am running Linux using another machine.
I only started using OS/X while I'm here "hanging out" in East Africa. My friend has a iBook G4 with version 10.4.11. I hate Safari with a passion. Firefox is wassssy better. I had to go download it the other day and now lots of websites work BETTER. And what eats me up about this OS/X version is that there's no god damn CUT & PASTE built into Finder which is equivalent to the Windows Explorer. It's sooooo shitty not being able to Cut & Paste to the point of being ANNOYING. What's with that?? Although I'm a Linux/BSD fan, I've been having second thoughts on OS/X in terms of usability. No cut & paste? Here, I think Windows wins! Surprisingly. I'm actually looking forward to turn Server 2008 into a workstation after hearing glowing reviews about doing this. I'm skipping Vista big time like how I'd avoid driving in a seedy part of town after hours. :-)
I find that FreeBSD is the most sane operating system of all. Instead of using some weird conventions like some Linux distro, FreeBSD is fast, secure and sane.
Not only the configurations are consistent,
and intuitive but all BSDs are consistent with each other. Furthermore, the FBSD7 kernel is faster than linux kernels out of the box (not to mention u can optimise it manually). All the development tools can easily be installed via the ports (from haskell compilers, Java, IDEs to code analyzers). And of course, if u like your UI
you can install compiz-fusion. And guess what! it all works great.
In terms of MacOS X. It is indeed a pile of eye candy (regardless of its philogeny with FreeBSD). I find using it's UI slow and inefficient and that's why I stopped using the MacMini i got.
Linux, is just a pile of c**p. The best thing is: It's c**p undercover. U can't really see it's crap because:
(1) The kernel is glued together by hacks
(2) Each distro is either a mess (config files, package managers etc) and often counter intuitive.
Give FreeBSD a go!
Thank you.
What you say about FreeBSD was true _once_... FreeBSD used to have an edge on Linux. But not anymore, FreeBSD didn't have the man power to keep up with Linux and now the FreeBSD kernel has fallen behind.
(1) they only _look_ like hacks (FreeBSD people always hated the apparent chaos in Linux kernel deveopment, the plethora of copyright notices, etc..)
(2) this is true actually, using Debian right now and the config files are just nasty (you may prefer Slackware, but really none of the distros are that great - roll your own works too).
Holy crap people are stupid! If a person thinks Mac sucks it's their opinion deal with it. I hate Mac just because of the way it closes programs. Thats my opinion and I don't need to give any more reason then that! Damn Mac fanboys!
it's probably sluggish because of its terrible paging algorithm. apparently it uses some variant of the "least recently used" algorithm, but how recent seems to be hard coded for every process. if you leave your mac long enough, EVERYTHING will be paged out, no matter how much RAM is free. this morning i came to work and finder was paged out, and my RAM was almost entirely free. often i have to reboot the machine to clear out the swap file because it grows too big and i run out of disk space. that's what i call thinking different.
Firefox automatically downloading a file sounds like...a Firefox issue. How does the OS even play into that? That's entirely the application layer, and anybody who says otherwise has no experience at all with OS design and architecture.
Although I'm curious as to ask what exactly you consider "weird codes."
Very poorly crafted argument.
I recently bought a MacBook, and I've found myself hardly using it at all. I prefer my 4 year old Dell running Kubuntu - it's nearly as fast despite being a lot less powerful, I can add any software I neeed with ease using apt-get, and it's just so much more flexible.
My biggest problem with the Mac, though, was the desktop - I really find it a pain to use. In my opinion, desktops like Gnome or KDE are far more easy to use than the Mac desktop, because they're so much better signposted.
I prefer Debian instead ubuntu, and I prefer the debian version that install xfce then xubuntu... why?! because debian guys doesn't trying to transform the visual of the xfce as its been like gnome (xubuntu guys does it). Xfce don't need it! xfce have your identity, and debian guys knows and respect it.
See it your self: installing debian-xfce version. You will agree with me that get a Desktop environment similar (visually) to another is a error. See KDE and Windows, we don't need it with xfce!
Kudos for your blog, amazing! =)
Greetings,
Carlos.
Man, firefox is slow on mac, but it's because firefox is built with non-native GUI components. Try Camino, which is mozilla's project to bring firefox core engine to native cocoa interface. It's times faster than firefox on mac, so it's not the issue of mac osx itself.
I'm sorry but Mac doesn't suck at all. I'm also a linux fan but I think Mac is still better then linux and certainly windows.
Opera is the 'safest' browser if you look at the security advisories.
Firefox is second not first.
The Mac sucks big time and their staff are completely clueless about how stuff works. They are only intereested in big ticket sales.
look, even tho I do hate apple as a company, and for you wanting to plow me down for that how about this to add: Apple is a company for THEIR proprietary hardware+software loving idiots by MONEY GRUBBING idiots, selling shelf intel systems in a friggin case that probably cost them 4x what the hardware was to them, and selling it for THOUSANDS. FTW?>! I am sorry, I am NOT paying $4,000 for the same frickin' thing I can build for $900 - a delorian for a case...
Ok. Now with that out of the way, lemme remind you sir that also, as even posted on Apple's website FOR OS-X "Leopard is an Open Brand UNIX 03 Registered Product, conforming to the SUSv3 and POSIX 1003.1 specifications for the C API, Shell Utilities, and Threads. " url/source= www.apple.com/macosx/technology/unix.html
So dont dogg the dogg man.. REMEMBER YOUR ROOTS!
Look men, it's a matter of preference.
If you don't need it as tool for everyday work and still if your employer buys it for you - why not?
It's a bit too expensive and you'll spent significant amount of time to fit your own needs - unless you're comfortable with the way it works right out of the box. Everything on it is NEARLY you need it, once you get tired enough. The hardware is quite good, it has sort of unix inside that SOMEHOW can be used. It plugs well into network but I don't remember I ever had any problem with Mdk either - all the time it were Fensters with its bad configuration simply because people love the way the most bought OS(?) behave. Well, Mac apparently has some significant heritage from its non-intel past. It's partly broken now and I think after some time it might become usable again. It depends though on Apple's preference - if it is stable or not ( or what from the preference is stable ... ). It says something of Unix2003 compliance yet lot of software runs with LEGACY mode.
If you stand that half of your demands is treated as undesirable (simply you do not understand your own needs but apple does) and if you're comfortable with having to paid extra for anything that's NEARLY good but not QUITE and having to go through mac fan(atic)s forums to fix whatever you need and sometimes finding nothing - behind all that apple seems to care for you - I mean - it looks they have strategy just now and it is possibly not only that they want to get additional payments for what you've already got. But think thoroughly before you get it NOW in its experimental phase because you'll have to spend some time to get some of the features you might have gotten on linux out-of-box easier. It won't ever be fully compatible with BSD or any Unix but some NEXT clone, you won't be able to run linux ELF except on emulator. The applescript is terribly talky and presently much of what you can find on forums doesn't work with latest 10.5 as everything changes from one "safety update" to another and quite much has changed since 10.4 generally. You need emulators to run older apple soft too sometimes for good carbon aps that have still no good replacement - as those apps had no fault except they were pre-historic ( came from carbon or possibly perm ). After revision 10.5.2 i had to install third-party soft to get it waking up properly ( it had slept well though, perhaps too well ). To get something into menu bar you have either to program it yourself - and forget C++, you need Objective C etc - or buy shareware. To get familiar with applescript means couple of sleepless nights. You may not be able to use Java properly as GUI glue script since jdk1.5.0_16 (last "update") or jdk1.6 since some cocoa support is not there any more. And expect anything significant just to you may stop working after another OS update you'll get with no warning.
Simply while nearly everything is possible on this platform, many things are hard to get feature-complete. Once you stop expecting Linux freedom from it you realize it's usable, it looks well and it can be operating fast. You may (and you may have to sometimes too) force it shutdown holding the switch-off pressed possibly any number of times w/o breaking filesystem. You'll possibly have to get third party soft (possibly free) to make your dvd burn. If you buy non-apple USB keyboard you'll find some buttons cannot be remapped or used at all. It does NOT suck, or it does not suck much. Possibly it is not worth of the effort if you need it to work with while for your wife and children it may be the very best choice.
as Leo Laporte once said, OSX is true Unix, not a distro or variant like Linux.
maybe its a matter of how to use the machine rather than whining about it (coz you dont know enough of it?).
you're supposed to be a tech head, act like one. but in case im mistake, and you actually want to pry open OSX for dev use as open as Linux, then you are using the wrong hardware for that matter.
build a cheapo pc for linux and write apps for mac osx only.
z
Sadly most people won't agree with you, why? You're over looking the obvious in the fact that you are absolutely determined to get Linux working when it has problems on your MBP and will still state that it rox despite this yet when OS X has problems you state that it sucks because of this, I smell a hipocrite. Also just litte note when you do get linux working try amarok you'll find nice audible 'pops' with that app. And start putting a few apps Ubuntu it'll so slowwwwwwwww down (firefox especially), I'm speaking from experience here. While I'm not a Mac fan I can tell you Linux/Ubuntu aint the way to go unfortunately when it comes to the desktop. So those are my reasons there,there and there why Linux definitaley does not rock on the desktop.
I love my iMac, I enjoy using Apple's software a lot! But I wanted to test out Linux for my Linux Blog so : I test out Linux Distros using Sun's FREE VirtualBox. Google VirtualBox and download any ISO file you want to test out or use. Learn how to use VirtualBox before trying out Linux. Why not have the best of both worlds. I wish there was a Linux that is just like MAC OS X as far as DVD supported, MP3 supported, iPod supported, etc. If anyone is creating a distro that is truly MAC-like, let us know about it. Keep on LINUXing in 2009!!!
M. McLaughlin
linuxglobe.wordpress.com
Hudson, MA, USA
"as Leo Laporte once said, OSX is true Unix"
A Mac is not a true Unix mainly because it does not adhere to the 'unix specification'. hell, Linux is more Unix than OSX because it adheres to it although Linux is not Unix. Plus even if OSX roots comes from freeBSD more than half (about 20+ % of the unix code remains I think) of the freeBSD code has been rewritten? remember the freebsd lawsuit way back?
I still think OSX is very cool that is why I use mac4lin and the global menu bar on my linux!
cheers!
Apple asks for you to upgrade certain softwares, like quicktime for instance...
I want to see a movie trailer on Apple movie trailers site, it says upgrade your quicktime to see this...I get the update and it says I can't install it because I have to have at least 10.4 and I have 10.3.9 and there are no easy to find or installable quicktime programs for this os version. And update in quicktime or the main os doesn't cut it.
And on top of all of that youtube doesn't show on any browser even though I have the newest, allowed by apple, version of flash..
And don't get me started on the lack of a time saving right mouse button or that goofy keybord, around the forest button setup that is MUCH better in a PC setup.
Nope... my MAC and PC have Linux....What's that noise? Apple's OS sucking!
You know, you don't even need Leopard for the taking funny and distorted pictures part. You can do it right from Linux.
sudo apt-get install cheese
:)
i never had problems during using mac os x. i dunno why u have all that problems in ur macbook pro. maybe ur not update ur software or firmware. i used mac os x since 4 years ago. never had trouble.
I read all the comments made in regards to this article and only one thing I can say, it is the under laying operating system that makes a computer function How it connects the hardware to the software. I work with Unix, Linux and Windows. Each one has their own issues and faults. Have answered several questions on the Internet about all three of these operating systems. It's always Mac vs PC computers and always arguments. I hear all the time just how great Macs are, yet there are so many issues with it and even Mac users can't give an answer that makes any sense. You have to go to their web site to get the correct answers. Peace to everyone.
Both have as Kernel UNIX... Both are better than Windows (Principaly Vista), both are very fast, but, can you install a Radeon HD 4350 on a Imac G? I hate MAC whi i can't/Is hard to install certain dvices... The only one who i know is RAM...
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