The "wrapped in plastic" part is what keeps me from going "YEP" right now and pulling the trigger on the Thinkpad P50. Yes, they're traditionally built like tanks but I really like Aluminum. My Air has seen daily duty for years and a wipe with a damp cloth makes it look like I just pulled it out of the carton. The only thing than makes it not look brand new is the worn keycaps.

//

2016-09-26T04:36:49Z

Then I decided to see how suspend worked. Bad move.

Still is to this day with certain hardware. Suspend/Resume has always been a crap shoot to some degree.

Networking problems began. Kernel panics. Freezes that would only respond to a forced shutdown.

sniff I smell wireless networking in 2008.

Sometimes it remembered my WPA2 password, sometimes it didn't.

Called it.

Usual steps a vendor talks a user through when bad things happen

This is why we never sold Linux laptops. Boss insisted we do it. I put Linux on his laptop. Never heard another word about it.

When I tried to restart, it hung at "shuttting down ALSA".

Here's a brief history of sound under Linux.
Note, I am omitting a few things so don't get wadded panties, Linux people.

  • Linux sound was sickly, thin and named OSS. Like most earlier Linux bits, it worked and had a lot of room for improvement.
  • OSS was killed by FSF because "NOT FREE ENOUGH"
  • Linux sound developed a slight sniffle as it came down with something called ESD
  • Linux sound's condition mutated into ARTSD which meant it could sniffle multiple times at once.
  • Linux sound's condition mutated once again into Pulseaudio which was like leprosy but with sound (or, frequently, silence)

You get the idea. Sound has been a mess under Linux for years because of all those "mutations" and all the associated compatibility layers that entailed.

But first, I went to the Apple Store online and ordered a nice refurbished 2.4-GHz MacBook Pro with a 200 GB hard drive, 2 GB of RAM, an LED-backlit screen and AppleCare, the only extended warranty on the planet that's worth the money

This ending isn't restricted to non-geeks. It's roughly how my quest for "a *nix laptop that doesn't suck rocks" ended.

2016-09-26T04:27:02Z


> Next post: what happened next. Oh, boy…

So far this is following the usual non-geek trajectory.

2016-09-26T04:06:39Z


> Operating System: Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex)

The very version of Ubuntu that sent me over the edge. Nice.

The rest of the specs are very respectable for 2008.

2016-09-26T04:03:40Z

Pouring a cup of coffee and about to read 's blog posts. Got side-tracked from all of the "Grrr. Linux. Pitchforks." stuff.

2016-09-26T03:55:59Z

@thrrgilag Okay, bug, you're one exception trap away from "Party over". The sheriff is in town.

2016-09-26T03:50:39Z

Yeah. I can see where that would get old. I started to feel that way for a while when all of the talk was from iOS developers or social media douche-canoes

2016-09-26T03:48:48Z

The vast majority of my time in Linux is spent in terminal windows. All other uses, outside of being a server, are better handled by Windows or Mac.

Yeah. With the CAD stuff, you're going to need cores, horsepower and RAM. That's for sure.

The ThinkPad I am looking at can be equipped with Xeons and go to 64GB of RAM which struck me as ludicrous but, apparently, there are folks who actually require that power in a laptop.

// @kdfrawg

2016-09-26T03:42:11Z

And this answers the question I've been meaning to ask but never got around to..

"Who is @x and why is everyone spamming him/her with random stuff?"

//

2016-09-26T03:36:58Z

That's kind of the way we talk to each other. :) I think it was a culture clash more than anything else. I do know he wasn't meaning to make you angry at all.

2016-09-26T03:35:17Z