As most of you probably know, about 2 months ago, I retired from Gentoo. I have been using Fedora as my “distribution of choice” on my laptop since that time, and I have been very impressed with it on the whole.
However, there have been a number of niggles which have been putting me off using Linux for a laptop. It’s highly likely that less “advanced” users wouldn’t experience the same issues I’ve been having, but none the less. I’ll outline the issues I’ve been having, then expand upon each of them in turn.
- Photo management software (F-Spot) is not particularly feature-rich, is slow and relatively buggy
- Need to fiddle around with things to get, for example, VPN connections working
- Hibernate/suspend doesn’t work
- Not much in the way of “set and forget” backup solutions
Although F-Spot does what it needs to do (mostly), it is extremely basic, and doesn’t offer solutions such as colour curve adjustment, converting images to black and white, scaling images, cropping images, and so on (unless I’ve missed something). It also doesn’t allow you to organise your photos quite as well as other photo management software, such as Aperture and Lightroom. I discovered a bug in my installation, which left both the F-Spot developers and me scratching our heads: attempting to export photos to Flickr crashes F-Spot if I launch it from Gnome’s menu. If I launch it from the terminal, I have no such issues… The options haven’t changed, and I can’t work out any way to pipe the error messages from when I launch it from Gnome’s menu to a file…
I use the VPN functionality quite a bit these days to connect to the University’s VPN whilst not on the University network. Although I have managed to get the VPN working thanks to one of my friends, I had to fiddle around with adding and modifying keys in the GConf editor, which I really should not have had to do. It might be possible to do it all through NetworkManager’s interface (I know that some of the options were available in the “Advanced Settings” dialog), but it was still a nuisance to sort it all out (and it was also undocumented. DO NOT WANT.)
Hibernate and suspend do not work on my ThinkPad T61. I’d suspect that this has something to do with using discreet nVidia graphics, but I would still like such features to work out of the box. I’ve had this laptop since Feb ‘08, and I’ve *still* not managed to get it working. With the MacBook Pros, you can just close it and wander off: everything just works.
Linux doesn’t really have a “set and forget” backup system such as Time Machine. With Time Machine, you set it up to backup to $external_harddisk, and it does it all for you. You just plug your MacBook in, and it automatically starts backing up in the background. You don’t have to think about it at all until you need it, at which point, you just fly back in time through their shiny interface, and you’re sorted. It really is quite nice.
I guess that I’m just “shifting” my expectations somewhat now that I’ve been at university for a year. At the beginning of the year, I was happy to fiddle around with things to get them to work. I was happy to make tarballs and scp or rsync them to remote locations to back things up. I was using Gentoo, and happy to sit through long compiles and reinstalls. Now, though, I just want things to work. I don’t want to have to fiddle around with obscure settings to make it work. I don’t want to have to sit through long compiles. I guess I want to be able to use my computer for what I want to use it for, without being side-tracked along half a dozen different mini-projects to be able to complete my main goal.
On top of that, Macs are shiny. I think that the Apple LED Cinema Display which has been designed specifically to go with the MacBook Pro is amazing, and just perfect for what I want. It allows me to compromise on the display resolution on the MacBook Pro itself (the MacBook Pro has a 13″ screen which operates at 1280×800. I’m a huge fan of portability, so I want to get the smallest model I can.), as I can just plug it in to instantly upgrade my resolution.
I think I shall probably write a number of blog posts about the software which I currently use and compare it to what I plan to use. Doing so should help me confirm the “upgrade route” I’m going to take, and how I’m going to manage my files and hobbies.
I know a number of people who have recently switched to OS X after being devote Linux users. They like the UNIXiness of OS X, while having the convenience the ’set and forget’ features give.
Good luck with it all!
F-Spot: Whilst there are a number of problems that I too have with f-spot, primarily a recently emerging problem with exporting to facebook causing f-spot to crash, it does have basic editing functionality, which in my opinion is more than what is necessary since f-spot is a photo management system, rather than a photo editing application such as photoshop or The Gimp.
VPN: Yes, this is a problem, I will admit, however it is a problem that you as an advanced user should be going about resolving for the other users. If my memory serves me, there are tools for configuring the vpn for windows users. It would not take long for you, me, or someone else to write a simple bash script to configure the university vpn for linux users. I think it is more to do with the vpn system in place that is causing issues, much like the Aberystwyth University network does not play nicely with recent version of NetworkManager and wpa_supplicant for reasons unknown, but so far there has been nobody reporting problems anywhere outside of the university.
Hibernate: Is it suspending, or resuming, that you have the problem with. If you are using the nv driver, there is a potential issue with the backlight not getting turned back on when resuming with your particular graphics chipset. Try using the latest versions of the proprietary nvidia drivers.
Backups: There are a number of decent backup utilities for linux. Consider Back In Time, which has a nice interface, and can be scheduled. I think it is probably similar to what you are after. If that doesn’t cut it for you, I am sure there is something out there that will.
Finally, a response to your “Macs are shiny” point. Macs are shiny, but apple are dirty. They are becoming less and less appealing from a freedom loving point of view. They are becoming increasingly aggressive and restrictive with regards to their products. Yes, they have a display specifically designed to go with their laptop, but it won’t be too hard to find a laptop with an external display connection, and a nice display to go with it, and it will probably be cheaper and just as functional.
End of comment.
F-Spot: Yes, F-Spot does offer some basic image editing functionality, however, it’s not the kinda of functionality which I’m looking for. Aperture offers much more control over the RAW conversion process and allows you to fine-tune various colour curves and so on. F-Spot’s RAW conversion process is spotty at best (I don’t recall it ever working for me), and doesn’t offer the fine control which Aperture or LightRoom would allow. There *are* alternative programs such as UFRaw which do offer this functionality, but I would rather everything was integrated into one program.
VPN: The issue I have is the fact that I don’t want to have to fiddle around with my own computer and write bash scripts for my own computer, let alone for someone else’s. Although I will attempt to help where I can, I’d rather not have to. (For what it’s worth, it would probably take less than 5 minutes to hack together a script to put the necessary GConf settings in place for a GNOME/NetworkManager user). You bring up another issue, the NetworkManager + wpa_supplicant issue – how long is it going to be before it’s resolved? Am I going to be patient enough to wait for it to be resolved?
Hibernate: Resuming. I’ve tried with both nv and nVidia drivers, both to no avail. (As well as every combination of blacklisting/not blacklisting aforementioned drivers).
Backups: Could do. But I have to put in more effort than I want to have to put in to set it all up. I guess my whole blog post cumulates into one point: I am lazy, I can’t be bothered.
I’m really not fussed about the whole restrictiveness side of things. So long as I can code and use the internet and SSH out of the computer, my needs are dealt with. I agree that freedom is nice, but: I’m not a zealot. As things stand at the moment, I can live with the restrictions which Apple have placed upon their products. This may change, I do not know. But for now, I’m happy.
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Well, at the moment I support the ‘Apple is evil’ line.
My latest gadget is an iPod touch which came as a gift only accompanied by an USB dock cable.
1st of all which I still somehow can understand the iPod only wants to play with the latest iTunes software. I am a happy user of iTunes 7.3 which is not enough.
Well, I am on a Windows 2000 PC.
What really (REALLY) upsets me is that the iPod touch is not even willing to load the battery without the appropriate operating system (minimum Win XP SP2) and software (latest iTunes).
Again: I plug in the USB cable and the iPod touch does NOT load.
To load the iPod expects USB DATA traffic. Without that the iPod is only a dumb piece of design.
Did I tell you that Apple is evil?
I totally agree. Apple’s products work right out of the box. The admin is easier.
However, admin on a Mac isn’t zero. I’ve been doing admin and user training for my mother in law, who has a modern iMac. It’s very nice. But it’s not a system that i can afford myself. I currently expect to pay about $300 for a new desktop with DVD burner, decent screen and acceleration, plenty of RAM and disk, every six years. I build them myself. But it’s enough of a pain, that i don’t build them for friends. Apple no longer supports systems for six years. And, they’re not $300. My new laser printer was $30. It works great. But shows just how cost conscious i need to be. Thirty bucks was quite a strain on the budget.
I have a high end laptop at work that triple boots Windows, Linux and Linux. They all run very well with the Nvidia video controller. Windows and one of the Linux’s do WiFi. Windows can sleep, and hibernate, though i never use it. Neither Linux can sleep, but one was able to come out of hibernation once when the batteries ran out. Linux and Windows can use the built in camera.
On the other hand, i picked up a Dell d600 laptop for $100 on the used market. I was mislead. It looked like there was good support for accelerated video. But ATI has dropped support, and i’ve not found a way to get the proprietary driver installed. There’s an open source driver, but though it’s good enough to play full screen video, that’s only if nothing else is running on the box. It’s not good enough for FPS games, like ut2004. Sound works great. Wifi isn’t working yet, but maybe if i beat on it for another week, it will work.
Once, i attempted to use my iPod Shuffle Classic as a thumb drive to copy some files from a friend’s Windows machine to my own. I plugged it in, and Windows immediately launched iTunes, deleted all my sound files, and started downloading updated firmware. I don’t want updated firmware. I have a Shuffle that works, thank you very much. Horror stricken, i yanked it out. Linux would never do that to me. And the Mac has a propensity for automatically polluting my thumb drives with all sorts of stuff too.
I think there are already some Linux desktop companies. What we need to do is start a company that makes Linux laptops. If they happen to also run Windows or MacOS, well, that’s fine. Let the customer install what they want. But the primary market and customer base must be Linux. We’d need a low end model for people like me. We’d need a subnotebook like an eepc. We’d need some higher end stuff. I personally would like to see the return of laptops with more than 5 hours of battery endurance. Ideally, it should be 20 hours. I mean, if you’re reading documents or typing at a word processor – not necessarily if you’re watching movies. Maybe a model could be set up for MythTV – with a built in HD tuner, and lots of disk and IO. Each model would come with an advertised set of supported software. Upgrade repositories would be filled with highly stable stuff, tested on every compatible model. But at the moment, we leave it to the whims of for-profit corporations, with teams of open source developers performing heroics to make it work, if they can. 100% open hardware and open source drivers is clearly the way to go.
Am i ready to just run Windows? No. I don’t have time to constantly fight malware. That’s (apparently) OK for companies with dedicated staff to deal with it. And i’m not willing to keep the system off-net. Can i get a Mac? Not a modern one. It’s just too expensive. And the old ones are de-supported. For example, you can’t get an ISP if you’re running OS9. These companies see that most machines that are running are under certain age, and are happy with 80% of the market. I’ve never been in the 80% majority. I’ve always been in a niche market so small that everyone can afford to ignore me entirely. But there are millions of me.
You’re aiming for a ‘degree in Open Source Computing’?
Yup – Aberystwyth University offers an Open Source Computing degree scheme, I’ve completed my first year, two more years of study to go (with an industrial year sandwiched inbetween)! http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/undergrad/courses/compsci/open-source-computing/ – it’s basically straight Computer Science but with an Open Source slant.