Maynard Handley (name99.delete@this.name99.org) on January 10, 2021 6:59 pm wrote:
> anon (no.delete@this.mail.com) on January 10, 2021 6:01 pm wrote:
> > Maynard Handley (name99.delete@this.name99.org) on January 9, 2021 3:12 pm wrote:
> > > bakk (bakk.delete@this.tuta.io) on January 9, 2021 2:35 pm wrote:
> > > > Linus Torvalds (torvalds.delete@this.linux-foundation.org) on November 14, 2020 1:12 pm wrote:
> > > > > Paul (pavel.delete@this.noa-labs.com) on November 14, 2020 3:08 am wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > What do you think of the new Apple laptop?
> > > > >
> > > > > I'd absolutely love to have one, if it just ran Linux.. I have fairly fond memories
> > > > > of the 11" Macbook Air (I think 4,1) that I used about a decade ago (but moved away
> > > > > from because it took Apple too long to fix the screen - and by the time they did, I'd
> > > > > moved on to better laptops, and Apple had moved on to make Linux less convenient).
> > > > >
> > > > > Apple may run Linux in their cloud, but their laptops don't ;(
> > > > >
> > > > > I've been waiting for an ARM laptop that can run Linux for a long time. The new
> > > > > Air would be almost perfect, except for the OS. And I don't have the time to tinker
> > > > > with it, or the inclination to fight companies that don't want to help.
> > > > >
> > > > > Linus
> > > >
> > > > This is actually being worked on by Hector Martin and Alyssa Rosenzweig. https://asahilinux.org/
> > >
> > > The page explains everything except the most important question: why bother?
> > > I ask this seriously: what does achieving raw metal linux achieve over VM linux?
> >
> > It could allow people to continue using their hardware after it gets abandoned by apple in a few years.
>
> I would classify this in the hobby category.

Well, linux itself started as a hobby but is very widespread nowadays.

>
> Apple supports hardware for around 7 years. You can hemm and haw about exactly what
> they promise (to the extent this is written down officially by Apple it refers to
> repairing hardware) but examining the record shows that this is about what you get,
> around 5 to 7 years of OS updates and another year or two of security updates.
>
> If, at the end of this, you still want to keep using your machine,
> nothing will stop you. It just want run the newest hardware.
> I have a year 2000 Titanium Powerbook that still works that I use as an exercise clock.

That powerbook (or an equally old x86 notebook) could be more useful today running linux instead of a deprecated version of macOS that can't run even remotely recent software.

> In principle I could do more with it, but OMG is it slow given what we're now used to.

Get an IDE SSD and it'll get better.
At least you could easily upgrade apple's older notebooks, while the newer ones have glued components and security chips that restrict the upgrade options.

> More realistically I have a Sandy Bridge laptop from 2011 running MacOS 10.13
> (current macOS is 10.16) and an iMac from a year or so later running 10.14.
> Both are full members of my little home network and continue to do the tasks they've always
> been doing. At some point perhaps the gap between their OS and the rest of my systems will
> become so incompatible that they're not worth keeping alive, but that hasn't happened yet.
>

I have a Sandy/Ivy bridge PC running linux and the latest windows 10 edition, and there's no indication that it will be abandoned anytime soon.