• Re: Android support is a lot wider than people may think

    From Tom Elam@thomas.e.elam@gmail.com to comp.sys.mac.advocacy,comp.os.linux.advocacy on Thu Apr 9 12:59:18 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

    On 4/1/26 12:54 PM, -hh wrote:
    On 3/31/26 17:19, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
    On Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:02:30 -0400, Tom Elam wrote:

    On 3/31/26 2:20 AM, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:

    Apple and Microsoft users need to get used to the fact that
    “support” is not something exclusively tied to some proprietary
    platform owner.

    Let me have the address of the local Linux Store ...

    Unfortunately “Linux” isn’t a brand belonging to some monster megacorp >> that can afford a multi-million-dollar publicity campaign to tell
    everyone how wonderful it is. It’s not going to fall into your lap;
    you’re going to have to work for it.

    Do you have a local store like PBTech? Somebody in there will likely
    know something about Linux. They were quite helpful when I made it
    clear I didn’t want a Windows OS on my last system build.

    If memory serves, Linux PCs were sold in some US stores ... Best Buy?

    In any event, those brick & mortars dropped that product years ago, so
    it clearly wasn't a viably profitable business for them.

    In double-checking to a local PC specialty shop near(ish) me, I find
    that they currently have one Linux PC available for sale (2 units remaining):  an HP "Z8 Fury G5 AI Workstation" with a 3.1GHz Xeon
    W5-3435X, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD.

    MSRP $3999 ... for sale for $1999.99

    YMMV, but that sounds like a "clearance" special to me.


    -hh

    Actually by the "Linux Store" I was pointing out that there is
    absolutely nothing like Apple's Store network support to fall back on. I
    am also wondering if Dell's numerous Linux offerings also support the OS
    or just the hardware.
    --- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tom Elam@thomas.e.elam@gmail.com to comp.sys.mac.advocacy,comp.os.linux.advocacy on Tue Apr 14 07:12:52 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

    On 4/1/26 7:42 AM, chrisv wrote:
    Tom Elam wrote:

    Let me have the address of the local Linux Store so I can go talk to
    somebody about which of the ~600 active distros fits my needs.

    With freedom to choose comes the responsibility to learn-about or ask
    or try different options.

    For desktop computing, a small amount of research may be needed. A
    simple google search and reading an article or two will usually
    narrow-down the selection to a few distros to try. But I suspect that
    you already knew this.

    Preferably one that supports tablets, phones and a watch.

    For devices like that, you should probably choose between Android and
    iOS.

    So actually I looked at Linux generically. Discovered that most of the software I use will not run on the OS. The real investment becomes
    finding substitutes. Unless all you need is a browser, word processor, spreadsheet and email. And all your current hardware happens to have
    drivers available. A Linux advocate once told me if something does not
    work just write my own driver. No thanks.
    --- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From vallor@vallor@vallor.earth to comp.sys.mac.advocacy,comp.os.linux.advocacy on Tue Apr 14 12:25:59 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

    At Tue, 14 Apr 2026 07:12:52 -0400, Tom Elam <thomas.e.elam@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 4/1/26 7:42 AM, chrisv wrote:
    Tom Elam wrote:

    Let me have the address of the local Linux Store so I can go talk to
    somebody about which of the ~600 active distros fits my needs.

    With freedom to choose comes the responsibility to learn-about or ask
    or try different options.

    For desktop computing, a small amount of research may be needed. A
    simple google search and reading an article or two will usually
    narrow-down the selection to a few distros to try. But I suspect that
    you already knew this.

    Preferably one that supports tablets, phones and a watch.

    For devices like that, you should probably choose between Android and
    iOS.

    So actually I looked at Linux generically. Discovered that most of the software I use will not run on the OS. The real investment becomes
    finding substitutes. Unless all you need is a browser, word processor, spreadsheet and email. And all your current hardware happens to have
    drivers available. A Linux advocate once told me if something does not
    work just write my own driver. No thanks.

    Uh huh.
    --
    -v System76 Thelio Mega v1.1 x86_64 Mem: 258G
    OS: Linux 7.0.0 D: Mint 22.3 DE: Xfce 4.18 (X11)
    NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090Ti (24G) (595.58.03)
    "A penny saved is a Congressional spending oversight."
    --- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Chris Ahlstrom@OFeem1987@teleworm.us to comp.sys.mac.advocacy,comp.os.linux.advocacy on Tue Apr 14 08:36:14 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

    Tom Elam wrote this screed in ALL-CAPS:

    On 4/1/26 7:42 AM, chrisv wrote:
    Tom Elam wrote:

    Let me have the address of the local Linux Store so I can go talk to
    somebody about which of the ~600 active distros fits my needs.

    With freedom to choose comes the responsibility to learn-about or ask
    or try different options.

    For desktop computing, a small amount of research may be needed. A
    simple google search and reading an article or two will usually
    narrow-down the selection to a few distros to try. But I suspect that
    you already knew this.

    Preferably one that supports tablets, phones and a watch.

    For devices like that, you should probably choose between Android and
    iOS.

    So actually I looked at Linux generically. Discovered that most of the software I use will not run on the OS. The real investment becomes
    finding substitutes. Unless all you need is a browser, word processor, spreadsheet and email. And all your current hardware happens to have
    drivers available. A Linux advocate once told me if something does not
    work just write my own driver. No thanks.

    Drivers are a rare issue these days.

    Granted, maybe your favorite brands are not available, but you can
    find good and great software for:

    - Software and web development
    - Audio, video, and picture editing
    - MIDI editors and sequencers
    - Podcasting, video recording, and live-streaming
    - Audio and video stream readers
    - SysML modeling
    - System monitoring
    - Software synthesizers

    As a side note, software written in Python and Java are widely
    portable. yt-dlp and MagicDraw (Cameo Systems Modeler) are two
    examples, one free, the other pretty expensive but perhaps the
    best in the business.
    --
    Law of Selective Gravity:
    An object will fall so as to do the most damage.
    Jenning's Corollary:
    The chance of the bread falling with the buttered side
    down is directly proportional to the cost of the carpet.
    Law of the Perversity of Nature:
    You cannot determine beforehand which side of the bread to butter.
    --- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Joel W. Crump@joelcrump@gmail.com to comp.sys.mac.advocacy,comp.os.linux.advocacy on Tue Apr 14 09:17:33 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

    On 4/14/26 8:25 AM, vallor wrote:
    At Tue, 14 Apr 2026 07:12:52 -0400, Tom Elam <thomas.e.elam@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 4/1/26 7:42 AM, chrisv wrote:
    Tom Elam wrote:

    Let me have the address of the local Linux Store so I can go talk to
    somebody about which of the ~600 active distros fits my needs.

    With freedom to choose comes the responsibility to learn-about or ask
    or try different options.

    For desktop computing, a small amount of research may be needed. A
    simple google search and reading an article or two will usually
    narrow-down the selection to a few distros to try. But I suspect that
    you already knew this.

    Preferably one that supports tablets, phones and a watch.

    For devices like that, you should probably choose between Android and
    iOS.

    So actually I looked at Linux generically. Discovered that most of the
    software I use will not run on the OS. The real investment becomes
    finding substitutes. Unless all you need is a browser, word processor,
    spreadsheet and email. And all your current hardware happens to have
    drivers available. A Linux advocate once told me if something does not
    work just write my own driver. No thanks.

    Uh huh.


    Notice how Tom admits needing his computer to "support" his "watch". I
    did not like the smartwatch. It was goofy. It's barely more functional
    the the iPhone Pocket, heh. Just a way to get people to buy things they
    don't need.
    --
    Joel W. Crump
    --- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From rbowman@bowman@montana.com to comp.sys.mac.advocacy,comp.os.linux.advocacy on Tue Apr 14 18:03:36 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

    On Tue, 14 Apr 2026 07:12:52 -0400, Tom Elam wrote:

    So actually I looked at Linux generically. Discovered that most of the software I use will not run on the OS. The real investment becomes
    finding substitutes. Unless all you need is a browser, word processor, spreadsheet and email. And all your current hardware happens to have
    drivers available. A Linux advocate once told me if something does not
    work just write my own driver. No thanks.

    People who use software only available for Windows should stay with
    Windows. Personally, VS Code, Python, Arduino IDEs, QGIS, Node, C/C++ compilers, Vim, clang, and so forth are cross platform. I don't need a
    word processor or spreadsheet but Brave and Thunderbird are also cross platform.
    --- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From CrudeSausage@crude@sausa.ge to comp.sys.mac.advocacy,comp.os.linux.advocacy on Tue Apr 14 16:58:34 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

    On 2026-04-14 8:25 a.m., vallor wrote:
    At Tue, 14 Apr 2026 07:12:52 -0400, Tom Elam <thomas.e.elam@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 4/1/26 7:42 AM, chrisv wrote:
    Tom Elam wrote:

    Let me have the address of the local Linux Store so I can go talk to
    somebody about which of the ~600 active distros fits my needs.

    With freedom to choose comes the responsibility to learn-about or ask
    or try different options.

    For desktop computing, a small amount of research may be needed. A
    simple google search and reading an article or two will usually
    narrow-down the selection to a few distros to try. But I suspect that
    you already knew this.

    Preferably one that supports tablets, phones and a watch.

    For devices like that, you should probably choose between Android and
    iOS.

    So actually I looked at Linux generically. Discovered that most of the
    software I use will not run on the OS. The real investment becomes
    finding substitutes. Unless all you need is a browser, word processor,
    spreadsheet and email. And all your current hardware happens to have
    drivers available. A Linux advocate once told me if something does not
    work just write my own driver. No thanks.

    Uh huh.

    Where is he lying?
    --
    CrudeSausage
    M4 Air
    --- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Nick Charles to comp.sys.mac.advocacy,comp.os.linux.advocacy on Tue Apr 14 22:02:28 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

    On 4/14/2026 9:17 AM, Joel W. Crump wrote:
    On 4/14/26 8:25 AM, vallor wrote:
    At Tue, 14 Apr 2026 07:12:52 -0400, Tom Elam <thomas.e.elam@gmail.com>
    wrote:
    On 4/1/26 7:42 AM, chrisv wrote:
    Tom Elam wrote:

    Let me have the address of the local Linux Store so I can go talk to >>>>> somebody about which of the ~600 active distros fits my needs.

    With freedom to choose comes the responsibility to learn-about or ask
    or try different options.

    For desktop computing, a small amount of research may be needed.  A
    simple google search and reading an article or two will usually
    narrow-down the selection to a few distros to try.  But I suspect that >>>> you already knew this.

    Preferably one that supports tablets, phones and a watch.

    For devices like that, you should probably choose between Android and
    iOS.

    So actually I looked at Linux generically. Discovered that most of the
    software I use will not run on the OS. The real investment becomes
    finding substitutes. Unless all you need is a browser, word processor,
    spreadsheet and email. And all your current hardware happens to have
    drivers available. A Linux advocate once told me if something does not
    work just write my own driver. No thanks.

    Uh huh.


    Notice how Tom admits needing his computer to "support" his "watch".

    Notice how you don't understand what you just read. Tom did NOT say that.

    Try reading it again. Slowly. Perhaps being sober (for a change) might
    also help.

    --- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2