resignator writes:
"'Arm yourself with the information needed before telling someone to install such and such distro because it's great,' warned blogger Ken Starks in his recent FOSS Force post. 'It might be great for you, but maybe not so much with my hardware choices.'
What considerations do SoylentNews readers have when recommending an OS? What OS do you recommend the most or least? How far would you go to 'tailor' a Linux distro to a potential adopter before recommending something that will work out of the box but lack non-essential features?"
(Score: 0) by JimmyCrackCorn on Wednesday March 05 2014, @08:06PM
No way.
They get a new (printer,scanner, phone, camera...) and you will never hear the end of some problem.
I say get a mac. Only cry once.
I can buy Windows and run on my osx, but never needed .exe. And most Linux stuff seems to compile on my osx.
No way would i ever recommend Linux because people I know would not want to spend the time and effort to learn about how to make something work when then could just use a Mac.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 06 2014, @05:39AM
but the thing i find painful about macs is that you need "compatible hardware"- kinda hard when you can install the os but running on an amd machine
and no, telling them how to hack it is a no-go
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday March 06 2014, @12:21PM
What are you talking about? Finding compatible hardware for Macs is easy: just go to the Apple Store and buy it there. This goes for both the computers and any accessories. They're not going to sell anything at an Apple Store that isn't Mac-compatible.
If you don't like paying Apple Store prices, then too bad. You have precisely three choices: 1) go to the Apple Store and pay thousands for the ease-of-use and easy compatibility offered by the Apple ecosystem, 2) stick with Windows and deal with all kinds of frustrations, viruses, etc. but save some money (but you'll need to buy anti-virus software etc.), or 3) switch to Linux which can run on lots of hardware (except some shitty printers and scanners), but you'll actually need to educate yourself just a little, and do some work (running through an installation program), instead of expecting some obnoxious jerk at a brightly-lit store to hold your hand as he sells you lots of overpriced crap.