Computers Were Not Meant to be Screwdrivers

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[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (4 children)

But going on like this they surely will become, except for a small group of FOSS-villagers resisting this bs, of course.

[–]cant_even 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

...and those "FOSS villagers" had better be scouring the pawn-shops and Goodwills for 'obsolete, insecure' computers from the era where you could access the BIOS without having to go through Windows, the way many, many laptops are today.

Peruse your favorite Linux forum for examples of these crippled machines that don't even merit the nomenclature of "general-purpose computer".

Shit to avoid:
1. "Secure Boot"
2. 'Trusted Platform Modules'
3. Any Windows 10/11 laptop that doesn't come with a bootable install media. Some machines demand booting windows to access BIOS even after it's been removed from the computer and linux has been installed.

[–]lemgre 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

thanks for reminding me. its just locking down what is available. since their progression is to be pushed off a cliff

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

It is hard. I know what you're talking about. But there still is legacy boot so far, thankfully.

My two laptops are HP "business" notebooks at the time being.

When we tried installing Linux on a MacBook, we rage-quit and just sold it, though.

But since a configured Debian (e.g.) doesn't wear down your hard-drive by design (like windooze surely does), I regard it as worthy to jump through this hoop againd and again. And then you just can clone the drive or the partitions. As long as you need it as a productive system.

They can't push Linux completely out of the windows for "business" machines, as long as the hardware vendors have customers using it.

Sadly Lenovo tried anyway as I read recently here.

Also: Linux has become a habit for me. I live in this world now for over 17 years. It's my home. So why readopt the bullshit sheeple let themselves be force-fed with ?

There ain't even one plausible reason to do this.

[–]cant_even 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

installing Linux on a MacBook

I met with success using Linux Mint Debian Edition on a 2009 MacBook Pro. The installer even has provisions for the Mac keyboard, and it performs pretty well.

[–]cant_even 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

This is a reversion to the computer terminals we had in the 1980's

It's no better than the "mainframe time-sharing" terminals of 1960. Worse, the 'internet', far from replacing Eisenhower-era media, is becoming Eisenhower-era media.

Two or three government-charted gatekeepers controlling everything we see, just like pre-cable TV.

[–]hfxB0oyA 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Back in the nineteen-twenties, radio was a free-for-all that anyone could access to broadcast. Then it was regulated to all hell. This is going down the same road.