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@MartinEscardo@mathstodon.xyz
Post #1846707
2026-04-30 15:35 UTC
@liamoc
It also reminds of people who use Arch Linux.
They are constantly fiddling with their operating system.
I like operating systems that just work. Two examples(*) I like, but are hated by many, are Ubuntu and macOS, in this order. I am sure many other flavours of Linux are likeable too, but life is short.
I was among the first users of Ubuntu in 2004, because I had tried every distribution of Linux at that time, and for each of them some piece of hardware wouldn't work. Then a postdoc at my institution told me: "I've got this CD in my post, which claims to be a distribution of Linux which just works in any existing hardware". I tried it, and it solved all my problems 22 years ago. Since then, I use only Ubuntu in my Linux machines. And still, despite all what people complain about, it just works.
Other distributions are not bad at all. It is just that I would have to learn their different ways, and I have no time, patience or interest in learning them.
If I could use just Linux, I would. It just works, particularly with Ubuntu.
And Windows is a no-no, because things are just ugly in every respect.
(*) Well, these two examples do give trouble sometimes. But only rarely.
@jonmsterling
Replies (2)
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@MartinEscardo I use Arch and I rarely fiddle; it does mean I get hit with and have to troubleshoot the breaking LaTeX changes a year or two earlier than most other people though.
@liamoc @jonmsterling
Open ##1846708
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@MartinEscardo @liamoc @jonmsterling I used Ubuntu for 10 years or so, because it was supposed to Work and I didn't have interest in tweaking and tinkering. But my experience has never been great, and it got so bad last year that I switched to CachyOS in anger. And it was positively shocking how much better it was in every way that's relevant to my usual activities. Now I think that Ubuntu plainly sucks. Its popularity is basically also steadily dropping and I barely see it being recommended to new users.
Open ##1846719