The Latest Distro Trying For Commercial Success Uses Arch & Wayland

[chrisb]

Yes. Do you remember what the proprietary video driver support was like?

Yes, it was kind of the same as it is now. There were many issues, but there were also people successfully using Nvidia and AMD drivers on Linux. Phoronix was even benchmarking - NVIDIA Linux Display Driver Performance Analyzed, ATI v8.19.10 Linux Performance - running Unreal Tournament 2003, Doom 3, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, Quake 4, and synthetic benchmarks. Were there bugs? Sure. But Nouveau didn't even exist back then, and AMD didn't have any developers working on open source drivers, so using open source drivers that did not yet exist was not an option.

Given the choice of "you can't run Linux on your laptop, stick with Windows" versus "you can run Linux with a proprietary video driver", the latter is preferable.

[chrisb]

dream on

Suggesting that consumers think the Apple brand is worthless and Apple hardware design is unappealing. You can't have it both ways. You can't insist that Apple has a strong brand and aesthetically pleasing hardware design, but then also claim that nobody would want exactly the same brand and hardware if it ran the most widely used desktop OS. If consumers were not interested in Windows on Macbook was then https://www.google.com/search?q="windows on macbook" wouldn't return 109,000 results.

[moilami]

Quote Originally Posted by Del_ View Post
Yes. Do you remember what the proprietary video driver support was like?

Yes, it was kind of the same as it is now. There were many issues, but there were also people successfully using Nvidia and AMD drivers on Linux. Phoronix was even benchmarking - NVIDIA Linux Display Driver Performance Analyzed, ATI v8.19.10 Linux Performance - running Unreal Tournament 2003, Doom 3, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, Quake 4, and synthetic benchmarks. Were there bugs? Sure. But Nouveau didn't even exist back then, and AMD didn't have any developers working on open source drivers, so using open source drivers that did not yet exist was not an option.

Given the choice of "you can't run Linux on your laptop, stick with Windows" versus "you can run Linux with a proprietary video driver", the latter is preferable.

I remember. There were some Matrox G400 or something with free driver said to give excellent 2D quality and some 3D. I myself had some SiS integrated graphics chip with free drivers - maybe SiS 900 or if not, then that was my NIC chip - it worked both 2D and 3D. There were Intel integrated graphics chips too with free drivers. There were options for graphics with free drivers but the problem was 3D performance.

[AdamElteto]

Image and attitude problems with the project

Just a few random thoughts:

I have no problem with the age or title of the CEO. Good on him for caring such much about Linux. Stranger things have happened.

The whole project is facing a huge uphill battle, with trying to enter Ubuntu marketing space being only one obstacle. Having a relatively small development group and very limited financial backing at this point are other hurdles.

I agree with the comments about being part of the community and contributing.

Just because it is Arch, it does not mean it would be a scary jump for new users. I think Manjaro has already proven that. Which brings me to the point that if these guys insist on Arch, then they are going up against a highly polished Manjaro.

?Tired of Major and Unneccessary Changes To Your Operating System??

They seriously could not spell-check their own public web site? And what is up with the tacky stock photo thumbnails? How about some more business-like team member photos?

Credit given where credit is due: good looking logo. They should overhaul their project, demeanor, philosophy, marketing, branding and image to match the logo, though. It is hard to convince the business world that you are serious when you do your master plan to take over the universe on a collaborative Google spreadsheet.

[Hamish Wilson]

[I]I remember. There were some Matrox G400 or something with free driver said to give excellent 2D quality and some 3D. I myself had some SiS integrated graphics chip with free drivers - maybe SiS 900 or if not, then that was my NIC chip - it worked both 2D and 3D. There were Intel integrated graphics chips too with free drivers. There were options for graphics with free drivers but the problem was 3D performance.

Yes, and actually, Nvidia was the aberration for having a blob driver for quite awhile:

http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/4152

I still love my old Radeon 9200 which did still have free drivers even back at the time chrisb was referring to.

[smitty3268]

Rise of the tablet combined with lessened need for annual hardware upgrades. Business for every desktop and laptop manufacturer is declining. Also "want" is not the same as "willing to pay for". There are many other hardware manufacturers who would love to be in fourth place.

Having said that, Apple's decline might be inevitable. Their business model relies on being one step ahead of the pack to justify the price premium. When the others catch up and you can get similar looking and spec laptops for a significant discount from other retailers then many people will stop paying the premium.

Apple hasn't cared about their Mac business one way or the other in years. They're focused on phones, tablets, iPods, iTunes, and their iOS app store.

[Pajn]

Starlight sounds like Unitys Dash. It will be interesting to follow.

[LLStarks]

LOL... A OS for the masses based on Arch... I want some of what the people who dreamed up this are smoking. Maybe it could work if the world was full of Linux tech gurus, but we all know that's far from reality.

Antergos

Polished Arch for the masses, unlike Manjaro and its script-based hell

[Thaodan]

the should coperatee with stock arch (like the other's).
if the would Qt (or even better if they would support KDE) i would support them .

[JustADirtyLurker]

?Tired of Major and Unneccessary Changes To Your Operating System??

They seriously could not spell-check their own public web site? And what is up with the tacky stock photo thumbnails? How about some more business-like team member photos?

Credit given where credit is due: good looking logo. They should overhaul their project, demeanor, philosophy, marketing, branding and image to match the logo, though. It is hard to convince the business world that you are serious when you do your master plan to take over the universe on a collaborative Google spreadsheet.

I believe that their main effort in code right now is to build their fancy js web site.

Compare this kind of approach to someone like the libReSSL guys from openbsd (

http://www.libressl.org/

) , who don't care about fancy web design right now because they are digging the openSSL code (they even write "This page scientifically designed to annoy web hipsters"... chapeau!).

These guys should code more and talk less, build me a good website when you have something to show. Oh yes, you have the kickstarter campaign and all.... teee-heee.