Linux 4.20 Fixing Bug Where Plugging In A MacBook Pro Leads To Excessive CPU Usage

[Hi-Angel]

Locking the hardware down ain't always "bad" though. I am considering getting Apple iPhone, purely because it allows secure phone locking and even more important, FaceTime, which has no similar secure encrypted call alternative in Android (or any other) ecosystem. The FaceTime as technical solution is pretty fucking secure, unless you are paranoid about Apple itself being a middle-man (which does not bother me)

Isn't Telegram also a safe messenger? With the advantage of being cross-platform and open source.

Also, AFAIR you gonna have hard times uploading files to/from iPhone, because that requires installing some side app, which, in addition, I don't think have been released for GNU/Linux platforms. That's some bad design.

IMO there's no good phones on market at all, I'm hoping Librem 5 would be the one.

[rene]

Locking the hardware down ain't always "bad" though. I am considering getting Apple iPhone, purely because it allows secure phone locking and even more important, FaceTime, which has no similar secure encrypted call alternative in Android (or any other) ecosystem. The FaceTime as technical solution is pretty fucking secure, unless you are paranoid about Apple itself being a middle-man (which does not bother me)

It's proprietary, how do you know it is secure without reverse engineering it? The Snowden papers showed a long time ago Apple is cooperating with government request to decrypt what they are asked for, beside due to some p2p patent lawsuit they need to root all the conservation thru their servers, easily to copy and decrypt with their master key. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...00-complaints/ PS: Signal may be more audited and secure.

[rene]

It is usually already having a Mac, for Mac purposes, and then also installing Linux, for Linux purposes. I bet there isn't a single being on the planet, who buys a Mac fresh, wipes MacOS and installs Linux clean. You need more brain cells for simple operation, like breathing.

Well I did 15 years ago, I got PowerPC iBooks, threw macOS discs into the trash, and installed my #t2sde Linux - still did this with a G5, and on of the 1st MacPro's; Apple "Late 2005" dual-core 64-bit PowerPC G5, IBM 970MP - but now that Apple hardware became low quality, unrepairable, overheating, port less, non socketed flash junk I will not buy a new one, likely ThinkPad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_S_nlcKJh4

[stingray454]

I have a macbook from work, but more enjoy linux for both work and private use. I tried setting up a dual boot, and I agree there are some issues. Nothing too major, but having to set up my own udev rules for screen brightness, had a "cpu use bug" (probably the one in this article) that I fixed by disabling some settings, webcam driver is buggy, can't hotplug thunderbolt monitors, running a bit hot, and so on. Overall not terrible but has quirks, and I understand it's worse on later models. I did however have to keep the macOS dualboot due to some software (photoshop for example runs terrible in Wine).

Today, I would have a hard time motivating buying a mac to run linux on. Not only the price, but hardware incompatibility and apples general attitude toward anything non-apple makes me not want to spend any money there. My plan for the near future is to get a proper laptop with good linux support (XPS or similar), but keep some OS X or Windows VM for the rare times you actually need some specific software. I did some research, and there are a good amount of laptops where linux runs flawlessly, that you can get in your preferred configuration (with / without discrete graphics, 32 GB, 1+ TB ssd, with USB-A / Ethernet / Whatever ports and so on). I'd say the only pro of using apple hardware left is design / build quality.

[aht0]

It's proprietary, how do you know it is secure without reverse engineering it? The Snowden papers showed a long time ago Apple is cooperating with government request to decrypt what they are asked for, beside due to some p2p patent lawsuit they need to root all the conservation thru their servers, easily to copy and decrypt with their master key. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...00-complaints/ PS: Signal may be more audited and secure.

Signal is honey pot or weird hack. Why would it need Google Apps to be pre-installed? Tell me. I tried to install it once (by APK file) on a clean rooted phone with no Google crap. I couldn't.

Frankly, U.S government, NSA, CIA and whatnot could spy on me until Universum's heath death. Don't care. I work in the area within reach of Russian GSM networks and recent years have shown Russian military Electronic Warfare platforms capable of invading Android phones. Also there have been incidents with fake base stations in countries neighbouring Russia - most likely Russian in origin. That's my primary concern. What U.S spy agencies do with my data does not even enter into formula.

[stibium]

Genuine question as I've never owned Apple hardware, is there any point in running Linux on a Mac? Could you not get comparable hardware for less money elsewhere? Or is there something about the Macbooks that elevates them above other manufacturers hardware if money is no object?

You can't find a comparable touchpad ANYWHERE in the PC space. Apple has utterly dominated in that aspect for over a decade. As well, there are very few PC laptops that are as sturdy as a Macbook. (Thinkpads and high end HP's and Dells with pot metal midframes are good stuff) Even the dinky Air can take a beating. In fact, it's common for me to beat the bodies back to shape using a hammer. Try that with a PC laptop and see how it works for you.

As for running Linux on them, it's mostly pointless. The only justification I've found is that I like to do development on my A1278. What's more, though, is that Linux is garbage in general and I've been wanting to go back to OSX. I've just been too lazy to back everything up and then rebuild my desktop on OSX. If/when I bump up to a Retina I'll probably throw some sort of linux on it for the hell of it, but I would steer clear of doing that on the two newest iterations of Mac laptops. I wouldn't even recommend buying them in general, though.

[Luke]

Signal is honey pot or weird hack. Why would it need Google Apps to be pre-installed? Tell me. I tried to install it once (by APK file) on a clean rooted phone with no Google crap. I couldn't.

Frankly, U.S government, NSA, CIA and whatnot could spy on me until Universum's heath death. Don't care. I work in the area within reach of Russian GSM networks and recent years have shown Russian military Electronic Warfare platforms capable of invading Android phones. Also there have been incidents with fake base stations in countries neighbouring Russia - most likely Russian in origin. That's my primary concern. What U.S spy agencies do with my data does not even enter into formula.

Not any more. For at least the past year it's been possible to run Signal without Google Play. Signal devs put a LOT of effort into that due to the number of encryption users (such as myself) that consider Google malicious. Note that Google got caught stealing location data from Android phones with location sharing turned OFF, which can probably be stopped by disabling all of Google Play since that started with an update in early 2017.

Since Signal no longer requires Google Play to run, Signal's website now offers an APK file directly, along with the signature you MUST check it against to ensure someone watching your ISP didn't replace the file. You use Jarsigner to check the APK. You can now sideload Signal directly from their own site, and run it on a phone that has never had a Google Account, thus cannot use the Google Play store, and turn off all Google's Google Play spyware.

It's worth keeping in mind that there is no known case of police presenting data stolen from Signal users in court except where an unencrypted phone has been taken by cops. There is the recent case where the government tried and failed to force Facebook to install a backdoor into WhatsApp (owned by Facebook and thus untrusted) to benefit a prosecution of MS-13 members. Facebook defied some kind of "less than a court order" demand, and the courts sided with Facebook. That means cops were not already able to get into Whatsapp, and also that they were not already able to get the data from Facebook either. Signal would be an even tougher nut to crack, and had the courts ruled the other way, anyone could have forked Signal's (open source) software and set up a new server outside the reach of the US government.

If the NSA has a backdoor into Whatsapp much less Signal, they have been seemingly unwilling to admit to it in court for any reason whatsoever. Prosecutors spent millions of dollars and 18 months in their failed attempts to lock up protesters against Trump's inauguration, but had not a single byte of data from Signal not obtained after the fact from a captured unencrypted phone(an unsecured endpoint). That was a high profile, highly motivated political prosecution by the agents of a greatly angered Donald Trump, and prosecutors still didn't have any data stolen remotely or over-the-air from Signal users to present in court. The combination of the J20 and WhatsApp cases implies there is either NO backdoor into these apps, or that it is so high value it can't be admitted to in any court hearing no matter what.

Thus, we don't need to pay extra for Crapple.

[aht0]

You may very well be correct. But when underlying OS has been penetrated, security of the app itself matters very little. And here we are running into common issue plaguing Android phones - timely security updates, or more precisely, their lack thereof.