CerebralHawks

I wouldn’t say “made my year” but it does bring me joy whenever I look at it. Floor 796 is a semi-interactive multimedia art project that brings movie, TV, video game, and anime characters together in what I believe is supposed to be one floor of a space station with many rooms. In one such room, an AI or machine is watching all kinds of videos, implying that it is making all these characters from what it sees in our entertainment to populate its otherwise desolate station. You can click/tap on something to see what it is, and if that doesn’t work, then it’s an original character (there are a few of them). Also, some characters vary widely from the original style (like the Simpsons family, they aren’t yellow). You can search to see if your favourites are there, or you can just look around. You can also follow them on Telegram (and maybe others) to get updated when they add stuff.

So Linux, “the free alternative to Windows”, needs corporate backing to sell it and make it mainstream?

This has been tried before and a lot of Linux fans don’t like it. The first time I’m aware was Lindows, which was offered on CD at Walmart and other retailers. Microsoft sued and they changed the name to Linspire. It was corporate Linux, and the best thing it had going for it was that it wasn’t Windows. Beyond that, it was kind of garbage. I mean, I guess it was Linux, but it wasn’t right somehow.

If you want a corporate backed alternative to Windows because you don’t like certain things Microsoft stands for, get a Mac. Honestly, you can’t do much better than a MacBook Air these days, but the $500 M4 Mac mini (down to $480 in some stores for the holidays) is pretty damn hard to beat. It doesn’t run most games though, but beyond that it’s fine. Just know that Apple stands for a lot of things Microsoft does. Regardless, it’s a corporate-backed OS that is an alternative to Windows, with solid hardware support… and it’s not really denting Microsoft’s market share, despite being objectively better for everything but gaming and repairability (the latter of which does not extend to Microsoft’s Surface machines, but PCs in general).

I think the best thing for Linux was the end of Windows 10’s life. Computers with 7th gen Intel and older were able to run Linux perfectly, despite Microsoft drawing the line in the sand there. My last Wintel machine ran a 4th generation Xeon, and it ran Windows 11 just fine with hacks (though not recently, I’ve been a full fledged Mac user for 2 years since that rig died).

And I think the worst thing, the thing holding Linux back the most, is the divisiveness of the Linux community. It’s not everyone, but the guys who run Arch (and some of the Debian guys) looking down their noses at the Mint and Ubuntu guys… like, suck it up princess! People gotta start somewhere, and if you show the Mint and Ubuntu guys you’re willing to help, they’re more likely to be Arch and Debian guys in the future. But for now, depending on what you like (KDE/Mint for Windows expats, and GNOME/Ubuntu for Mac users), those beginner Linux distros are just fine! It’s a foot in the door. And if they’re happy with it, more power to 'em. (And if they got a Mac? Hey, at least it’s not Windows!)

Not going to name any but there are a couple instances I wouldn’t mind blocking. Would love to see this implemented.

So in other words they’re going to stop selling the bundle. They’re not going to stop selling or updating either the Switch 2 or Mario Kart World. They’re just going to stop offering the two of them together for a slight discount.

Only I don’t dislike chili (Linux). What you’re saying is that someone who likes beans in their chili wouldn’t be welcome at a chili cook-off because beans don’t belong in chili in your opinion, and your opinion should be the law of the land.

Or are you saying a person can only attend a chili cook-off (or a discussion about Linux) if they eat chili every day (or use Linux)? Can someone who is merely interested in the subject not partake, Your Holy Imperial Majesty?

To be clear, the Macintosh in 1984 had the menu bar. Amiga had it, too. Now, the dock — that came later. I remember System 7 or Mac OS 8 had a zip-tie pull-out thingy on the left (and Microsoft 2000 copied it). I think the actual Dock as we know it now came in OS X. And there were clones (e.g. AquaDock) until Apple started handing out C&Ds and lawsuits. I tried a couple (on Windows), none of them were great.

Interesting response. I’m not subbed the the Linux community; Lemmy is small enough, I just browse /all. Still, even among Linux users, there’s no best. You got the Arch guys, the Mint guys, the Ubuntu guys, and everyone in between, and hashing out which options are best has got to be an interesting part of it. So if you add Windows and macOS into the mix, you’re not really changing the conversation. Just more pros and cons to toss around. Saying things like “proprietary” and “Apple tax” are reductive and don’t really get anyone anywhere. Like who gives a shit. Really. Though I think a lot of people agree paid Linux and proprietary Linux is seldom good. Like Lindows/Linspire. Nobody liked that shit. There’s a new one that’s paid, or it’s free but has paid options, apparently it’s pretty popular? I forget the name right now. Marketing itself as a better alternative to Windows. And I get it. Support options and all that. It’s a good idea. But the Arch guys aren’t buying it, and I suspect the Mint and Ubuntu guys aren’t interested, either. But a Windows guy who, that’s all he knows? Maybe it’s a nice first step to something else.

Well, if you have an old Mac (like Intel era), I think Linux would be a good target if your Mac isn’t supported anymore. I’m not sure what Linux distros run on Apple Silicon. Linux being a bit lighter weight would mitigate some of the issues Mac guys have with certain Intel Macs (overheating). And certainly breathe new life into the machine.

I’m not quite sold on Mac Studio. For high end, I don’t want something that’s all on one chip and can’t be upgraded. But that’s what Apple Silicon is all about. Just seems like someone who needs that much computer would be better served by a different kind of machine. For cheap consumer grade computers, Macs are kinda hard to beat, but at every price point, there are other options. Hard to say what the best is. It would depend on the user.

Fair point, but also, the M4 Mac mini is $500 for a pretty competitive chip, 16GB RAM, and 256GB on-chip SSD. You can beat that with a PC (and probably get a bit bigger drive, like 500GB, and you’d be able to upgrade), but you wouldn’t save that much money. The Windows license puts it over; of course, the idea is you get someone to sell you one without a Windows license and install Linux. But if they aren’t including Windows, they aren’t selling in enough bulk to get the price down. There are a bunch of little computers from China that are competitive, but do you trust them? Up to you, I guess.

The other option, I went over in my top-level comment, is to find a gently used office PC that can’t be upgraded to Windows 11, like a 7th gen i5. It’s not gonna be competitive, performance wise, against that M4 Mac mini, though, but you might get it for like $100 from eBay or something, so maybe it’s fine.

To add to your point, not only does it run on “generic” hardware, it runs on “whatever” hardware.

You should ask the AI what the advantages are of Linux Mint over macOS. You should then ask the reverse and compare the pros and cons from both angles.

Note that the AI is just going to aggregate Reddit posts and dress up the language a bit. But you should get good information.

As a macOS user typing on a Mac mini (M2 Pro) running macOS 26.2 Tahoe, I will say that Linux is better for gaming via Proton. We have the Game Porting Tool Kit (GPTK) but this is not really user facing. We have paid options like CrossOver, and there used to be a free option called Whisky, but it’s been discontinued. Linux is kind of awesome for gaming and like, most games run on Linux now. (I choose to game on Xbox and Switch, but that’s beside the point.)

I think macOS is a slightly more polished product, but the trade-off for Linux is, you can run it on more hardware (like if you have an ageing PC and you don’t want to get a Mac — or, if you can find a decent PC for the price of an M4 Mac mini, which goes for $500), and you have more control over the software. For example, it just came up again in the Windows communities that Windows 11 can’t move its taskbar to the sides or the top like it’s done since Windows 95 through Windows 10. macOS has a menu bar that is stuck on the top always (always has been) but it has an application dock on the bottom that can move to the left (but not the right, nor can it sit on or under the menu bar at the top). In Linux, not only can you put your system bar wherever you want it, I think you can customise it to have more than one (like you can go macOS and have a menu/system bar and dock, but you can put them where you want them).

I personally wouldn’t choose Linux over macOS, but if I did, I would start with Ubuntu. Personal preference. And, while I wouldn’t trade my MacBook, I could use Linux on the desktop. I wouldn’t hate it. I like my Mac, but if I got ahold of an older PC, like something a company was getting rid of because it can’t run Windows 11 (say, a 7th generation i5 with 16GB of RAM would be nice), I’d wipe the drive and put Linux on it. I would not try to make it a Hackintosh (I’m honestly not gonna do the work). Coming from an office, it would likely be sold without a drive. So I’d get a cheap SATA SSD (like 500/512GB) and put Ubuntu on it.

At least on a Mac we can choose bottom or left! Wild that Microsoft won’t give Windows users the option.

Of course you could say Mac is dorky with its always on menu bar at the top, but I quite like it. Even on my laptop with a notch it’s not terrible. And I like the status bar (right side of the menu bar).

And of course on Linux you can just have it any which way you want it.

I still generally prefer windowing on Windows 11 to macOS Tahoe. Since Sequoia (the last version) we’ve had basic windowing (and before that, free apps like Rectangle to shoehorn it in), but what Microsoft started with Aero Snap in Windows 7 has never been “the Mac way.” I think the old Mac users prefer a controlled chaos on their desktop. I like a more elegant setup. I like how I have Windows set up at work. It doesn’t quite work as well on Mac, to try to do the same thing, but I wouldn’t trade my Mac for something like my work PC, even if it could play more games.

They sell phones at a loss because their overpriced service makes up the difference. They sell phones at a loss because you will ultimately pay more over the life of the plan. Take my iPhone 16 Pro Max 512GB (I traded an older phone to get it, but you can look up the retail price, or look up this generation’s, I’m sure it’s about the same) and multiply $25 times 24 (months). Now add what Verizon charges for one to 24 times what Verizon charges per line. Verizon users pay way more, even though the phone seems “cheaper.”

I challenge anyone with Verizon to post their bill for one line of service with unlimited 5GUW (ultra wideband, I believe). I also get unlimited LTE and base 5G, but after 50GB, it’s de-prioritised. Doesn’t matter, I use maybe 5GB a month on a busy month. Never been a big mobile user. Anyway, I pay Visible $25 a month, and Visible is owned by Verizon and uses Verizon towers. Anyone can get Visible, but they don’t have stores and Verizon stores will not help you. You download the app (iOS or Android) and it does everything. Only service is via chat, no phone support. Same towers. Same coverage. They do have subsidized phones, but not as many, and it’s strictly new customers only.

To be fair, this guy was kinda trying to game the system (I read the article).

You can buy an iPhone straight from Apple (he bought the iPhone 16e) and it’s not locked.

This guy went to Verizon, bought a phone from them, and intended to skip out after a month and go to a cheaper MVNO. I don’t disagree with the ruling — he was acting within the rules, and Verizon changed said rules after he signed the paperwork — but this guy doesn’t seem like a saint. I mean, fuck Verizon and all that, no sympathy for Big Red, but this guy was totally taking advantage. Of course, if Verizon makes a deal and he follows the letter of the law, I’m with him, but also, people like this make phone deals worse for the rest of us.

Remember when you could get a flagship smartphone for $200 straight up and you just had to keep service for 2 more years? If you were happy with your carrier it was fine, it wasn’t even new customers only. It was like, once that 2 years is up you’re eligible. Verizon even bumped up my eligibility by 2 months when my phone was boot looping. I told them I needed a new phone, either they had to help me or I would be forced to take my business to another carrier, because I couldn’t just not have a phone for 2 months. They said “you know what, you pay your bill on time, we want your business, what phone do you want?” (Then they tried to talk me out of getting an iPhone, 6s, because my last two phones were Android. I said IDGAF about platform wars, the iPhone 6s is the best phone out right now (this was before the Pixel 1 was even announced! But the same year it came out) and it’s the one I want. Rocked that phone for four years.)

The market is kind of a trap. They sell the expensive, high end stuff for the suckers who are willing to buy them, and for those who demand the absolute best — for whatever reason.

They all sell cheaper phones. This year, it was incredibly obvious that, dollar for dollar, the iPhone 17 is the best iPhone deal, but Apple got shit earlier this year when they released the 16e at the price used 15 Pros were going for (when the 16 Pro/Max was the latest model). The 16e has a couple advantages over the 15 Pro, like the custom Apple modem and… I think there was one other thing? Very minor though. Apple used to sell a cheaper phone, the SE, and the SE 2 and 3 are modeled after the iPhone 8, but they have the guts of an 11, the difference being, the 3 supports 5G. I had the SE 2 and got it for $250. It was $200 but I paid $50 to go from 64GB (base model) to 128GB.

These days, you can’t get an iPhone that low. You have to pay more, or pay with your privacy and go Android. I’ve heard lots of great things about the latest Galaxy A phone. It’s $200, it’s 128GB storage, 4GB RAM (a bit low for modern Android… even a bit low for iOS), “decent-ish” cameras, 6.7", 1080p, and it refreshes up to 90Hz. Apparently, it’s a pretty decent phone for the money.

But honestly, privacy or otherwise, I’m kinda done pretending Apple has the high ground or that one brand is inherently better than the other. I still like Apple for the Mac. I don’t like the direction Windows has gone (though I quite enjoy the Windows 11 machine I use at work, and I’ve set it up differently to how everyone else has theirs… I would not choose Windows for my home computer, if it could even run it). As I said, as others have said, phone makers have good phones at lower prices, and the high end is kind of a scam. All you’re missing out on with cheaper phones is AI (which I don’t need or really care about missing) and high end gaming… which I also don’t care about. Apple has some “AAA” Ubisoft and Capcom games like Assassin’s Creed and Resident Evil games on the iPhone, and apparently they look great for running on a <7" screen, but I’m not interested. I’ll take a run in Subway Surfers every now and then, but for actual “gaming,” I have an Xbox for that. I just want my phone to be a handheld personal computing device, and that’s not a good look for gaming.

I wonder what it’s missing. 14 Pro also has Dynamic Island, always-on display, satellite connectivity… it’s just a little less powerful. Still runs Apple “Intelligence”, right?

What would happen if you tried to play the movie (which I assume loads the subs and parses the commands — maybe) on a Mac or a PC running Linux? The article says PowerShell and it mentions Windows dependencies but I’m not sure it requires a Windows system.

I feel like my Macs would ask permission before running the code (Macs ask permission a lot, or straight up say something isn’t going to run, you have to go into Settings, Security to make it run). I feel like Linux boxes wouldn’t be as susceptible as Windows, either.

I’m not gonna try it because I’m not as sure about restoring a Mac system as I am with Windows. Relatively new to this system.

My M2 MacBook Air and M2 Pro Mac mini both took performance hits with macOS 26, but iOS 26 has been fine. I don’t mind Liquid Ass, though. It’s interesting, and no performance hit on 16PM, and I don’t have issues with the visuals. On iOS 26.1 I went with the frosted look, so the contrast is a bit better. Reduce Contrast takes it down too far and I love the glass effects.

My only issue with the Liquid Ass updates is how Finder windows look on the Mac. They’re more rounded in the corners than the MacBook Air’s corners are, so there’s a gap. My LG UltraView doesn’t have rounded corners at all (it’s perfectly rectangular), so the rounded corners just look dumb. I generally like macOS, but Finder looks stupid now. It looked way better before. But I feel like Apple doesn’t care about the Mac as much as they used to, and are shoehorning crap in just to check boxes.

12.3GB on my iPhone, 11.6GB on my Mac… wut? Just seems backwards.

Oh, absolutely. I’m just saying that now that it’s out there, it’s going to be on the others whether they like it or not. And they’d have a leg to stand on if they were against AI. But they’re not. They’re working with AI.

I really do get what you’re saying, but what people need to realise about AI is, it doesn’t care about rights. AI is trained off of thousands if not millions of works of art, mostly without permission, let alone compensation. This would be true of Disney IPs even if they weren’t working with AI. But since they are, since they’ve opened that door, it removes the moral concern the rest of us have, coming from the point of view of the artists who were never given a choice, let alone a cheque. We can’t feel sorry for Disney having other AI companies use their characters when it’s used characters from independent artists without even asking.

I feel like once they open that door, they shouldn’t get to decide who walks through it. Either they support AI using their characters, or they don’t. I mean, they’re certainly well within their rights to say none of them can do it, and I would support that if that was the way they went, but no, they said one company could use their IP to train its data. It’s a rat race. They’re all going to use it.