this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2023
541 points (95.3% liked)

Linux

48375 readers
1702 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I've noticed in the Linux community whenever someone asks for a recommendation on a laptop that runs Linux the answer is always "Get a Thinkpad" yet Lenovo doesn't seem to be a big Linux contributor or ally. There's also at least six Linux/FOSS-oriented computer manufacturers now:

So what gives? Why the love for a primarily Windows-oriented laptop when there are better alternatives?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Lenovo makes great computers. They have amazing price-to-performance ratios.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Lenovo makes great computers.

Used to. No longer.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The only reason I wouldn't buy Lenovo is they were caught twice shipping laptops with spyware, and on my NAS their upgrade firmware contained google ad banners. While this will not affect a linux reinstall it just shows they are a shit company

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

American producers are shipping NSA spyware as well. If this is a concern (which it should be), best thing is to install Linux on it yourself.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What do you mean by NSA spyware? Anything that I can think of along those lines isn't really the same thing as what Lenovo did.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

That's not really the same thing. It's also bad, but the producers aren't shipping that themselves, the NSA modifies it the devices after shipment. That's in some ways worse, since installing Linux yourself won't help against adversarial firmware/hardware.