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.
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
I would not ask at the interview.. I’d wait until after you’re hired…
I’m not a programmer; but a system administrator. 4 Linux and 250 windows 1 Mac; In our org. I’ve run off a MBP for 17 years now. And not had any push back when I requested it, just said I’d prefer a then 15” now 16” MBP.
Good luck
I assume MBP is short for the Mac book pro. Anyway I personally wouldn't be the first person to want a Mac as they don't have all the great of virtualization support.
Sorry yeah. MacBook Pro.
It does what I need to do my job. I’ve got all the terminal tools. SSH ping nmap. MS makes a great Remote Desktop app And the built in screen sharing works great for VNC. SO. YEAH
FWIW I get along pretty well with a virtualbox vm running on my employer provided windows machine. Performance is good and virtualbox even supports multiple displays pretty well.
You do need to square things with corporate IT and security though. Some places really lock their systems down. I'd ask about how "developer friendly" their security policies are.
Virtual box is very slow compared to something more native. I prefer KVM on Linux if I can get it and I'm pretty sure Hyper-V is going to be faster even though it is a tremendous pain in the ***
VirtualBox performs just fine for me and I'm not exactly light on how I use it. I have a development environment with multiple IntelliJ instances running, and Oracle database running in Docker, etc. And the desktop integration is much better than Hyper-V. KVM is not an option if the host is Windows.
With VirtualBox I can run full screen with multiple monitors - aside from the Windows Key being caught by Windows it's nearly complete immersion to the Linux desktop. I can then switch to "window mode" if I need to do anything from Windows. And even in "windowed mode" I still have multiple monitors (it does one window for each).
Raw performance isn't everything. The user experience here is much better than what the hypervisors provide.
Dell offers their Precision lineup of laptops with an option to ship with Linux (ubuntu) instead of Windows. As far as mainstream, enterprise support and driver updates go, you can't get any bigger than Dell. Lots of good deals to be had on eBay for these machines too, they're built like tanks and driver issues are never a thing.
I KNOW I'm gonna get A LOT of hate for typing this, but if a MacBook is cheaper than the laptop you want, you should get a MacBook...
What does that even mean?
The Apple M_ processors are great for performance to power usage ratio (and peak performance in general), so a MacBook is a good choice of laptop (even to run Linux on it).
Linux is currently not available on Apple silicon as anything other than a half baked alpha build with a ton of essential stuff missing. Not even remotely ready to be used as the primary OS. And that's on the M1. It's even worse on the more recent chips.
I run Asahi Linux on the M1, and it’s been working great for the last six months or so.
Edit: I wouldn’t necessarily recommend buying one to run Linux at the moment, for one thing they’re overpriced, but I was clarifying why the original comment would have suggested an M1.
If the laptop I want is more expensive that a MacBook its because it has some serious hardware or very specialized feature set. If you want an average spec machine save the money and just get it instead of MacBook
I don’t ask for, I demand a Mac.
Edit: I'm sorry that I'm privileged enough to be able to do that.
Edit2: Didn't realize I'm in the linux sub, of course there will be outrage. If it helps you sleep better, Linux would be my second choice.
We found the graphics designer.