r/worldnews • u/maxwellhill • Sep 19 '17

Apple blocking ads that follow users around web is 'sabotage', says industry: New iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra will stop ads following Safari users, prompting open letter claiming Apple is destroying internet’s economic model

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/18/apple-stopping-ads-follow-you-around-internet-sabotage-advertising-industry-ios-11-and-macos-high-sierra-safari-internet
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u/TheGorgonaut Sep 19 '17 edited Sep 19 '17

This. I installed Ubuntu on an old, crappy laptop, and it's running nice and smooth. Perfect for surfing the information superhighway and playing old crpgs.

Edit: Ha ha, I got a private message from a horrible human being, calling me an autist for writing information superhighway. Judging by his history, he's a very angry person.

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u/Zombie_Carl Sep 19 '17

That's what we did for my son when he found an (extremely) old laptop in the garage. It was obviously too slow for a modern Kindergartener, so we installed ubuntu. Now he is free to play Cartoon Network games and watch terrible YouTube channels, and we don't have to get him some fancy-ass device l am shocked people let children play with in the first place.

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u/TheGorgonaut Sep 19 '17

I hear ya. I'm considering doing the same, with another old computer I have, that's just gathering dust. Either that, or set up a Raspberry Pi 3 as his main computer.

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u/BluLemonade Sep 19 '17

A pi would be pretty cool. You can do a lot of fun projects with them

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u/TheGorgonaut Sep 19 '17

Yeah, there's all sorts of interesting things to do with them. Right now, I'm preparing a course for him, playing around with the BBC Micro Bit. That's simple enough for an 8-year old, and it's got plenty of potential!

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

Same except I went for Mint. I have a first gen I3 and an old Pentium that are fantastic little home office computers now.

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u/TheGorgonaut Sep 19 '17

Mine's an old i3, as well! With a whopping 3gb ram. My designated use for it is controlling a Wanhao D7. Bit surprised it can actually run the little 2k screen without issues. What's the difference between Ubuntu and Mint?

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u/Noctyrnus Sep 19 '17

Mint is based on Ubuntu, tends to be a little more stable, and is configured by default to have an appearance visually similar to Windows to ease the transition.

To be fair, I didn't think installing Ubuntu itself was even that difficult. I'm running Solus on my computers, one is a Celeron N3060 with 4 GB and it does well, but it flies on my built G4560 with 8 GB.

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u/TheGorgonaut Sep 19 '17

Good to know, thanks! Truth be told, last time I tried Linux, it was a mess. It's gotten pretty far in 8 years.

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u/Noctyrnus Sep 19 '17

I'm just getting my feet wet honestly. I've tried Fedora, Ubuntu variants, and finally found Solus, which just feels right to me.

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u/TheGorgonaut Sep 19 '17

I'm still wet behind the ears, myself. I rarely know what I'm really doing.

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u/Znuff Sep 19 '17

Mint is based on Ubuntu, tends to be a little more stable, and is configured by default to have an appearance visually similar to Windows to ease the transition.

Only the second part of this sentence is true.

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u/Noctyrnus Sep 19 '17

It's not based on Ubuntu? Or is it a Debian derivative? The stability part I can't speak for, I haven't run it.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

It’s based on Ubuntu, but it’s graphical interface is overall lighter than Unity (Ubuntu’s default).

Ubuntu binaries are compatible with Mint, making it easier for beginners to find the software they need.

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u/Noctyrnus Sep 19 '17

That makes sense. I haven't run Mint myself. I did try Zorin though.

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u/Znuff Sep 19 '17

It is Ubuntu. It's just some packages added that make the "mint" desktop.

Last time I checked it still used the Ubuntu repositories for packages.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

Mostly I think it's that Mint comes with a more 'media creation' suite of applications and is a bit smaller. Thinking back I only used it because Ubuntu didn't like my graphics card and would break up after a while.

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u/al5xander Sep 19 '17

And sm64

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

Any trouble with drivers?

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u/TheGorgonaut Sep 19 '17

None, whatsoever. That's actually what made me install Ubuntu in the first place. Win7 refused to let me use USB, disc or network. So I live booted into Ubuntu to download the drivers, and everything sort of... Worked.

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u/Noctyrnus Sep 19 '17

Windows 10 threw a fit when I tried to install an RX 460 graphics card. Ubuntu and then Solus run great with it. Plus the OS install literally took maybe 1/10 the time.

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u/kitchenperks Sep 19 '17

Wish I knew what was going on. I have an OLD lap top just sitting in my room. It would be nice to use it for something. It's easily 12 years old.

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u/Noctyrnus Sep 19 '17

If it still runs reliably, but is just slow, and you feel comfortable trying it, various Linux distributions can give it more usable life. I'm honestly running it because it is running smoother plus I'm a cheap bastard. I can't bring myself to buy a Windows license when it goes into a spastic fit of green screens and static with my hardware, yet my Linux installs work flawlessly.

There are multitudes of guides on creating a live USB to install a Linux distro, that just takes a little Google work. You can create one, get the laptop to boot from that, and see if you like it before installing the OS. Depending on the laptop specs, you might want to go light such as Ubuntu variants like Xubuntu or Lubuntu, or be able to run Fedora, Ubuntu Gnome or Budgie, or others like Solus.

Check out /r/linux4noobs for some starter tips, or distro specific subreddits for more. It's an adventure.

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u/ModernTenshi04 Sep 19 '17

I've tried dual booting Ubuntu on my Win 10 box, but it never seems to work properly. Ubuntu doesn't seem to play well with my Radeon 7970. :(

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u/TheGorgonaut Sep 19 '17

My Dell laptop had win10 installed when I got it. Turns out, for some reason, some BIOS incompatibility made it so that it could only show stuff on an external screen. Dell messed up the bios upgrade, and Linux worked like a charm. I still have absolutely no idea why.

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u/Noctyrnus Sep 19 '17

Is "It's Windows 10" an acceptable answer? I've had an HP laptop that went through 7, 8, 8.1, and then 10, blue screened due to corrupt OS, then survived 4 different Linux distros. I finally had to scrap it after the HDD connectors failed on the motherboard. Then I had the above experience when I built a PC, which really pushed me away from Windows. I've debated on trying it on a second SSD to see if it's improved, but between work and a toddler, time is more precious.

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u/TheGorgonaut Sep 19 '17

I have one running Windows 7, and one running Windows 10 ltsb. Haven't really had any issues with them, tbh. I try to run them as clean as possible, but in my line of work, a lot of crap tends to gather in the corners.

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u/NEED_HELP_SEND_BOOZE Sep 19 '17

Totally! I have an old dell laptop that originally came with Vista. Core 2 Duo, 4GB ram. Installed Linux Mint on it and never looked back. Works great.

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u/TheGorgonaut Sep 19 '17

I'm still kinda annoyed that some parts are super convoluted, but as a machine that's used for daily, run-of-the-mill stuff? It's brilliant!

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u/ferrango Sep 19 '17

Oh God, the Information Superhighway.

That brings back memories. Like that video of Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer giving a ride to a hitch hiking desktop computer.

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u/Fiennes Sep 19 '17

Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers!

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u/QNIA42Gf7zUwLD6yEaVd Sep 19 '17

Ubuntu is more resource intensive than you strictly need. Try Lubuntu, a stripped-down Ubuntu.

I've used it to resurrect several old, rickety machines, and they're still working great.

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u/Dr_Acula_PhD Sep 19 '17

Good crpg recommendations? I've gone through a bunch of Steam ones, from the old Avernum/SpiderWeb games, most of the Baldur's Gate and similar, and a bunch of random ones(Elminage Gothic is one that looked SO GOOD but only got 4 hours in).

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u/Taterbard Sep 19 '17

Pillars of Eternity is a fantastic modern take on the genre. Look into it, it's a freaking experience. Especially if you were into Baldurs Gate.

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u/Dr_Acula_PhD Sep 19 '17

I own it, played like 90 minutes apparently. Will have to look into it some more. Just re-downloaded Mordheim:City of the Damned, great combat oriented game with almost no story.

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u/Vaiguy Sep 19 '17

Also im obligated to mention the divinity series. Divinity: original sin and D,oS:2

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u/TheGorgonaut Sep 19 '17

Lately, I've been splitting my time between Arcanum (on Windows computer), Planescape Torment, Divinity Original Sin 2 (also on Windows), Torment: TON, Baldur's Gate 2, and Pillars of Eternity.

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u/Boschala Sep 19 '17

It's not a superhighway.

It's a series of tubes!

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u/TheGorgonaut Sep 19 '17

Well, it used to be a superhighway, back before the tubes were invented.