R.C.Mar 23
Neil Brown

Perhaps it is because I have used Linux for quite a long time now, and it did not always work so well, but I still smile when I plug my laptop (Debian, Gnome, Wayland) into a Thunderbolt dock via USB-C shaped connector, and its display appears on multiple 4K monitors within a couple of seconds.

I unplug it, and it comes back to the laptop screen.

Screen rotation on my laptop works flawlessly.

Thank you - genuinely - to everyone who has worked on making this happen so seamlessly.

Mar 23 at 6:21pmWeb
Show threadPersephoneMar 23
@neil a fucking men.

Remember the days of Xorg config fuckery to set up screens?

We've come a long long way
Show threadtheothertomMar 23
@mindpersephone @neil I don't miss Xorg configs at all. Though at the time, I had a laptop with an 800x480 screen - and setting an arcane-magic modeline felt excitingly better than needing to find a Windows driver.
Show threadWild Eyed Boy From FreecloudMar 24
@mindpersephone @neil I just stumbled on an old config file with timings and sync values and ugh!!!!
Show threadAlison WilderMar 23
@neil same! It's a beautiful thing!
Show threadHeddersMar 23

@neil Magnificent, isn't it?

When I think back to those days of trying to get my damned modem working in Linux Mandrake ...

Show threadGary Mar 23
@hedders @neil I can’t remember the last time I had to recompile a Linux kernel. And that’s a very good thing.
Show threadCurioso 🍉 🇺🇦 (jgg)Mar 23

@WiteWulf @hedders @neil

20 years using Linux daily. I have never had to recompile anything.

Show threadcyberveganMar 24

@hedders @neil Oh man, winmodems were such a pain. At least "normal" modems could be configured with AT commands... so glad I stopped using dialup in about 1999 when I got my first broadband, but I had to "support" friends and family with it for years after. Usually on windoze...

By the time Mandrake came round, broadband was a fixture in my life, so never had to wrangle modems with it. Was a good distro though - I used it up until Ubuntu Hoary Hedgehog came out.

Show threadfooxlMar 23

@neil I get this feeling, when I connect speakers via USB/Bluetooth/Line and they just work seamlessly.

In 2010 I wrote alsa rules for things like this.

Show threadJustin DerrickMar 24

@neil Yeah, I recently put Ubuntu on an iMac, for the purpose of copying some videos off MiniDV tapes.

Now, there were many small issues - the fans ran at full speed for no reason - the screen kept locking after 5 minutes, and getting dvgrab working required a dozen web searches and extensive use of my UNIX sysadmin skills…

But once I dialled it in, I downloaded 30 tapes worth of video from 2001 through 2011, easily.

Show threadMcTwistMar 24

@neil I feel happy for you.

I installed #Fedora on my laptop, and "everything" worked out of the box. However, while I do get audio, and the hardware have a supported driver for years, it just refuses to work properly with the 2.1 system, having correct sound on the left speaker, barely any on the right, and nothing on the sub. It "works", but not like how it just "works" on Windows. I usually just plug in one of my headphones instead.

Show threadCeliMar 24
@neil Jealous!! My laptop does not support thunderbolt. It truly is amazing!!