On 02/27/2013 03:14 PM, Konstantin Olchanski wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 at 11:46:11AM -0600, Connie Sieh wrote:
>>
>> If a i386/x86_64 laptop is certified for the "Windows 8 logo" then
>> it has to have "secure boot" enabled in the bios(uefi) by default as
>> required by Microsoft.  Secure boot requires a 'signed by microsoft'
>> program to boot. But the bios(uefi) is REQUIRED to have a method to
>> turn off the "secure boot" option and thus not require a microsoft
>> signed os.
>>
>
> Is all this still theoretical? I have not seen any recent laptops,
> but on recent desktop mobos (from ASUS), indeed, in the BIOS setup,
> I see the button to enable "secure boot". This button is "off" by default,
> Linux boots just fine.
>
> So is there an issue bigger than having to go into the BIOS setup
> to turn off "secure boot"?
>
> In other news, when people ask me "which Linux laptop to buy?", I tell
> them to buy a Mac. For all practical purposes MacOS acts as a funny Linux,
> the main difference being that all the hardware and software actually
> does works as advertised. (That does cost you a few extra $$$, of course).
>

There are significant issues with a Mac.  The software issues can be 
addressed from the fink download site (there are others) that provide 
all of the standard open systems tools and many of the environments. 
However, not only is Mac hardware (much) more expensive, the I/O ports 
are not as standard as on a properly specified professional laptop (for 
a fixed desktop workstation with enough PCI slots, this is never a 
problem), and typically require special adapters/dongles.

However, for an end user who does not need anything beyond the Mac 
hardware and has the extra money to spend -- including upgrades to MacOS 
X as these are released -- I too recommend a Mac .  Mac is an end user 
platform and environment -- but unlike MS Win, the internal "engine" is 
BSD and does work -- and Mac OS X typically is more reliable and 
efficient than MS Win.  However, I still run SL 6x on my laptop, and 
will continue to run EL on all laptops for which I have any responsibility.