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Last post Author Topic: Do we need a Linux and/or Mac child board?  (Read 29457 times)

app103

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Re: Do we need a Linux and/or Mac child board?
« Reply #25 on: June 15, 2008, 06:01 AM »
Donationcoder is a windows-specific place, with a few users who also/exclusively use other environments.

I wonder how many people have that same impression as you, and don't feel as if they are welcome here among the windows users? Perhaps we have forum members that have never posted for such a reason.

If there was a section for non-windows users, (perhaps with it's own coding snacks area, too?) we could see more members contributing posts that never did before, and even some non-windows coding snacks requests that non-windows developers could fill.

The way I see it, adding a section for non-windows would be branching out and a step towards expanding the site into areas not really covered before.

This is definitely something to give a lot of thought to before going ahead and doing it.

Dormouse

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Re: Do we need a Linux and/or Mac child board?
« Reply #26 on: June 15, 2008, 06:33 AM »
When I switched to Linux last fall, I cut down my visits here quite a bit because there didn't seem to be much interest in Linux around these parts. I still use XP (running in VirtualBox) for a lot of programs, but most of the little utilities I use are now Linux, not Windows and I did not think there would be much interest here in those.
I use Windows and Linux extensively, and it has always seemed to me that there is a general interest in all options on all the OSs. And, from that point of view, I do prefer not splitting into OS specific areas. And an increasing number of utilities are cross platform.

The one possible exception would be software. I think all current software is Windows based - and if there were any for other OSs it would be best in its own area. And the facility for that already seems to exist.

jgpaiva

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Re: Do we need a Linux and/or Mac child board?
« Reply #27 on: June 15, 2008, 07:50 AM »
I think fred nerd made very good points, i also support the idea of keeping things as they are now.

Gothi[c]

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Re: Do we need a Linux and/or Mac child board?
« Reply #28 on: June 15, 2008, 07:57 AM »
I wonder how many people have that same impression as you, and don't feel as if they are welcome here among the windows users? Perhaps we have forum members that have never posted for such a reason.

If there was a section for non-windows users, (perhaps with it's own coding snacks area, too?) we could see more members contributing posts that never did before, and even some non-windows coding snacks requests that non-windows developers could fill.

The way I see it, adding a section for non-windows would be branching out and a step towards expanding the site into areas not really covered before.

This is definitely something to give a lot of thought to before going ahead and doing it.

Thank you, app.
I agree 100000000000000% with this.

Perry Mowbray

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Re: Do we need a Linux and/or Mac child board?
« Reply #29 on: June 15, 2008, 08:10 AM »
 :-\ Can we have both?

I'd think the general software discussions, Reviews, etc. would remain as is: i.e. mixed.

OS specific, such as Software/Coding Snacks, could be in their own area: i.e. separate.

That way, we can allow it to grow as it needs...

Darwin

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Re: Do we need a Linux and/or Mac child board?
« Reply #30 on: June 15, 2008, 08:27 AM »
Heh, heh - looks like we need to encourage some Mac and Linux software development here! I'd support that, as I play with Linux occasionally (have a notebook I intend to turn into a dedicated linux machine, I just haven't switched it over yet) and have an iBook  :Thmbsup:

In this case, I think having separate OS pages for software downloads and for discussions of that software would make sense, but keep the forums otherwise "integrated"!

Perry Mowbray

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Re: Do we need a Linux and/or Mac child board?
« Reply #31 on: June 15, 2008, 09:01 AM »
Not that I've visited any Linux or Mac forums (no need), but attracting and widening the DC userbase could produce greater integration and a greater diversity of thoughts, what would be detrimental is separate child boards where there was no cross fertilising. OS arguments would be super detrimental.

Adding DC's distinct flavour to multi-OS discussions would be great, and probably unique and maybe a draw card for new members.

This is definitely something to give a lot of thought to before going ahead and doing it.

too right!

Daleus

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Re: Do we need a Linux and/or Mac child board?
« Reply #32 on: June 17, 2008, 09:17 AM »
While I hate to say something that would be interpreted as being "biased against", I agree with a lot of others here that the best way to include MAC and *nix users is to *not* segregate them.

Fundamentally, any problem or solution for a computer is a problem or solution for users of all varieties of OS/hardware.  So I'd say, for discussion purposes and all of the stuff that comes *before* the coding, we should not break out into little groups that have a high potential for fracturing the community.  It's worth pointing out that I've seen little to no "camp-ism" or what others have termed fanaticism, here at DC.

Perhaps it would be worth a discussion forums for coders, once they get down to the brass tacks of coding, but even then, I see that as a method of segregation.  Like others, I'm always interested in hearing how others implement ideas on other platforms - quite often it sparks creative approaches I might have not otherwise thought of, or an exercise in Google-fu to find something new and interesting!

If you feel the need to skip less than relevant topics, we could always try a message header procedure where a simple [MAC] or [DEBIAN] or whatever style slug at the beginning of a subject line when posting, could help others winnow what they are not interested in.  But frankly, in my mind that's still a type of segregation that I think we could do without.

 Cheers!
Daleus, Curmudgeon-at-Large

zridling

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Re: Do we need a Linux and/or Mac child board?
« Reply #33 on: June 17, 2008, 09:57 PM »
What Daleus said, and also Dormouse: "...an increasing number of utilities are cross platform."

I changed my little "Great Software List" to reflect that trend, as I find myself using many apps that were common to both Windows and Linux (OpenOffice, Firefox, Opera, Filezilla, PGN viewers, Gimp, webware, etc.). Seems there are more topics of conversation in common among platforms than not any more. And let's face it, neither Windows nor OS X nor Linux is going away any time soon.

brotman

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Re: Do we need a Linux and/or Mac child board?
« Reply #34 on: June 01, 2009, 01:20 PM »
Fixing a double post and pointing to a new post related to this thread in aother thread:
Please see:
[ please click above link...
or maybe here: https://www.donation....msg166243#msg166243

can anyone tell me the "proper" way to refer to a specific link in another thread (without including the entire other post here??


I hope I (finally) got it right, this time

Chuck
Chuck Brotman
« Last Edit: June 01, 2009, 02:22 PM by brotman »