Ask HN: Ubuntu Desktop Default Apps • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Ubuntu Desktop Default Apps

#81

Post by dannysu » Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 5:04 PM UTC

haspok wrote: post #29

I have but one humble wish: when I want to start the calculator app I open the Dash and type "calc". However for some reason LibreOffice Calc has higher priority than the Calculator app, so I always have to select it specifically (instead of just pressing Enter) - even though I might have never used the LibreOffice Calc on this computer. Can you make the LibreOffice Calc app lower priority in the Dash please. Thank y…

I think in GNOME it learns which one you use more frequently and have that first instead.

Re: Ask HN: Ubuntu Desktop Default Apps

#82

Post by dabockster » Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 5:06 PM UTC

I'm really looking forward to seeing how native GNOME will look with official Ubuntu support and not as a community flavor.

Anyways, here's my request list:

---------------------------------

Web Browser: Firefox, Vivaldi (people keep claiming it's open source, so look into it)

Email Client: Thunderbird

Terminal: GNOME default

IDE: LOL

(Serious answer is VSCode since it seems to be a nice in-between for a full IDE and a simple text editor)

File manager: Nautilus

Basic Text Editor: No preference

IRC/Messaging Client: HexChat

PDF Reader: No preference

Office Suite: LibreOffice

Calendar: Thunderbird, No preference

Video Player: VLC

Music Player: RhythmBox, Spotify (maybe just a downloader program - don't include the full install out of the box)

Photo Viewer: No preference

Screen recording: No preference

Games: Include Steam out of the box?

-------------------

This list also comes with the usual stuff like dump Systemd, continue working on MESA drivers/networking drivers/drivers in general, etc.

Hope to see some great stuff in 17.10!

Re: Ask HN: Ubuntu Desktop Default Apps

#83

Post by Sir_Substance » Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 5:09 PM UTC

I'd really like to ask for a "nothing, thanks" option.

The main reason I use xubuntu is because it offers a xubuntu-core package that comes with the desktop, apt and /nothing else/.

When I installed unity version of ubuntu, the install was always followed with about an hour of uninstalling shite I didn't care about. The new unity uninstall dialogue never worked correctly, and uninstalling 5 things in a row would cause it to lose track of what was installed and start duplicating entries. When I install a fresh system, I really want it to be fresh.

Re: Ask HN: Ubuntu Desktop Default Apps

#84

Post by Theodores » Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 5:09 PM UTC

A genuine long term Ubuntu fan, not used Windows since Vista. Happy with everything. Let's have a look at what I left behind:

Web Browser: IE6

Email Client: Outlook Express

Terminal: putty

IDE: MS Studio

File manager: Explorer

Basic Text Editor: Notepad

IRC/Messaging Client: Skype

PDF Reader: Adobe Acrobat

Office Suite: MS Office

Calendar: Outlook

Video Player: RealPlayer

Music Player: Winamp

Photo Viewer: Cracked copy of Photoshop

Screen recording: Print screen key

I don't use alternative programs to the above, I don't write Word docs or need to as communication has changed. I don't have an email client.

My point is that this list of defaults is stuck in the past, we use computers differently and need an updated list of default applications. There should be a default app for your phone and what happens when you plug it in. There should be built in IoT apps too, so your computer can be at the heart of gadgets you get for the home.

Re: Ask HN: Ubuntu Desktop Default Apps

#85

Post by dannysu » Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 5:09 PM UTC

brudgers wrote: post #3

What I want is no change unless there is a good reason to change. The internet voting for Browsey McBrowseface etc. is not, in my opinion, a good reason to change. There are things Canonical does well, I think. Those things are technical. When it comes to trying to be Microsoft/Apple/Google, it misses the mark. In part because it assumes that which PDF reader it ships with matters to users. Good luck.

Agree. It really doesn't matter to me what Ubuntu is shipped with. If they're going to spend anytime on this, why not just build a quickie wizard for installation to pick what you want?

A screen with selection of Chromium, Firefox, etc. With a default selected of course.

Users can breeze through it if they just want defaults.

Re: Ask HN: Ubuntu Desktop Default Apps

#86

Post by edelans » Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 5:10 PM UTC

===

Web Browser: Chrome, Firefox

Email Client: none

Terminal: default

IDE: Atom

File manager: nautilus

Basic Text Editor: nano

IRC/Messaging Client: none

PDF Reader: default

Office Suite: google apps

Calendar: none

Video Player: VLC

Music Player: Spotify, non-free

Photo Viewer: default

Screen recording: Kazam

===

Re: Ask HN: Ubuntu Desktop Default Apps

#87

Post by antouank » Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 5:12 PM UTC

===

Web Browser: Chromium

Email Client: Gmail web

Terminal: xfce4 terminal

IDE: neovim

File manager: Thunar

Basic Text Editor: neovim

IRC/Messaging Client: google hangouts web

PDF Reader: evince

Office Suite: LibreOffice

Calendar: google calendar

Video Player: vlc

Music Player: vlc

Photo Viewer: ristretto

Screen recording: xfce4 Screenshooter

===

Re: Ask HN: Ubuntu Desktop Default Apps

#88

Post by pksadiq » Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 5:14 PM UTC

sametmax wrote: post #28

Kostic wrote: post #20

Web Browser: Firefox Email Client: Thunderbird Terminal: Tilix[0], Gnome Terminal, IDE: Visual Studio Code (although it's not a fully fledged IDE) File manager: Nautilus Basic Text Editor: Gedit IRC/Messaging Client: Polari, HexChat PDF Reader: Evince Office Suite: LibreOffice Calendar: Gnome Calendar Video Player: Totem Music Player: Lollypop[1] Photo Viewer: Eye of Gnome Screen recording: Peek[2] [0] https://github…

Same but vlc for videos

Packaging media players like VLC, mpv, mplayer etc. may result in patent violations. And thus it would be hard to package those in Ubuntu iso images. The safer one might be Totem with gstreamer plugins.

Re: Ask HN: Ubuntu Desktop Default Apps

#89

Post by mazr » Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 5:14 PM UTC

Web Browser: Chromium

Email Client: None

Terminal: Gnome Terminal

IDE: None

File manager: Gnome default

Basic Text Editor: gedit

IRC/Messaging Client: None

PDF Reader: Gnome Default

Office Suite: None

Calendar: None

Video Player: VLC

Music Player: VLC

Photo Viewer: Gnome default

Screen recording: Gnome Default

Re: Ask HN: Ubuntu Desktop Default Apps

#90

Post by RealityDisorder » Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 5:15 PM UTC

Web Browser: Firefox, Chromium

Email Client: Thunderbird (altho would prefer a modern alternative)

Terminal: rxvt-unicode

IDE: IntelliJ family

File manager: ???

Basic Text Editor: vim

IRC/Messaging Client: irssi/pidgin

PDF Reader: Atril/xpdf

Office Suite: Abiword/Gnumeric

Calendar: Thunderbird + Lightning (altho would prefer a modern alternative)

Video Player: mpv

Music Player: deadbeef, Clementine

Photo Viewer: feh, eom

Screen recording: open broadcaster software