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The Joy of Linux Desktop Environments

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Re: The Joy of Linux Desktop Environments

#21

I wish one of the major Linux distributions would double down on design as a core priority (as in, bring in designers and give them serious pull). I'd kill for a beautiful, opinionated, and novel Linux desktop environment.

Check out elementary OS: https://elementary.io/

Re: The Joy of Linux Desktop Environments

#22

I wish one of the major Linux distributions would double down on design as a core priority (as in, bring in designers and give them serious pull). I'd kill for a beautiful, opinionated, and novel Linux desktop environment.

>as in, bring in designers

That's the mistake. You bring in UX experts (who also happened to understand your primary users)

Graphics design != UX

Re: The Joy of Linux Desktop Environments

#23

I wish one of the major Linux distributions would double down on design as a core priority (as in, bring in designers and give them serious pull). I'd kill for a beautiful, opinionated, and novel Linux desktop environment.

That appears to be the explicit goal of ElementaryOS:

https://elementary.io/

Personally not my cup of tea, but you might enjoy it.

Re: The Joy of Linux Desktop Environments

#25
One thing I noticed about installing multiple desktop environment on Ubuntu: they all have different default apps that are always installed. So when you have two desktop environments, you end up with 2 different terminals, 2 different file browsers, 2 different archive managers etc. You could uninstall apps that have the exact same purpose, but it would be nice if there was a formal way for DEs to recognize and acknowledge the existence of another DE.

Rant: When I first wrapped my head around the concept of a desktop environment, the first thought that came to mind was: why don't Microsoft and Apple abandon their proprietary OSes and just build and maintain a solid desktop environment for Linux and the BSDs. It would save them a ton of money, resources, developers, it would improve security. The major drawback was porting the apps written for their OSes to Linux and BSDs, which was a deal breaker. Then came the announcement of Windows subsystem for Linux, first thought: incredible engineering feat but MS did the exact opposite of what I would have wanted, which was a Linux subsystem for Windows. It would have solved the issue of porting Windows apps to Linux. Now I am beginning to realize that all decisions technical or not, are just ugly politics with nice explanations to make the decisions seem like the right thing to do.

Re: The Joy of Linux Desktop Environments

#27
post #15
post #4

For all interested, there is a really nice thread on reddit for showing off your desktop configuration [1]. There really are some master-pieces there. 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn/

Pretty really isn't the problem and hasn't been for a very long time. You can make Linux IMHO prettier than a Mac or Windows pretty easily. The problem is having to tinker. Tinkering is fine if you've got the time and enjoy it, but if you just need your computer to always "just work" this is a problem. Both Linux and Windows strike out for me here. I use a Mac because I almost never have to mess with it... I mean som…

I'm not sure why you think you "have to tinker". I run Ubuntu 14.04 and use i3 window manager. I haven't "tinkered" with the setup in about a year-and-a-half, dating back to when I installed i3 shortly after I got the my last computer. The default Unity DE is nice, too. I don't use it, but I could have used it all this time, can't imagine what "tinkering" would be required.

Re: The Joy of Linux Desktop Environments

#28

Edit: Can the downvoter explain their reason? My personal favorite is the LXDE / Lubuntu 16.04 setup. All my subjective opinion, of course: - Sits in the sweet spot for bare bones distro vs batteries included. - Without decorations, I have essentially borderless applications, that I can quickly toggle the titlebars etc. - Kept sane keyboard shortcuts and did not remove them for some arbitrary reasons. Here's a random…

I hear LXDE was superseded by LXQt. http://lxqt.org

Re: The Joy of Linux Desktop Environments

#29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well the idea is supposedly that if you get your DE/WM just the way you want it, you can be more productive. Various people have a love for tiling WMs because they can navigate and organize things with the keyboard.

> get your DE/WM just the way you want it, you can be more productive Does that ever actually occur? My vimrc changes almost on a daily basis, and I'm frequently changing plugins, writing new tools, and creating new aliases all time time. And that's just for my terminal. Having to repeat some of those modifications 3-4 times because I'm using a slightly different terminal app for each individual task would, I think,…

> Does that ever actually occur? My vimrc changes almost on a daily basis, and I'm frequently changing plugins, writing new tools, and creating new aliases all time time. And that's just for my terminal.

Don't take it the wrong way, but that sounds like a personal problem ;-)

If I were changing my configuration files that often, I would start looking for an environment that worked better for me.

My config editing is approximately logarithmic. There's a bunch when I start using new software (or start using old software in a new environment), but it slows down quickly as time goes by. Nowadays, I might make a big change to my .emacs once a year, and maybe tweak a variable or keyboard shortcut once every 3 months or so, but generally it doesn't change much. Same with all my other config files.

Re: The Joy of Linux Desktop Environments

#30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well the idea is supposedly that if you get your DE/WM just the way you want it, you can be more productive. Various people have a love for tiling WMs because they can navigate and organize things with the keyboard.

> get your DE/WM just the way you want it, you can be more productive Does that ever actually occur? My vimrc changes almost on a daily basis, and I'm frequently changing plugins, writing new tools, and creating new aliases all time time. And that's just for my terminal. Having to repeat some of those modifications 3-4 times because I'm using a slightly different terminal app for each individual task would, I think,…

>Having to repeat some of those modifications 3-4 times because I'm using a slightly different terminal app for each individual task would, I think, drive me batty.

I have no idea what you're talking about. What are these "slightly different terminal apps"?

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