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Lobotomizing Gnome

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Re: Lobotomizing Gnome

#201

Post by brightball »

Jerry2 wrote: post #161
keyle wrote: post #3

I recently switched to Linux (from Windows 10 - forced upgrade took 45' in the middle of an extremely important moment) Debian netinstall + Mate desktop (Gnome 2/3 extension?) I expected to switch back within a week. Surprisingly, I love it. After a few tweaks and Nvidia drivers installed, it's way better than I expected. Super fast, minimal, and no annoyances. Linux desktop really has improved in the last 20 years,…

I used MATE for about a year and then switched to Cinnamon because of some issues I've had with MATE. I find Cinnamon the best DE for Linux. It has the best UI, shortcuts and the best file manager. As for GNOME, it's way too dumbed-down. You have to find and install dozens of extensions to have a decent desktop.

Same. I have really enjoyed Cinnamon after taking a spin with everything.

Anxiously awaiting the Mint 19 update with all of the new Cinnamon work too.

Re: Lobotomizing Gnome

#202

Post by reitanqild »

amiga-workbench wrote: post #190
magduf wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see lots of comments like this. What I want to know is: if you have this kind of complaint about Gnome, why do you keep using it? There's a bunch of different desktop environments for Linux. KDE works pretty well, and if that doesn't suit you, I've been finding Xfce is quite speedy for me on my work machine. This isn't like Windows where you're stuck with it if you need that OS for its applications.

Because Gnome is in a league of its own in the UI tastefulness and general UX department. I like that they are a little opinionated regarding how you use it, in practise that leaves you with a visually tidy and tight desktop environment. KDE just does not look nice (in my opinion at least), the proportions are weird, menus are too cluttered, it feels like somebody has been throwing widgets at the wall to see what sti…

Which KDE distros and versions are you referring to?

I liked 3 and I like 5 (the current). I never liked Kubuntu though.

Mandrake (later Mandriva) used to make a beautiful desktop and I also find Neon excellent.

Then again: I'm not really a designer and I'm partially colorblind like many other men for what I know others might find it ugly.

Re: Lobotomizing Gnome

#203

Post by jamesgeck0 »

gkya wrote: post #173
laumars wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You will run into problems like that on any platform. Want to do a "quick" Windows Update? OK, let's just schedule in 2 hours of downtime. What about OS X packages that aren't in the app store - sure lots of solutions exist but none are without their occasional problems. While package management is a solved problem (well, on all platforms outside of Windows that is), that doesn't mean that occasional issues will not…

Add to that that you can work while the update is being downloaded and applied; and in the very few occasions where reboot is absolutely inevitable (I have never had such a situation since many years; even the new kernel can wait until I'm done with my things and ready to reboot to bring it online), it's just a reboot, nothing more. With Windows 10, it just blocks you with a screen that has a message telling "I'm doi…

While I don't love Window Update's behavior, that particular major update was released about a month ago. Your brother has been postponing it for weeks.

Re: Lobotomizing Gnome

#204

Post by tomc1985 »

probably_wrong wrote: post #76
keyle wrote: post #3

I recently switched to Linux (from Windows 10 - forced upgrade took 45' in the middle of an extremely important moment) Debian netinstall + Mate desktop (Gnome 2/3 extension?) I expected to switch back within a week. Surprisingly, I love it. After a few tweaks and Nvidia drivers installed, it's way better than I expected. Super fast, minimal, and no annoyances. Linux desktop really has improved in the last 20 years,…

Long time Mate user here. The "problem" with Mate is that it just works. I interact with Windows and OSX daily, and I have yet to find a feature that makes me thing "I wish my desktop environment could do this". Mate gets out of my way and lets me work. In other words, it's boring. There's nothing new and shiny to be excited about, because it's as good as it gets. I left Gnome 3 because I was tired of visual effects…

I found Cinammon to feel slightly laggier than MATE. So MATE it is

Re: Lobotomizing Gnome

#205

Post by magduf »

Brometheus wrote: post #9
twblalock wrote: post #2

Open-source desktops are never perfect for anyone, but everyone expects them to be. For everyone who says they are too bloated, someone else says they are too spartan. That's probably why there are so many of them. I would expect working on Gnome (or KDE or Cinnamon or Mate or XFCE or LXDE, the list goes on) to be a thankless task. You try to please everybody and yet please nobody. The imperfections of Linux desktops…

I tried to switch to Linux for philosophical and customization reasons. Found it nearly impossible to configure stuff reliably and such it wont crash in new interesting ways. For example: Create a new keyboard layout and have it appear in KDE keyboard settings. Good luck. Input Manager for macOS: done.

That's funny, I've been using Dvorak on KDE since probably around 1998. Works fine.

Re: Lobotomizing Gnome

#206

Post by magduf »

chriswarbo wrote: post #51
pjmlp wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And UI/UX designers work happily and feel welcome on Windows and Mac OS systems, which are what everyone non-technical buys anyway.

> UI/UX designers work happily and feel welcome on Windows and Mac OS systems Could you elaborate on what you mean by "feel welcome"? AFAIK neither of those systems is open to contributors: if a UI/UX designer wanted to improve some aspect of the design, they're either limited to whatever config/theming the company decided to allow, or they must go and convince the company of their idea (especially sales, marketing,…

If a project is too toxic, there's nothing stopping you from forking it and making your own version. Just look at Cinnamon and MATE.

Can't do that with commercial software.

Re: Lobotomizing Gnome

#207

Post by MLij »

JamesMcMinn wrote: post #26

The author wants to remove JavaScript from their desktop and does this by disabling all extensions in the hope that it will also disable Gnomes JavaScript engine. What the author does not appear to understand is that extensions are written in JavaScript because Gnome shell is written in JavaScript. Gnome works very well for my workflow, and I find much of the "bloat" to be quite useful in day to day usage, but can un…

And he sets /org/gnome/shell/disable-user-extensions to false which means he enables extensions. I think these kind of options should be called something like /org/gnome/shell/ENable-user-extensions to avoid mistakes like this.

Re: Lobotomizing Gnome

#208

Post by nisa »

cryptonector wrote: post #165
FrozenVoid wrote: post #115

This mentality "lets add a daemon to run in background 24/7" to provide some service thats sits mostly unused is unacceptable. Its not only gnome developers, its widespread in open-source. The competitive edge of Linux is reduced quite a bit when there is enough bloatware running around by default.

If such a daemon does not use cycles unless called out to, then the only problem is that it's one more attack vector. Oh wait.

not sure if it's still a thing but akonadi / baloo on kde manages to even saturate slower sata-ssd random io and fills a mysql database. Lot's of fun if you have several kernel tree / buildroots laying around in your home. baloo also really likes to segfault when parsing content and is not sandboxed afaik.

I really like KDE but this part is sadly a good in theory but pure pita in practice.

Re: Lobotomizing Gnome

#209

Post by mixmastamyk »

lokedhs wrote: post #180
mixmastamyk wrote: post #172

Hmm, author doesn't seem to know about dconf-editor to explore available settings. That reminds me of why I despise much of what gnome3 has produced however. Instead of improving the applets and file manager and adding to their anemic feature set, they are constantly fucking around with the title bars and removing menus and things. For the same reason I hated 'skinz' in the 90's I dislike that every app is now a cust…

As someone who heavily uses the super key in Emacs, I disagree with you. It's getting pretty difficult to turn off that feature (is it even possible in recent versions of Gnome?). Also, the Super-o shortcut to lock screen rotation (on a compute, really?) is hardcoded in the window manager and can't be disabled at all. That's really great when you have APL symbols mapped to it.

Thought emacs used Ctrl?

I use Mate, though gnome3 has infected many of the apps, such as the two mentioned above. Think you have to enable super-search by opting in to one of the advance start menus under it.

Re: Lobotomizing Gnome

#210

Post by superflyguy »

digi_owl wrote: post #147
baud147258 wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you block the download of updates via setting the wi-fi as a metered connection.

Not sure if that trick works any more in recent updates.

Yeah I think you're sort of missing the point if you think it's acceptable to have to keep up with this season's registry hacks or hex edit a DLL or whatever so you can play a game or do your job.
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