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Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS

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Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS

#271

Post by dymk »

michaelmrose wrote: post #245
virtualritz wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's almost as bad 5 years later then. - icons on task bar too low - icons on task bar vertically not aligned - task icons different size than pinned icons on task bar - task text vertically aligned too high - icons stylistically not matched - system icons unreadable (badly designed, all look the same, don't convey purpose adequately) - task bar icons on right are vertically all over the place - task bar mini icons s…

Please define "make all the difference".

"it makes a difference" or "it matters"

Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS

#272

Post by keithpeter »

petepete wrote: post #258
jammygit wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imho, gnome is quite nice. I think I'm in the minority maybe but I would be pretty sad if gnome went away one day (or had another memory leak/slowdown issue)

The mostly-silent majority. KDE has some nice features but under the shiny screenshot it's still a disorganised and inconsistent jumble. GNOME gets out of your way and lets you get on with your work. Customising every last detail isn't necessary to be productive, and if it is a DE isn't for you anyway.

Also Gnome is keyboard driven to a large degree. I used dwm/dmenu for quite a time then went back to the default DE which was Gnome and it felt similar (small screen by the way so not too many tiled windows in dwm)

Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS

#273

Post by Lio »

andy_ppp wrote: post #176
dnautics wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have run exclusively Linux and mostly on laptops for 15 years and it's been about 10 years since I have had problems with packages clashing, except for python pip. (I don't use python though)

Can you give us details of laptop and distribution used? Seems hardware is still difficult i.e. trackpads, WiFi, screen resolution, external displays, etc.

I’m on an XPS 13 9370. I like the idea of a Thinkpad but I wanted a laptop that came sold with Linux hence the Dell.

So far hardware support seems pretty good. Not sure my Ubuntu 18.10 install is getting the most out of the GPU but everything works including Bluetooth audio and suspend.

The only issues I have are with the trackpad and the silly keyboard layout.

Trackpad: it’s small, a bit twitchy and not sensitive at the edges when moving inwards but is moving outwards. Driver issue I think.

Keyboard: who thought it was a good idea to split the left and right keys with PgUp and PgDown? Someone who doesn’t touch type would be my bet. The old layout was better.

I think of it as a replacement for an 11” MacBook Air as it’s about the same size but with a 13” screen and a quad-core i7.

Oh also, I got a 4K display and that was a mistake. Raw terminal text is tiny and Gnome currently doesn’t mix monitor resolutions very well. So dual screening with a 1440 monitor is not easy. Ordering again I’d get FHD instead.

Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS

#274

Post by black-tea »

solarmist wrote: post #259
black-tea wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's more that you are trying to see these things while other people use computers to do work.

So everyone with an eye for design doesn't do work? Anyways anyone that has trained their eyes (which allows extremely technical visual skills to be developed, not just "art") to actually see what their eye is transmitting to them and not just interpreting it will immediately notice these kinds of things. It's like saying to them stop looking at letters if you're trying to read. If this sounds like gibberish try this…

I'm a trained musician but I'm not going to complain when my plumber doesn't quite sing in tune. It just doesn't matter. I have a pretty well-trained eye for typography too, but when the choice is between systems that are free, fast, privacy-respecting, and functional and systems that are pretty but completely out of my control I'm never going to choose the latter.

I'm not sure what posts like yours are trying to achieve. Are you just complaining about how nobody has managed to make something that is free and perfectly well "designed"? If so, why not try to do something about it rather than complain? You'd probably make a lot of people happy if you did. To me it seems more like you are saying that your priorities are with superficial design rather than anything actually relating to work, hence my original comment.

Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS

#275

Post by black-tea »

zapzupnz wrote: post #230
virtualritz wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's almost as bad 5 years later then. - icons on task bar too low - icons on task bar vertically not aligned - task icons different size than pinned icons on task bar - task text vertically aligned too high - icons stylistically not matched - system icons unreadable (badly designed, all look the same, don't convey purpose adequately) - task bar icons on right are vertically all over the place - task bar mini icons s…

I'm inclined to agree. The design is fine, functionally, but there's a certain harmony missing from it and most Linux desktops (even elementaryOS') that makes them feel like using toys rather than proper desktops. Mind you, I say that as a macOS user (although I did run Linux full-time for a good six years in a past life), and I'm sure many a Linux user will call the macOS interface toy-like to their eyes. Even thoug…

> makes them feel like using toys rather than proper desktops.

Fascinating. I consider systems like Android, Windoze and MacOS to be like toys for the same reason: superficially beautiful, but not actually a good tool for work.

Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS

#276

Post by davestephens »

pmarreck wrote: post #254
peteretep wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it sleep nicely on closing the lid?

OK why is MacOS still the ONLY OS that executes this flawlessly and smoothly every single time no matter what is running?

It's not?

Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS

#277

Post by chris_wot »

nobody271 wrote: post #204
zwaps wrote: post #81

Some of the comments here feel weird. Elementary OS has picked a specific niche, and its arguably the best distribution in it. It has a really well designed and consistent UI experience, and you can't break it. I think most of you just don't realize how difficult linux is for people who barely understand how to use a Mac or Windows machine. Furthermore, linux is a world where mainstream distributions still release wi…

I don't think Linux will e... okay, probably ever, be a replacement for Windows or MacOS. Linux is Linux no matter how you dress it up. The first time a non-crazy person has to decompress and unpack a .tar.gz to install a program that usually comes in a .msi they're done. Forget about the fact that they'll be running down dependencies and the programs themselves don't usually work as good. What is the benefit they ge…

When was the last time you used a Linux distro? I haven't unzipped and tarred a file to compile a program in a long time. Everything you need to get on something like Ubuntu you can get from a GUI.

I honestly see very little about your argument that is constructive, and in fact "It's not even Linux under the hood. It is Linux." makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS

#278

Post by gregknicholson »

pmarreck wrote: post #254
peteretep wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it sleep nicely on closing the lid?

OK why is MacOS still the ONLY OS that executes this flawlessly and smoothly every single time no matter what is running?

I've been using macOS at work for a few weeks now, and I'm surprised at how buggy it is.

Sometimes it just refuses to wake from sleep, and I don't understand why. I used Linux on an Apple laptop for years and didn't have this problem.

Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS

#279

Post by Lio »

keithpeter wrote: post #272
petepete wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The mostly-silent majority. KDE has some nice features but under the shiny screenshot it's still a disorganised and inconsistent jumble. GNOME gets out of your way and lets you get on with your work. Customising every last detail isn't necessary to be productive, and if it is a DE isn't for you anyway.

Also Gnome is keyboard driven to a large degree. I used dwm/dmenu for quite a time then went back to the default DE which was Gnome and it felt similar (small screen by the way so not too many tiled windows in dwm)

Yes that’s what attracts me to Gnome too. The keyboard shortcuts are enough for me to be productive without being fully tile based.

If I could just get terminal shortcuts like ctrl-w for delete word or Ctrl-m for return to work in Firefox text fields it would be perfect for me.

Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS

#280

Post by jarcane »

coned88 wrote: post #210
driverdan wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You haven't tried running it on a laptop then.

I don't understand. I run linux on an IBM Thinkpad T40 for the better part of a decade.Then I moved to a Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon which also runs Ubuntu fine. IN fact installing linux takes at most 20 min and I am done. Drivers and everything are all automatic. Windows on the other hand can take hours to install from scratch. God forbid you need a service pack or to find a driver that's not easily found anymore. Peo…

That's because it's a Thinkpad. The T-series had been the Red Hat company issue laptop for years, and has had boatloads of internal support as a result.

You're right in that a Thinkpad will mostly work out of the box long as you don't want that Nvidia GPU to work, but everyone else? Good luck. My XPS 15 was a lost cause, losing three quarters of it's battery life under Linux and with countless video problems.

And on a desktop? Hah! Roll the dice baby, and keep rolling them with every update, because sooner or later something's going to break. It always does.

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