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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

#281

Post by berkes »

peteretep wrote: post #212
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)

Does it sleep nicely on closing the lid?

My system76, with vanilla Ubuntu LTS does this perfectly for years. As did my thinkpad before this and the thinkpad before that. Always Ubuntu LTS, without big modifications.

The last time I had 'sleep' issues was with MySQL crashing when it woke up, and it found the os time changed without its internal clock moving forward. IIRC that was over ten years ago.

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

#282

Post by Lio »

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #152
coned88 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weird argument. Because I have given Linux systems to the elderly before. People with little to no experience with computers. Guess what they were all fine. My mother was a long time windows user. Kept getting viruses. She was converted to Ubuntu and has used it for over a decade now without issue. Linux is far easier for people than you think. My mother is a senior citizen now and this is her second computer. The UI…

What you call silly others might call "fit and finish". Or simply "doing an adequate job". With a kitchen if there were a few mm difference in height between wall unit cupboards, or wall sockets, it would not affect your use of the kitchen one iota. Yet everyone would likely notice such an amateur and slapdash job and employ a different contractor for their own home. Same with the difference between a table made by a…

Yeah I notice the little touches such as Bluetooth on/off toggling. On the Mac when I reboot it’s in the same state as I left it. On Ubuntu it resets to on unless I edit a text file.

Over all that may not be a big thing but it does illustrate one of the rough edges.

(macOS has its own warts too of course. Such as not having keyboard shortcuts for split view or weird little pop up windows you can’t close without a mouse.)

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

#283

Post by z3t4 »

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…

It seems your designer friend has occupational injury, eg she is trained to spot those issues, but it can give problems in real life, where not everything is perfectly aligned.

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

#284

Post by culturedsystems »

jacobush wrote: post #260
ryanmarsh wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks I was staring at the code examples trying to figure out which language it was. Some of the examples looked like C# but then some I could have swore were C++. Took me a minute.

Vala is to me the Dutch of programming languages. A fine language. When I hear it I first "know" it's English, then I know it's Danish, then I "know" it's German. Which is when I realise is has to be Dutch. But should I learn Dutch? Even though it's a fine language? Maybe I'm better off learning English and German first. And French. Dutch, and Vala, are too niche. I wish ElementaryOS, would, in probably this order, w…

The gobject system that underlies Vala is a language agnostic mechanism. Vala also produces gobject introspection information, so bindings can be automatically generated for many languages, including Python and Ruby. Obviously, that doesn't solve the problem of Vala being a barrier to entry for developers wanting to work on Elementary's core apps.

(I once offended some Dutch friends of mine by calling Dutch "German with a Geordie accent," although when you get down to it, "German with a Geordie accent" pretty much describes English, too.)

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

#285

Post by jacobush »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #270
jacobush wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vala is to me the Dutch of programming languages. A fine language. When I hear it I first "know" it's English, then I know it's Danish, then I "know" it's German. Which is when I realise is has to be Dutch. But should I learn Dutch? Even though it's a fine language? Maybe I'm better off learning English and German first. And French. Dutch, and Vala, are too niche. I wish ElementaryOS, would, in probably this order, w…

used ObjectiveC instead of Vala Or Swift?

It wasn't a thing then, but sure. Today they should definitely jump on that bandwagon. In fact, today there may be a second chance to do right.

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

#286

Post by Already__Taken »

virtualritz wrote: post #224
andrepd wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you comparing Elementary OS with a version of Linux Mint that's at least 5 years old? Especially when they had such a big design shift in the last year or two. Up-to-date screenshot (still with the "old" theme Mint-X, but actually Mint-Y (based on arc) is the default as of the latest version): https://linuxmint.com/pictures/screenshots/serena/gallery/5.... The choice isn't between ugly and Elementary. It's a…

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 just tried installing fedora with only a keyboard. The tab orders are nonsensical and the active item effect is just about imperceptible.

Better than last year I tried it where I couldn't even get past the timezone selection.

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

#287

Post by thekelvinliu »

black-tea wrote: post #274
solarmist wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ach…

i agree with you about the plumber. it doesn't matter. but imo that example is not really an analogous situation. what if your instrument was always out of tune? or if a member of your ensemble couldn't keep time? i bet that would prevent you from making a record or being productive otherwise as a musician.

as a full time developer and someone who does notice these little things, i care a lot about good design and visual polish. in order to get my work done, i have to use these interfaces for hours on end, after all. if it doesn't particularly bother you, hey that's great. even if not intentional, this and your original comment come off as a bit disparaging, so that reply isn't terribly off base.

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

#288

Post by mAritz »

Lio wrote: post #273
andy_ppp wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I'm running the same laptop with Manjaro and do not have any trackpad issues. So either you're right and there is some driver issue on your system or maybe it's a hardware issue.

Only problem I've encountered so far is that if I unplug my usb/hdmi/ethernet hub while it's in standby then X crashes as soon as I wake it.

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

#289

Post by Lio »

microtonal wrote: post #252
truncate wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've Dell XPS 13 4k display and its perfect for single screen (or if all your screen have same resolution). The only issue is when you are using multiple screen, it wont scale properly, i.e. stuff on one screen would look unproportionally larger or smaller. Yes you can use `xrandr --scale` or something on particular screen, but it just spins my CPU like crazy and makes fonts blurry. So if I've to use multiple screen,…

I've Dell XPS 13 4k display and its perfect for single screen (or if all your screen have same resolution). The only issue is when you are using multiple screen, it wont scale properly, i.e. stuff on one screen would look unproportionally larger or smaller. Mixed DPI screens work fine on Wayland.

Has screenshare support been added yet? That’s what’s currently keeping me off Wayland.

Last time I used wayland (on Ubuntu 17.10) I had to install a terminal plug for Chrome (still didn’t work in Chromium) and then tmux attach from there.

Hopefully it’s only a mater of time till that is fixed if it isn’t already.

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

#290

Post by Lio »

mAritz wrote: post #288
Lio wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I'm running the same laptop with Manjaro and do not have any trackpad issues. So either you're right and there is some driver issue on your system or maybe it's a hardware issue. Only problem I've encountered so far is that if I unplug my usb/hdmi/ethernet hub while it's in standby then X crashes as soon as I wake it.

Thanks, I might give Manjaro a go. This is an evaluation machine for me so switching distos is not a real pain currently.

Out of interest what trackpad driver does xinput report running for you?

Mine is a Dell07E6. I’ve wondered about switching to the older Synaptic one.

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