Elementary OS • Hacker News Board

Re: Elementary OS

#41

Post by keithpeter » Tue, Jul 19, 2011, 8:37 PM UTC

tejaswiy wrote: post #3

Hmm, it looks beautiful and I really don't want to be a detractor, but with the iPad, I don't really see anyone needing a minimalist desktop OS anymore.

There are quite a few light linuxes around: AntiX, SliTaz, Crunchbang. Good for older hardware (like what you can get for £50 or $50 down the local charity shop) and cheap no name ARM based laptops (ARM Ubuntu is in development).

Re: Elementary OS

#42

Post by keithpeter » Tue, Jul 19, 2011, 8:40 PM UTC

drivingmenuts wrote: post #32

tejaswiy wrote: post #3

Hmm, it looks beautiful and I really don't want to be a detractor, but with the iPad, I don't really see anyone needing a minimalist desktop OS anymore.

My thought is that it makes a good jumping-off point to build a personal programming-focused system, as long as it doesn't include Open Office or any of the other junk that comes on a standard Ubuntu desktop install.

Have a look at AntiX base - essentially command line Debian 6 with the MEPIS kernel and non-free drivers.

Re: Elementary OS

#43

Post by natesm » Tue, Jul 19, 2011, 8:43 PM UTC

scythe wrote: post #40

One of the really cool things about this is the readily available links to descriptions of the core applications. Easily the best-designed distro website I've ever seen. The bad news: branding collisions galore: The 'e' looks way too much like enlightenment's 'e', and enlightenment already has a project called elementary -- http://trac.enlightenment.org/e/wiki/Elementary The design of the whole bloody thing looks exa…

That isn't really that strange: http://developer.gnome.org/hig-book/

Re: Elementary OS

#44

Post by streptomycin » Tue, Jul 19, 2011, 8:56 PM UTC

tejaswiy wrote: post #28

klez wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, then I can't use my computer anymore... Do you REALLY think desktop OSes are dead? Well, think again :)

I'm not saying the Desktop OS is dead. I'm saying the only reason why you'd use a desktop OS is for complicated tasks like designing / programming / gaming / spreadsheets where this kind of power is needed. This OS looks very minimalistic. The only functions I can see are web browsing, e-mail and pictures. It's even called Elementary OS. I just feel an iPad can replace all the features that this particular OS offers…

Just because I'm a programmer doesn't mean I want my computer to be needlessly complex. Elementary is based on Ubuntu, so you can do anything with it. It just has a core set of apps that are designed for usability.

Re: Elementary OS

#45

Post by keithpeter » Tue, Jul 19, 2011, 8:59 PM UTC

rglover wrote: post #16

Love the UI on this. I did a light dig through the docs but does it offer networking support? Would love to use this on my currently Windows box to host files.

I'm posting from Elementary OS using the live CD. As others have said, its Ubuntu with a simpler GUI. So you get networking, hardware detection, restricted drivers (i.e. it installs the nvidia binary drivers for the graphics card on this old Pundit desktop) same as Ubuntu. But it isn't 'light' on memory!

Re: Elementary OS

#46

Post by matmann2001 » Tue, Jul 19, 2011, 9:03 PM UTC

Looks like Ubuntu, with Apple's marketing scheme.

Re: Elementary OS

#47

Post by smcl » Tue, Jul 19, 2011, 9:43 PM UTC

blackguardx wrote: post #39

smcl wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, the Safari logo in particular does it for me as they've attempted to make it look ever so slightly different ("Nooo, see this one's green and the compass dial is pointing at a TOTALLY different angle"). Just reminds me of the rather awful OS X-like skins you see for Winamp or basically any skinnable application. Bleh

Yeah, but didn't Apple just copy the Netscape Navigator theme for their Safari icon?

Which part of the theme? The netscape navigator icon was just a circular logo with a big "N" and the icon for the old Communicator browser was a Lighthouse - which is only vaguely related in a nautical\navigatey sort of way

Re: Elementary OS

#48

Post by btilly » Tue, Jul 19, 2011, 9:47 PM UTC

smcl wrote: post #47

blackguardx wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but didn't Apple just copy the Netscape Navigator theme for their Safari icon?

Which part of the theme? The netscape navigator icon was just a circular logo with a big "N" and the icon for the old Communicator browser was a Lighthouse - which is only vaguely related in a nautical\navigatey sort of way

The old navigator icon had a steering wheel in it. See http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/7038.gif for the image.

Over time they simplified it.

Re: Elementary OS

#49

Post by dgreensp » Tue, Jul 19, 2011, 10:26 PM UTC

This website's bizarre mix of imitation and over-explaining reminds me of some earnest but vacuous manual for a foreign knock-off product.

"Press the File menu," I expect it to say, "and a beautiful pull-down fades quickly into view, with useful functions such as New Folder and Close."

Too bad Apple patented calling an address book "Address Book," I guess they'll just have to do their best with nonsense names.

Re: Elementary OS

#50

Post by eropple » Tue, Jul 19, 2011, 10:36 PM UTC

scythe wrote: post #40

One of the really cool things about this is the readily available links to descriptions of the core applications. Easily the best-designed distro website I've ever seen. The bad news: branding collisions galore: The 'e' looks way too much like enlightenment's 'e', and enlightenment already has a project called elementary -- http://trac.enlightenment.org/e/wiki/Elementary The design of the whole bloody thing looks exa…

That people don't think about human interface guidelines because it's open source software is alarming as all hell.