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Make Linux look like Windows 95

lunduke.substack.com

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Re: Make Linux look like Windows 95

#11

Post by assttoasstmgr »

jp0d wrote: post #2

Can anyone think of a reason why to do this? Apart from personal fun project, of course!

Because we hit peak desktop right around Windows 2000. Just about everything since then has been a step backwards in speed and usability.

The Mac Finder is a hot mess and seems to get worse with every release.

The 964 different desktops available for Linux are in general a hodgepodge of slow impossible-to-use disasters. A notable exception is XFCE but it's a bit of a second-class citizen and even things in XFCE don't work well. (Example: network configuration, you need to be logged in as root to use this applet.)

Edit: I would like to point out that the Win2k desktop was blazing fast on a machine with 256MB of RAM. I can't get Debian to install on a machine with less than 512MB without complaining.

Re: Make Linux look like Windows 95

#12

Post by sys_64738 »

Donald wrote: post #8
jp0d wrote: post #2

Can anyone think of a reason why to do this? Apart from personal fun project, of course!

The 90s were a decade of unbridled American power and optimism. The Soviet union had crumbled and the world was America's oyster. This week's events will cause a resurgence in 90s nostalgia in the West.

If the best we could do was Win95 then that explains the decline in American imperialism.

Re: Make Linux look like Windows 95

#13

Post by userbinator »

This with WINE is what I think is the perfect combination of GUI and CLI... but as a long-time Windows user, several things stood out and made it look slightly off:

    the menu bar and padding around the icon labels is too tall
    the window borders are slightly too wide (compared to the default)
    scrollbar buttons shouldn't disable at end of travel
    sort direction indicator in header control (which first appeared in Win2k) should be a grey triangle, not a black arrow
    "KiB" and "GiB"
    font has some weird keming in some places
Nonetheless, this is a lot closer lookalike than some of the others I've seen, such as this one:

https://kmandla.wordpress.com/projects/lookalike-windows-xp-...

Re: Make Linux look like Windows 95

#14

Post by kwertyoowiyop »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #10
jp0d wrote: post #2

Can anyone think of a reason why to do this? Apart from personal fun project, of course!

Because that desktop is honestly clearer and faster to understand that today's chromeless trends. Buttons look like buttons, and text boxes are obvious.

And there is just enough whitespace. Not waaayyyyy toooooo muuuuccchhh.

And there’s consistency. Not eight generations of UI redesigns for each control.

And you can actually tell which window has the focus.

Re: Make Linux look like Windows 95

#15

Post by prvc »

jp0d wrote: post #2

Can anyone think of a reason why to do this? Apart from personal fun project, of course!

Both a more efficient use of screen space (at least, compared to the default themes of XFCE, crucially, but also KDE, GNOME, and others), and an aesthetically better visual design. I am surprised to have just written this latter observation, considering this came from Microsoft, but I suppose the era when it was designed demanded it, both as a result of the lower screen resolutions used, and the the contemporary marketing needs for the release of Windows 95.

Re: Make Linux look like Windows 95

#16

Post by cookiengineer »

jonpalmisc wrote: post #4

I’ve used this before and it’s quite good; it not only captures the “old Windows” look well, but I find it to be quite functional too. I was frustrated trying to get my Linux box to look “pretty”, since I find that most GTK and DE themes lack attention to detail that is glaringly obvious to a trained eye. My solution was to take the “scorched Earth” approach: make my UI look as primitive as possible rather than aimin…

Did you try the arc-dark theme? It's quite popular among archlinux users, and I think it looks pretty polished. [1]

I'm no design expert, so I got nothing to say in terms of UI/UX. But it's the theme I've grown most comfortable with to use over the years. I agree with your sentiment that most themes lack attention to detail, where everything looks just more cluttered than anything else (especially when taking a look at icons, fonts etc).

[1] https://github.com/horst3180/arc-theme

Re: Make Linux look like Windows 95

#17

Post by charles_f »

deutschewelle wrote: post #6

Love love these nostalgic takes, reminds me of this Windows 98 demo in a 3D simulation I recently came across. There is a real demand for 90s aesthetics https://twitter.com/PCBANGio/status/1493850712471527426

Fun enough that reminds me of the smell in the computer room in our house.

Re: Make Linux look like Windows 95

#18

Post by HDMI_Cable »

I'll be the first to say the unpopular take on HN: I don't think Windows 95 looks that good (compared to today).

I personally find more modern (like MacOS 10) styles to look the best, and flat designs to be just as usable as more skeumorphic ones.

It seems to me that preference for UI styles is completely personal, probably being influenced by what OS we initially used. As someone (potentially a lot) younger than many of those on HN, I like newer designs, and vice versa holds as well.

Re: Make Linux look like Windows 95

#19

Post by debo_ »

HDMI_Cable wrote: post #18

I'll be the first to say the unpopular take on HN: I don't think Windows 95 looks that good (compared to today). I personally find more modern (like MacOS 10) styles to look the best, and flat designs to be just as usable as more skeumorphic ones. It seems to me that preference for UI styles is completely personal, probably being influenced by what OS we initially used. As someone (potentially a lot) younger than man…

No post body was provided.

Re: Make Linux look like Windows 95

#20

Post by grishka »

assttoasstmgr wrote: post #11
jp0d wrote: post #2

Can anyone think of a reason why to do this? Apart from personal fun project, of course!

Because we hit peak desktop right around Windows 2000. Just about everything since then has been a step backwards in speed and usability. The Mac Finder is a hot mess and seems to get worse with every release. The 964 different desktops available for Linux are in general a hodgepodge of slow impossible-to-use disasters. A notable exception is XFCE but it's a bit of a second-class citizen and even things in XFCE don't…

IMO the last decently desktop version of Windows was 7. After that, it was utterly ruined by the existence of touchscreens and Microsoft's insistence that they're the next big thing in computers.

My main issue with current macOS is the combined toolbars and titles, including in finder. There's too much padding but then everything feels unnecessarily cramped. My second issue with modern macOS is their new icon system where literally nothing is aligned to the pixel grid. But there's still a surprising amount of dense UIs — I guess it helps that Apple has a clear separation between touch (iPad) and non-touch (Mac) product lines.

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