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Make Apps for Linux

makealinux.app

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Re: Make Apps for Linux

#31

Post by Kalanos »

garrisonhh wrote: post #25
Kalanos wrote: post #14

I recently switched from Mac to Linux so that I can use beefy refurbished machines as my daily driver. I've installed Linux on lots of different machines previously, but this time it's not just a hobby. Ubuntu has great support for my hardware and peripherals, but the app store feels unfinished and forced. Pretty much everything works as expected. I'm interested in checking out Mint (also Debian) and Arch, but it fee…

There is almost nothing written for ubuntu that won't work on arch or really most current distros. When I ran arch I did have to get familiar with assumptions people make due to ubuntu, but this would never be more than patching a config file or configuring some environment variable. And those are useful and transferable skills.

hmm. thanks for sharing. that's the kind of stuff I don't want to do though. i already have my own software to write and use a wide array of tools. i can't afford to lose a morning on that kind of stuff. plus i want to be able to tear down and rebuild without a ton of custom config

Re: Make Apps for Linux

#32

Post by Gualdrapo »

beebmam wrote: post #26
rubymamis wrote: post #20

The problem is OSS software not even trying to compete with the market. People using OSS software taking it for granted that the UX is going to be subpar, and it really is. Regular propriety software faces the risk of their users not paying, therefore adapting to make end user experience great. OSS usually doesn't have that risk. Open source needs to be exposed to risk from end users. I tried to change that with Note…

The CLI is peak UX for anyone technically competent.

I agree but CLI just can't cover all use cases - just on top of my head are graphics, animation software, video editing, circuit making...

Re: Make Apps for Linux

#33

Post by cycomanic »

deafpolygon wrote: post #12

This is one of the biggest issues holding the Linux platform as a whole. It's often cited as a strength, but I don't see it as such. Many times, the plethora of choice is pushed forward by devs as an advantage of Linux ("you have so many choices to pick from!") but for many users this presents the paradox of choice - and pushes many people back to the platform they came from. You get less choice on macOS and Windows,…

I would say there are even more launchers and docks then tiling WMs.

Also I don't know what would need to be better about them. Something like ulaucher or Albert is much more powerful than what is available in other platforms and I don't know how one would improve their UI.

Re: Make Apps for Linux

#34

Post by zer0zzz »

I think the premise is wrong when there still doesn’t exist a core set of frameworks that are abi stable on Linux. On competing platforms there are way more frameworks out of the box (CoreImage, CoreAudio, CodeML, SceneKit, AppKit, etc) and they don’t break as often.

I know in Linux they have fun things like snap and flatpak but it is really solving the problem using a bit of infrastructure and package management instead of doing it in the frameworks and programming languages themselves (which are what you are asking people to write apps in).

Re: Make Apps for Linux

#35

Post by 360MustangScope »

blt wrote: post #28

It's not an attractive scene for GUI developers on Linux. Gnome, Qt, and Electron all have some unappealing aspects. Many people who get the itch to make a Linux GUI app will immediately be discouraged by having to choose between them.

Imo, I think that Flutter is one of the best ways to make native Linux applications at the moment. It can look just like a GTK, macOS and Windows app and you have a more enjoyable experience.

Re: Make Apps for Linux

#36

Post by alwayslikethis »

rubymamis wrote: post #20

The problem is OSS software not even trying to compete with the market. People using OSS software taking it for granted that the UX is going to be subpar, and it really is. Regular propriety software faces the risk of their users not paying, therefore adapting to make end user experience great. OSS usually doesn't have that risk. Open source needs to be exposed to risk from end users. I tried to change that with Note…

There is a large intersection of Linux users and people who cherish their freedoms. For many people, using non-open source note taking software is a non starter because of the vendor lock-in and privacy concerns. Thus, you'll probably lose out more by not open sourcing the program than by open sourcing it and risk having some people not pay. I wager a lot more people is willing to pay than use proprietary software. Also note that open sourcing doesn't require you to distribute the code to everyone, you can give source code only to paying users if you are charging them money, though they will have the right to modify and redistribute. If they don't care about open source, they might as well just use Notion or Evernote. If someone is looking for an open source state of the art note taking program, I recommend Logseq.

Re: Make Apps for Linux

#37

Post by lupusreal »

rubymamis wrote: post #20

The problem is OSS software not even trying to compete with the market. People using OSS software taking it for granted that the UX is going to be subpar, and it really is. Regular propriety software faces the risk of their users not paying, therefore adapting to make end user experience great. OSS usually doesn't have that risk. Open source needs to be exposed to risk from end users. I tried to change that with Note…

> Open source needs to be exposed to risk from end users.

Why do open source applications need that? You said yourself that users of open source software accept the subpar UX, so what problem are you trying to solve? Making open source development somehow 'riskier' for programmers without simultaneously providing more reward would only drive programmers away.

Re: Make Apps for Linux

#38

Post by Muromec »

deafpolygon wrote: post #12

This is one of the biggest issues holding the Linux platform as a whole. It's often cited as a strength, but I don't see it as such. Many times, the plethora of choice is pushed forward by devs as an advantage of Linux ("you have so many choices to pick from!") but for many users this presents the paradox of choice - and pushes many people back to the platform they came from. You get less choice on macOS and Windows,…

But writing a tiling wm is fun. Writing software collaboratively is the point in itself, not just the means of getting some kind of artifact in the end.

Being an open source developer means having agency over your goals and means to get to them, which you often don’t have when doing commercial software development.

You sure end up with roughly edges, but the. IKEA-effect kicks in and you like it anyway.

Re: Make Apps for Linux

#39

Post by alwayslikethis »

blt wrote: post #28

It's not an attractive scene for GUI developers on Linux. Gnome, Qt, and Electron all have some unappealing aspects. Many people who get the itch to make a Linux GUI app will immediately be discouraged by having to choose between them.

What's wrong with Qt? It works well enough if you want to write C++ or Python. Electron works on Linux the same way it does on Windows. GTK has some more issues on other platforms, but mostly works on Linux too.

Re: Make Apps for Linux

#40

Post by throw10920 »

beebmam wrote: post #26
rubymamis wrote: post #20

The problem is OSS software not even trying to compete with the market. People using OSS software taking it for granted that the UX is going to be subpar, and it really is. Regular propriety software faces the risk of their users not paying, therefore adapting to make end user experience great. OSS usually doesn't have that risk. Open source needs to be exposed to risk from end users. I tried to change that with Note…

The CLI is peak UX for anyone technically competent.

Well, they think it is. Most of the time, it's not. Command-line tools have terrible ergonomics for many workflows and use-cases.
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