Default File Manager with Unity8 in future desktops • Hacker News Board

Re: Default File Manager with Unity8 in future desktops

#41

Post by dombili » Sun, Feb 02, 2014, 12:38 AM UTC

mcintyre1994 wrote: post #31

dombili wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try elementary OS.

Elementary is amazing but isn't it one of the most NIH-inflicted distros? Custom DE, app manager, dock, I think every app it ships with is theirs, etc. I guess it's a bit more vanilla than the Ubuntu it builds on, but it's all very NIH.

Yes, but I recommended elementary OS because the person I was replying to wanted "a simple, nice OS anybody could use". I've used a lot of Linux distros over the years (I have a "Linux computer" and I often install different distros just for fun) and when someone asks me the same question my answer is usually "either install Xubuntu or elementary OS". I could be considered a power user, but even I'm using elementary OS right now because it's so hassle free and it just works. Xubuntu is the same, but it's a bit boring compare to elementary OS.

Re: Default File Manager with Unity8 in future desktops

#42

Post by taeric » Sun, Feb 02, 2014, 12:38 AM UTC

phaer wrote: post #9

taeric wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would that necessarily be a bad thing?

In theory: No, but it might make sense to make the difference between Ubuntu and all other Linux distributions clear. Maybe Ubuntu should not be called "Linux" anymore, just like android which also uses the kernel but has it's own userland. In practice: Yes, Cannonicals questionable open source policy could throw free software desktops a few years back. Just look at Mir for an example. EDIT: or hdevalences comment be…

There appears to be a giant difference between ubuntu and android, though. Seems somewhat vindictive to feel ubuntu is no longer linux.

Re: Default File Manager with Unity8 in future desktops

#43

Post by wirrbel » Sun, Feb 02, 2014, 12:47 AM UTC

I have been using Linux for a long time, Gnome since v. 1.4. While I am enthusiastic about the platform as a whole, I feel let down by the Desktop teams as a whole.

While a few aspects of the UI are greatly improved (anti aliasing, localization, FX, etc.). In terms of functionality, applications have not gained much.

Nautilus especially has a history of removing features for the sake of "Design" that people depend on. remember the time when nautilus always opened new windows when navigating the file system tree? Or the gnome project announcing to remove the middle-click paste? Ubuntu moving the menu out of the windows into a mac-style menu bar on top of the screen, a behaviour you could not revert as a non-admin and menus were invisible (in favor of the window title) when not hovering over that top-of-screen area?

In general I do value thoughtfully designed user interfaces and I see that care has to be taken to avoid clutter and keep them clean and sanitized. But with the linux desktops, it just feels like the designers have lost their focus and just harp on _abstract_ principles.

As a linux enthusiast it saddens me that Gnome has not even come somewhere near to a functional GUI that could compete to MacOS or Windows 7 in terms of ease of use and functionality.

To me, the CLI ecosphere will always make me want to choose linux. Yet with the linux desktop I have more than ever the feeling that I have an inferior piece of software in front of me.

Re: Default File Manager with Unity8 in future desktops

#44

Post by Aardwolf » Sun, Feb 02, 2014, 12:50 AM UTC

jfoster wrote: post #34

Aardwolf wrote: post #26

I bet it's gonna be a file manager useable by power users with built in terminal, full copypastable path shown by default, ability to navigate inside of zip files as if they're directories, tree view, directory bookmarks, etc... Ah wait, no, that are the features of file managers of 10 years ago, after that they only got dumbed down to target regular joe. Yay progress.

Ubuntu have made it really clear that they want to be a competitor to Windows and be very different from typical Linux operating systems. If you're using Ubuntu and expected it to be like Debian, you made the wrong choice of operating system. In my opinion, Ubuntu and Debian are both great, but they are targeting massively different types of users.

A competitor to Windows?

I'd say even Windows 98 has a better UI than what Ubuntu has become: at least Windows 98 has a taskbar that can show multiple instances of the same program.

(And fortunately, so does KDE still, for now, for long I hope)

Re: Default File Manager with Unity8 in future desktops

#45

Post by zeis » Sun, Feb 02, 2014, 12:56 AM UTC

dewyatt wrote: post #32

zeis wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nautilus, like any other software of the GNOME project is subject to the "unexpected" changes by the GNOME team... as when they decided to remove the type-ahead-find feature. As long as the Ubuntu team create better software and replace "bad pieces" I'm with them.

I spent a good chunk of time restoring type-ahead find to Nautilus, which is now available in trusty-proposed ( https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+bug/1164... ). Now I read this. Not very happy.

At least Ubuntu 14.04 will have type-ahead find. Thank you for all your work.

Re: Default File Manager with Unity8 in future desktops

#46

Post by kazagistar » Sun, Feb 02, 2014, 12:56 AM UTC

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #28

morsch wrote: post #4

I don't like the NIH syndrome, but I like using what's probably the most popular distro and especially the software variety in the community PPAs. So what's the best way to get a more vanilla Linux desktop experience without losing the convenience of the Ubuntu PPA ecosystem? Use a Ubuntu remix? Can you use PPAs with Debian? Or do you not even need them with the cutting-edge Debian variant (whatever it's called again…

Arch Linux might be what you're looking for, if you're willing to take the plunge. You get a bare bones machine when you install it, and you make your own desktop experience. You can install GNOME or KDE, or something more lightweight like openbox, or a tiling wm like i3 or xmonad. What you want, though, is something like PPAs. You're looking for the Arch User Repository [1]. You can install some helper like Yaourt […

Arch, in my experience, tends to not work well if you don't care for it. It rots; the longer you don't keep up to date on everything, the worse the experience of using it gets.

I would rather install a new version every year or two, have the regular updates run when I use the computer, and have everything I need as quickly as possible without too much effort. Ubuntu with PPAs provides this experience. Arch provides the latter, but fails at the former.

Re: Default File Manager with Unity8 in future desktops

#47

Post by bbanyc » Sun, Feb 02, 2014, 12:57 AM UTC

Unity is already moving from Gtk to Qt, so the move away from user-visible GNOME elements is natural. The question is what they're going to do with the GNOME "plumbing". To fork and maintain a mixed Gtk/Qt legacy codebase, or to reimplement everything from scratch...neither seems attractive.

Re: Default File Manager with Unity8 in future desktops

#48

Post by kazagistar » Sun, Feb 02, 2014, 12:59 AM UTC

jfoster wrote: post #39

Canonical have an interesting challenge. The people who are most aware of their product are not their target market, and seem to actively dislike the direction their product is headed in. Worse, those people seem to be under the impression that they are the users that Canonical are targeting. In my opinion, this phenomena might sufficiently explain why "desktop Linux" never went mainstream. No previous "desktop Linux…

I actually hope you are right. While I am not exactly happy with Ubuntu's direction myself, I would be more then happy if they succeed at attracting more linux users.

Re: Default File Manager with Unity8 in future desktops

#49

Post by zeis » Sun, Feb 02, 2014, 1:03 AM UTC

spion wrote: post #37

sixbrx wrote: post #2

Is Ubuntu replacing everything above the Kernel one piece at a time?

In the case of nautilus, they're right. Gnome developers are slowly becoming delusional and losing track of what they're supposed to accomplish. Therefore, its time to put Gnome aside and build something new.

I totally agree. Starting from Gnome Shell to removing type-ahead find from Nautilus, GNOME developers' decisions have been more and more deluding.

Re: Default File Manager with Unity8 in future desktops

#50

Post by Sir_Cmpwn » Sun, Feb 02, 2014, 1:07 AM UTC

kazagistar wrote: post #46

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arch Linux might be what you're looking for, if you're willing to take the plunge. You get a bare bones machine when you install it, and you make your own desktop experience. You can install GNOME or KDE, or something more lightweight like openbox, or a tiling wm like i3 or xmonad. What you want, though, is something like PPAs. You're looking for the Arch User Repository [1]. You can install some helper like Yaourt […

Arch, in my experience, tends to not work well if you don't care for it. It rots; the longer you don't keep up to date on everything, the worse the experience of using it gets. I would rather install a new version every year or two, have the regular updates run when I use the computer, and have everything I need as quickly as possible without too much effort. Ubuntu with PPAs provides this experience. Arch provides t…

You're absolutely right. Arch does not like being neglected. That being said, I had no trouble falling into the habit of running pacman -Syu and glancing at the archlinux.org home page every day or two.

Also, it might be possible to set up a cronjob or a systemd service that sees if there are any posts on archlinux.org that you should read, and if not, does an automatic update regularly.