I ran various distros as a kid growing up, then went years as a professional running Mac. Elementary is the only distro I've not felt stupid friction running on my Chromebook. I know there are other considerations, but as a daily driver, this is easily one of the best distros I've seen
Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS
161–170 of 431 posts
Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS
#162I tried to use the OS multiple times through the recent years, but every time there's a missing feature that breaks all bi+lingual user experience: You cannot switch the keyboard layout for each window separately. Seems like they do not care about anyone except exclusively English speaking audience.
That's unfair. If you're not bilingual yourself, wanting to switch keyboard layout per window is extremely non-obvious. It would never have occurred to me.
That's why almost all OS have this as an option. You either change the layout globally or per window (or application, doesn't make that much difference).
Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS
#163Some 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…
Compare the latest Mint with Elementary. It's much cleaner.
Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’ve been using elementary OS for the past two years or so; you can use everything that runs on Ubuntu which of course includes .deb packages.
Does it support snaps as easily as Ubuntu does?
Not sure, I’ve only ever used snap to install VLC once to test something and after installing snap via apt all I had to do was:
snap install vlc
Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree. I would be using Linux full time if the experience was not so jarring all the time. Fonts and themes are off, stuff gets jumbled around, things are wildly inconsistent. You end up spending lots of time doing weird hacks to make everything look alright. Even Elementary will break if you move outside the core applications - it cannot be helped in this ecosystem. When Linux works for you it's so damn great but…
Been using linux for decades and have never had to do any of this. Even 15 years ago I didn't need to.
You haven't tried running it on a laptop then.
Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are part of the vocal, online minority that doesn't look at Mint and cringe because it looks so amateur and dated. Most people intuitively have a sense of whether the software they're using is elegant, polished, and user-friendly without necessarily being able to articulate that the "font heights", etc. are the problem. By a common user's standards, Mint looks amateur and janky compared to Windows 10 and Mac OS.
FWIW, the screenshot above was Linux Mint 17, there has been a lot of improvement with Cinnamon since then. Current version is 19. https://www.linuxmint.com/pictures/screenshots/tara/cinnamon...
Sorry, it still looks like the dark theme for Windows XP that I used 15 years ago. Also, note the clutter and alignment issues in the bottom left corner.
Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS
#167Some 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…
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…
> People with little to no experience with computers. Guess what they were all fine.
I think the original comment was talking about ugly UI rather than "Linux works just fine".
The key point I believe was, if Linux came with better UX design like what Elementary OS did, then it will be "Good" instead of "Just fine".
It's about an upgrade, bring Linux to a better level, not "Linux UI looks ugly, it's bad and unusable".
Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS
#168Earlier 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…
Yeah same experience here. Installed gentoo on our home computer for my mom and dad and once i showed them how to open Firefox, they were happy as clams. The only issue was when my dad wanted to install tax software
Similar history here with another distro.
Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS
#169The project is interesting and I have to give it props for being one of the few Linux distros that’s put the necessary level of thought into UI/UX and made consistency a priority. That said, I question some of their technical choices, most namely the choice of Vala as the project’s official language. Not that Vala is bad, but it’s incredibly niche at best and I think it severely limits contributions. Not many are goi…
This kind of attitude towards less popular programming languages is very damaging to the field of software engineering. Domain-specific languages are our best tool to combat the excessive complexity of software. The difficulty of learning a new programming language is overblown.
OP argued that the choice to go with a niche language limits contributions, which is almost certainly true, even if it does combat complexity. You can both be right.
Re: Elementary OS – Fast, open, privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS
#170Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's unfair. If you're not bilingual yourself, wanting to switch keyboard layout per window is extremely non-obvious. It would never have occurred to me.
That's why almost all OS have this as an option. You either change the layout globally or per window (or application, doesn't make that much difference).
Welp, TIL.