Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

This week in KDE: Converging towards something special

pointieststick.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 47 posts

Re: This week in KDE: Converging towards something special

#31

Post by simion314 »

acqq wrote: post #26
simion314 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Casual users don't upgrade 2 times a year. A casual user might not even know that those things are called "windows" or that you can maximize them or that most application have settings where you can change the behavior you dislike. Causal users just use the system how it is, I sometimes find them suffering trough a complicated workflow because they did not consider to even ask themselves "maybe this can be improved,…

> Casual users don't upgrade 2 times a year. Casual user hears about Linux, and that Ubuntu is the most popular Linux, then goes to the site https://ubuntu.com/ And reads: "Ubuntu 19.10 is here The latest version of the world’s most widely used Linux platform for Kubernetes, multi-cloud and machine learning. Download Ubuntu 19.10 now" And the problems begin -- he will have to upgrade twice a year. The branding would…

Casual users don't install an OS, as i said they don't even install an ad blocker or change the keyboard shortcuts to an app.

The people you are talking about are enthusiasts, the probably re-installed Windows before too,

Re: This week in KDE: Converging towards something special

#32

Post by acqq »

simion314 wrote: post #31
acqq wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Casual users don't upgrade 2 times a year. Casual user hears about Linux, and that Ubuntu is the most popular Linux, then goes to the site https://ubuntu.com/ And reads: "Ubuntu 19.10 is here The latest version of the world’s most widely used Linux platform for Kubernetes, multi-cloud and machine learning. Download Ubuntu 19.10 now" And the problems begin -- he will have to upgrade twice a year. The branding would…

Casual users don't install an OS, as i said they don't even install an ad blocker or change the keyboard shortcuts to an app. The people you are talking about are enthusiasts, the probably re-installed Windows before too,

> Casual users don't install an OS

Your definition is useless: it would just mean that casual users simply never use Linux OS at all, and aren't supposed to use it, as these with your definition also wouldn't have an awareness to specifically buy a separate computer with preinstalled Linux.

To make a definition of a "Linux casual user" in any way meaningful, you have to assume that it's somebody who would like to try to use Linux, especially without a specific desire to pay for a new computer for that.

Oh, and also without the specific desire and readiness to use command line having the ingrained assumption that the GUI tools simply don't work, which is relatively common case in desktop Linux, even with LTE.

By the way, my quote also shows what Ubuntu consider their casual user, based on the strengths they advertise:

"The latest version of the world’s most widely used Linux platform for Kubernetes, multi-cloud and machine learning."

I'd say, from their point of view, the target user on that page is, interestingly, somebody who needs but is undecided which Linux platform to use for "Kubernetes, multi-cloud and machine learning."

Which is also interesting, but also doesn't follow that such a person would expect his installed OS to have broken applications every 6 months because of OS experimentation in compositors or whatever.

Re: This week in KDE: Converging towards something special

#33

Post by simion314 »

agumonkey wrote: post #28
simion314 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>There's always something that is not right in the UI foundation What is fundamentally broken with their UI that a competent person can't change?

the whole

Thank you for your thoughtful and intelligent response, I think there is a DE that is more for your level, is safe it has all big and rounded widgets and most of the features were removed to make place to even more white space to look professional but be basic.

Re: This week in KDE: Converging towards something special

#34

Post by [deleted] »

brabel wrote: post #13
blinkingled wrote: post #4

Anyone thinking about using Linux on their desktop or laptop should give latest KDE a try. Rolling release distros like Arch or OpenSuse Tumbleweed should be good options. Reasons you may like it - no new paradigm bs to learn just your plain old customizable desktop, it’s stable(they’re fixing stuff like crazy every week), if you don’t like something they are making contributing to / building KDE components very easy…

After years using Ubuntu 16 I upgraded to 19 as I heard it was really good and fast. It wasn't either... lots of things just didn't work anymore, like function keys (switching languages takes like 5 seconds and it's a known issue they just won't fix) and shortcuts changing or just not working anymore in several applications I use. So I decided to install KDE Plasma, and I couldn't be happier! Everything works exactly…

[deleted]

Re: This week in KDE: Converging towards something special

#35

Post by Cogitri »

aitchnyu wrote: post #30

I wish there were a updated rigorous comparison of KDE vs Gnome. I switch every few ubuntu versions and notice niggles. For example, ctrl alt L doesn't lock screen in Gnome, Gnome has a pointless background you must drag away to reveal the login screen.

FWIW Ctrl+L locks the screen in GNOME and you can press Enter instead of dragging up the lockscreen.

Re: This week in KDE: Converging towards something special

#36

Post by kingofpandora »

aruggirello wrote: post #14
blinkingled wrote: post #4

Anyone thinking about using Linux on their desktop or laptop should give latest KDE a try. Rolling release distros like Arch or OpenSuse Tumbleweed should be good options. Reasons you may like it - no new paradigm bs to learn just your plain old customizable desktop, it’s stable(they’re fixing stuff like crazy every week), if you don’t like something they are making contributing to / building KDE components very easy…

Yeah! BTW let's not forget the (probably) best filesystem browsing experience (Dolphin), the Event Calendar add-on, and: KDE Connect!

Which project is the Event Calendar you referred to? I found this: https://github.com/Zren/plasma-applet-eventcalendar

Re: This week in KDE: Converging towards something special

#37

Post by ubercow13 »

simion314 wrote: post #20
agumonkey wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been tring and eyeing KDE since 4. There's always something that is not right in the UI foundation. I've heard how lean to WM/GUI code is, low mem usage .. but I always end up in XFCE.

>There's always something that is not right in the UI foundation What is fundamentally broken with their UI that a competent person can't change?

Often with newer UI frameworks like that used by plasma, basic interactions with familiar widgets just don't work as expected. It's the same argument levied against any non-native app whenever this comes up, whether it's QML or Electron or whatever.

As a concrete example, the KDE application menu will close whenever you move the cursor off of it onto another window, unlike any menu in any other desktop UI widget toolkit [1].

So from some users' perspective, things like the move to plasma can seem like little more than a series of UI regressions. The basics just don't work so well any more, and the only upside is maybe slightly prettier graphics. It can be disheartening. Here is an application menu from KDE 1 in 1999 which I am sure worked just fine [2].

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/9a41si/possible_bug_ap... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Desktop_Environment_1#/media...

Re: This week in KDE: Converging towards something special

#38

Post by agumonkey »

simion314 wrote: post #33
agumonkey wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the whole

Thank you for your thoughtful and intelligent response, I think there is a DE that is more for your level, is safe it has all big and rounded widgets and most of the features were removed to make place to even more white space to look professional but be basic.

thanks, it's always easier when questions are that thoughtful

Re: This week in KDE: Converging towards something special

#39

Post by agumonkey »

ubercow13 wrote: post #37
simion314 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>There's always something that is not right in the UI foundation What is fundamentally broken with their UI that a competent person can't change?

Often with newer UI frameworks like that used by plasma, basic interactions with familiar widgets just don't work as expected. It's the same argument levied against any non-native app whenever this comes up, whether it's QML or Electron or whatever. As a concrete example, the KDE application menu will close whenever you move the cursor off of it onto another window, unlike any menu in any other desktop UI widget tool…

this is part of it, and a too complicated layout grid it seems.

Re: This week in KDE: Converging towards something special

#40

Post by aruggirello »

kingofpandora wrote: post #36
aruggirello wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah! BTW let's not forget the (probably) best filesystem browsing experience (Dolphin), the Event Calendar add-on, and: KDE Connect!

Which project is the Event Calendar you referred to? I found this: https://github.com/Zren/plasma-applet-eventcalendar

Exactly.
Post reply on HN