One of the many great things about Linux and free Software generally is choice.
When I started experimenting with a Linux dektop I used Win 98 desktop and 2000 server at work, and 95 at home. With very slow dial-up internet downloading a distro would have taken days so I bought SuSE 8.0 on a set of CDs. Default desktop was KDE2 which didn't seem much different to what I was used to, and crucially it had Kmail/Kontact which was much like Outlook.
Once I'd gained a bit of confidence I tried other desktops and distros and started writing about them for Micro Mart, but I kept coming back to KDE, on RedHat/Fedora, Mandrake/Mandriva, and others I've forgotten. Ubuntu was impressive when it arrived, and for me got even better when Kubuntu appeared.
I wavered when KDE4 was released too early and ran LXDE on my main machine for a year or more, but reverted to KDE when it became more stable. KDE5 is even better. Kontact on Kubuntu got flaky though, frequently needing to be stopped, have it's cache wiped and restarted. So I switched to the KDE version of Mint which seems almost the same but more stable.
That aside my wife has an old Kubuntu LTS version that works OK so will last a bit longer. I have Bodhi on an old laptop I got FOC from a NWLUG member before I left N Wales. Bodhi sems to use a custom version of Enlightenment, I've never enquired too deeply, it was just a stopgap while most of my kit was in storage during the move. I've got an old Dell netbook too with Lubuntu and Gcompris on it to amuse the eldest (6 year old) grand-daughter. And an old desktop running LAMP (Lubuntu etc...) as a webserver, mostly used with Nextcloud.
They all do what the users need and the great thing is if KDE 6 or whatever turns out like KDE 4 (or Windows ME) there's plenty of others to use instead.
-- Phil Thane
www.pthane.co.uk phil@pthane.co.uk 01767 449759 07582 750607 Twitter @pthane On Wednesday, 28 June 2017 09:59:39 BST Laurie Brown wrote:
On 27/06/17 23:48, steve-ALUG@hst.me.uk wrote:
On 27/06/17 09:12, Chris Green wrote:
I've never really understood the apparently huge importance to poeple of what 'desktop' they're using.
When you've spent 20 odd years working with a particular style of gui, you tend to get accustomed to it. You get used to having multiple windows on a screen. You get used to keyboard shortcuts. You get used to a scroll bar being there, and clicking below the "thumb" taking you down a page at a time.
But then along comes Gnome 3 which was redesigned because "the gui was getting in the way of efficient working" and decide that it's more efficient to have each window in its own desktop. That scrollbars should have right-click do what left-click used to do, and left click take you to where you clicked, and have the scrollbar disappear when you're not over it...
I used Windows 3 up to Windows XP, and Gnome 2 and could easily switch between the two because the GUIs worked in the same way. I tried Gnome 3 and Ubuntu's unity and basically hated both of them. Newer versions of Windows I also don't like. Basically because they're very different to what I'm used to and what I find works. Also, their improvements don't (to me) seem to improve anything.
However... I know it's just personal taste, and some people like the new versions of Windows, and/or Gnome 3 and/or Unity.
Steve,
All of the above!
LMC is very like Windows 7, which is the last version of 'doze I used in anger. Whatever else is wrong with Windows, the XP/W7 interface was pretty good, and I've come to really like LMC, and find working with it a doddle. Of course, it also does lots of extra things XP/W7 never could, so that's all good too.
If I have one gripe, it's that I'd like to be able to set a delay on the hot corners, but that's being addressed, I understand.
Cheers, Laurie.