8 ms·

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 wil

by DCKing 8y ago

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 I cannot fully enjoy a UI that is so inconsistent and ugly so often.

osrec 8y ago
If you want a no frills experience that just works, give Lubuntu a try. Of all the Linux distros I've used in my company, it's given us almost no headaches. The fonts are crisp, and icons look fine too. Adding monitors has also been painless. And even my least technical users are able to use it (but might need a bit of help now and again). For us, it has actually been a pleasure to use because of its speed. If you're prepared to give up whizzy animations etc, do try it when you have a bit of spare time.
- mehrdadn 8y ago
  > If you want a no frills experience that just works, give Lubuntu a try. I can't speak for the UI but Aptitude vomits broken dependencies every time you have to upgrade your distro. It made me absolutely despise package management (I'm a Windows guy) until I switched to Arch and realized a package manager that is a pleasure to work with is not an inherent oxymoron. Obviously UI is another story but at least this one works.
  - kungtotte 8y ago
    You can go with Manjaro if you want a better experience with pre-configured desktop environments. There are official editions for XFCE, KDE, and Gnome and there's community editions for i3, openbox, LXQT, and so on. You still have access to the AUR and the official repos mirror the official Arch repos but lag behind by a week or two.
  - iforgotpassword 8y ago
    It's hit and miss. At work I'm running a lubuntu install from 2012 that flawlessly upgraded up until now, sometimes skipping releases, sometimes not, switching desktop environment and window managers a few times along the way. Arch Linux on the other hand always has some minor breakage every now and then. Not with the package manager, but just something about the system being broken.
  - billfruit 8y ago
    I do think windows update process is also seriously broken: no info given to users what is being changed, no indication given how long it will take, and often taking many hours to complete, all the while your computer remains unusable; I do not know why Microsoft is not being taken to task for such a shoddy experience.
    - MrTonyD 8y ago
      I'm an old timer. I remember when Microsoft would expire your license - for any of their applications - essentially at random. And they disabled reloads of the software and disabled reinstalls of the entire OS. Even after you paid them again, it was a major hassle - but Mocrosoft didn't care about customer complaints as long as the money was rolling in (Bill Gates at the time said that "I am a businessman" when he dismissed customer concerns.)It was the Federal Government which forced them to stop breaking systems, threatening to pass laws against their practices. That's also about the time that Microsoft hired ALL the major PR firms to change their image (and Bill suddenly appeared everywhere with his charity - which was only giving away a small portion of his wealth, since he hides most of it offshore and away from any accounting.)
      - meitme 8y ago
        10s of billions with plans for more is not small amounts even for Bill. Also he does not hide most of his wealth offshore. He got his wealth from stocks in Microsoft a publicly traded company and that is where most of his wealth is. Many rich people manipulate offshore accounts to hide money but that doesn't really make sense for Bill Gates. Please don't make up things.
        MrTonyD 8y ago
        I've worked with executives who reported to Bill Gates, reported to Steve Jobs, and reported to Larry Ellison. Guess what? They all use the same set of accountants, and I've gotten descriptions of the way that they all hide money offshore. I've been in many meetings with Steve, and he even spoke of it internally, since it is all legal. At Oracle, our team reported to Larry and I helped reassign monies to offshore entities - and was assured that it was beyond question because "the Big 3 accounting firms are our customers, and we are their customers" and "they all make millions off us". Those monies were then funneled to groups of executives through those companies. So please don't lecture me about your opinions on these things where I have first hand knowledge. It seems like whenever I share something that I know on HN there are people who pop out to explain to me why I'm wrong. I guess I should be used to it - the more insightful the post, the more downvotes.
coned88 8y ago
Been using linux for decades and have never had to do any of this. Even 15 years ago I didn't need to.
- DCKing 8y ago
  Not everybody has the same sensitivity to this 'jarring' component of the Linux desktop, I'm well aware. But I think it would really help the desktop forward if the group that is sensitive to it would be catered to more, like Elementary is trying to do.
  - michaelmrose 8y ago
    What in this context does "help the desktop forward" mean?
    - DCKing 8y ago
      It means making it more enjoyable to use for everyone, both for those that are more and less sensitive to the aesthetics. Everyone is sensitive to it to some degree.
- driverdan 8y ago
  You haven't tried running it on a laptop then.
  - dnautics 8y ago
    I have run exclusively Linux and mostly on laptops for 15 years and it's been about 10 years since I have had problems with packages clashing, except for python pip. (I don't use python though)
    - andy_ppp 8y ago
      Can you give us details of laptop and distribution used? Seems hardware is still difficult i.e. trackpads, WiFi, screen resolution, external displays, etc.
Canadauni 8y ago
I had a similar perspective as you. I couldn't get past a lot of default design decisions made in many distributions and I didn't want to spend the time tweaking my machine. I installed Pop_OS after seeing the Theano release a couple of weeks ago and basically haven't booted into windows since. As a casual user I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a similar linux experience as I was.
- markatkinson 8y ago
  Dude... I was reading all these comments mega confused. I installed Pop_OS a few months back and it's a million times easier to use than Windows. From installing applications to changing my background. One terrible experience I had was when Windows did something to the Linux bootloader and I had to try work out how to fix that, but I can't really blame Linux for that. Honestly I am so much more productive on Pop than on Windows. I can spend more time actually doing my job and less time manually creating PATH variables for every package I install. As a Web developer Windows is a disaster.
  - archon810 8y ago
    I've never heard of Pop OS, so I just read up on it a bit. Here's a nice rundown https://itsfoss.com/pop-os-linux-review/ https://itsfoss.com/pop-os-linux-review/.
  - mynameisvlad 8y ago
    > I can spend more time actually doing my job and less time manually creating PATH variables for every package I install. I don't see how this is a Windows issue. Windows, just like Linux, provides the capability to update the PATH both per-user and per-computer; many tools use it and work. NodeJS is a popular such tool that adds its bin folder to the PATH. If a tool isn't updating its path, then it's on the tool's installer.
    - ZeikJT 8y ago
      It's an issue because adding a directory to the path just isn't as common of a pattern on Windows. Whether or not it's Microsoft's fault is irrelevant because the fact is still that you have to do it manually a lot of the time. This is all from my own past experience using video editing, audio editing, and image editing utilities where you usually just get a binary and have to do the legwork yourself. Node is the exception, not the rule.

by DCKing 8y ago

osrec 8y ago

If you want a no frills experience that just works, give Lubuntu a try. Of all the Linux distros I've used in my company, it's given us almost no headaches. The fonts are crisp, and icons look fine too. Adding monitors has also been painless. And even my least technical users are able to use it (but might need a bit of help now and again). For us, it has actually been a pleasure to use because of its speed. If you're prepared to give up whizzy animations etc, do try it when you have a bit of spare time.

mehrdadn 8y ago
> If you want a no frills experience that just works, give Lubuntu a try. I can't speak for the UI but Aptitude vomits broken dependencies every time you have to upgrade your distro. It made me absolutely despise package management (I'm a Windows guy) until I switched to Arch and realized a package manager that is a pleasure to work with is not an inherent oxymoron. Obviously UI is another story but at least this one works.
- kungtotte 8y ago
  You can go with Manjaro if you want a better experience with pre-configured desktop environments. There are official editions for XFCE, KDE, and Gnome and there's community editions for i3, openbox, LXQT, and so on. You still have access to the AUR and the official repos mirror the official Arch repos but lag behind by a week or two.
- iforgotpassword 8y ago
  It's hit and miss. At work I'm running a lubuntu install from 2012 that flawlessly upgraded up until now, sometimes skipping releases, sometimes not, switching desktop environment and window managers a few times along the way. Arch Linux on the other hand always has some minor breakage every now and then. Not with the package manager, but just something about the system being broken.
- billfruit 8y ago
  I do think windows update process is also seriously broken: no info given to users what is being changed, no indication given how long it will take, and often taking many hours to complete, all the while your computer remains unusable; I do not know why Microsoft is not being taken to task for such a shoddy experience.
  - MrTonyD 8y ago
    I'm an old timer. I remember when Microsoft would expire your license - for any of their applications - essentially at random. And they disabled reloads of the software and disabled reinstalls of the entire OS. Even after you paid them again, it was a major hassle - but Mocrosoft didn't care about customer complaints as long as the money was rolling in (Bill Gates at the time said that "I am a businessman" when he dismissed customer concerns.)It was the Federal Government which forced them to stop breaking systems, threatening to pass laws against their practices. That's also about the time that Microsoft hired ALL the major PR firms to change their image (and Bill suddenly appeared everywhere with his charity - which was only giving away a small portion of his wealth, since he hides most of it offshore and away from any accounting.)
    - meitme 8y ago
      10s of billions with plans for more is not small amounts even for Bill. Also he does not hide most of his wealth offshore. He got his wealth from stocks in Microsoft a publicly traded company and that is where most of his wealth is. Many rich people manipulate offshore accounts to hide money but that doesn't really make sense for Bill Gates. Please don't make up things.
      - MrTonyD 8y ago
        I've worked with executives who reported to Bill Gates, reported to Steve Jobs, and reported to Larry Ellison. Guess what? They all use the same set of accountants, and I've gotten descriptions of the way that they all hide money offshore. I've been in many meetings with Steve, and he even spoke of it internally, since it is all legal. At Oracle, our team reported to Larry and I helped reassign monies to offshore entities - and was assured that it was beyond question because "the Big 3 accounting firms are our customers, and we are their customers" and "they all make millions off us". Those monies were then funneled to groups of executives through those companies. So please don't lecture me about your opinions on these things where I have first hand knowledge. It seems like whenever I share something that I know on HN there are people who pop out to explain to me why I'm wrong. I guess I should be used to it - the more insightful the post, the more downvotes.

coned88 8y ago

Been using linux for decades and have never had to do any of this. Even 15 years ago I didn't need to.

DCKing 8y ago
Not everybody has the same sensitivity to this 'jarring' component of the Linux desktop, I'm well aware. But I think it would really help the desktop forward if the group that is sensitive to it would be catered to more, like Elementary is trying to do.
- michaelmrose 8y ago
  What in this context does "help the desktop forward" mean?
  - DCKing 8y ago
    It means making it more enjoyable to use for everyone, both for those that are more and less sensitive to the aesthetics. Everyone is sensitive to it to some degree.
driverdan 8y ago
You haven't tried running it on a laptop then.
- dnautics 8y ago
  I have run exclusively Linux and mostly on laptops for 15 years and it's been about 10 years since I have had problems with packages clashing, except for python pip. (I don't use python though)
  - andy_ppp 8y ago
    Can you give us details of laptop and distribution used? Seems hardware is still difficult i.e. trackpads, WiFi, screen resolution, external displays, etc.

Canadauni 8y ago

I had a similar perspective as you. I couldn't get past a lot of default design decisions made in many distributions and I didn't want to spend the time tweaking my machine. I installed Pop_OS after seeing the Theano release a couple of weeks ago and basically haven't booted into windows since. As a casual user I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a similar linux experience as I was.

markatkinson 8y ago
Dude... I was reading all these comments mega confused. I installed Pop_OS a few months back and it's a million times easier to use than Windows. From installing applications to changing my background. One terrible experience I had was when Windows did something to the Linux bootloader and I had to try work out how to fix that, but I can't really blame Linux for that. Honestly I am so much more productive on Pop than on Windows. I can spend more time actually doing my job and less time manually creating PATH variables for every package I install. As a Web developer Windows is a disaster.
- archon810 8y ago
  I've never heard of Pop OS, so I just read up on it a bit. Here's a nice rundown https://itsfoss.com/pop-os-linux-review/ https://itsfoss.com/pop-os-linux-review/.
- mynameisvlad 8y ago
  > I can spend more time actually doing my job and less time manually creating PATH variables for every package I install. I don't see how this is a Windows issue. Windows, just like Linux, provides the capability to update the PATH both per-user and per-computer; many tools use it and work. NodeJS is a popular such tool that adds its bin folder to the PATH. If a tool isn't updating its path, then it's on the tool's installer.
  - ZeikJT 8y ago
    It's an issue because adding a directory to the path just isn't as common of a pattern on Windows. Whether or not it's Microsoft's fault is irrelevant because the fact is still that you have to do it manually a lot of the time. This is all from my own past experience using video editing, audio editing, and image editing utilities where you usually just get a binary and have to do the legwork yourself. Node is the exception, not the rule.