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> Plasma is the best modern desktop environment for Linux and yet people barely talk about it. It's the DE of the Steam Deck, for which was apparently 1.5 mill
by jcelerier 4y ago
> Plasma is the best modern desktop environment for Linux and yet people barely talk about it.
It's the DE of the Steam Deck, for which was apparently 1.5 million units were already sold in May. That's certainly one of the most significant events for the Linux desktop.
- akagusu 4y agoAlthough it makes its way to Steam Deck, the Linux community favors Gnome and other DEs. If you search for videos and blog posts, Plasma is usually a second class citizen.
- pxc 4y agoGNOME has more of a particular vision for the desktop, and I think Plasma unfortunately gets sold as 'more or less like Windows!' because the defaults put the taskbar on the bottom and there's a button resembling the Windows Start Menu.
- IE6 4y agoThis is completely tangential and a purely anecdotal observation but I find it interesting that big movements in the "year of the linux desktop" usually come in some very specific use case like ChromeOS or SteamOS.
- jrm4 4y agoI'm glad you said it, I think it's really important, especially for those of us who really like Linux. It's easy to split hairs over "true Linux" or whatnot, but I think it's far more valuable to celebrate wins like ChromeOS and SteamOS in the hopes of encouraging more of this. I think that's what gets us closer to the general ideas and ideals of "Linux" and or "Free Software" broadly. It won't be "Year of the Linux Desktop," it will be "Years of many Linux Desktops."
- jraph 4y agoChromeOS is hard to celebrate though. While it is essentially free software and based on free software, it puts computing of its users in Google's cloud. That's a big loss of control and a huge privacy concern. Free software is important to me because it is supposed to enable users to take back control of their computing.
- jrm4 4y agoIn theory I agree. In practice, I literally just got a Chromebook for my daughter and I'm happy to report that Crostini is fine, and I'd venture to say that "a major OS with strong Native Linux Support built in" might even be more valuable than "abstaining" and fully sticking with pure "Free Software." (For the record, I'm a huge fan of Stallman et al and I want people like him to keep doing what they do -- I just think that Stallman's value isn't in everyone doing exactly what Stallman says, more like looking at him as a platonic ideal that we should try for, but realistically will never reach.)
- jraph 4y agoCrostini is a good thing but it is not the way most people will use a Chromebook which is still pretty much centered around Chrome. Like WSL is not something most people will use on Windows. My concern here is a bit about non-free software, but mostly not: I'd not be very happy with a purely free software version of ChromeOS (which maybe ChromiumOS is by the way).
- Barrin92 4y agobecause the biggest issue for linux is that it's not the default on end user devices. Barely anyone is ever going to (re)install an operating system so large companies shipping linux is a big deal.
- pjmlp 4y agoSo now people are plugging monitors, keyboards and mices to Steam Decks...
- steamer 4y agoWriting is tedious but desktop is very much usable without without extra peripherals. I am replying via steam deck.
- squarefoot 4y agoHow durable are the gaming controllers and keys on the Steam Deck? Are they repairable/swappable? I'm usually fairly heavy on gamepads and broke a few of them already, so I'm not that comfortable buying something that I could easily damage.