4 ms·

Unity is probably the most intuitive system for somebody switching from Win7. What else would you install by default? Gnome2/MATE/Xfce are showing their age. G

by jiggy2011 14y ago

Unity is probably the most intuitive system for somebody switching from Win7. What else would you install by default? Gnome2/MATE/Xfce are showing their age. Gnome3 is even stranger. The only other plausible choice would be KDE. Unity is actually pretty good as an entertainment oriented interface. The ability to search games, apps, music and movies all from the main menu is very nice.

kostya-kow 14y ago
>The only other plausible choice would be KDE. Not the only one. There is also Cinnamon. And hopefully, Enlightenment will soon be stable enough, and even included in a popular distro.
KerrickStaley 14y ago
Gnome 3 is awesome; what are you talking about?
- jiggy2011 14y ago
  I'm not saying it isn't, but first time I booted it up it took me a good 20 mins to figure out how basic things worked and I'm used to using weird Linux DEs. I don't think it would leave a great first impression on your average ADHD alienware target customer.
  - KerrickStaley 14y ago
    You do need to learn a few keyboard shortcuts before you can work effectively with Gnome 3. I think these ones get you 80% of the way there, though (and they work the same as they do on Windows): 1. WinKey and type a name to open programs 2. WinKey + arrows to snap windows 3. Alt+Tab to switch between open windows
    - jiggy2011 14y ago
      I think having to know any keyboard shortcuts to do basic operations is a huge lose for an entertainment computer.
      - TheLegace 14y ago
        It's really a shame, because it really takes almost no time to learn. And basically the point is that the desktop disappears and the only thing left is your work. Edit: Or entertainment ;). Point is application is whats important.
        ansible 14y ago
        Keep in mind that these entertainment computers may be plugged in to living room TVs, which will often not be used with a keyboard and mouse, but perhaps with a game pad or remote.
sepbot 14y ago
I have tried getting used to Unity, but I just can't. It all comes down to the fact that the Unity launcher is forcibly placed on the right hand side and I always accidentally click on it when trying to click somewhere in the region. No other OS I use forces such a thing, which is why I will never get used to it. I tried changing my mouse sensitivity to compensate for the bar, but it makes everything else harder. There used to be a hack that would let you move the bar to the bottom of the screen, but it has not worked in the 12.x versions. I use KDE these days. The worse thing they force their users to look at is the Cashew, which can be made transparent by installing a third party widget.
- keithpeter 14y ago
  "It all comes down to the fact that the Unity launcher is forcibly placed on the right hand side and I always accidentally click on it when trying to click somewhere in the region." Just hide the thing and press the Windows key and type? I used dwm/dmenu for a year or so and never missed having a panel at all!
keithpeter 14y ago
Very unscientific trials of my own suggest Win7 users relate to KDE slightly better than Unity. I simply hand my thinkpad to students in class and get them to start a Web browser and log into the Moodle instance. KDE mostly ok, Unity getting into browser easy, but most try to close the window by clicking on the System Settings icon on the right top ('cog wheel'). They also find the global menu strange at the start. It only takes two minutes to explain how Unity works though...

kostya-kow 14y ago

>The only other plausible choice would be KDE. Not the only one. There is also Cinnamon. And hopefully, Enlightenment will soon be stable enough, and even included in a popular distro.

KerrickStaley 14y ago

Gnome 3 is awesome; what are you talking about?

jiggy2011 14y ago
I'm not saying it isn't, but first time I booted it up it took me a good 20 mins to figure out how basic things worked and I'm used to using weird Linux DEs. I don't think it would leave a great first impression on your average ADHD alienware target customer.
- KerrickStaley 14y ago
  You do need to learn a few keyboard shortcuts before you can work effectively with Gnome 3. I think these ones get you 80% of the way there, though (and they work the same as they do on Windows): 1. WinKey and type a name to open programs 2. WinKey + arrows to snap windows 3. Alt+Tab to switch between open windows
  - jiggy2011 14y ago
    I think having to know any keyboard shortcuts to do basic operations is a huge lose for an entertainment computer.
    - TheLegace 14y ago
      It's really a shame, because it really takes almost no time to learn. And basically the point is that the desktop disappears and the only thing left is your work. Edit: Or entertainment ;). Point is application is whats important.
      - ansible 14y ago
        Keep in mind that these entertainment computers may be plugged in to living room TVs, which will often not be used with a keyboard and mouse, but perhaps with a game pad or remote.

sepbot 14y ago

I have tried getting used to Unity, but I just can't. It all comes down to the fact that the Unity launcher is forcibly placed on the right hand side and I always accidentally click on it when trying to click somewhere in the region. No other OS I use forces such a thing, which is why I will never get used to it. I tried changing my mouse sensitivity to compensate for the bar, but it makes everything else harder. There used to be a hack that would let you move the bar to the bottom of the screen, but it has not worked in the 12.x versions. I use KDE these days. The worse thing they force their users to look at is the Cashew, which can be made transparent by installing a third party widget.

keithpeter 14y ago
"It all comes down to the fact that the Unity launcher is forcibly placed on the right hand side and I always accidentally click on it when trying to click somewhere in the region." Just hide the thing and press the Windows key and type? I used dwm/dmenu for a year or so and never missed having a panel at all!

keithpeter 14y ago

Very unscientific trials of my own suggest Win7 users relate to KDE slightly better than Unity. I simply hand my thinkpad to students in class and get them to start a Web browser and log into the Moodle instance. KDE mostly ok, Unity getting into browser easy, but most try to close the window by clicking on the System Settings icon on the right top ('cog wheel'). They also find the global menu strange at the start. It only takes two minutes to explain how Unity works though...