3 ms·

For those of us who equals 'right' with 'the way Apple does it'? Serious question; I am unfamiliar with this particular distro, and I've tried using a Mac and c

by listic 12y ago

For those of us who equals 'right' with 'the way Apple does it'? Serious question; I am unfamiliar with this particular distro, and I've tried using a Mac and couldn't get used to it.

reitanqild 12y ago
I like eOS. Like you I don't use Mac because of a few things that totally breaks it for me. eOS looks kind of like Mac OS X but IMO does a few things a lot better. For example consider just the fact that you can get a nice desktop where you can apt-get all your[0] normal programs and they look nice. Or the fact that the menu follow the window in question instead of being locked to the top of your screen. [0]:yes I consider myself a linux user who sometimes have to use other OS, not the other way around.
- listic 12y ago
  I guess I have to try it. I think they could have explained how they are different and what their point is, on their site. Their Human Interface Guidelines are 'coming soon' https://elementary.io/docs/human-interface-guidelines https://elementary.io/docs/human-interface-guidelines. Are they just a few guys?
  - dkuntz2 12y ago
    Yup, it's mainly just a few guys in their free time IIRC. The HIG has been coming soon for several years now though.
TazeTSchnitzel 12y ago
For how long? Was it your main machine? Just trying it in a store you have no hope of getting to know it.
- listic 12y ago
  Yep, just tried it in stores a few times. Well, too bad for Apple, since I don't feel like buying a machine just for experimentation (maybe I will, sometime, but I don't feel like it right now). I respect Apple's approach to design, just don't feel like it's "the right thing" for me. Linux offers much more choice, and mimicking Apple looks funny to me, but well - that's the power of choice I guess: you are free to do what you want, including acting like there's no choice, right? Right now I have a souped-up ThinkPad X200s as my main machine, which I use with an external monitor, keyboard and mouse via a docking station at home and at the office. I'm running Ubuntu, stock flavour; sure, getting used to Unity took some effort and I'm still not too happy with it, so I'm looking to other window managers, mostly tiled-based ones. Are there even alternate window managers for Mac? I doubt so; surely all Apple store staff I asked were puzzled by this. I figure if one desires to change desktop environments, then Mac is not for them.
  - mcintyre1994 12y ago
    To be fair I doubt any powerful desktop OS (ie not Android/iOS) demos particularly well to a new user - I bet Ubuntu with Unity wouldn't, and nor would eOS, and I bet Windows 8 didn't either. I used eOS for a little bit on my old laptop and it doesn't really feel like "acting like there's no choice", it feels like choosing design. It's compatible with everything Ubuntu, you're not giving anything up. I won't disagree that OS X is probably not for you if you take advantage of Linux. But yes, there are programmes that claim to be window managers for OS X: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8768022 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8768022 (HN comments for Amethyst, see the top comment for a few more)
    - listic 12y ago
      > I doubt any powerful desktop OS (ie not Android/iOS) demos particularly well to a new user Definitely so. I have switched from Windows to Ubuntu not because I liked Ubuntu in store, but because I kept encountering pieces of technology that appear first and/or work better on Linux, and I knew that I have to, for a while. I chose Ubuntu because it' apparently a solid mainstream choice and self-consciously endured the accommodation. > it doesn't really feel like "acting like there's no choice" I meant Apple's style here: they seem to be eager to simplify away things, making choices for you: 'you don't want to fiddle with changing batteries on your player/phone, do you?', 'who needs extra USB's, anyway?', 'you won't need that many configuration options for a PC', 'one button should be enough' - obviously, I'm not familiar with Mac software, but I get the impression that simplification is the norm there, too; which is great if the choices they make for you are mostly the ones you would make anyway, or you don't care much. I had the impression that eOS copies their style, here. Choosing design, though, is the thing that Ubuntu really could use more of (Linux, in general, but Ubuntu seems to be the one that could potentially have resources to pull it off). I figured I could close windows with Ctrl+W: 'oh, so I can close any program with Ctrl+W instead of Alt+F4?' Nope, not just any program, e.g. not GNOME Terminal or Calculator. In Ubuntu I can start programs with 'Win+1' ... 'Win+0' shortcuts, maximize with Ctrl+Shift+Up. Not in Lubuntu/Xubuntu, it turns, out: I figure there isn't any design document for such things, spanning several official Ubuntu flavours; There isn't any reason for such things to be done differently, really.

by listic 12y ago

For those of us who equals 'right' with 'the way Apple does it'? Serious question; I am unfamiliar with this particular distro, and I've tried using a Mac and couldn't get used to it.

reitanqild 12y ago

I like eOS. Like you I don't use Mac because of a few things that totally breaks it for me. eOS looks kind of like Mac OS X but IMO does a few things a lot better. For example consider just the fact that you can get a nice desktop where you can apt-get all your[0] normal programs and they look nice. Or the fact that the menu follow the window in question instead of being locked to the top of your screen. [0]:yes I consider myself a linux user who sometimes have to use other OS, not the other way around.

listic 12y ago
I guess I have to try it. I think they could have explained how they are different and what their point is, on their site. Their Human Interface Guidelines are 'coming soon' https://elementary.io/docs/human-interface-guidelines https://elementary.io/docs/human-interface-guidelines. Are they just a few guys?
- dkuntz2 12y ago
  Yup, it's mainly just a few guys in their free time IIRC. The HIG has been coming soon for several years now though.

TazeTSchnitzel 12y ago

For how long? Was it your main machine? Just trying it in a store you have no hope of getting to know it.

listic 12y ago
Yep, just tried it in stores a few times. Well, too bad for Apple, since I don't feel like buying a machine just for experimentation (maybe I will, sometime, but I don't feel like it right now). I respect Apple's approach to design, just don't feel like it's "the right thing" for me. Linux offers much more choice, and mimicking Apple looks funny to me, but well - that's the power of choice I guess: you are free to do what you want, including acting like there's no choice, right? Right now I have a souped-up ThinkPad X200s as my main machine, which I use with an external monitor, keyboard and mouse via a docking station at home and at the office. I'm running Ubuntu, stock flavour; sure, getting used to Unity took some effort and I'm still not too happy with it, so I'm looking to other window managers, mostly tiled-based ones. Are there even alternate window managers for Mac? I doubt so; surely all Apple store staff I asked were puzzled by this. I figure if one desires to change desktop environments, then Mac is not for them.
- mcintyre1994 12y ago
  To be fair I doubt any powerful desktop OS (ie not Android/iOS) demos particularly well to a new user - I bet Ubuntu with Unity wouldn't, and nor would eOS, and I bet Windows 8 didn't either. I used eOS for a little bit on my old laptop and it doesn't really feel like "acting like there's no choice", it feels like choosing design. It's compatible with everything Ubuntu, you're not giving anything up. I won't disagree that OS X is probably not for you if you take advantage of Linux. But yes, there are programmes that claim to be window managers for OS X: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8768022 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8768022 (HN comments for Amethyst, see the top comment for a few more)
  - listic 12y ago
    > I doubt any powerful desktop OS (ie not Android/iOS) demos particularly well to a new user Definitely so. I have switched from Windows to Ubuntu not because I liked Ubuntu in store, but because I kept encountering pieces of technology that appear first and/or work better on Linux, and I knew that I have to, for a while. I chose Ubuntu because it' apparently a solid mainstream choice and self-consciously endured the accommodation. > it doesn't really feel like "acting like there's no choice" I meant Apple's style here: they seem to be eager to simplify away things, making choices for you: 'you don't want to fiddle with changing batteries on your player/phone, do you?', 'who needs extra USB's, anyway?', 'you won't need that many configuration options for a PC', 'one button should be enough' - obviously, I'm not familiar with Mac software, but I get the impression that simplification is the norm there, too; which is great if the choices they make for you are mostly the ones you would make anyway, or you don't care much. I had the impression that eOS copies their style, here. Choosing design, though, is the thing that Ubuntu really could use more of (Linux, in general, but Ubuntu seems to be the one that could potentially have resources to pull it off). I figured I could close windows with Ctrl+W: 'oh, so I can close any program with Ctrl+W instead of Alt+F4?' Nope, not just any program, e.g. not GNOME Terminal or Calculator. In Ubuntu I can start programs with 'Win+1' ... 'Win+0' shortcuts, maximize with Ctrl+Shift+Up. Not in Lubuntu/Xubuntu, it turns, out: I figure there isn't any design document for such things, spanning several official Ubuntu flavours; There isn't any reason for such things to be done differently, really.