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InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)S
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370
Joined
6 yr. ago

  • Okay. There's a difference between a Desktop Environment and a Window Manager. There are lots of Window Managers, but not that many DEs. Ive played around with a lot of them, and I thought I'd share my thoughts:

    • Gnome my #1 since 3 hit, this is my home and where I always end up. It might be lacking in configuration options, but it's got a great look, coherent design, and a default workflow that feels like it was designed specifically for me.
    • KDE Plasma Desktop is massively configurable, to an almost shocking degree. There's very little you can't do with Plasma. It's perhaps a bit less stable than Gnome, and you can break it depending on your settings choices, but holy crow, it's amazing.
    • XFCE is my go to for older computers. It's light, fast, and has a lot of configuration options. You can get it looking pretty cool with some work. It's missing some of the fancier features, and development is slow, but that's by design. It's super stable. I kind of think of it as the Debian of DEs.
    • LXQT even lighter than XFCE, but based on QT rather than GTK3. It's fine, but I think the GUI tools are kinda ugly.
    • Cinnamon was originally a Gnome 3 fork. It's fine I guess, if you want your desktop to use the Windows workflow. Nemo is an excellent file manager, and there are a lot of fun ways to configure the look, but I just don't care for it.
    • Pantheon is the official DE of elementary OS. It's pretty in a Apple sort of way, but it's tools felt a little dated and the theming outside of the official elementary apps was inconsistent at best. It want to like it, but it feels incomplete.
    • Deepin has a similar problem - it's own apps look great, other apps look like they're from another planet. It's got a really nice look, though, and a good kinda feel to it.
    • CDE the Common Desktop Environment. I tried it as a goof. It's... well, let's say it's nostalgic. It's been around for 30 years, and started out as a Unix desktop. It still looks pretty close to where it started, but it's up to date (the last stable release was like October last year I think). It's zippy of you can put up with the designed-for-EGA color palette, but really only good for a lark.

    Hopping around to different DEs can be fun, but at the end of the day, the trick is to find one that has a workflow that works for you, or use KDE and make the workflow you need.

    ETA: Somehow, I forgot to mention Mate. Basically, it's an updated version of Gnome 2, which, to me, is an uglier and more awkward to configure XFCE. It's not for me, but a lot of folks really love it. It's so cool that we have a choice, and can be different!

  • Futurama of course. Also The Venture Brothers to get set for the Movie. Also Batwoman and Asoka, although I'm not sold on either yet.

  • I adore the Murderbot Diaries. It's weird how something so violent can be so, I dunno, calming.

    • Zoe Punches the Future in the Dick and If This Book Exists, You're in the Wrong Universe by Jason Pargin
    • The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
  • I mean, not ban, but certainly restrict.

  • Okay, that's a much more cohesive answer, thank you! I can follow that, and I can see a line of moral reasoning. From a moral standpoint, not only do I support you, I mostly agree with you. I'm sure we'd disagree on some finer points, but from a big picture standpoint, cool.

    Now. All that in mind. How can I use that to keep a fascist rapist who empowers other fascist rapists out of the highest office in the land? If there's a way, please let me know. As far as I can see, I can take a very reasonable moral stand, or I can help stop orange soda Hitler from being in office, but I can't do both. Please show me how I'm wrong.

  • Yeah, no, sorry, that's still not an answer, unless you're trying to say Trump would be better.

    I repeat: how does that help?

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  • Okay. We'll take that as a given.

    I didn't say they were wrong. I just said they sounded like an old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn.

    And I stand by that.

    ETA: okay, I'll admit that I might have implied they were wrong. Sorry about that.

  • Nope. I asked first. Answer or don't, don't pull that childish shit.

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  • I went to college at 29. And it really doesn't matter how old you are, complaining about a younger generation makes you sound old.

    Take it from a Gen Xer who's heard The Greatest, the Boomers, and my own generation do it 😁

  • I mean, good call, Canada.

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  • MySpace was a big thing while I was in College, which I didn't start until I was 30 (well, 29). I couldn't figure out what the big deal was. You got a hideous web page, whoopdie-doo.

    None of the "big" social media has ever much appealed to me. I was on Facebook for a while, and I'll admit it was kinda nice to see how people I went to high school with were doing, but I just never cared that much.

    I'm kinda stuck with it because of a group chat my friends have, otherwise I'd never bother.

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  • I hate Gen Z

    Dude. I have a group that only talks on Facebook Messenger. It's 100% Gen X and Millennials. Don't blame the generation, it just makes you sound like an old man yelling "get off my lawn".

  • Well, if you're going to step out of your comfort zone, then I suggest one of two paths, depending on the sort of person you are:

    1. If you're a wade in slowly and learn to swim as you go sort, then Fedora or OpenSuse Tumbleweed would be your next logical choice. They're not overly difficult, but they also don't exactly have training wheels. They both have different, but still fairly friendly, installers, and they both have their own toolsets and ways of doing things. I prefer Fedora and the Gnome desktop.
    2. If you'd rather jump into the deep end, then Arch might be interesting for you. Arch comes with some warnings though. You need to be willing to read man pages, search the wiki, and do a forum search before asking Arch users for help. They're a great bunch, really, but they get salty if you haven't really tried to solve issues on your own. Also, archinstaller makes setting up your system a lot easier than it used to be, but it might be worth it to set things up "The Arch Way" the first time. You'll learn a lot.

    Or, if you're a complete crazy-pants like I was when I first started getting into FOSS operating systems, you'll set up a FreeBSD desktop. Don't... don't be like me.

  • did i explain well?

    Yes, thank you!

    I personally love the feature set of Gnome, but I can see your point. Compared to other DEs, it might seem like a lot of wasted space. And I guess in a way it is, but I don't miss those other functions.

    The top right corner doesn't even need a click to go to overview, which brings up my desktop view and the app launcher - that's the bottom left and bottom right functions you described in one place, which makes sense to me since in my head they're related.

    The top right is still close maximized windows, but because of the way the Gnome workflow is structured, I don't really use minimize basically ever, so I don't miss it. Also in the upper right we have volume control and battery feedback.

    I never have more virtual desktops than I'm actually using. Everything is exactly where I expect it to be. My brain is wired for the Gnome workflow, and extra options justbatent needed.

    I've used Dolphin's terminal in file manager thing, and while I can see the utility, I prefer my right-click -> open in Console setup. That's just me, though.

    Eh. It takes all kinds to make the world go round, I guess. FTR, I am a huge fan of the KDE project. Their contributions to the Linux world are massive and cannot be overstated. Krita alone is amazing, and I used calligre as my main office software for a few years.

    I'm just not a Plasma guy. ¯_ (ツ) _/¯

  • I don't feel like we're being fair to axe murderers, here.

  • So Thomas's law clerks don't know what ethics are?

    Is anyone really surprised by that?

  • Really? I'm not a tiling WM kinda guy, but I thought Forge was decent.

  • I mean, almost. I can pull it off on my desktop, but I can't get the touchpad/touchscreen gestures to work right on my laptop.

    Kinda looking forward to Plasma 6 to play around with, though. Might even be enough to get me to switch for a while!