Desktops - Page 11

Asher · March 16, 2004, 15:20

The last one doesn't look better, it looks exactly the same as the other two, as I said a while ago.

Q Cubed just illustrated rather clearly just how much psychology taints Agathon's judgement, even in the most blatant cases.

By the way, Aggie:

Quote:

If I was a real Mac fanatic I wouldn't have picked KDE anyway.

Which is precisely why you did pick KDE. You don't want to come off as a Mac fanatic, so choosing what the known-moderate had said looked best as the best is an obvious attempt to get away from being called a Mac Fanatic.

This way you could pretend you're not a Mac fanatic, while still saying Mac > Windows.

But it backfired.

Agathon · March 16, 2004, 15:23

I'm still thinking about it. I'm pretty sure I can install all the KDE stuff using Fink Commander (it takes the hassle out of it).

I don't want to have a dual boot system as I'm pretty sure that I would have to wipe everything. Serves me right for not partitioning in the first place.

I'm thinking that my next mac will be a dual system though.

Spiffor · March 16, 2004, 15:32

Quote:

Originally posted by Q Cubed
honestly, i can't see how the last one would look better. it was the same image as the first two, merely duplicated.

My laptop display tends to be darker at the bottom than at the top. hence, the one at the bottom of the screen looks darker = more contrasted = better (I prefer the "no clear type" option in Asher's pic, btw)

Agathon · March 16, 2004, 15:36

Asher, you are a conspiracy theorist. Three people picked the bottom one.

Q Classic · March 16, 2004, 16:10

if you're lucky, you might not have to dual boot. repartition, maybe, but the 2.6.4 kernel has support for hfs+, so you ought to be fine.

having no experience with fink commander...

Agathon · March 16, 2004, 16:32

You don't need any experience to run Fink Commander. It's just a front end for Fink and is the noobs (read: Agathon) way of installing open source stuff with no hassles.

Asher · March 16, 2004, 16:39

Quote:

Originally posted by Agathon
Asher, you are a conspiracy theorist. Three people picked the bottom one.

Herd mentality is nothing new.

Agathon · March 16, 2004, 16:51

Says the man who uses Windows.

Asher · March 16, 2004, 16:54

I use Windows because Linux on the desktop is a joke, and OS X is on a closed monopolistic (imagine that) platform and grossly overpriced, not because my neighbors use Windows.

joncha · March 16, 2004, 18:51

This one's for Emperor Tassadar:

Agathon · March 16, 2004, 19:03

No Asher, you use Windows because you are uncool.

Asher · March 16, 2004, 19:04

Quote:

Originally posted by Agathon
No Asher, you use Windows because you are uncool.

I am the definition of cool. All the chicks in computer science want me.

Agathon · March 16, 2004, 19:16

Quod erat demonstrandum.

Hey, you aren't so bad. Unlike most CS students apparently you wash occasionally.

St Leo · March 16, 2004, 19:45

What is this "wash" you speak of?

Asher · March 16, 2004, 19:47

Quote:

Originally posted by Agathon

Quod erat demonstrandum.

Hey, you aren't so bad. Unlike most CS students apparently you wash occasionally.

The washing helps, but it's the eyes that do it all. Then when they find out I'm gay I suddenly have faghag followers.

Women.

Q Classic · March 16, 2004, 22:52

linux on the desktop is not a joke. it isn't ready for grandma sue and every tom dick and harry, but it's remarkably easy to set up and use.

it's the installation that'll block all the noobs, really.

Asher · March 16, 2004, 22:59

Quote:

Originally posted by Q Cubed
linux on the desktop is not a joke. it isn't ready for grandma sue and every tom dick and harry, but it's remarkably easy to set up and use.

it's the installation that'll block all the noobs, really.

I consider it a joke because, generally:

Installation of software are needlessly complicated
UIs are inconsistent
Distros always install too much crap, or not enough -- why do I need four text editors?
OpenOffice is no match for MS Office (sidenote -- our SPARC machines have StarOffice on them, and I use Office 2003 at home. We had to do a 100-page document due today, so last night I spent about 4 hours fixing all of the formatting "nuances" and slight "incompatibilities" with StarOffice )

It's not a joke if you're accustomed to it, or if you're a computer science geek, but to everyone else it's hellish.

Method · March 17, 2004, 00:58

Quote:

Originally posted by Grrr
Anyway, here is my lappie's desktop:

savinoff

Q Classic · March 17, 2004, 14:14

Quote:

Installation of software are needlessly complicated

resolved in gentoo.
"emerge x" installs it.

Quote:

UIs are inconsistent

agreed.

Quote:

Distros always install too much crap, or not enough -- why do I need four text editors?

resolved in Gentoo. only emerge what you want. which is why i have nano, xemacs, and vim; i don't have anything else installed (i chose to install xemacs and vim; gentoo comes default with nano).

Quote:

OpenOffice is no match for MS Office (sidenote -- our SPARC machines have StarOffice on them, and I use Office 2003 at home. We had to do a 100-page document due today, so last night I spent about 4 hours fixing all of the formatting "nuances" and slight "incompatibilities" with StarOffice

agreed, but AbiWord can save in doc-compatible format.

Asher · March 17, 2004, 14:34

Quote:

Originally posted by Q Cubed

Quote:

Installation of software are needlessly complicated

resolved in gentoo.
"emerge x" installs it.

True, but why should I have to use a command-line to install a program? Where's the wizards like Windows? Why can't I customize where I install it? Where are the options to create desktop shortcuts?

Quote:

resolved in Gentoo. only emerge what you want. which is why i have nano, xemacs, and vim; i don't have anything else installed (i chose to install xemacs and vim; gentoo comes default with nano).

But you need to know what you're looking for in order to do that. I'm referring more to the GUI environments than command-line.

Q Classic · March 17, 2004, 14:36

this is all true, and gentoo is far from an "easy-to-set-up-and-use" system. it's not plug-and-play, and it's not for grandma sue.

once it's set up by someone who knows what they're doing, it's very powerful and good.

linux isn't a joke on the desktop, per se; it's just not ready for the mass desktop market.

Asher · March 17, 2004, 14:39

By the way, I tried to install Gentoo 2004.0 for AMD64 again last night. After the painful 2-hour install, I booted the system with a glorious kernel panic.

Q Classic · March 17, 2004, 17:06

the install's not painful at all... at least, not on the systems i've been doing it on.

at least with gentoo, you could get through the entire install.

Agathon · March 17, 2004, 18:29

Quote:

Originally posted by Q Cubed
linux on the desktop is not a joke. it isn't ready for grandma sue and every tom dick and harry, but it's remarkably easy to set up and use.

it's the installation that'll block all the noobs, really.

The noobs who don't have staying power. I looked at the instructions and it seems quite straightforward to me.

Asher · March 17, 2004, 18:37

It's all straightforward in the instructions and documentation, but in the real world in Linux, components never seem to work together like they should. It's a gongshow.

I have yet to find a single Linux distro that will install on my new PC without weeks of manually hacking things and trying ultra-experimental drivers.

Agathon · March 17, 2004, 18:41

I imagine the standardization of PPCs would make it easier on our side.

Still, from what I've seen there are plenty of good people on the net who would love to help a noob to Linux sort out problems - I'm certainly not too proud to ask.

Q Classic · March 17, 2004, 18:47

asher, you do realize that not everyone has the brand-spankin' new setup that you do, right?

i've yet to find a piece of modern hardware that linux doesn't work flawlessly with--and thus far, all the computers i've placed it on have ranged from a p2/266 to a p4/2.0.

not everyone has a sata raid setup.

Asher · March 17, 2004, 18:47

I'd imagine there's even less support for PPC peripherals in Linux.

There are no AMD64 ATI drivers -- at all -- and as far as I can, there's also no PPC ATI drivers.

The closest thing for AMD64 are unofficial 2D-only drivers from some code hackers that only works for Radeons up to the 9200 (DX8-level).

Q Classic · March 17, 2004, 18:48

and i've never really had to manually hack things that took weeks at a time in gentoo, actually.

Spiffor · March 17, 2004, 18:48

I am a n00b to Linux, and not a n00b to Dos/windows. I tried to install Linux in very good faith, to see if it could be a serious opponent against windows for those of us that are computer literate without being geeks.

Linux scored a few successes, but overall, the installation has to be left to geeks in order to work perfectly, and some geeky things are terrible for the average computer user: 1. security paranoia (with the root access being needed to install pretty much anything) and 2. double clicks not launching an executable file

Wjile I think Linux is decent for desktops for ordinary use, it is still inferior to Windows. Obviously, the terrible lack of games sure doesn't help.

(BTW, since I formatted my windows partition and re-installed it, I lost my dual boot. How can I restore it?)