Slashdot Mirror
System76 Pop!_OS Beta Ubuntu-based Linux Distribution Now Available To Download (betanews.com)
BrianFagioli writes: Next month, a new era of Ubuntu begins. Unity is dead, and GNOME 3 takes over as the default desktop environment. While this change was for the best, it was still shocking for many. For a company like System76, for instance, that sells computers pre-loaded with Ubuntu, this was problematic. Why? Well, the company essentially lost control of the overall user experience by relying on vanilla Ubuntu. It was being forced to follow Canonical's path. To solve this, and regain some control, System76 has been developing its own operating system called 'Pop!_OS.' No, it is not reinventing the wheel here -- it will still use Ubuntu as a base, and GNOME will be the desktop environment. The company is customizing the operating system, however, with things like fonts, themes, and icons, to create something truly unique. This could lead to an improved user experience. Today, the first official beta of the operating system becomes available for download.
Someone should tell these people that sticking random punctuation into your brand names is a fad that died long ago. It was dumb back with the :CueCat, and today it looks hopelessly moronic.
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
Truly Unique means creatiing a new a distro just to have better fonts themes and icons
Obligatory
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
Do you buy a Dell or an HP to use Windows, not Dell _!Windows, or HP %!Win!_Pop. Why does System76 feel they need to "own" the user experience to such a degree? Do people buy System76 machines to run Linux, or to run Pop!_OS?
punctuation abuse breaks google.
Just sayin'...
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
I use the default desktop as a measure of a distro's developers'/maintainers' competency. If a distro's team has chosen to use Gnome 3 as the default desktop environment then I get very concerned. I don't think that a competent person or team would choose Gnome 3 for any reason, especially with so many better alternatives available. If a team has screwed up something as simple as choosing a good default desktop environment, then in my opinion the rest of their decisions can't be trusted, and I cannot justify using their distro.
What's wrong with gnome 3?
Been using Mate for way too long. works well, not unity and not the default gnome3, either. -
Been using Linux off and on since 1993 with the now-defunct SLS distro. I drank the kool-aid back then. Now it's been 24 years now. The closet thing to a fun and attractive (to me personally) desktop there has ever been was using Enlightenment v14 (not the new phone-canvas garbage). In my opinion and experience, GNOME and KDE are big buggy jokes filled with Pottering-like personalities, lame half-working applications, and dozens of abortive ideas piled quickly on top of each other.
I also work very nearby the System76 folks. They seem to me like 20-something bearded hipsters trying to Python-script their way to Linux desktop glory. Good luck with that. At this point, after 24 years of crap-on-crap, I give up. I declare the Linux desktop fragmentation thoroughly fatal. At least it keeps these lamers all in one place, though. There is that!
If you don't know how to get root in Ubuntu you probably shouldn't have access to root.
I love System76. Bought a desktop and several of their net top computers. In fact, by shear numbers I own more System76 computers than any other brand.
But why couldn't they just make a deal and take the Linux Mint Cinnamon DE and just add a few desktop images and screensavers and call it a day?
That would be a win for everyone.
Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
Oh, nothing, except the last time I tried to use it (which I'll admit was a while ago, back in Fedora 17), it tried to turn your computer into a friggin phone, which is STUPID! It was very clunky, VERY hard to use, and not intuitive at all. It seemed like the GNOME 3 team redesigned GNOME for the sake of redesigning GNOME, which is never a good motivation to do anything. Now, granted, this was a while ago, so GNOME 3 might be much better now. But my experience with GNOME 3 was SO bad, it scared me away from trying GNOME 3 again any time soon.
And, really, saying "GNOME 3 isn't nearly as bad as Unity" is kinda like saying "Getting poked in the eye isn't nearly as bad as getting smashed in the nards." I mean come on...
There's a whole lot of subjective "me" in that comment but very little objective "fact". Look if Linux doesn't work for you, okay. You found something else to use? Great! I think we've all moved past the idea that there will ever be a year of the Linux Desktop.
They seem to me like 20-something bearded hipsters trying to Python-script their way to Linux desktop glory.
Really?! These people look like 20-something hipsters? Have you ever worked in a programming job? Because these folks look exactly like the last three groups of folks I've worked with which is typically a pretty diverse mix of folks.
I give up. I declare the Linux desktop fragmentation thoroughly fatal.
Well I'm sure we're all glad that you've finally declared that. We have all been waiting with bated breath for you to go one way or the other. We can all now rest easy knowing for sure which way you lean on the matter.
Yet another distro whose stated goals are better icons instead of better battery life and better gpu drivers. Or even working suspend/resume. Yawn... Mandrake, Lindows, Xandros, Ubuntu, Mint, Pop!_OS.... It never ends.
Well, it's System76, so everything will work in Linux.
I use so many Linux distros and so many UIs that I honestly don't know if I have ever used Gnome 3 or not. I think this has lead me to be ok with any UI that allows me to start my GUI apps (web browser, k3b, a terminal, etc), and all the other stuff not only doesn't matter to me, but I don't even notice it.
I can honestly say I don't know if I am typing this message to you from a web browser running on top of Gnome 3 right now. I could figure it out, but I've been using this install of centos 6.8 for half a year now, and I haven't yet.
I will admit I am not the right person to be giving my opinion on the merits of various UIs, but I am just curious if the things people hate about Gnome 3 are going to affect me or not. The things people hated about Unity (whatever they were) certainly didn't.
When you say they tried to turn your computer into a phone, what do you mean? The icons were bigger? It looked like windows metro? It had an app store?
We've gone from System V to System76, what about all the ones in the middle?
I own a System76 machine and have had exactly zero issues with installing or doing anything that I want with the OS. Installing KDE was a dream and nothing has broken as the result of any NVIDIA updates (which for me has been historically awful). It's rock solid and faster than shit...I'm glad that I could afford the extra cost - I'm happier with my machine than I would have been on a Mac (and I spent less).
The one downside: The laptop weighs a freakin' ton. As an original owner of the breakout model of the first Dell XPS laptops, I consider that a small price to pay for 1) "just works" and 2) Freedom.
There's a whole lot of subjective "me" in that comment but very little objective "fact". Look if Linux doesn't work for you, okay. You found something else to use? Great! I think we've all moved past the idea that there will ever be a year of the Linux Desktop.
Well, given that early 1990's now-defunct operating systems showed more integration and functionality, I'd say 20-something years of failure ought to tell you something is wrong.
They seem to me like 20-something bearded hipsters trying to Python-script their way to Linux desktop glory.
Really?! These people look like 20-something hipsters? Have you ever worked in a programming job? Because these folks look exactly like the last three groups of folks I've worked with which is typically a pretty diverse mix of folks.
Yes. Really. Did you even *look* at the link you posted. Just like I said, pudgy bearded hipsters abound. The receptionist is nearly the only exception. Like I said I work close by. What's up, did that hit too close to home? You work there or something?
I give up. I declare the Linux desktop fragmentation thoroughly fatal.
Well I'm sure we're all glad that you've finally declared that. We have all been waiting with bated breath for you to go one way or the other. We can all now rest easy knowing for sure which way you lean on the matter.
You're welcome. Now that Python IDE is calling, you'd better get those DBUS scripts finished and make sure they integrate with Systemd, brah.