IMO, the Linux UI needs to stabilize and be more consistent to win out. Windows 2000 wins over Linux in raw, sit-down-and-use-it comparisons here. Applications are just as easy to get for both, but the Windows ones always feel a little less hackish.
My thoughts: The GUI needs to be configurable, as not everyone likes the Windows UI system. I for one, have trouble without an OS X style dock. It needs to be possible for the GUI to automagically detect the best resolution for your display, but for the end user to be able to easily change it in the GUI. It should probably check this on every boot so that new monitors 'just work'.
I think that the package deps could be well handled in the way OS X does: Avoid them using a special Wrapper for applications, which can contain any needed shared libraries. This avoids the issue entirely(yes, it may use more space, but even for me, with a 6 gig hard disk, I haven't felt any pinches.) and makes applications easy to install/remove since there is only one 'file' that is everything the app has, with the exception of preferences.
Also, if it can be autoprobed or automounted(for filesystems), it should be.
You mention programming. I think it should be said that it should be logic and structure rather than programming in a specific language(because those will become less useful, structure and logic is fundamentally unchanged in the past 15 or 20 years.) Maybe an intro to OOP.
It looks like they are going to ship the kernel without the latest framebuffer things. Last time I made a non -mm kernel, the framebuffers were completely hosed, and I don't think the changes have been merged yet. Am I looney or correct on this?
Re:casual desktop users may want to try Knoppix
on
Debian 3.0r2 Released
·
· Score: 4, Informative
A word of warning though:
Before you decide to always use Knoppix as an installer, realize that it leaves a lot of livecd cruft behind. Scripts and things. Also, it can be hard to get some packages to install, since it is a hybrid of stable, testing, and unstable. You have to be careful.
Perhaps the best way to be a good Linux desktop is to clone the best(Mac OS), instead of one of the worst(Windows). It is the fundamental difference between keeping things simple, and trying to make complex things simple.
From their FAQ: What if a fluorescent zebra fish is eaten?
Eating a fluorescent zebra fish is the same as eating any other zebra fish. Their fluorescence is derived from a naturally occurring gene and is completely safe for the environment. Just as eating a blue fish would not turn a predator blue, eating a fluorescent fish would not make a predator fluoresce.
...it's latent as hell... My beige G3(300mhz) has never had high latencies on Jaguar. Never. iTunes never goes above 15% CPU usage unless I turn on the visualizer.
One thing to remember is that the PPC is bi-endian. It can be big or little endian. That could ease the porting process, depending on how their code is written. Just a thought. As far as I know, the G5 preserves this portion of the architecture. I know the G4 macs have an option in the openfirmware that lets you change your proc to little endian. If I remember right, PPCs can change endianness on-the-fly as well, although that feature is rarely(ever?) used.
Simplicity is the sum of what you are saying, and I agree. Just have new users sit down and use GNOME 2.4 and KDE 3.1 for equal amounts of time, and see which they are more comfortable in. The simplicity of GNOME almost always is a winner. I find KDE hard to use because the interface is so cluttered. It is actually distracting.
<rant> Note that simple here does NOT mean crippled, it means keep the UI out of the way. Hidden except when needed. Only stuff I use all the time should be visible. That feature that only 1% of the population will use? Keep it hidden, either as a by default disabled item or in a menu somewhere. </rant>
That seems the bad news about QT, most small companies won't use it for their toolkit because of the licensing. It almost would make sense to re-implement it in an LGPL version for that reason. Maybe you could make it look nicer alongside GTK apps in the process.
As a side note, KDE seems to have a less consistent and less friendly interface than GNOME. GNOME seems a lot more discoverable to me.
Are the words random, tailored to the user, or to the topic at hand? If the last, do I need special glasses for reading the newspaper and for reading a book?
Also, wouldn't 1/80th of a second make more sense?
Not according to the announcement. Just wait for the -mm patch. It is really great. The whole thing is snappy, and gives new life to a lot of machines.
I can't use my 48g on many tests, and my friend has a 49g. That thing(the 49g) has acomplete CAS built in. I think there isn't any major test it is usable on.
I have no complaint with anything you say *except* the line about the stripped command line. You need that. Even OS X has emacs and nvi preinstalled. Other handy things are there too. ssh, openssl(for checksumming), and telnet.
handwriting recognition is ``merely'' the print recognizer from Newton OS 2.x and doesn't learn
Rosetta may not be adaptive, but my father's MessagePad 2000 is really something as far as recognition goes. I have never seen better. It routinely gives 98% accuracy on the first time you use it, and it gets better over time as you get used to the device(slipperyness of the display, spacing of words, etc). Not too shabby for a device with less processing power than some of today's cell phones. I used it on Jaguar in the store, and found it to be just as good. That said, I like my keyboard a lot, since I type really fast.
Slashdot Mirror
IMO, the Linux UI needs to stabilize and be more consistent to win out. Windows 2000 wins over Linux in raw, sit-down-and-use-it comparisons here. Applications are just as easy to get for both, but the Windows ones always feel a little less hackish.
I thought SCO had one: Eliza, built in to emacs, the SCO kitchen sink.
As a side note, in Jaguar the update gives Safari v 1.0.1 not 1.1.1 as given in Panther.....annoys me a good bit.
My buddy has a 49g, and the only weak element of it is the rubbery buttons. Other than that, it is just as tough as my 48g.
My thoughts:
The GUI needs to be configurable, as not everyone likes the Windows UI system. I for one, have trouble without an OS X style dock. It needs to be possible for the GUI to automagically detect the best resolution for your display, but for the end user to be able to easily change it in the GUI. It should probably check this on every boot so that new monitors 'just work'.
I think that the package deps could be well handled in the way OS X does: Avoid them using a special Wrapper for applications, which can contain any needed shared libraries. This avoids the issue entirely(yes, it may use more space, but even for me, with a 6 gig hard disk, I haven't felt any pinches.) and makes applications easy to install/remove since there is only one 'file' that is everything the app has, with the exception of preferences.
Also, if it can be autoprobed or automounted(for filesystems), it should be.
You mention programming. I think it should be said that it should be logic and structure rather than programming in a specific language(because those will become less useful, structure and logic is fundamentally unchanged in the past 15 or 20 years.) Maybe an intro to OOP.
In my experience, LiveCDs leave a lot of cruft behind after the install. Is Mepis better than KNOPPIX in this respect?
It looks like they are going to ship the kernel without the latest framebuffer things. Last time I made a non -mm kernel, the framebuffers were completely hosed, and I don't think the changes have been merged yet. Am I looney or correct on this?
A word of warning though:
Before you decide to always use Knoppix as an installer, realize that it leaves a lot of livecd cruft behind. Scripts and things. Also, it can be hard to get some packages to install, since it is a hybrid of stable, testing, and unstable. You have to be careful.
Perhaps the best way to be a good Linux desktop is to clone the best(Mac OS), instead of one of the worst(Windows). It is the fundamental difference between keeping things simple, and trying to make complex things simple.
From their FAQ:
What if a fluorescent zebra fish is eaten? Eating a fluorescent zebra fish is the same as eating any other zebra fish. Their fluorescence is derived from a naturally occurring gene and is completely safe for the environment. Just as eating a blue fish would not turn a predator blue, eating a fluorescent fish would not make a predator fluoresce.
Bummer, I was hoping to see fluorescent cats!
I use Linux and Windows on a regular basis on much newer hardware than the OS X machine. The OS X machine still feels faster.
...it's latent as hell...
My beige G3(300mhz) has never had high latencies on Jaguar. Never. iTunes never goes above 15% CPU usage unless I turn on the visualizer.
One thing to remember is that the PPC is bi-endian. It can be big or little endian. That could ease the porting process, depending on how their code is written. Just a thought. As far as I know, the G5 preserves this portion of the architecture. I know the G4 macs have an option in the openfirmware that lets you change your proc to little endian. If I remember right, PPCs can change endianness on-the-fly as well, although that feature is rarely(ever?) used.
Simplicity is the sum of what you are saying, and I agree. Just have new users sit down and use GNOME 2.4 and KDE 3.1 for equal amounts of time, and see which they are more comfortable in. The simplicity of GNOME almost always is a winner. I find KDE hard to use because the interface is so cluttered. It is actually distracting.
<rant>
Note that simple here does NOT mean crippled, it means keep the UI out of the way. Hidden except when needed. Only stuff I use all the time should be visible. That feature that only 1% of the population will use? Keep it hidden, either as a by default disabled item or in a menu somewhere.
</rant>
That seems the bad news about QT, most small companies won't use it for their toolkit because of the licensing. It almost would make sense to re-implement it in an LGPL version for that reason. Maybe you could make it look nicer alongside GTK apps in the process.
As a side note, KDE seems to have a less consistent and less friendly interface than GNOME. GNOME seems a lot more discoverable to me.
that this is also for 10.2 with the gcc 3.3 update to the dev tools...
Are the words random, tailored to the user, or to the topic at hand? If the last, do I need special glasses for reading the newspaper and for reading a book?
Also, wouldn't 1/80th of a second make more sense?
The pgp signature on this verifies correctly. This is a valid copy, not some jerk.
Thanks Wakkow!
Not according to the announcement. Just wait for the -mm patch. It is really great. The whole thing is snappy, and gives new life to a lot of machines.
I can't use my 48g on many tests, and my friend has a 49g. That thing(the 49g) has acomplete CAS built in. I think there isn't any major test it is usable on.
I have no complaint with anything you say *except* the line about the stripped command line. You need that. Even OS X has emacs and nvi preinstalled. Other handy things are there too. ssh, openssl(for checksumming), and telnet.
It is Rosetta/InkWell. True about switching, but for mass data entry, I love my keyboard.