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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Multiple (by Chris on 2017-04-10 00:33:06 GMT from United States)
As of right now, I do not have any comments specifically for this issue of DWW; however...
DW Additions:
First, I just want to thank the DW team for making what appears to be a concerted effort recently to clean-up the waiting list and get more distros onto the main list. The work is noticed and appreciated.
LXDE GTK3 (Continued):
Thanks to all who participated in last week's DWW Comments discussion on this subject. While I do not think we found a difinitive answer, I did post a last minute comment with question. For any interested, please see last week's comments #96.
2 • Waiting list (by Jesse on 2017-04-10 00:35:26 GMT from Canada)
@1: Thanks, Chris. I am trying to evaluate one or two new projects every week, more or less in the order people vote for them. I'm hoping to catch up by the end of the year.
3 • OpenBSD on pi is great (by Tomas on 2017-04-10 00:40:13 GMT from Portugal)
Would be great if OpenBSD came to PI.
I love raspberry pi and raspbian have been the OS just because it works.
OBSD would give other sense of security to my distributed pis.
Been using obsd on laptop and just works for my mini-servers.
4 • BunsenLabs (by bigsky on 2017-04-10 00:44:04 GMT from Canada)
ARCHLabs heavily influenced and inspired by the look and feel of BunsenLabs ? Huuum if i remember correctly that would be a stretch of a claim. Really ??? Thanks Jesse classy as usual.
5 • @1 (by mandog on 2017-04-10 01:37:55 GMT from Peru)
All I know the GTK3 builds are in the official repro and pcmanfm says
Developed by Hon Jen Yee (PCMan)
https://blog.lxde.org/category/pcmanfm/ says a new version was released
Posted on December 12, 2016 so it seems very active GTK wise
this is the only mention of GTK3 Fixed invalid unref on CSS provider (GTK+ 3.0).
6 • @5 - LXDE with GTK3 (by Chris on 2017-04-10 01:58:28 GMT from United States)
Thanks again, I believe you. PCMan could make this easy with a clear LXDE/LXQT overall project(s) update, but your find (@5 - link) is about as difinitive as I think we will get right now, even if it appears to possibly contradict PCMan's previous years-old statements.
Even though Arch is the ultimate in bleeding-edge Linux distro, and I expect them to have most packages built first, I am just surprised not to see any gtk3 versions of LXDE components show up by now in other rolling distros (i.e., Debian Sid).
7 • LXQT should be abandoned like Unity (by Ronnie on 2017-04-10 02:42:50 GMT from United States)
Personally I think the LXDE/LXQT/Lubuntu group should just end the miserable LXQT desktop they've been working on forever that isn't much more than RazorQT with PCmanfm and get back to their roots and do what they do best and stop knifing the baby LXDE.
8 • VPN (by Ricardo on 2017-04-10 03:03:21 GMT from Argentina)
FWIW, I don't usually use a VPN but the latest versions of Opera (my browser of choice) comes with a free VPN integrated since a few releases.
It obvoiusly only works for web browsing but it takes away the hassle of setting a VPN up, which could be a plus for some.
I probably wouldn't recommend it as a 24x7 solution but can come handy in some situations.
Cheers,
9 • LXQt (by Kleer Kut on 2017-04-10 03:34:13 GMT from United States)
Seems to be a bit of misunderstanding with LXQt from comments last week. lxqt.org has updates listed there, Roughly every 6-8 months or so sees a point release. It gets some benefit from KDE working on Qt, so I don't think it is the same as if had nothing upstream to draw from.
Also remember that LXQt is still in beta. My understanding is that both LXDE and LXQt will be around for a while, and that LXQt isn't exactly supposed to be a replacement for LXDE.
The past few updates have fixed many of the problems I was having when I ran it on my laptop last year on top of Ubuntu minimal. I set it up in a VM last night and had it working very similarly to my LXDE desktop (LXLE). The control panel has gotten a lot better, which was my main issue. It has a couple years to go, but it has certainly seen improvement over the past year. If I wasn't so lazy I would wipe LXLE and go back to LXQt. I'm sure I will get around to it by the next Ubuntu LTS release.
10 • PCLinuxOS (by kc1di on 2017-04-10 09:19:48 GMT from United States)
Thanks for another great review of one of my favorite Distros. PCLinuxOS - is a great long term distro, which I usually have on one machine or another. And to add to the discussion it has a great user community. Irreverent at times but always there to help. Like the rolling aspect of the distro. It's not rolling in the sense that it's cutting edge except in a few areas but it's rolling and very stable for the most part. They do Plasma that works also. without a lot of the glitz on the install, you can add it if you like but make my system unstable when I do. Congrats to PCLinuxOS keep it rolling :)
11 • @9 LXDE/LXQT (by Chris on 2017-04-10 11:22:28 GMT from United States)
@9> "Seems to be a bit of misunderstanding with LXQt from comments last week."
Thank you for your comments, but I do not think there has been any misunderstanding. Our previous conversation was less about LXQT, other than to comment at its slow development, but rather about the unclear status of LXDE, whether it is intended to continue development, fork, and if it will transition from GTK2 to GTK3 (and in what distros).
@9>"My understanding is that both LXDE and LXQt will be around for a while..."
And therein lies our/my major discussion point. There appear to be a number of potentially contradicting "understanding"s with regard to LXDE's present and future. There has been no clear status/path forward (or termination) given for LXDE by PCMan in years, if ever.
LXQT is a great active project and I wish it much success in its development. I would just like to have clearer answers regarding LXDE's status and future.
12 • Opera VPN / proxy (by Tom on 2017-04-10 12:04:15 GMT from Netherlands)
@8 I'm not sure if Opera ships with a VPN - I've read a few articles claiming that it's actually a proxy (see for instance https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2016/04/22/opera-browser-vpn-proxy/). Might be a nice topic for a future DW newsletter.
13 • Tanglu Project (by Tim on 2017-04-10 12:08:39 GMT from United States)
This sounds like an opportunity for all the people who are always asking, "How can I contribute to open source development?" to volunteer their skills.
14 • Tanglu (by Domino on 2017-04-10 12:13:11 GMT from Italy)
Watched closely the Tanglu project from the beginning, it had many premises (technical and not) to become something very close to the "community driven Ubuntu done right".
And it proved as a nice working distribution once installed, too!
I hope the project could attract more developers this time and grow.
15 • PCLOS review (by cykodrone on 2017-04-10 12:20:33 GMT from Canada)
I'm surprised it ran OK on your test machine, Plasma/KDE is fairly bloated. I used to run PCLOS MATE, then their updates broke the GUI (discoloured icons, the desktop settings dialogue was totally borked and buggy), I switched to PCLOS Xfce and the discoloured icon problem persisted but was fixed eventually. Don't get me wrong, PCLOS has been fairly reliable, lots of great software that is usually kept up to date, but after having a 2 year old install borked, I now only keep it around because it has some software I can't find for Devuan (I may be switching to antiX soon, Devuan is really slow to upgrade packages and I don't have to have backports enabled in antiX to get a decent modern kernel).
I don't understand the fixation with flat icons and GUI elements, especially in a KDE/Plasma situation (if you CHOOSE to use it, you must already have hardware to handle it, or you just don't know it's bloated yet), people use MATE or Xfce because they have slow hardware or they just want a simple and fast GUI on a fast system. The regression of GUI eye candy is equivalent to switching back to win 95, why, just why. Don't even get me started on the simplification of icons in general, people new to computing or Linux have not been living with the gradual simplification of those icons and would scratch their heads when trying to figure out what they are for. This all makes no sense, computers and GPUs are insanely powerful now, but we are going back cave wall drawing GUIs. My screenshots have been laughed at and chided for not being "modern", I just don't get.
16 • @15 Don't diss Windows 95 :-) (by curious on 2017-04-10 13:29:43 GMT from Germany)
Actually, Win 95 (and especially the following "classic" Windows versions) had a GUI that is much more detailed than the current trends: The widgets were pseudo-3D, all switches and buttons thus clearly "clickable", the window borders were clearly defined (not the lame 1 or eve 0-pixel "modern" invisible borders), and the scrollbars were "grippable" and always there (not an almost invisible thin line that may or may not react if you move the mouse pointer near it).
So, while the underlying operating system with its DOS-era roots wasn't that great, the GUI was actually quite good - and the model from which most later ones have evolved.
Even today, you can try to make KDE or Mate or Xfce look like Windows 95 if you want to. It just takes replacing the vomit-inducing Breeze or Adwaita themes with Redmond (or whatever it is called) -provided the transition to GTK3 hasn't broken the theme again ...
17 • Using a VPN or Tor (by carc1n0gen on 2017-04-10 13:52:04 GMT from Canada)
I use a ssh socks proxy when I need one
18 • @16 • @15 Don't diss Windows 95 (by mandog on 2017-04-10 14:17:35 GMT from Peru)
Off subject on Windows you can make the win10 menu very detailed it just needs menu settings changing and those horrible square buttons removing and then you get more of a win98 menu.
Back on subject I still think the LXDE/LXQT is more a misunderstanding than anything else,
LXDE was never known as GTK2 it was always known as GTK so dropping GTK could of been meant to be taken dropping GTK2 remember the translation thing. Or its been developed by the same team and the creator has stepped down on the GTK side of things, or just a case of "the grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence" till you get their But on the QT side i don't know but from what I hear KDE creates its own api for qt and I think that is the stumbling block for others otherwise they are just KDE spins.
19 • to Tor or not to Tor... (by tom joad on 2017-04-10 14:26:06 GMT from Germany)
I use Tor more than ever. Or I use Tails. I don't VPN but should.
Every time I read, hear or see another internet incident or some type of shenanigans I seem to increase my use of Tor. Worse yet, those incidents are coming faster every day it seems.
Being an average joe, a nobody like me, doesn't seem to matter. Everybody and anybody's data just gets 'hoovered' up just the same. So I do what I can to be safe or as safe as one can be these day. (No one can beat the NSA though. Snowden showed us that fact.)
We are all just one 'phishing' attack away from chaos.
Lastly, I am heartened to see a bit more than half of the respondents use some combination of Tor and / or a VPN. Like them I just want to do what I can to protect myself.
To those who tor or VPN I say good, bravo and continue. To those who have yet to get the 'message'...we will be reading about you.
Salud!
20 • @15 - PCLOS (by Hoos on 2017-04-10 14:35:47 GMT from Singapore)
I have a PCLOS MATE installation that's been running since early 2015 (installed from the August 2014 image without problems because the Dec 2014 iso just couldn't run on my PC), and there came a time when the default theme and icons no longer worked well.
But that could simply be the consequence of it being a rolling distro and gtk3 upgrades breaking various things like themes and icon sets. After all, I had started with an old iso image but things don't stand still in a rolling distro.
But no matter. I just installed newer themes and icons and things are fine again.
21 • PCLOS review (by Carlos on 2017-04-10 14:49:04 GMT from Portugal)
Why am I not surprised about the Pulseaudio problems?
22 • Weekly 707 (by Jessica Metadata on 2017-04-10 14:56:10 GMT from United States)
I use tor a as much a possiple.
23 • LXQt (by a on 2017-04-10 15:35:49 GMT from France)
Not sure why people are talking about LXQt but it’s clearly the best DE at this point in time. There is no present or future for Gtk after Gnome devs have shown they do not care about usability, stability, and their users.
24 • @23 LXQT (by mandog on 2017-04-10 16:11:55 GMT from Peru)
I don't know where you are really coming from its not even classed as a DE its a not even a window manager it relies on Openbox WM, just a set of panels and a few tools, not even stable yet by the rest of the linux community LXDE has been like XFCE stable for years, their is more future for gnome than any small hobby project LXQD will never be a big competitor its not a DE.
25 • @23 - LXDE/LXQT (by Chris on 2017-04-10 16:52:55 GMT from United States)
@18: A fair position, just one on which we will have to agree to disagree. But I think you are absolutely correct on one point, I suspect PCMan thought a port to QT would be beneficial to development; however, approximately two years later and still in beta, he has discovered the transition to not be so simple.
@23>"Not sure why people are talking about LXQt but it’s clearly the best DE at this point in time."
Maybe, maybe not; such is a subjective, individual opinion. But for those who like QT and lightweight DEs, I am sure LXQT seems great.
@23>"There is no present or future for Gtk after Gnome devs have shown they do not care about usability, stability, and their users."
About a decade ago the same was being said about QT4. Time and the overall market will judge.
26 • PCLOS (by Jordan on 2017-04-10 17:46:05 GMT from United States)
Had update breakage on that distro more than others, but always like the project's persona and goals.
Need more stability with my linux machines. So, had to move off PCLinuxOS for good.
27 • @26 expanding on my post (by Jordan on 2017-04-10 17:52:14 GMT from United States)
(I wish we could edit our posts here) ;)
Anyway, I think it's very interesting that my "almost favorite" distro, PCLinuxOS, which I had to dump due to instability and issues following updates, is far more popular on the PHR list than the distro I found to be solid across every machine I have it on.
PCLinuxOS remains up around #12 or so on that list, while Korora sunk to 55 or so and may go further down with time.
I confess to not understanding that, other than the "what works for me may not work for you" thing.
28 • ARCHLabs (by c00ter on 2017-04-10 19:10:02 GMT from United States)
It's always nice to see another Arch+Openbox distro, but especially one following the hearts-and-minds of #! via BunsenLabs. :D
29 • PCLOS: no update announcement? (by Risto Alanko on 2017-04-10 20:04:17 GMT from Finland)
On my PCLOS desktop, a nice orange full-moon-like symbol appears on the taskbar when updates are available. It appeared my last full install about a year ago. My PCLOS installs are "ancient" and usually happen when something breaks in my machines. My last full install "updated" a 2012 install when I purchased a SSD disk. They just work and updates roll...
30 • Regarding LXDE. (by Tuxedoar on 2017-04-10 21:00:30 GMT from Argentina)
I'm an LXDE user and I'd like to point out that, to the best of my knowledge, at least the core components of the LXDE project, are still being maintained by its developers. Most probably, there won't be any major LXDE release anymore, but there will and there has been point releases with minor fixes (bugs fixing), for sure. What's more, you can check what's been going on with LXDE, by visiting its blog site: https://blog.lxde.org/ .
Also, I'm pretty sure that, at some point in the future, LXDE will be replaced by LXQT. I can't say that I'm happy about it, but that's what the plans are for the project, as far as I know!.
Cheers!.
31 • PCLinuxOS (by kaczor on 2017-04-10 21:36:45 GMT from Canada)
What's actually interesting is the PCLinuxOS magazine rather than the distro itself.
32 • Tiny Core X86 Aterm doesn't work (by John on 2017-04-10 23:33:05 GMT from United States)
Hi All,
I can't seem to login to the Tiny Core website. Just downloaded TC8.0 for X86 and Aterm doesn't work!!
The 64 bit version seems to work :). Runs from a memory stick as is :).
Nice distro. If I could just load from the Debian repo so I could run Kicad and other engineering tools like LibreCAD, etc. with it.
VERY nice to have small software!
John
33 • Distro Reviews (by Michael on 2017-04-10 23:43:08 GMT from Australia)
I always enjoy your product reviews but there is one question I would always like answered: Does the install process allow you to select where to put the boot loader or the option not to install a boot loader at all? This is handy information if you are hosting several distros on one system.
34 • Comments • (by Kragle von Schnitzelbank on 2017-04-11 00:47:41 GMT from United States)
Survey
. If you use Tor, the survey doesn't care whether VPN is paid or not?
.
PCLinuxOS
.Watch without boot-splash sometime: "Thinking" trades live-boot speed for careful analysis of hardware.
No forum should provide a troll with moderator authority.
.
Fux (Really!?)
Floppy distro (tiny) - if it's the SourceForge project with no files.
Lovely website though. All in Indonesian.
35 • PClinuxOS (by Winchester on 2017-04-11 04:47:21 GMT from United States)
I have PClinuxOS with the Trinity desktop ..... one of the community editions.
I have had no trouble with sound and network time synchronization. There are a couple of other minor "papercut" type problems,though. There is an Xauthority issue with the Synaptic Package Manager causing the need for me to log-in to the root account to use the program. I can,however,use the PClinuxOS update notifier applet to install updates as a regular user if I select the "Install Updates Using apt-get" option. The other issue is with getting "Steam" to work. Aside from that,no breakage and no other issues.
The Trinity desktop does look somewhat dated,obviously,in its default appearance but,as is usually the case with a Linux system,it can be modified and adjusted to look better. I changed the wallpaper,adjusted the appearance of the panel a little bit,went with two panels ..... using one panel as an application launcher instead of having all of those dated looking desktop icons.As far as icons go,I have been replacing them little by little.
I also decided to install an alternate file manager because Konqueror won't cut it as the only option.
Anyway,there is a great selection of software in the PClinuxOS repositories. Programs you don't usually find elsewhere. CyberFox as just one example,
36 • PCLinuxOS magazine (by lenn on 2017-04-11 06:10:32 GMT from Germany)
Even though I don't use PCLinuxOS, I read the PCLinuxOS magazine. Its one of the best (or the best) Linux and family monthly magazine available today. It had been there for so many years.
37 • ARCHLabs (by Archguy on 2017-04-11 06:26:27 GMT from United States)
@28 c00ter: Very disappointed with the ARCHLabs distro, suppose I was expecting something even remotely similar to ArchBang or even #!. Gigantic distro coming in at 1.9gib should have given me a idea something wasn't lightweight. Memory usage was high according to the conky at 450mb with login, plus noticed my CPU monitor on my case was peaking at 60C, made a quick survey and shut down my box and uninstalled. It is in regards similar to BunsenLabs, bit bloated and weighed down with way too many pipe menus.
There just was way to much bloat with unneeded software and Chromium as a browser probably didn't help.
ARCHLabs has potential, but rather use ArchBang!
38 • PCLinuxOS (by Dave Postles on 2017-04-11 09:12:21 GMT from United Kingdom)
I have PCLOS on my desktop (I use notebooks to distrohop). I have it there because I have found it relatively stable and don't need to do anything very often. The audio output issue was easily solved. My kit is a PCSpecialist (assembled in UK) small-form desktop so I would have assumed it might be vulnerable to issues, but it hasn't. Perhaps I'm just lucky. The only small problem that I have is sometimes slowness in getting a TOR connection, so I often revert to TAILS on a notebook (Looking forward to a functional TAILS 3 with an improved desktop)..
BTW, I just use TOR symbolically to demonstrate that the UK IP Act is absurd. If ever I visit the US again, I shall deliberately take a notebook with Parrot or TAILS so that when the Immigration Officials ask for PWs they will be disappointed or enlightened - although I have to say that I am not inclined to visit Fortress USA ever again in the light of this new arrangement.
39 • LXDE vs LXQt • (by Kragle on 2017-04-11 10:26:42 GMT from United States)
LXLE 16.04.2 Changelog item:
Qt>k - forced gtk theme adaptation for stubborn qt-based-default applications.
•
Upstream devs 'jumping the gun'?
40 • @39 misunderstanding (by curious on 2017-04-11 13:18:50 GMT from Germany)
No "upstream devs 'jumping the gun'" here.
LXLE is *not* LXDE, it is a Linux distro that *uses* LXDE, and therefore downstream, not upstream.
And it makes perfect sense to force applications based on another toolkit to use the appropriate theme adapted to the toolkit used by the distro in question - this has nothing to do with any future plans for LXDE vs. LXQt - and everything to do with quality control and presenting a consistent user interface.
41 • Ubuntu Return to Gnome (by Joselo on 2017-04-11 23:08:50 GMT from Mexico)
Ubuntu 18.04 will run in low resources equipments. good news!
I think the popularity ranking of Ubuntu will recover its first
place in this ranking page.... like it was before Unity.,
By now, Ubuntu has dropped until the 4th place under Mint,
Debian and Manjaro... I'm sure the cause was Unity.
Congratulations Mr Shuttleworth. a very difficult decision.
42 • VPN/TOR (by mystified on 2017-04-12 02:01:16 GMT from Australia)
I'm no techie,
It's important to check that there is no DNS leakage. While using tor & browser proxy switchers, and setup for vpn. there was definite DNS Leakage.
So everyone check this first, to ensure your connection to the web is secure.
43 • ubuntu gnome (by rocket on 2017-04-12 03:17:49 GMT from Canada)
I'm glad that ubuntu will be a bit more like other linux distros now and not have its own desktop environment, and its own display server, and its own init system like they wanted.
44 • ARCHLabs (by zephyr on 2017-04-12 06:08:41 GMT from United States)
@28 & 37: ARCHLabs behaved much like BL in my opinion, except it is an Arch based distribution.
Very pleased with the install, and my compliments to the developers.
45 • Popularity Ranking (by Winchester on 2017-04-12 12:02:40 GMT from United States)
Regarding post # 41 , the cause for Ubuntu's slide in the rankings is probably partly due to Unity but,I doubt that is the only reason. Maybe it is also partly because Ubuntu is based on "Debian Testing" packages or because it doesn't have rolling updates but a point release system causing the need to reinstall the operating system every few years. If people wanted Ubuntu with a different desktop environment,they could have gone with Ubuntu Gnome or Ubuntu MATE.
Why is Ubuntu as popular as it is?? Influential people backing the project?? Countless magazine articles (with discs included) every other month?? The supporting community and documentation?? Google search result ranking??
Furthermore,switching to Gnome 3 is doubtfully going to put Ubuntu into the "low resources equipment" category with distributions such as Absolute Linux , LXLE , Peppermint ,Puppy Linux derivatives, or Tiny Core ......... or for that matter,just about anything with the XFCE desktop or anything with a resource efficient window manager (Fluxbox etc.).
In addition to Post # 35 , my earlier post this week,I neglected to note the great video quality under PClinuxOS.
Under SMplayer, as an example, PClinuxOS video playback quality is top of the line. Obviously graphics card hardware is in that equation but,I figured that I should make note of this,to be fair,at a time when small "papercut" like drawbacks are being pointed out.
46 • PCLinux and Tor (by Jessica on 2017-04-12 14:57:33 GMT from United States)
The last time I knew Ubuntu was still going to use Unity. This is the first site where it can not be called fake news as the others did not even mention the article at all like JupiterBroadcasting's Linux Action Show. This is more evidence that Chris is bought off by the big compnay'.
I use Tor, but now I think I will also move to a free VPN. Has any one at distrowatch tried some thing called Freenet are GNUNet?
I looked into PCLinux OS a while ago because I heard it had a version for TDE lovers. They at the time did not any more, how ever EXE linux and Q4OS both have good TDE desktops. Q4OS looks like and works similary to XP and EXE linux is like a Windows 9x version of LXDE. There are also Tbuntu builds on there site (Trinity uBuntu).
I hope that LXQT forks off from LXDE and we can have both projects. Pepermint uses LXDE with Wiskermenu.
47 • misc (by tim on 2017-04-12 18:12:24 GMT from United States)
@34 "Watch without boot-splash sometime: Thinking trades live-boot speed for careful analysis of hardware". That belief really sounds misguided. I've found no documentation indicating that hardware detection is less robust when the "splash" boot option is used.
PClinuxOS: mute/unmute
While distrohopping, I've sometimes encountered the same issue. It's not specific to PClinuxOS, and it occurs regardless whether or not pulseaudio is pre-installed. My sound hardware is the run-of-the-mill onboard Intel chipset.
This week's review left me wondering "Why the attention to presence (or not) of VirtualBox guest additions?" Did the PClinuxOS release announcement incorrectly state those were pre-installed? Is this (presence of guest additions) now, suddenly, a review criterion & will be included in each weekly review? Midway through my reading, I google searched and found pcloshelp.com wiki within 20 seconds... and, ironically, "howto install guest additions" is mentioned right on the wiki mainpage.
48 • heads up? (by time on 2017-04-12 20:59:27 GMT from United States)
From the "Distributions added to waiting list" section of last week's DW Weekly page:
"heads. The heads distribution is a GNU/Linux distribution which features 100% free/libre software. heads is based on Devuan and runs a Linux kernel with the binary blobs removed. The distribution is designed to protect users' privacy on-line and features Tor integration."
What qualifies as a distro nowadays? How qualified, trustworthy, competent is each given "distro maintainer? In this case, the "distro" is being proffered by someone who uses a l33t handle ("parazyd") and spouts WISDOM like "Don't use uBlock and uMatrix [browser addons] because they are botnets" ( ref: http://archive.is/fTVfL ) Wow. Just... wow.
49 • unity (by jangkrik on 2017-04-12 22:16:46 GMT from Indonesia)
i dont understand why modern ui designers tend to make user life more difficult than it should. take unity or gnome. with windows-like start menu its easy to find a program, on unity/gnome they add a few more clicks to get there. even for a task as ambitious as changing desktop wallpaper, you have to install a new program. jeez. i dont hate changes if they improve on existing stuff..
50 • @49 • unity (by mandog on 2017-04-12 23:43:23 GMT from Peru)
So what's so hard pressing the left windows key its default in windows as well
or right clicking on a picture and selecting "set as desktop wallpaper" is either of these actions harder than the windows way.
51 • @50 - Unity (by Hoos on 2017-04-13 04:17:59 GMT from Singapore)
For me, it was the global menu bar floating at the top (a la Mac OSX) - I didn't like it that everything was up there. I still don't really like the similar concept used in Gnome 3 where the window's options and preferences are also in the top panel.
These are of course subjective preferences. I'm sure most people, if they really have to, can use and get used to any DE and its workflow.
But why should anyone force themselves to get used to Unity if they don't like it? There are so many other choices and everyone should just use what they like.
For those who like Unity and will mourn its passing, my sympathies. But with the right gnome shell extensions, I think you could get Gnome 3 to approximate the layout and workflow.
52 • LXDE Future (by ZKorvezir on 2017-04-13 07:44:27 GMT from Macedonia)
Development of the LXDE is not stop. But now it is pretty slower.
But you must be aware that LXDE is functional and solid desktop environment.
All users of LXDE like his simplicity and functionality. This is not a KDE or GNOME which in every version make radical changes.
Yes now LXDE is more GTK3 friendlier but not fully compatible.
There is still some problems.
You can follow the development of LXDE on:
https://git.lxde.org/gitweb/ - Gtk+ components part.
For example LXPanel component was released on 20.01.2017.
The main coordinator behaind the devlopment of LXDE now is Andriy Grytsenko.
Cheers!
53 • PCLinuxOS (by John on 2017-04-13 23:54:54 GMT from United States)
PClinux was my OS for years, but Java plugin is not fflexible; my favorite solitaire site is not on Java's "Approved List." Therefore, I switched to Linux Mint, which uses IcedTea. Much better!!!
54 • PCLinuxOS (by Spock on 2017-04-14 02:36:48 GMT from United States)
I have been, and always shall be, your friend.
55 • PCLinuxOS (by Kragle on 2017-04-14 06:54:42 GMT from United States)
@47 I suggest you misunderstood.
PCLinuxOS has, over the years, in the experience of myself and many I've met, analyzed hardware encountered on live boot rather carefully. I respect that.
56 • USB thumb-drives that have morphed to read-only; (by dick on 2017-04-14 22:32:10 GMT from Canada)
Have 2 USB thumb-drives that have morphed to read-only;
one is USB-2 ~ 8 gig; one is USB-3 ~ 32 Gig.
Is there any way to return them to read-write mode?
dick
57 • usb sticks (by debianxfce on 2017-04-15 04:27:24 GMT from Finland)
to #56: With the gparted application you can modify the read only bit of the FAT file system. Command line tools are in most Linux distributions too.
58 • read only USB thumb-drives (by dick on 2017-04-15 22:17:28 GMT from Canada)
#57, thanks for the tips.
With Gparted ... returned 32 Gig to read~write,
but was unable to make the 8 Gig behave right,
will try to find the cli tool to resolve my plight.
59 • 58 • read only USB thumb-drive (by Greg Zeng on 2017-04-16 04:12:19 GMT from Australia)
Depends on the type of thumb-drive: brand, model number, etc. Some drives have a (tiny) hardware switch that must be put into RW mode.
GPARTED does not always work. Nor do other Linux & Windows applications always work. Often the hardware is permanently damaged, beyond any repair. Many trial-error attempts are needed, before throwing it away. Even if a "repair" seems to work, it often breaks down again, very soon.
Multi-booting between operating systems is therefore needed. An easy way to multi-boot repair is to boot from a Linux flash stick. Then try to "fix" the problem from the in-RAM operating system.
GPARTED is the best imo. Often you need to remove all the existing partitions. Then install a new partition. Then format to FAT32. Then seT the FLAG of that partition to BOOT. A very tedious process. But the ONLY way that reliably works afaik. Much better than the many other methods that I have tried.
60 • IcedTea (by Winchester on 2017-04-16 13:21:28 GMT from United States)
Regarding post # 53 :
Can't you just use the IcedTea browser plug-in ??
I don't think that you need to resort to using LinuxMint to resolve the situation.
61 • read only USB thumb-drive (by dick on 2017-04-16 20:16:41 GMT from Canada)
#59 > Depends on the type of thumb-drive: brand, model number,
The 32 Gig is a Lexar. The 8 Gig is a no-name.
I'm unable to format the 8 Gig, when I try it just tells me it is write protected.
Haven't yet found a cli tool that lets me access the attributes.
dick
Number of Comments: 61
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| • Issue 1180 (2026-07-06): FreeBSD 15.1 and rumours of its installer capabilities, tools for running admin commands, Asahi fixes boot issue, reasons to run Gentoo, Ubuntu reverts Rust-based copy command, Astral gets WINE port |
| • Issue 1179 (2026-06-29): PCLinuxOS 2026.05, tips for switching distros, COSMIC gets a new system monitor, Xfce tests new Wayland compositor, FreeBSD developers invite questions |
| • Issue 1178 (2026-06-22): TBLock reviewed, the AUR compromised, Fedora's growing community, reasons to avoid immutable desktop distributions, Ubuntu to get speech-to-text, Canonical updates its beta policy, highlights in Plasma 6.7 |
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| • Issue 1158 (2026-02-02): Manjaro 26.0, fastest filesystem, postmarketOS progress report, Xfce begins developing its own Wayland window manager, Bazzite founder interviewed |
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| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
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| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
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| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
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