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I need to install a new Linux/Gnu OS soon. The present one, Linux Mint (Mate) Debian edition no longer fills my needs. I run 4 screens with 3 X sessions. Mate worked great for this, then an update broke it to one screen. I tried Cinnamon but it won't even start on multiple X sessions. XFCE works but with some serious drawbacks although that may be caused by my current system. Enlightenment actually worked well until it started crashing and I had to restore the settings file. When it finally crashed so nothing got it to run again I gave up on it.
I need a OS with multimedia support, the ability to install programs that may not be in the repositories ( Mythtv ), and multi X screen support. I am also looking for a file manager that has something like Gnome scripts. I have fair command line skills. I presently have Nvidia cards but I will go shopping if I have to. I might try Xinerama but I usually watch one screen while switching the other 2's desktops. Also not having a menu on all screens would be a pain.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by ilsa on Tuesday November 26 2019, @04:24PM (3 children)
The problem is that they *are* broken. Or at least, they are horribly fragile and utterly non-robust.
Everyone is so concerned about trivial nonsense like customizability and themes and other garbage, and let the truly valuable stuff get sidelined. Like robust and easy to use multi-monitor support, reliable and secure support for remote desktop capability for remote users, access to system settings, etc, and most importantly, always provide a way out in case something goes wrong. (Looking at you KDE)
Windows is a steaming pile for a great variety of reasons, but one thing you cannot say is that the GUI isn't robust. Thinking that it's reasonable for users to have to make changes to their xorg config, or to start playing around with their ~/.Xsession file is a completely unreasonable expectation and Linux will never break out of niche markets until developers grasp the idea that robustness counts for more than being able to choose how thick your window borders are.
(Score: 1, Redundant) by maxwell demon on Tuesday November 26 2019, @07:06PM (2 children)
Did you read the submission? I don't know what you consider robust multi-monitor support, but things breaking on update is not what I consider robust.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ilsa on Tuesday November 26 2019, @07:28PM (1 child)
That was my point. Too much time is spent on nonsense like pretty themes and backgrounds, and not enough is spent on providing a solid experience. And then everyone wonders why Linux is a miserable failure as a general purpose desktop OS.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Reziac on Wednesday November 27 2019, @03:19AM
I have this very complaint across the board. All sorts of eye candy everywhere (or the inverse -- flat, white, and featureless: Brutalism for desktops); meanwhile basic usability settings are nowhere to be found. Frex, you can make the corners rounded and the window beautifully transparent, but you can't make the scrollbars big enough to grab if you have less than pixel-perfect accuracy. Oh, and let's not forget designing all the clickable controls to be so subtle and elegant that you almost can't see the damn things. AND STOP BREAKING OR REMOVING WHAT ALREADY WORKS!!!
So, for the plaintively-wailing query... I don't know about multiple monitors, but 150 distros later I wound up with PCLinuxOS/KDE, because the fewest things didn't work or annoy me. Tho I do beat on Plasma until it more or less resembles WinXP, the interface I regard as the apex of everyday usability: Breeze Dark + Oxygen + Obsidian Coast + Plastik. It is not beautiful, but it doesn't hurt my eyes and I don't have to aim at shit like it's a FPS. And it does have an automated update widget, tho you do have to click "Update". Oh, and for the purists, no systemd. [Fedora/KDE came in second, but had more petty annoyances, plus I prefer rolling if I have a choice.]
As to how 'heavy' a given DE is, someone on our forum ran a bunch of tests, and OOTB every DE came in between 260mb and 595mb; hardly a factor on tolerably modern systems.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.