[SOLVED] Disappointing Debian 8

rblampain · 05-20-2015, 05:16 AM

I have just installed Debian 8 on 2 laptops and I have never been so disappointed. I have been using Debian for as long as I remember, possibly 20 years or more but this one is, to me, incomprehensible, if there is some intuitivity in it I have completely failed to discover it. As a safety measure, I am contemplating changing to another distro which will be unlikely to expose its adepts to such arbitrary changes, it seems the urge to copy Windows has become paramount.

If you can see how I can mentally move from Debian 7 to Debian 8, please enlighten me.

descendant_command · 05-20-2015, 05:57 AM

Could you be a bit more specific?

pan64 · 05-20-2015, 06:14 AM

do you mean the GUI (is it the GNOME3)? You can choose another one if you wish.

luvr · 05-20-2015, 06:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pan64

do you mean the GUI (is it the GNOME3)?

Given that the OP talks about how "incomprehensible" it is, and how he fails to see any intuitivity in it, he must be referring to GNOME3. He's certainly expressing my feelings exactly about GNOME3.

In any case, as you said, there are more than enough alternatives to choose from. If I'm not mistaken, Debian 8 offers a MATE option, which is what GNOME2 used to be, and is probably a great choice if you want that look and feel back.

Personally, however, I migrated to Xfce instead.

Philip Lacroix · 05-20-2015, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rblampain

If you can see how I can mentally move from Debian 7 to Debian 8, please enlighten me.

It sounds like you have installed Debian with the "desktop" task enabled, which installs the "default" desktop environment chosen by Debian's packagers, which is GNOME 3. You can use the apt package manager (apt-get, or aptitude, or synaptic) and purge (i.e. remove) it. Then you can install another desktop environment or window manager, even more than one, and use an alternate display manager like LightDM to choose and log in. Xfce has a very sane approach. If you liked Gnome 2.x a few years ago, now you can look at MATE, which is a fork. There's also LXDE, another lightweight project. And of course KDE, which is completely different from GNOME. Then you have more stripped-down (but not less powerful) window managers like fluxbox, Window Maker, blackbox, fvwm, etc. All mentioned software is included in the Debian repositories.

A few links:
Xfce home page
MATE home page
LXDE home page
LightDM (Wikipedia)

brianL · 05-20-2015, 08:11 AM

You're offered a choice of DE at the tasksel stage of installation, but I thought the OP might be referring to That-Which-Should-Not-Be-Mentioned: s*****d?

erik2282 · 05-20-2015, 11:54 AM

I also dislike Gnome3, well actually hate is more appropriate, but I think brianL is correct about s*****d...... tun tun tun!!!

273 · 05-20-2015, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by erik2282

I also dislike Gnome3, well actually hate is more appropriate, but I think brianL is correct about s*****d...... tun tun tun!!!

The fact this is for a laptop and copying Windows is mentioned makes me think it's the DE being criticised. I've no love for any init system and I see no change to my Debian systems as a result of the new fashionable toy in day-to-day use (which, by the way, I count as a point against it if anything).
If it is the Desktop Environment being discussed then I feel I ought to make it clear that this is not the fault of the Debian developers but of the GNOME3 developers. Debian packages upstream software like any othe distribution. I suppose one could argue that the Debian team ought to have stayed with MATE as default or similar but to my mind one of the points of using Debian over, say, Mint or Ubuntu is that you make choices like this for yourself.
For the record I use XFCE regardless of distribution and have done for a long time mainly on Debian but also Mint and Slackware on-and-off. XFCE seems to gain only incremental features like compositing which can be easily ignored.

John VV · 05-20-2015, 01:50 PM

if the issue is Gnome3
well it is nasty

use KDE

if it is the new systemD

get used to it ,it is here to STAY

EDDY1 · 05-20-2015, 03:42 PM

The OP can just start gnome in fallback mode which gives the look & feel of gnome2.
That's how kali is setup.

Head_on_a_Stick · 05-20-2015, 04:24 PM

If the OP doesn't like systemd, SysVinit can be used instead:
https://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebi...9_on_Jessie.3F

Disclaimer: I like systemd.

beachboy2 · 05-20-2015, 04:40 PM

rblampain,

There is no need to change from Debian.

Simply install MATE on Debian Jessie and relax:

http://linuxg.net/how-to-install-mat...debian-wheezy/

mralk3 · 05-20-2015, 04:55 PM

There are a number of reasons I switched from Debian after Debian Jessie was moved to the stable release. I won't get into why, because they are largely controversial and my own opinions that I am sure many would argue about to the end of their days.

I had been using Debian for close to 11 years. I switched to Slackware and I am now a happy camper again.

qrange · 05-20-2015, 05:43 PM

Debian, for better or worse, till death do us part.

KBD47 · 05-20-2015, 05:58 PM

Mint Debian is now based on Stable and has MATE and Cinnamon to chose from. I recently installed Debian 8 and made the mistake of letting it install Gnome as default GUI. Big mistake, first time ever Debian Stable was buggy and kept crashing. I should have chosen Cinnamon or MATE for the desktop on Debian, but IMO Mint Debian has better desktop integration out of the box.