Linux - DistributionsThis forum is for Distribution specific questions.
Red Hat, Slackware, Debian, Novell, LFS, Mandriva, Ubuntu, Fedora - the list goes on and on...
Note: An (*) indicates there is no official participation from that distribution here at LQ.
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
That is exactly my point: if gnome3/unity isn't what the user wants, why try to jump through numerous hoops keeping gnome2 alive with fallbacks and hacks when there are ready made alternatives available. Imagine if everyone unhappy with gnome3 would switch to say Xfce in numbers then most of distro developers would sit up, take note and next debian release would've had Xfce as default desktop. As it stands we keep muddling through with various versions of old gnome and all that developing time dedicated to gnome hacks could've accually been spent addressing shortcomings of xfce, for example. I suppose it's the human nature - stick with what you know no matter how hard it might be.
Ypu are right, i forgot to add MATE to that list. Almost any larger distro (and many of the smaller, like Salix) offer MATE and the people use it. Simple reason: Why should they change to XFCE if they can keep their Gnome 2 experience with using MATE?
Why do you think that the MATE developers are only releasing hacks to Gnome 2?
Imagine if everyone unhappy with gnome3 would switch to say Xfce in numbers then most of distro developers would sit up, take note and next debian release would've had Xfce as default desktop.
http://www.debian.org/devel/leader
In short, Stefano Zacchiroli is the elected leader of the Debian developers and should be the first to know about a switch in the default environment. There is no switch, which can easily be proven, as he explains, by downloading a Wheezy image and installing it.
If MATE manages to get rid of obsolete libraries it might end up as a DE with active upstream in future, otherwise it's like keeping KDE3 alive. It can be done(Trinity DE) but little point. DEs die, gnome2 died, kde3 died, many more before those.
http://www.debian.org/devel/leader
In short, Stefano Zacchiroli is the elected leader of the Debian developers and should be the first to know about a switch in the default environment. There is no switch, which can easily be proven, as he explains, by downloading a Wheezy image and installing it.
To spare me the hassle of a download and install can you confirm the default dekstop environment for Debian 7 is _______?
Distribution: Debian Wheezy, Jessie, Sid/Experimental, playing with LFS.
Posts: 2,900
Rep:
rizzy there is nothing wrong with MATE, the current devs are working on it and doing a good job. They have removed useless dependencies and are moving towards GTK3.
I think it is interesting that in the Linux ecosystem which values freedom so many people are against keeping things that are tried and true just because the original devs have dropped it. Maybe if people actually got in and did some research and used the things they are commenting on we could take what they say with more authority. Unfortunately this, it seems, is not happening instead we are getting people commenting on things they have no interest in and have not kept up to date with.
Just wanted to throw it into the mix here.
I've recently become interested in the SolusOS project due to there plans to migrate to the PiSi package management, and have been lurking the forums ect. SolusOS is currently based on Debian stable and focused on Gnome2. Ikey, the project leader i believe; plans on continuing to use gnome in future releases, but will be hacking up fallback mode and forking Nautilus, and has made claims that the result will be almost identical gnome2 in gtk3.
I think this is great. It differs from Cinnamon in that Cinnamon is a shell like Unity, and Gnome shell; while the SolusOS de will be the more traditional environment, where the panel is it's own program, ect. This stuff matters to me, because it annoys me how each part of the desktop environment in these new shells can only be used in the shell, eg try using the plasma-desktop panel in xfce or something; vice versa, no problem.
Distribution: Debian Wheezy, Jessie, Sid/Experimental, playing with LFS.
Posts: 2,900
Rep:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Knightron
I think this is great. It differs from Cinnamon in that Cinnamon is a shell like Unity, and Gnome shell;
Regardless of what Mintites say Cinnamon is a modified Gnome 3 just like Unity is a modified Gnome 3. If it wasn't for Gnome 3 neither Cinnamon or Unity would exist simply because they use the underlying code base of Gnome 3 and add a different look.
I never said anything to imply differently. I was just making the comparison to Cinnamon because Cinnamon and the future SolusOS desktop have a remarkably similar goal, but the two projects are taking different roads to accomplish it.
Like you said Cinnamon is just a different shell on the Gnome underlying code, but the future SolusOS de is not a shell, it's a hacked fallback version of Gnome.
Nobody really cares about Gnome 3, simply because nobody is using it directly. People are using shells on top of it, be it Cinnamon, Gnome Shell or Unity. The approach that SoulsOS and MATE take is different from that. They are not building something new on Gnome 3, they port the old versions to GTK3.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.