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concoran 03-06-2008 12:56 AM

Windows look and feel?
 
Hello,

As much a fan as I am of Linux, I must admit that I like MS Windows' user interface much more than I do of any UI flavors in Linux, be it GNOME or KDE. I like not just the look and feel of Windows, but I also like the general usability.
I understand that things do work differently behind doors in Unix and Windows, but is there a way I can have GNOME/KDE look and act very similar to Windows?
My biggest problem is file manager Nautilus, in that it's user interactivity comes nowhere near Windows Explorer.

ramram29 03-06-2008 01:27 AM

I find the exact opposite. I prefer the look and feel of X window managers and environments; GNOME, KDE or XFCE. I am a minimalist so I use fluxbox. However, if you really want to have your socks knocked off try Apple's OS X.

concoran 03-06-2008 01:39 AM

Hi RamRam
I am not sure if you are asking me to buy OS X. I have never liked Apple, or any of their products including iPod.

I am just trying to get nautilus act like Windows Explorer.

sundialsvcs 03-06-2008 07:52 AM

One thing that you might not have considered about Linux is that you can have your choice of GUI-desktop systems. For example, two popular choices are Gnome and KDE, and yet there are also several others.

This is one of many of the "hidden gems" in the Linux system, which is loosely-coupled, rather than tightly-coupled as the Windows system is. Not only can you choose your desktop-system, or choose not to have one at all ... did you know that you can run a remote GUI-session against a computer located somewhere else in the universe, even if that computer does not have a graphics card? (No, I don't mean PCAnywhere or Citrix or some pansy-assed ;) hack like that. I mean a true client-server graphics system.)

These are fundamental capabilities that Windows never gave you, and that Linux does not make obvious, so you might never have been aware of them nor considered their potential value.

(They are, by-the-way, one of the many reasons why Apple chose Unix as the basis for its OS/X system. They don't just sell high-end desktop machines, but also massive computing-clusters. Trust me: OS/X, Unix, and Linux "carry the freight" these days in the computing world.)

There's a world out there "beyond Windows," which for all its efforts is still a "single-user desktop oriented" operating system. Get to know that world, because it's your future in your chosen career-path. The operating-system that you have placed at your fingertips is a placid lake ... that is strong and deep. A "friendly smiling penguin" locomotive.

pwc101 03-06-2008 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by concoran (Post 3079681)
As much a fan I am of Linux, I must admit that I like MS Windows' user interface much more than I do of any UI flavors in Linux, be it GNOME or KDE. I like not just the look and feel of Windows, but I also like the general usability.
I understand that things do work differently behind doors in Unix and Windows, but is there a way I can have GNOME/KDE look and act very similar to Windows?
My biggest problem is file manager Nautilus, in that it's user interactivity comes nowhere near Windows Explorer.

Nautilus is difficult to get to act like Windows Explorer. KDE's Konqueror is much more Windows-esque, so you might want to have a look at that rather than sticking with Nautilus.

To get a more general Windows look, check out www.gnome-look.org and www.kde-look.org, I'm sure they'll have some Windows XP themes you could install.

Perhaps you could also install the BSOD screensaver, to get a more realistic experience! ;)

johnsfine 03-06-2008 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by concoran (Post 3079681)
My biggest problem is file manager Nautilus, in that it's user interactivity comes nowhere near Windows Explorer.

Have you tried Konqueror?

I just now tried Nautilus for the first time. I don't think I like it as much as Konqueror.

Have you looked at the various options and settings you can customize in Nautilus (or Konqueror)? Those may make it act more the way you like.

What specifically does Windows Explorer do that you like that Nautilus doesn't do?

The thing I hate most about both Explorer and Konqueror is that they are also web browsers. I use Firefox as a web browser and I don't want the file manager to think it is a web browser. That misbehavior is a little easier to tame in Konqueror than in Explorer. But in either (for example) you may mistype an address of some file on the LAN and be snatched away to some generic website for mistyped addresses. I want a mistyped file address to get reasonable error behavior for a mistyped file addresses not a nasty behavior for mistyped URLs.

What I like most about Explorer is that I know how to customize context menues. I do a lot by right clicking and selecting actions from the context menu. Every filetype I frequently use has a customized context menu of the things I want to do with that filetype. In Konqueror, my short attempt at figuring out how to do that failed. I'll try again when I have more time. Meanwhile that is the main reason I prefer Explorer to Konqueror.

I don't expect you want a file manager to behave the same way I want it. If you tell us specifically what you want the file manager to do, someone here might be able to tell you that feature is already available, you just need to turn it on (more likely in Konqueror than in Nautilus).

concoran 03-08-2008 07:51 PM

Hi,

It's not the question of what Nautilus gives in terms of functionality that WE won't. It's the user interface.

1) Fonts : Nautilus fonts are large.
2) different colors for each line in the file (right side pane) in Nautilus. I like the compact look of Explorer pane with no line separating each item (in list view) so it can cram many items in the view. Nautilus has alternating colors for each line which increases blank space - and as a result, less items in one view. I want to get rid of it.
3) Tree view in the left pane. I couldn't figure out how I could get that view in Nautilus.
4) Nautilus is mainly a web browser, though it sucks both as a browser and a file manager. What I want is really really a file manager and not a web browser.
5) No 'address bar' in Nautilus. I really like to as much avoid using mouse as is possible. I prefer to manually type the directory structure in an address bar. I hate when I am 'forced' to use mouse. (someone suggested, and I tried 'thunar' which is not much more but a nautilus with an address bar).

2damncommon 03-08-2008 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by concoran (Post 3082579)
No 'address bar' in Nautilus. I really like to as much avoid using mouse as is possible. I prefer to manually type the directory structure in an address bar.

In Ubuntu "CTRL-l" (lowercase L) brings up an address bar in Nautilus.

nix2ways 03-09-2008 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by concoran (Post 3079681)
Hello,

As much a fan as I am of Linux, I must admit that I like MS Windows' user interface much more than I do of any UI flavors in Linux, be it GNOME or KDE. I like not just the look and feel of Windows, but I also like the general usability.
I understand that things do work differently behind doors in Unix and Windows, but is there a way I can have GNOME/KDE look and act very similar to Windows?
My biggest problem is file manager Nautilus, in that it's user interactivity comes nowhere near Windows Explorer.

Konqueror is, in my opinion, better than Windows Explorer. You should really be using KDE if you want a more "Windows-like Linux experience". There are plug-ins for Konq that will give you a much more flexible file manager than Explorer will ever be. Plus the ability to open a web browser immediately in the same window is a real plus not a disadvantage.

"I want this or that to behave like MS Windows", why?
MS Windows behaves like MS Windows. Linux behaves like Linux. If Linux behaved like MS Windows then why use Linux?

Learn to appreciate the differences, you're never going to get one to exactly behave like the other and so may it ever be.

jiml8 03-09-2008 09:31 AM

I'll toss in another vote for Konqueror. It has come a long way and is quite nice these days.

And as far as the Windows look and feel, I like it too - though it is pretty much the only thing about Windows I like. I run a full-up KDE environment, which seems to me to be very much like Windows...only more so. Now, I don't like the Windows GUI in some programs, particularly development apps, and the fact that I can always side-step that kind of GUI in Linux is something that is very appealing to me.

I guess I don't understand the comments that you don't think KDE is (or at least can be) Windows-like.

johnsfine 03-09-2008 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by concoran (Post 3082579)
It's not the question of what Nautilus gives in terms of functionality that WE won't. It's the user interface.

That's what I meant in the post you seem to be replying to. Not how the filemanager interacts with the file system, but how it interacts with the user.

I don't know Nautilus well. I expect most of those things you want different can be configured in Nautilus. I was surprised no Nautilus expert responded to your list to tell you where to start for configuring Nautilus. But I know most of that can be configured for Konqueror.

Quote:

3) Tree view in the left pane. I couldn't figure out how I could get that view in Nautilus.
I turned that on easily in Konqueror. I don't quite understand the synchronization rules between the tree view and the main view in Konqueror and I don't know whether you can configure them.

In Konqueror, the two views are usually connected but often disconnected, so clicking a folder in the tree doesn't open it in the main view and opening a folder in the main view doesn't pull the tree to make that folder visible. I don't yet understand what triggers that behavior nor what to do to get things sync'ed again.

In Explorer, I have the opposite problem. Simply expanding a folder in tree view to see subfolders shouldn't sync the main panel to that folder. I often drag a file from the folder in the main view to some other folder in tree view of the same explorer. Often that fails due to excess syncing between the views. Expand a folder in the tree view to make the destination folder visible and the main view jumps there taking away the source. Or start to drag the file in the main view and the tree view scrolls back to the source folder hiding the destination.

Most of the time tree view in Konqueror and tree view in Explorer work equally and well. The difference I just described is just that when each works badly it is in opposite directions of the same issue.

Quote:

4) Nautilus is mainly a web browser, though it sucks both as a browser and a file manager. What I want is really really a file manager and not a web browser.
I didn't realize Nautilus is also a web browser. The little bit I used it was as a file manager. As I said earlier, the major thing I hate about Windows (file) Explorer is that it sometimes decides to be a web browser instead.

mrclisdue 03-09-2008 10:00 AM

Have a look at screenshots of other file managers - xfe or Thunar, for example.

there's a link in the wiki:

Code:

http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/File_manager
cheers,

jlinkels 03-09-2008 07:14 PM

Shall we limit the answer to Windows Look instead of look and feel? If you want to have the Windows feeling, you should buy all your programs, register them, use crippled shareware, install antivirus programs which use 50% of your CPU time, and once in a while look into a blue screen of death.

About your file manager experience, I understand what you ask. For years I have been trying to find a dual pane file manager like Norton Commander for Windows, but until then I was convicted to a file manager I didn't like. The one I found and will never stop using again is Krusader BTW.

There exist a ton of file managers for Linux though. Konqueror is one of them and not the worst. But google for "LInux file manager" and I am sure that you come up with at least 20. For the other Windows look, look at some screenshots of Linspire/Freespire. That distro comes as close to Windows as anything. Not sure it is the best and most stable one. And KDE should be more like what you want as compared to Gnome. Gnome is not bad, but it is a different philosophy and some like it, other despise it.

jlinkels

slackhack 03-09-2008 08:06 PM

I hate the windows look. When I use linux, I feel like I'm using my own computer. When I have to use windows, I feel like I'm using the same computer as everyone else with different wallpaper and icons. :rolleyes:

I also hate how fonts look in windows, and how everything is point and click, point and click with nested options everywhere you go. And those "balloons" that always pop up are incredibly annoying. I can never wait to boot out of it fast enough.


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