I am new to Linux, and I have tested many Linux distros. However, I have yet to find a distro using Gnome that looks pleasing to the eye. They all look like they were more 1990s and like Windows 95 or 98.
By contrast, KDE makes Windows Aero look like crud. I hate to say this, but I think I have become a KDE Konvert. KDE 4.4 is pretty stable, (even compared with Windows 7).
Seriously, are there any Gnome distros that look nice? I suppose that appearances are secondary to functionality and the Gnome 2 is pretty stable and gets the job done, but still, please make it more pleasing to the eye.
(No offense intended if anybody here works on Gnome; after all this is a soap box).
Drowsy wrote:
> I suppose that appearances are secondary to functionality and the
> Gnome 2 is pretty stable and gets the job done
maybe it is a generational thing, but i’m not willing to give up
functionality, stability, reliability, dependability and usability
just to have wobbly rotating winkies blinkies and blitzies…
and, as far as i have heard Linus agrees and left KDE for dependable
ugly…
me, i decided to stay with still usable KDE3 as long as possible…
by the way i think there are skins/themes and stuff so you can make
Gnome look about any way you want it too…
Agreed with the last part. You can make Gnome and KDE4 look like anything these days.
But, whatever Linus and others say or do, choose what you feel happy with, and realize that that is exactly what it’s all about: the choice is yours. No right or wrong.
No, it’s not just you - these are exactly the same thoughts I get whenever I see GNOME in use.
However both KDE and GNOME suffer from the same problem - they are extremely inefficient in their use of screen estate, both have huge window decorations, massive elements and wasted space (hard to explain but I can show you graphically if needed) - Windows does this one vastly better and there’s something both GNOME and KDE developers should look at and learn from.
I don’t know, after some tweaking, my KDE is pretty slim. Better than I could trick my windows into slimness.
First of all: to me, the standard fonts are too big, so I set them to 7pts. I use small windowborders, no text in the toolbars, and whenever I can, I leave the menubar out, since I rarely need it anyway. With help of smooth tasks, I can leave my taskbar pretty clean as well (and without grouping). I certainly don’t see where Windows goes more efficient with screenspace.
On topic: Yes, gnome does not have my preferred looks either. My problem with it is that it doesn’t seem to be as configurable as KDE is, unless you’re willing to start hacking the config files - or so was the situation the last time I looked at it.
I know what you mean about KDE, it does have more flashy visual effects
than GNOME; however, GNOME is more stable and in openSUSE looks very
good. I recently converted to GNOME from KDE for stability, but found it
looks great and the more I use it; the more I like it.
I agree with the other statements about using what is right for you,
maybe this is KDE because you came from windows and they have many
similarities, also you can find that both KDE and GNOME are very
customisable.
And I have to be one of the exceptions to the rule.
I am a big KDE fan, but I put openSUSE-11.2 Gnome on my SandBox PC, and I liked the look of Gnome so much, I then went to my PCs running KDE and tuned their desktop to look more like Gnome !!
… mind you the default double click of Gnome drives me crazy (fortunately that can be fixed), and I don’t like the Gnome implementation of YaST as much as I like the KDE YaST implementation (and fortunately that can also be fixed). I enjoyed playing with gnome, but finally, the Gnome pulse audio implementation was just too quirky, and it was main reason in the end I decided to stick with KDE. At least with KDE sound mostly works for me, as opposed to Gnome where sound (for me) mostly doesn’t work.
I’m forced to agree. Actually, I would like to show us here graphically. The real question is, what would an efficient desktop GUI look like? Maybe we could send some suggestions to the KDE developers.
First, I think that for KDE, the task manager thing needs to be a bit thinner. The icons should be smaller by default. I know that there are things you can change to make it a bit more … efficient at using real estate. I wish there was a way to hide widgets that you don’t need a lot.
At least KDE 4.4 is now stable (relatively). I like the new gadget adder. I just wish the widget dashboard were more intuitive.
I find myself in a similar situation. I would LOVE to have a choice to use GNOME, but the default implementation of pulseaudio makes it not plausible for me, while KDE “just works”. I do hope the in 11.3 the situation will be a nit more leveled. At least I hope…
Actually I disagree with this. I have not had
a problem with KDE stability in a long time, like KDE 4.0. In particular
stability has increased even further with Kwin taking over the effects that
Compiz used to provide. I would suggest if KDE is unstable for you, try
turning off effects. More than likely it is a buggy video driver.
i don’t understand all the issues with KDE. I haven’t had one stability issue with KDE since KDE 4.0 and am now on KDE 4.3.5 and it is rock solid.
just my 2 cents.
That’s plain FUD. Linus didn’t leave KDE because of it being ugly. He left it because Fedora folks pushed a broken KDE4 and there was no way to revert it and as he needs his desktop NOW, and being the pragmatist he is, he opted for the easier solution of using GNOME instead until KDE4 is fixed and good enough, which it is today. Did he revert back? I’ve no idea, so ask him.
microchip8 wrote:
> That’s plain FUD. Linus didn’t leave KDE because of it being ugly.
you wanna try reading what i wrote, rather than what you think i wrote?
i didn’t write he left KDE because it was ugly…read again and see i
wrote he left broken but wobbly windowed KDE4 for stable, reliable,
dependable, and usable Gnome (which the original poster termed 'ugly)
thus: “…Linus agrees [with me] and left [broken] KDE for dependable
ugly [Gnome instead]…”
The GNOME being more stable has been a myth ever since 11.2 came out (or actually even sooner).
The only crashes I’ve had with KDE 4 have been related to running factory versions and having mixed files which I fixed promptly, apart from that I have not seen one plasma or kwin crash on 4.3 or 4.4 - then again I also have quality components and nVidia display adapter.
I would agree with that. Both KDE and Gnome have their quirks. I’ve read many users complain about dolphin in KDE, and I myself find audio quirky in Gnome. Sometimes the assessment of stability is a subjective user assessment.
Maybe its time for all of us to abandon those two desktops and move to LXDE ! rotfl! (I’m joking - of course - although I do like the fact that LXDE is now a choice for openSUSE users)
Back to your original post.
if you want to see what gnome can do try out foresight Linux they do a wonderful job of making gnome look good. unfortunately they have not done an updated version in quite some time.
Suse 11.2 gnome does not work well on my machine so I’m using KDE at present. though not for looks sake for some reason gnome on that machine in Suse does not work well and gnome can be just as unstable as KDE.
I’d really like to see Suse do a E17 desktop similar to Elive. It’s very fast quite good looking and plenty of effect if you have to have them. Enough rambling back to ,ugh, work
