Ubuntu vs. Gentoo

[MRT144]

maybe kde needs a viagra

[Thue]

Originally posted by Asher
Yes, but KDE's interface feels wrong. It's very, um, flimsy.

It's kind of hard to defend against that claim .

I like it. Also the features, such as multiple desktops, included by default make it much more useful than for example the Windows XP interface.

Edit: now that I am defending KDE I will just plug a very useful feature I found. It is a graphical representation of disk space usage; the bigger the file, the bigger the field in Konqueror:

It makes it very easy to find that CDROM iso image you left laying around, taking up your disk space .

[Tattila the Hun]

Originally posted by MRT144
maybe kde needs a viagra

It needs Xgl and Compiz.

http://www.mikrobitti.fi/nettijatkot/2006/10/ubuntu/xgl-demo2.mpg

[Asher]

I think the people who find multiple desktops useful (of which I am not one, unless I have multiple screens) can figure out how to download a free tool that's under 1MB to enable it.

When it has "features" such as a consistent interface, it will be more useful. It's painful to use both KDE and Gnome, but Gnome less so.

[Q Classic]

Personally, I prefer using Fluxbox with KDE Apps. I can't stand Gnome, and I dislike KDE.

Also, I skew towards Gentoo, but that's because I like getting into the nuts and bolts of the system; Kubuntu's easier, though.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Thue
Edit: now that I am defending KDE I will just plug a very useful feature I found. It is a graphical representation of disk space usage; the bigger the file, the bigger the field in Konqueror:

It makes it very easy to find that CDROM iso image you left laying around, taking up your disk space .

^^^^

This is why Linux sucks for most users. To me, that looks gaudy, tacky, huge, and unnecessary.

The best program for that purpose is the far more functional freeware program called Treesize:



Just sort by filesize to see the largest in the directory. If you want to sort by filesize on your whole drive, use Treesize...

[Thue]

KDE's graphical representation is more informative than Treesize, as you can see all the files at once, without having to dig.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Thue
KDE's graphical representation is more informative than Treesize, as you can see all the files at once, without having to dig.

That's actually the reason it sucks. It's overwhelming and requires too much searching visually for the user to see what they want. It's also hard to read vertical text like that.

Since the goal is to sort by filesize, does it not make sense for the files to be organized in a hierarchical fashion by filesize?

Once Linux UI designers comprehend the basics of usability, they'd have a lot better chance of breaking the mainstream. Look at Firefox vs Mozilla, for instance. They got it.

99% of Linux apps are still stuck in the Mozilla mindframe, and it shows.

[Datajack Franit]

Where is the gay porn folder?

[Asher]

I just moved mine to a new external drive.

500GB external drive.

[Thue]

Originally posted by Asher
Since the goal is to sort by filesize, does it not make sense for the files to be organized in a hierarchical fashion by filesize?

It is trivial to find the biggest files and directories - they are the biggest boxes. This 2D visual representation is superior to making a hierarchical list by size.

I think the UI for this feature is great for this specific problem, better than Treesize. For other problems there are other views, which you can switch between.

[Kuciwalker]

2D sucks. Humans are best at dealing with 1D information.

[Thue]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
2D sucks. Humans are best at dealing with 1D information.

I hope that is a joke

[Whaleboy]

PC-BSD

BSD > Linux

It's package management system is up there with OSX and Windows in terms of ease of use.

[Straybow]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
2D sucks. Humans are best at dealing with 1D information.

No, this is not a joke, Thue. It is very difficult to compare both height and width of the boxes visually. Small differences are hard to guage.

If the files were represented as bars of uniform thickness then the length represents file size and the eye can guage differences much easier. The file size information is one-dimensional, the second dimension is file identitiy. They don't even have to be reordered as long as a background grid lets you see how files compare that aren't close to each other.