Amiga.org
Operating System Specific Discussions => Other Operating Systems => Topic started by: Roj on September 28, 2011, 11:33:49 AM
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and having heard enough about it, I have to ask: Is there a version of Linux (or any other commonly used OS) that's remarkably close to the Amiga? I think Windows 7 will be my last version of Windows.
The things I find most useful are:
A GUI that doesn't force the active window to the front, and makes use of window depth gadgets. I've had enough of not being able to stack my opened windows the way *I* want them stacked.
String gadgets that don't automatically Select All on first click. I don't know how many times I was in the middle of renaming a file when Windows arbitrarily highlighted the entire line on me, and my next keystroke cleared everything I typed. I wound up loading UAE and renaming stuff from there.
Has a dual-paned file manager as standard. I'm thinking a DOpus Magellan-type manager would be fantastic.
Does its best to alleviate "click-fests" when doing file management. Renaming files in Windows 7 is a lot better, being able to tab down the list, but DOpus Magellan's method, where it essentially turns into a text editor for renaming is the most functional method I've seen to date.
Doesn't try to "help me" by automating things that don't need automation. I generally find myself getting frustrated very quickly trying to do simple file management in Windows, and I'm wanting to find something that has plenty of software support with none of the baggage and garbage that accompanies Windows.
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You will be able to entirely disable the Metro interface (the Win7 phone tile interface) on Win 8 on a desktop computer. They aren't going to cram a iOS icon/tile fest interface down the consumers neck. It would be corporate suicide, seeing as MS's profits are primarily in the enterprise.
You won't notice anything different by upgrading to W8, however as a Win 7 user I see no reason to upgrade to Win 8.
Try the pre release version.
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and having heard enough about it, I have to ask: Is there a version of Linux (or any other commonly used OS) that's remarkably close to the Amiga? I think Windows 7 will be my last version of Windows.
The things I find most useful are:
A GUI that doesn't force the active window to the front, and makes use of window depth gadgets. I've had enough of not being able to stack my opened windows the way *I* want them stacked.
String gadgets that don't automatically Select All on first click. I don't know how many times I was in the middle of renaming a file when Windows arbitrarily highlighted the entire line on me, and my next keystroke cleared everything I typed. I wound up loading UAE and renaming stuff from there.
Has a dual-paned file manager as standard. I'm thinking a DOpus Magellan-type manager would be fantastic.
Does its best to alleviate "click-fests" when doing file management. Renaming files in Windows 7 is a lot better, being able to tab down the list, but DOpus Magellan's method, where it essentially turns into a text editor for renaming is the most functional method I've seen to date.
Doesn't try to "help me" by automating things that don't need automation. I generally find myself getting frustrated very quickly trying to do simple file management in Windows, and I'm wanting to find something that has plenty of software support with none of the baggage and garbage that accompanies Windows.
KDE 4.x is probably the most configurable desktop available and it has a dual pane file manager called Krusader that can be installed alongside the traditional browser-like file manager.
OpenSUSE is considered by many to have the best implementation of KDE.
http://OpenSUSE.org
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Thats the great thing about almost any good linux distro, you can configure it completely and totally to your own needs and tastes.
Some may argue you can do the same with windows with add ons and alternative windows shells, but I don't think you can customize things quite as deeply as you can with linux.
steven
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We are moving to a touch world, your average monitor in a year or two will be touch sensitive. People will go back and forth between keyboard/touchpad(or mouse) and the touchscreen.
The average person couldn't care less about file names, they may want all the photos of uncle joe and aunt jane but they don't want a directory structure to deal with. The question isn't getting the file name right, the question is getting the metadata right so that you can find what you are looking for quickly and efficiently. The average user has tens of thousands of photos, music files and videos. I can see a time when iTunes and iPhoto like programs are a part of the OS. You touch a picture of Uncle Joe and get all his photos. Or your computer acts like Pandora and you play a song and ask it to play all the other songs that are similar to it.
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KDE 4.x is probably the most configurable desktop available and it has a dual pane file manager called Krusader that can be installed alongside the traditional browser-like file manager.
OpenSUSE is considered by many to have the best implementation of KDE.
http://OpenSUSE.org
Agreed. I'm not a big Linux fan, but I have had the least amount of issues with the OpenSUSE distribution. KDE has its own "feel", taking aspects of OS X and Windows and putting them together in a fairly good manner. There is a learning curve, but again I've had the best luck with OpenSUSE.
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The average person couldn't care less about file names, they may want all the photos of uncle joe and aunt jane but they don't want a directory structure to deal with. The question isn't getting the file name right, the question is getting the metadata right so that you can find what you are looking for quickly and efficiently.
If so then BeOS should have crushed Windows long ago. Or maybe there just weren't enough ADD computer users back in 90s.
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We are moving to a touch world, your average monitor in a year or two will be touch sensitive. People will go back and forth between keyboard/touchpad(or mouse) and the touchscreen.
Computer users want touch monitors as much as they want 3D TV, as in, they don't. This is just tech companies forcing things on the consumer.
I'm all for touch on phones/pads, but I don't think many people want greasy finger prints and arm ache on a large size stand up monitor.
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Touch interfaces will not be on desktops anytime soon. Try using one to do day to day tasks like Office stuff - it's simply unusable, and the fancy touch UI in Win 8 won't revolutionize touch on desktops. If it worked well, Apple would have turned OS X into iOS by now, but I'm sure that's only a matter of time.
Touch is fine for consumption devices like tablets and phones, but it's downright miserable for desktop users. MS has tried it 20 times over for desktops and pen style/touch tablets and it's always been a trainwreck.
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Computer users want touch monitors as much as they want 3D TV, as in, they don't. This is just tech companies forcing things on the consumer.
I'm all for touch on phones/pads, but I don't think many people want greasy finger prints and arm ache on a large size stand up monitor.
Amen. Anybody who thinks they're going to want to use a touchscreen for daily tasks hasn't tried resting their elbow on a desk with the full weight of their upheld arm on it for hours at a stretch.
Someday there will be a revolution in which all the Star Trek-obsessed prognosticators and graphic-design majors are thrown out of tech companies, and people who actually care more about usability than gimmickry take over in their place...
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I think people would like touch interface capability on OS X. Sure you wouldn't want to use it for work but it would be fine for casual stuff. People spend hours playing those touch screen mini games in bars and their arms don't get tired.
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Yes but those people have built up endurance from holding pints for hours and they only get so interested in those games because they are half pi55ed and failed to pull.
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If so then BeOS should have crushed Windows long ago. Or maybe there just weren't enough ADD computer users back in 90s.
If it weren't for Microsoft's politics it should have crushed Windows. I've got Haiku installed on my spare computer and it's beautiful in its simplicity and speed.
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If it weren't for Microsoft's politics it should have crushed Windows. I've got Haiku installed on my spare computer and it's beautiful in its simplicity and speed.
Do any good solutions for running Windows within Haiku exist? Virtual machines or the like. I seem to remember that Bewine was abandoned some time ago.
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Why not have computers navigated by wiimotes?
Gimmicky AND unusable at the same time.
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Why not have computers navigated by wiimotes?
Gimmicky AND unusable at the same time.
Great idea! After all, since they've sold so many units, it must be a good idea to indiscriminately copy the interface for completely different products!
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Do any good solutions for running Windows within Haiku exist? Virtual machines or the like. I seem to remember that Bewine was abandoned some time ago.
http://haikuware.com/directory/view-details/emulators/computer-systems/qemu-gui-haiku
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Be interesting to see what consumers actually buy. Both Apple and MS are converging on a world where desktops will have touch. There are times when I just want to do away with the indirection of a magic pad and touch the screen directly. But there are differences, tablets have one screen of know dimensions, desktops have two or more screens usually of different dimensions, it could get complicated...
Computer users want touch monitors as much as they want 3D TV, as in, they don't. This is just tech companies forcing things on the consumer.
I'm all for touch on phones/pads, but I don't think many people want greasy finger prints and arm ache on a large size stand up monitor.
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Being tht W8 can be controlled by Kinect Im not sure how much effort would have been put in touch screen control (or perhaps the 2 share enough that developing support for one bleeds into how the other would be interfaced with).
Either way Apple has done a good job of destroying the fun for computer enthusiasts. All the gimmicky crap with a shiny interface, etc. intended for computer illiterate bozos. Unfortunately other OS developers have decided that this is a good thing, all the while destroying computer fun for those of us who arent illiterate bozo's. Thank God for AROS and Amiga OS, etc. as while theyre lacking in some ways compared to other options it's not assumed I'll succumb to whatever shiny interfaces dictate to me, nor that have the intellect of a Walrus.
Now, back to the original post..... if youre such a dopus fan, why not just use dopus on Windows?
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Being tht W8 can be controlled by Kinect Im not sure how much effort would have been put in touch screen control (or perhaps the 2 share enough that developing support for one bleeds into how the other would be interfaced with).
Either way Apple has done a good job of destroying the fun for computer enthusiasts. All the gimmicky crap with a shiny interface, etc. intended for computer illiterate bozos. Unfortunately other OS developers have decided that this is a good thing, all the while destroying computer fun for those of us who arent illiterate bozo's. Thank God for AROS and Amiga OS, etc. as while theyre lacking in some ways compared to other options it's not assumed I'll succumb to whatever shiny interfaces dictate to me, nor that have the intellect of a Walrus.
Now, back to the original post..... if youre such a dopus fan, why not just use dopus on Windows?
Speak for yourself. I like shiny things... ;)
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I like shiny things when they're part of something by which I want to be distracted. The basic user interface of an operating system is not something by which I want to be distracted. It's something I want to get the hell out of the way and let me manage files and launch applications.
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Why not have computers navigated by wiimotes?
Gimmicky AND unusable at the same time.
What, so talking to yourself (BT and phone) isn't weird enough? Now we have to sit in front of our computers waving our arms around like an air traffic controller?
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OMG! I love Windows 7! For the first time in 6 months i used it today and OMG everything just glows! :rolleyes: Why can't i get my Ubuntu to look this pretty? :confused: It's so unfair :(
OK, i'm switching off now... BEEP! BEEP!
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Ooooooooooo shiny things. Must have now.
Actually that's what got me started with the Amiga.
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and having heard enough about it, I have to ask: Is there a version of Linux (or any other commonly used OS) that's remarkably close to the Amiga? I think Windows 7 will be my last version of Windows.
The things I find most useful are:
A GUI that doesn't force the active window to the front, and makes use of window depth gadgets. I've had enough of not being able to stack my opened windows the way *I* want them stacked.
String gadgets that don't automatically Select All on first click. I don't know how many times I was in the middle of renaming a file when Windows arbitrarily highlighted the entire line on me, and my next keystroke cleared everything I typed. I wound up loading UAE and renaming stuff from there.
Has a dual-paned file manager as standard. I'm thinking a DOpus Magellan-type manager would be fantastic.
Does its best to alleviate "click-fests" when doing file management. Renaming files in Windows 7 is a lot better, being able to tab down the list, but DOpus Magellan's method, where it essentially turns into a text editor for renaming is the most functional method I've seen to date.
Doesn't try to "help me" by automating things that don't need automation. I generally find myself getting frustrated very quickly trying to do simple file management in Windows, and I'm wanting to find something that has plenty of software support with none of the baggage and garbage that accompanies Windows.
Although it doesn't have the depth gadets or many of the useful things the Amiga GUI has, but I found this Linux distribution to feel almost Amiga-like, dynebolic - http://www.dynebolic.org/
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Although it doesn't have the depth gadets or many of the useful things the Amiga GUI has, but I found this Linux distribution to feel almost Amiga-like, dynebolic - http://www.dynebolic.org/
Wow, glad to see they're still going. I haven't tried dynebolic since 2005 or so.
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You will be able to entirely disable the Metro interface (the Win7 phone tile interface) on Win 8 on a desktop computer.
I know it may be controversial to say so here, but I actually believe that a broad range of people will actually find the Metro interface to be quite be appealing, even on desktops. :)
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http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/10-best-linux-distros-for-2011-704584
A handy link for anyone considering a GNU/Linux distro.
Also folks, credit where it's due. I know we all often refer to GNU/Linux as just "Linux" but we shouldn't, Linux is only one part of the whole OS, it's just a kernel.
http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html
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I know it may be controversial to say so here, but I actually believe that a broad range of people will actually find the Metro interface to be quite be appealing, even on desktops. :)
I don't, and frankly my opinion is the only one I care about when it comes to deciding what UI I'd like.
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The Windows name and logos for Microsoft is a mine, they never left both things, always MicroSoft cans called Windows with other surnames, etc.
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I'll just keep calling "GNU/Linux" "Linux", not "GNU/Linux" every time I want to mention it. We don't call AmigaOS "Exec/Intuition/Workbench/AmigaOS", we just call it "Workbench" or "AmigaOS" because it's easier and people know what we're talking about, same with why we call "GNU/Linux" just "Linux", it's easier and we assume that anyone smart enough will already know it came from GNU and anyone too stupid to know it already won't give a **** anyway.
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Personally, Id say go for either a Gnome based one (I like Debian GNU/Linux myself, Squeeze is an excellent release. It requires a little bit more tweaking to get it to Ubuntu's out of the box feel, but it'll be overall a lot faster (at least it feels that way, probably 'cause of less cruft on initial setup) and 'prettier'.
Once you get plymouth (the boot splash) working with the space fun theme, you get to watch a little space ship move across the screen as it loads, but it loads really fast anyhow, then you install compiz and configure that, and it's all smooth sailing.
Turn on spatial nautilus for a bit more of the amiga feel (at least I always thought it felt more 'amiga'.
Currently I'm running Arch Linux using Gnome 3. I found a Steam Punk theme, and it's positively awesome!
http://samriggs.deviantart.com/art/Gnome-Shell-Old-Steampunk-251805897
Check it out!
slaapliedje
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KDE 4.x is probably the most configurable desktop available
Easily beaten by KDE3 though.
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Has a dual-paned file manager as standard. I'm thinking a DOpus Magellan-type manager would be fantastic.
Personally i have become affected to TotalCommander
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We are moving to a touch world, your average monitor in a year or two will be touch sensitive. People will go back and forth between keyboard/touchpad(or mouse) and the touchscreen.
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Totally disagree, as Steve Jobs said last year when he showed the new Macbook Airs, Apple won't do a touchscreen laptop/desktop because your arms ache after a few minutes.
Having used an HP touchscreen machine for a few hours, I can agree, who wants to sit there with your arms stretched out like a zombie all day, especially at work.
Touch is great on tablets/mobiles, it won't reach the desktop though.
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Totally disagree, as Steve Jobs said last year when he showed the new Macbook Airs, Apple won't do a touchscreen laptop/desktop because your arms ache after a few minutes.
Having used an HP touchscreen machine for a few hours, I can agree, who wants to sit there with your arms stretched out like a zombie all day, especially at work.
Touch is great on tablets/mobiles, it won't reach the desktop though.
I think touchscreens have a place hanging on a wall. I'm starting to see more and more large tvs hanging on walls wherever i go such as my uni, shopping centres and office buildings in general and i think being able to interact with these whilst standing up and not sitting would be very useful.
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Did I say "or" anywhere in my message. It's strictly an "and." 90% or more of the time you'll want to use a magic pad or an old fashion mouse, but there are just times when it would be so much easier to just touch the screen to do something, especially in photoshop. If iOS and OS X really are converging then a touch interface for the iOS programs is really necessary...
Totally disagree, as Steve Jobs said last year when he showed the new Macbook Airs, Apple won't do a touchscreen laptop/desktop because your arms ache after a few minutes.
Having used an HP touchscreen machine for a few hours, I can agree, who wants to sit there with your arms stretched out like a zombie all day, especially at work.
Touch is great on tablets/mobiles, it won't reach the desktop though.
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Did I say "or" anywhere in my message. It's strictly an "and." 90% or more of the time you'll want to use a magic pad or an old fashion mouse, but there are just times when it would be so much easier to just touch the screen to do something, especially in photoshop. If iOS and OS X really are converging then a touch interface for the iOS programs is really necessary...
I think Apple might not like the idea of using a touchscreen with all that glass they use on the imacs. Imacs are too flashy and expensive to wreck by using your hands. Can you imagine the finger marks and scratches they would accumulate?
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Touchscreen Photoshop would be a giant pain in the ass. A mouse and even a good tablet can give me pixel-level precision at 1x zoom, trying to do that with a touchscreen when my fingertip covers half a hundred pixels even on a large monitor? No thanks.
I've seen some interesting things done with multi-touch screens, but I still don't buy the propaganda that they're a million times more convenient than a mouse for general tasks.
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Touchscreen Photoshop would be a giant pain in the ass. A mouse and even a good tablet can give me pixel-level precision at 1x zoom, trying to do that with a touchscreen when my fingertip covers half a hundred pixels even on a large monitor? No thanks.
I've seen some interesting things done with multi-touch screens, but I still don't buy the propaganda that they're a million times more convenient than a mouse for general tasks.
Lightpen?
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Never used one, myself...seems like it'd have better precision than a touchscreen, but still require more motion for the equivalent action with no increase in precision over a tablet.
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Although it doesn't have the depth gadets or many of the useful things the Amiga GUI has, but I found this Linux distribution to feel almost Amiga-like, dynebolic - http://www.dynebolic.org/
Looks more like Windows 95
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Easily beaten by KDE3 though.
KDE3 was great. I'm sure it improved since, but KDE4 in it's first incarnations put me off the KDE desktop all together. It was an absolute, unmitigated abomination. I ended up using gnome as my main UI ever since.
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Looks more like Windows 95
I don't think it looks anything like Windows 95. It's one of the few Linux distributions that doesn't use a task bar, but has docks and button bars. It's prepackaged with lots of creative software and just feels less sterile than the other Linux distros.