eugenia

eugenia , 15 hours ago

The sad thing about this is that 90% of the skins available for WinAmp since then are gone. You can't find them to download them anymore.

eugenia , 1 day ago

It depends if you're using Gnome or KDE. If you prefer KDE, use Qt. If you prefer Gnome's interface ideas (that looks quite different), use GTK+ with libadwaita. GTK+ has good bindings for Python, and Rust, and a new, rather Gnome-specific language, Vala.

eugenia , 1 day ago

GTK4 is what I meant to say. To me, it's the same as GTK+, because that was the original name. Just like I spell nvidia as nVidia, because that's how it was spelt back in the early 2000s. It sticks

eugenia , 1 day ago

Ιt depends on your competence. My mom's laptop is Debian with XFCE (2 GB RAM old Chromebook converted to run Debian) and of course, she doesn't use the terminal. But then again, she doesn't even know how to open a new tab on Chrome. She just uses 1 tab at the time (which is why it's enough with 2 GB of RAM). So she's never going to see a terminal in her life, and it's going to work just fine for her, since the only thing she does on a computer is load 1 tab on Chrome, and mostly use Facebook, or youtube, or news/recipe sites that I have put on her bookmark bar. When the computer needs to be updated, I do it for her once a month or so (using the terminal).

But if you're trying to do a lot more than that, then maybe, sometimes, you will need to fix or change things using the terminal.

eugenia , 5 days ago

What I like from Endless is that it always shows the app icons when no app is open. IMHO, that's the correct UI, not an empty desktop.

At the same time, I can't quite get that distro very seriously. It's just one guy working on it.

eugenia , 4 days ago

Torvalds only worked on the kernel, not a whole OS. Also, it isn't true that he was alone in the first couple of years. He had commits by others almost immediately after release.

eugenia , 7 days ago

A wayland screen recorder. Not everyone needs a complex app like obs.
Also, a jellyfin/emby front end maybe?

eugenia , 7 days ago

As far as I know, SSR doesn't work with wayland. Kooha seems nice though, even if I can't try it (I don't use flatpaks).

eugenia , 8 days ago

No, that mobile OS is not ready, and probably won't ever be. I have it installed on an OnePlusOne, it's just alpha. Postmarket OS is much better and further along, but still not good for day to day usage. I eventually ended up on Murena e/OS, which is based on a more private, totally de-googled version of LineageOS (which is Android).

eugenia , 8 days ago

There are many multimedia solutions for ARM (e.g. libreelec, kodi, plex, jellyfin etc etc), however, these work best for non-big-streaming sites. The moment you're after a really good youtube experience, or netflix/disney+/etc, then things start break down for various reasons.

Personally, I'd just install the default Raspbian OS (maybe even just DietPi), making sure that their Firefox or Chromium supports drm websites, and then I'd connect the Pi to the TV, and then I'd use a keyboard + touchpad, like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Keyboard-Touchpad-PC-connected/dp/B014EUQOGK/ This allows you to use the machine exactly the way you need it to, without bad surprises and incompatibilities. Not the way you want it to, but more like the way you need it to.

Also, please note that if you're having a Pi with only 1 GB of RAM, it won't be enough for what you're having in mind. I have a 3B+ with 1 GB of RAM, and my Emby server (music only!) constantly needs more than 1 GB of RAM, resulting in the Pi to swap, which means that it wears out the microSD a lot.

Finally, if all else fails get an AppleTV, or a Chromecast with AndroidTV, or a Roku if you're in the US, but I think the desktop/browser solution can be workable. Not pretty, but most workable for DRM streaming services.

eugenia , 9 days ago

No, it can't be done that on kde or gnome. Here are two such questions on the "other" site, as some people have offered some workarounds there in the comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/bxrrn3/is_there_any_way_to_separate_kde/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/lijbee/multi_monitor_independent_desktop_workspace/

eugenia , 10 days ago

Ι don't agree with what they did. They removed browser integration, not just the "favicon" thing. If this was a problem for normal users, well, normal users would just use Firefox's built-in password manager, not keepassxc. That change made the app useless to me, and going forward it will be a headache for NEW users who won't know of the -full package. It was a bad decision.

eugenia , 10 days ago

I used to install interesting and cool distros back in the 2000s. Now, I personally just want stability, and not bad surprises. So when I distro-hop, I only do it among well known, largely stable and well supported distros (e.g. mint, debian, fedora, ubuntu). I don't go for the weird anymore, although I did install Alpine on qemu in order to try it out. And the few times I feel adventurous, I try BSD or Haiku OSes.

eugenia , 10 days ago (edited 10 days ago)

For your desktop, I suggest you install Linux Mint (Edge edition, to make sure the newer kernel included there supports your hardware better). After installing it, right click on the panel, and install the 'Cinnamenu' applet (it's available for download from the window that opens when you click Applets). Then, place it where you want after enabling "panel editing", and then right click the new menu to customize it as you like. Cinnamenu is a more modern-looking menu than the default Mint, with larger icons. Please note that in June or July, there's going to be a brand new, major version of Mint. Think of Mint as how Windows should have been, a better version of it. This is my Linux Mint laptop: https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/253/256/932/509/491/original/6183bb790dcb8365.jpg

Now, if you want something that is closer to MacOS' look and feel, then you would need to install Gnome, and use Gnome extensions to enable the dock to stick to the main desktop. For a Gnome distro, there's Fedora 40, the new Ubuntu, or Debian (IMHO, the most stable of the lot, but slightly older software version). This is my Gnome desktop: https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/349/393/342/603/119/original/3c3c5c7e35ac726e.png

And if you have a large hard drive, feel free to install 3 of these (e.g. Mint, Debian or Ubuntu with Gnome, Fedora KDE), to test drive them all. They can all happily live next to each other in separate partitions. Just make sure you create a /boot partition (this holds the bootloader for all OSes), and then 3 large ones to put the / (root) partitions of each distro (these will hold the actual OS for each).

eugenia , 10 days ago

I'm using a 32" 4k monitor without scaling, even if my eyesight is not the best. I have no trouble at all with it. It's the more common 27" 4k monitors that have tiny fonts and need scaling. But 32", 4k it's fine at 100%!

As for 1080p, it's enough for most things. You mentioned the dpi comparing it to a 24" 4k monitor, but why would you need 24" for a 1080p monitor? Anything above 20" is a waste for 1080p.

eugenia , 10 days ago

I personally don't have a problem with run0 over sudo, however, I don't want to have to remember to use a different command on the terminal. Just rename it "sudo", and do the new stuff with it. Just don't bother me having to remember new commands.

eugenia , 11 days ago (edited 10 days ago)

I've been putting together a lot of old laptops for friends and family, so here's my opinion based on my experience:

Your CPU speed is ok (that CPU scores 932 passmark points, which is ok for dekstop usage and youtube at 360p (you should set up his youtube at 360p, and to not autoplay). If this was Chrome, that cpu could do 480p, but firefox is much slower than chrome on youtube. The difference in speed is not visible on fast systems, but it is visible on very old ones (anything less than 1500 passmark points).

Your biggest problem is the RAM. You have only 2.77 GB of RAM, which is NOT enough for normal web browsing in this day and age -- if you're using lots of tabs. The moment you will open more than 2-3 tabs with heavy websites (e.g. facebook, nytimes, and linkedin), you will start swapping like crazy with Cinnamon. So your user will always have to be conscious of what apps they have open (and make sure you configure 4 GB of swap too, just in case).

Mate and XFCE should be using less RAM, indeed (about 600-800 MB instead of 1.3 GB on Cinnamon). I find XFCE more stable personally, and it only uses 100 MB more RAM than Mate on average. The only good thing Mate has over XFCE is that it comes with a user administrative gui app. I usually install that on xfce ("mate-user-admin").

eugenia , 12 days ago

For graphics stuff you will be using Gimp, Inkscape, and Krita. No adjustment layers, or cmyk, sorry. If that is enough for you, good, if not, you're out of luck.

For 3D modelling, only Blender.

For video, DaVinci only works sometimes, depending on distro, version of the app, drivers installed etc. It's a bit of a crapshoot. A good alternative is kdenlive if you don't need hardware acceleration, proper color grading and film emulation, or compositing.

Google laid off most Dart/Flutter developers just a week ago or so.

Thunar for file manager, not Nautilus. Nautilus crashes in folders that has hundreds of svg files in it (e.g. a theme folder), or when you're trying to copy a 30 gb folder to a new folder on the same secondary drive (it only copied 9 GB out of the 30, all files were owned by me). Both bugs bit me just the other day.

eugenia , 12 days ago

While the normal Debian has outdated packages as you said, I'm using Debian-testing (rolling release), and it works great for me. It has newer packages, and it's surprisingly stable. In my experience, more stable than Arch, and it has a larger repo than Tumbleweed.

eugenia , 15 days ago

The replies here are good. Different rendering engines. Also, try another font. Like Roboto, or Inter, by Google.

eugenia , 15 days ago

It's just a buggy installer. I had a similar crash problem with an HP PC.

eugenia , 16 days ago

4 GB of RAM is enough only if you install something like Debian+XFce (not gnome/kde/cinnamon or ubuntu/fedora), and only if you only use up to 3-4 tabs of web browser at the same time along 1 more app. Basically, you will need to always be conscious about the things you have open. But it is doable if you are the conscious user type like I am. Definitely not enough for things like 4k video editing, or multiple apps open with many tabs open each. Also, always go for the x86 version, it's better supported.

eugenia , 17 days ago

FreeCAD is what you need for 3D cad/cam or 3d printing. And for 2D cad, or 2D cad/cam, there's the free GPL version of QCad (recommended to buy the full version for $40 to get cad/cam and more import/export file support from autocad). Anything else (librecad, openscad, Design etc) are not as well rounded imho. And then there's onshape, but that's not Free software.

eugenia , 18 days ago

TWO of my laptops were bit by that bug/error. Not one. Two.

But what they offered was not a real solution. I'm an experienced computer user, and still didn't wanna mess with that "solution".

This was done just to force people to upgrade to a Win11 (and maybe get a new PC too, if their old one couldn't run Win11). If not that, then simply, incompetence in general.

It's all laughable, really.

eugenia , 18 days ago

Both my laptops were Win10-native, not upgrades from previous versions.

eugenia , 18 days ago

Reading the bug report about all that ( https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/adwaita-icon-theme/-/issues/288 ), it's crazy to see how the gnome dev (Red Hat employee) replies to the issue. He completely ignores the issue in the beginning, then that he doesn't care to follow the spec because it's "old", and yet, he still advertises to the OS as an fdo theme, so OSes ship with it. He's hurting non-gnome apps, and he simply doesn't seem to care about it. To me, this shows a person who simply doesn't care about ecosystem.

eugenia , 22 days ago

Just because Gnome has a top panel doesn't mean it tried to copy MacOSX. Gnome tried to copy phone UIs (that have a top panel), not Mac or Windows. And that was the reason why many disliked Gnome, in fact. It seems that it's optimizing for tablets and phones, while it's running on desktops.

eugenia , 25 days ago

The way I usually use cable internet, is to connect another router via ethernet to the cable modem/router, and then connect all my devices to that second router. This way, I could use the provider's router (sometimes the model they provide can't be changed), and at the same time use a better router for my devices.

eugenia , 1 month ago

Three things:

1. The kernel version they got. I have had hardware that didn't work in one distro but it did on another, but their difference really was that one had kernel 5.11 and then other one 6.5. Big difference in terms of support.

2. Might not be a matter of driver, but a matter of firmware. If a distro allows the download/usage of third party non-free firmware code or not, a lot more hardware is supported. Not all distros do that.

3. If it's ubuntu or ubuntu-based. Ubuntu has incorporated a lot of additional drivers/firmwares/support in their kernel versions than most others.

eugenia , 1 month ago

I personally find Mate being buggy. Panel items move around after logins. XFce is much more stable. The only advantage mate has is that it's using about 100 MB less ram, and that it has a user management front end, that xfce lacks. Other than that, I found xfce superior.

eugenia , 1 month ago

Because it uses 250 MB of RAM on a well-optimized distro (e.g. installing it on DietPi), instead of 1.5 GB of RAM.

eugenia , 1 month ago

We're talking about a whole desktop environment, not "gtk tools". Both lxde and lxqt are lightweight, and have more utilities and prefs than the standard window managers, or the old stuff, like icewm.

eugenia , 1 month ago

If you're going to be on Steam, and become a gamer, the other suggestions over here are good.

However, if games aren't really your thing, and you just want a casual gaming experience, then I'd suggest a few Linux native games, that exist in all distro repos: gweled, ltris, lbreakout2, lgeneral, frozen-bubble, gnome-mahjongg, gnome-tetravex, xye, kobo-deluxe, aisleriot, powermanga, open-invaders, supertux, pingus, berusky, opentyrian (requires data from the dos game, which are also free to download elsewhere).

Then there are some more heavy hitters (still native linux games), like freeciv-gtk3, opencol, 0ad, tuxracer, lincity-ng, simutrans etc.

eugenia , 1 month ago

I believe in Greece, the military is using Mint.

eugenia , 1 month ago

Greeks don't eat lamb kofta. They eat gyros (which is shaved pork meat, not lamb ground, which is middle-eastern).

eugenia , 1 month ago

According to all the Greeks. Including myself.

eugenia , 1 month ago

Please stop trolling. I'm Greek, I live in Greece, and that's how things are. Greeks don't eat lamb kofta or kebab, that's a middle eastern thing only. Greeks eat shaved pork, or shaved chicken. No beef or lamb ground meat in their fast food. They might look similar, but they're not. The West has this idea that Greeks eat kebab, because many Middle Eastern people have opened shops in Europe and US calling their shops "mediterranean" or even "Greek", while not being so. I've lived for 25 years in Germany, UK and US, and especially in the US, the only "Greek" souvlaki shops I could find in California were actually not Greek, they were kebab houses. Authentic greek souvlaki/pitas I found only in NY, and in 1 shop in Utah all these years. None in California (they were real Greek restaurants, but not souvlaki/pita places -- these are different, since they're street food).

eugenia , 1 month ago

In Germany, it's illegal to donate without the person receiving doesn't have a company, or a non-profit. So it quickly becomes difficult in some parts of the world.

The other problem is weird moderation. A few months ago I made a post on the Linux Mint forum to ask the developers to implement the cinnamon panel to also auto-expand (so it looks more like a dock when the user wants it that way). I simply mentioned that if there's an official bounty website for mint, that I'd gladly contribute there. I almost got banned over there just for asking that. So since then, I don't ask anymore, and I donate less. I don't wanna get in trouble.

eugenia , 1 month ago

Apparently it was against the ToS of the forum. Not sure why though.

eugenia , 1 month ago

That was on a mastodon discussion a few days ago, where it was said that in germany you need a legal entity to receive the money, and not as an individual. And that has complexities of its own. In the US, you can receive money as donation without a problem, as long as you pay your taxes on them, for anything above $400 per year or so.

eugenia , 1 month ago

Instead of trying to run heavy and complex apps on an OS that were never designed for, use Windows for work, and then use gaming and your personal life on Linux. Another thing you can do is switch the kind of programming you do, so it's more linux-related, so overtime, you can only have Linux machines. But for the time being, if you're doing windows programming, use a windows machine for work.

eugenia , 1 month ago

Android does have lots of games, and some apps that aren't as easy to use, or as good as in native linux. For example, some painting apps (krita is powerful, but can also overwhelm someone), video editors like capcut or lumafusion, audio apps. For most of everything else, there is a web browser on linux that can do the job better probably, and native apps. But overall, I'd say that Android apps aren't really that useful on linux, because they're mostly geared towards apps that you use on the go, while you usually sitting on a chair at home or work when you're using linux. To be honest, most native apps now have been replaced by a web browser, so either native linux or native android apps are only useful for high end professional usages (e.g. blender, video editing, etc) rather than everyday use.

eugenia , 1 month ago

I'm using Matrix/element. I rather not give my phone number, you see, which is must-have for Signal. I have installed the app in my family's phones, and they were accepting, so all is well. I don't need to communicate through private messaging with anybody else, so who cares if others don't use matrix?

eugenia , 1 month ago

That's my point. The phone number IS STILL required to create an account at Signal!

eugenia , 1 month ago

I'm not interested in running servers, in fact, my ISP doesn't allow it anyway. I need something private that doesn't ask for too much info off of me, and that's why my solution was matrix, and not signal.

eugenia , 1 month ago

Adjustment layers for gimp, and not all photo tools there for krita.

eugenia , 1 month ago

indeed, darktable is awesome!

eugenia , 1 month ago

krita is also used for image manipulation by many in the linux community, people who don't like the gimp ui. That doesn't mean it was meant for that, but the reality is what it is.