#cinnamonde — Public Fediverse posts

@alexei_1917 I prefer Gtk-based DEs over Qt-based ones. I also prefer clones of the Windows 95 desktop environment, as opposed to more modern DEs that are supposed to work well on mobile and desktop computers.

The top-three Gtk-based Windows 95 clone desktop environments are:

1. #CinnamonDE
2. #Xfce
3. #MATE

The Cinnamon user experience is by far the best, so many little details that just make it a joy to use. Cinnamon is what Windows 95 could have been if for the past 30 years Microsoft would have only ever made tiny, incremental improvements to what was already a 95% perfect UI/UX bringing it slowly to a 100% perfect desktop, instead of completely ruining their desktop environment every 3-5 years.

Xfce is the most customizable, so if you like the components of your DE to be modular and tailor every detail to fit your workflow, Xfce is the best. I used it for about 15 years and I still love it, even though I use Cinnamon now.

MATE is also very nice, but I can’t really think of any advantage it has over Cinnamon or Xfce at all.

I don’t like Gnome because they try to make your desktop environment into a smartphone or tablet user experience. That just doesn’t sit right with me, probably because I grew up using Windows and Mac. Gnome is very nice, very easy to use, but just it isn’t for me.

I have very strong opinions about the Gtk versus Qt debate. I favor Gtk, the reason being that it is written in C and not C++, and C is the correct choice for Linux because Linux is written in C, so software developers don’t have to worry about the C++ name mangling problem. Gtk is itself based on GLib, the GObject OOP system, and the GObject Introspection framework, which automates the process of linking a scripting language to the system libraries. This means you can write your own GUI scripts using your favorite scripting language (Python, JavaScript, Java, Clojure, Lua, Ruby, Common Lisp, Scheme, Racket, you name it). Doing this in Qt is extremely difficult, costly, and error-prone.

#tech #software #Linux #DesktopEnvironment

@ARuy91305DGgrQiOZ6.linux

@alexei_1917 I prefer Gtk-based DEs over Qt-based ones. I also prefer clones of the Windows 95 desktop environment, as opposed to more modern DEs that are supposed to work well on mobile and desktop computers.

The top-three Gtk-based Windows 95 clone desktop environments are:

1. #CinnamonDE
2. #Xfce
3. #MATE

The Cinnamon user experience is by far the best, so many little details that just make it a joy to use. Cinnamon is what Windows 95 could have been if for the past 30 years Microsoft would have only ever made tiny, incremental improvements to what was already a 95% perfect UI/UX bringing it slowly to a 100% perfect desktop, instead of completely ruining their desktop environment every 3-5 years.

Xfce is the most customizable, so if you like the components of your DE to be modular and tailor every detail to fit your workflow, Xfce is the best. I used it for about 15 years and I still love it, even though I use Cinnamon now.

MATE is also very nice, but I can’t really think of any advantage it has over Cinnamon or Xfce at all.

I don’t like Gnome because they try to make your desktop environment into a smartphone or tablet user experience. That just doesn’t sit right with me, probably because I grew up using Windows and Mac. Gnome is very nice, very easy to use, but just it isn’t for me.

I have very strong opinions about the Gtk versus Qt debate. I favor Gtk, the reason being that it is written in C and not C++, and C is the correct choice for Linux because Linux is written in C, so software developers don’t have to worry about the C++ name mangling problem. Gtk is itself based on GLib, the GObject OOP system, and the GObject Introspection framework, which automates the process of linking a scripting language to the system libraries. This means you can write your own GUI scripts using your favorite scripting language (Python, JavaScript, Java, Clojure, Lua, Ruby, Common Lisp, Scheme, Racket, you name it). Doing this in Qt is extremely difficult, costly, and error-prone.

#tech #software #Linux #DesktopEnvironment

@ARuy91305DGgrQiOZ6.linux

@alexei_1917 I prefer Gtk-based DEs over Qt-based ones. I also prefer clones of the Windows 95 desktop environment, as opposed to more modern DEs that are supposed to work well on mobile and desktop computers.

The top-three Gtk-based Windows 95 clone desktop environments are:

1. #CinnamonDE
2. #Xfce
3. #MATE

The Cinnamon user experience is by far the best, so many little details that just make it a joy to use. Cinnamon is what Windows 95 could have been if for the past 30 years Microsoft would have only ever made tiny, incremental improvements to what was already a 95% perfect UI/UX bringing it slowly to a 100% perfect desktop, instead of completely ruining their desktop environment every 3-5 years.

Xfce is the most customizable, so if you like the components of your DE to be modular and tailor every detail to fit your workflow, Xfce is the best. I used it for about 15 years and I still love it, even though I use Cinnamon now.

MATE is also very nice, but I can’t really think of any advantage it has over Cinnamon or Xfce at all.

I don’t like Gnome because they try to make your desktop environment into a smartphone or tablet user experience. That just doesn’t sit right with me, probably because I grew up using Windows and Mac. Gnome is very nice, very easy to use, but just it isn’t for me.

I have very strong opinions about the Gtk versus Qt debate. I favor Gtk, the reason being that it is written in C and not C++, and C is the correct choice for Linux because Linux is written in C, so software developers don’t have to worry about the C++ name mangling problem. Gtk is itself based on GLib, the GObject OOP system, and the GObject Introspection framework, which automates the process of linking a scripting language to the system libraries. This means you can write your own GUI scripts using your favorite scripting language (Python, JavaScript, Java, Clojure, Lua, Ruby, Common Lisp, Scheme, Racket, you name it). Doing this in Qt is extremely difficult, costly, and error-prone.

#tech #software #Linux #DesktopEnvironment

@ARuy91305DGgrQiOZ6.linux

@HeliaXyana when people ask me what Linux to try, I always recommend #LinuxMint or #Fedora. They are my top choices because they are community-run not corporate owned, and they are both extremely well designed, they both have lots of software in their package repositories, they come with everything a new user could ever need in an operating system already built-in, and (most of all) are both ridiculously stable and predictable, to a degree that you wouldn’t have thought possible of a computer operating system.

By the way, to make LinuxMint look and feel like as “pretty” as Fedora, it’s just one command: sudo apt-get install task-gnome-desktop, then logout and login again. Done.

To make Fedora look and feel as “ugly” LinuxMint, it’s just one command: sudo dnf install @cinnamon-desktop, then logout and login again. Done.

But personally, I find #CinnamonDE to be beautiful, it is my daily driver.

@tiefling

#tech #software #Linux #DesktopEnvironment #Gnome #GnomeDesktop

https://thoughts.greyh.at/posts/celestial-gtk-theme/

@zquestz published an article on Gtk theming which I found fascinating. It is an overview of the kind of things you have to consider when trying to create your own theme for #Linux . He fusses over the little details that are very important when doing UI/UX design properly. He also made sure the themes worked properly on various Gtk desktop environments, including Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce (three of the best DEs, in my humble opinion).

He also mentions the qt6gtk2 plugin for Qt which I did not know about. It translates Gtk themes to Qt themes so all of your applications, whether they use Gtk or Qt, have the correct theme. This is extremely useful since the impedance mismatch between Qt and Gtk is the biggest source of UI/UX inconsistencies in Linux apps.

#tech #software #Linux #UI #UX #theming #LinuxThemes #CinnamonDE #Xfce #MateDE #LinuxMint #Xubuntu #UbuntuMATE #ArchLinux #Gtk #Gtk2 #Gtk3 #Qt5 #Qt6 #UnixPorn #ricing

My father-in-law has an 8 year old laptop that is still in perfectly good working condition, and was not happy about Microsoft forcing him to buy a new one due to the #EndOf10 , and he remembered I had mentioned to him #Linux so he asked me to install it for him. (Yay!) So I BitTorrented the latest ISO image onto my own computer and stuck-in an old USB stick.

In the Cinnamon desktop environment, all you need to do is right-click on the ISO image, and right there in the context menu there were two options: “Verify”, and “Make bootable USB stick”. It is so simple, its just right there in the file browser, in the right-click context menu.

Selecting “Verify” runs the GUI application mint-iso-verify and tells you with a big green checkmark or big red cross whether your ISO image is official. Selecting “Make bootable USB stick“ runs an applet built-in to the “Nemo” file browser (Cinnamon’s file browser, forked from Gnome File Browser), which finds attached USB media, prompts you for an admin password, and writes the image.

This does not work on Cinnamon DE running in stock Debian, it is specific to Linux Mint. Other Linux desktops may provide a similar feature, but I am not personally aware of any. Little details like this really make the Linux Mint user experience so much nicer and easier to use, and that is why it is my go-to recommendation for people switching from Windows.

#tech #software #Linux #FOSS #FLOSS #LinuxMint #CinnamonDE #EndOf10 #EndOfTen #SwitchToLinux

No matter what language you want to use to program your Gtk app, read the Python tutorial to get started, even if you are not going to write your app in Python.

So far it has been the most comprehensive and well-written tutorials I have ever seen for Gtk, and explains important concepts even better than the official documentation does. What applies to Gtk programming Python applies to most any other programming language as well, especially scripting languages, so what you learn from this tutorial will apply to your use case as well.

Gtk is a cross-platform GUI toolkit that serves as infrastructure for Linux/BSDUnix desktop environments like Gnome, Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce. Gtk apps can build and run on Mac OS and Windows without too much difficulty. Though Gtk is written in C it supports very a wide range of programming languages for application programming such as Python, JavaScript, Ruby, Lua, most of Lisp the Lisp family, Java, Vala, C#, even C++ if you are a masochist. Because of this, it never occurred to me that if I wanted to learn more about Gtk programming, I should read a tutorial for one specific language (Python). Now that I have read it, I wish I had known this sooner, so I am telling everyone here on the fediverse.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, you can download the entire tutorial locally as HTML, PDF, or EPUB so that you can hack offline as well!

#tech #software #Linux #FreeBSD #OpenBSD #NetBSD #Gtk #GUI #AppDev #NativeApp #NativeAppDev #GnomeDE #MateDE #CinnamonDE #Xfce #Python #Lua #Lisp #JavaScript #Ruby #Lua #Java #ValaLang #SchemeLang #CPlusPlus #GCC #MacOS #MSWindows