Linux Users, What's You Distro Experience?

[uOpt]

GNOME is not a good desktop to stick with if you don't really like it.

[audiojunkie]

I installed Fedora Silverblue on my old laptop to try it out, and find the lack of a visible dock odd. It turns out that every time you wish to view the dock, you are required to click in the top left-hand corner to reveal it - which soon becomes annoying. Apparently it can be remedied by downloading Gnome tools and using a fix named "dash to dock", which begs the question as to why Gnome does not just give the option to disable it without going through this long-winded route.

That’s just the way Gnome is—very minimal as far as desktops go. The beauty of Linux though, is that you can simply choose a different desktop environment—one that suits you.

I will stick with it and see if it can be tweaked to make it to my liking. I find the decisions that Gnome has made odd, though. As well as having to install Gnome tools, I had to install "Gnome tweaks" just to get a minimize button in Firefox. And it used to be said that Linux does not need restarting to install stuff, but it does now. I have restarted twice to install updates.

The good news is that I downloaded the Bitwig flatpak demo, installed it, plugged in my i-rig keyboard and headphones and was playing the Polymer synth in a couple of minutes with no crackles and good latency - and this laptop is a ten year old i3!

Gnome has a desktop environment philosophy similar to that of Apple’s Mac OS—keep everything extremely simple. KDE uses a more Windows like philosophy. Those who like Windows’ desktop environment will probably like KDE. All of the other DEs fall somewhere in between.

Gnome prefers one or two windows open per screen, and keyboard commands or touch gestures to flip between these screens. When using Gnome, learn the keyboard shortcuts or the touchpad/touchscreen gestures to move from space to space. That’s how Gnome prefers to be used. This way, keyboard or touchpad/touchscreen users can stay focused on their work. That’s the idea, anyway. It’s nit for everyone. I use it (like I said previously), because I often use my 2-in-1 laptop as a tablet. The gestures make everything smooth and fast for me. Learning these short cuts are the key to productivity in Gnome.

[uOpt]

Gnome is not simple from an implementation standpoint. Its close integration with systemd in particular is an area of concern.

[audiojunkie]

Gnome is not simple from an implementation standpoint. Its close integration with systemd in particular is an area of concern.

I’m referring to the use of the interface from the point of view of a new user, not from the point of view of developers. Systemd has been controversial, and there are as many that love it that don’t. I remain undecided.

[lunardigs]

I like the Gnome philosophy. I think it really shines for mobile. GTK in general. Phosh (phone shell) shows off GTK and Gnome like design philosophy quite nicely.
That said I use Plasma for my desktops/laptops, mostly out of habit. Btw, Plasma 6 has been great, with Wayland, Pipewire, etc. Best Linux desktop experience for me so far.

Oh, and I should really point out Pipewire. This has made audio production so much easier as compared to Pulse and Jack. It's great.

[BertKoor]

Linux user here i'm running Kubuntu 24.04 LTS and installed the Ubuntu studio controls package. And installed low latency kernel. Running Bitwig. This is by far the most stable Ubuntu i have run in years. A lot of VST's i have yabridged with succes. To name a few:
Redline Monitor, Fabfilter Saturator/Twin/Pro Q/Pro C2/Timeless, Voxengo Boogex, Eventide, EZdrummer, Phaseplant, MODO bass, Neural DSP Nolly, Kuassa Cerberus, Pigments, Microfreak, KORG triton, New sonic arts Vice and native Linux VST's , Uhe Repro, Zebra, Diva, Colourcopy. Tal plugs, Audiodamage Discord.

Really happy Linux user i will never return to Windows again.

Finally someone that simply responds in the intended spirit of this thread.
Thank you for sharing.

[lunardigs]

you.jpg

[dellboy]

Gnome prefers one or two windows open per screen, and keyboard commands or touch gestures to flip between these screens. When using Gnome, learn the keyboard shortcuts or the touchpad/touchscreen gestures to move from space to space. That’s how Gnome prefers to be used. This way, keyboard or touchpad/touchscreen users can stay focused on their work. That’s the idea, anyway. It’s nit for everyone. I use it (like I said previously), because I often use my 2-in-1 laptop as a tablet. The gestures make everything smooth and fast for me. Learning these short cuts are the key to productivity in Gnome.

The laptop I have installed Silverblue on is at least ten years old, and most gestures do not work on it.

[audiojunkie]

Did you check the laptop and components for Linux compatibility? Confirm that your parts are compatible with Linux.

What is the make and model of your laptop? What are the specs?

[glokraw]

Gnome prefers one or two windows open per screen, and keyboard commands or touch gestures to flip between these screens. When using Gnome, learn the keyboard shortcuts or the touchpad/touchscreen gestures to move from space to space. That’s how Gnome prefers to be used. This way, keyboard or touchpad/touchscreen users can stay focused on their work. That’s the idea, anyway. It’s nit for everyone. I use it (like I said previously), because I often use my 2-in-1 laptop as a tablet. The gestures make everything smooth and fast for me. Learning these short cuts are the key to productivity in Gnome.

The laptop I have installed Silverblue on is at least ten years old, and most gestures do not work on it.

An old inexpensive system that will be good at recording and processing music would include
i7 cpu in desktop case
8 gig or more ram
m-audio pci soundcard
nVidia pcie videocard.

Been using that for ages, every distro I hopped on ran well, caldera, corel, arch, fedora, mint, puppy, knoppix, debian. ubuntu, pclinuxOS, DSL, slackware yada yada yada
I would hate using a laptop day to day to day

[uOpt]

The laptop I have installed Silverblue on is at least ten years old, and most gestures do not work on it.

Gestures as in "trackpad gestures"?

[dellboy]

The laptop I have installed Silverblue on is at least ten years old, and most gestures do not work on it.

Gestures as in "trackpad gestures"?

Yes, trackpad gestures. I have been fiddling around with trackpad and some gestures work, but they seem inconsistent. Normally I just use a mouse and keyboard with a laptop, so trackpad gestures are a new thing to me, but I am trying to learn them in gnome.

[dellboy]

An old inexpensive system that will be good at recording and processing music would include
i7 cpu in desktop case
8 gig or more ram
m-audio pci soundcard
nVidia pcie videocard.

Been using that for ages, every distro I hopped on ran well, caldera, corel, arch, fedora, mint, puppy, knoppix, debian. ubuntu, pclinuxOS, DSL, slackware yada yada yada
I would hate using a laptop day to day to day

Funny you should say about using a desktop, because I have just gone back to using one in the last few days after trying to use a laptop for the last nine months.

[dellboy]

Did you check the laptop and components for Linux compatibility? Confirm that your parts are compatible with Linux.

What is the make and model of your laptop? What are the specs?

It's just an old Toshiba i3 that I had kicking around doing nothing, so I am using it to test various distros on. That, and a 256GB USB stick with Ventoy installed and many distros on it. Ventoy is a great little app for testing stuff. The trouble is that a lot of distros are not including a live ISO any more and have to be installed to test them.

[audiojunkie]

Did you check the laptop and components for Linux compatibility? Confirm that your parts are compatible with Linux.

What is the make and model of your laptop? What are the specs?

It's just an old Toshiba i3 that I had kicking around doing nothing, so I am using it to test various distros on. That, and a 256GB USB stick with Ventoy installed and many distros on it. Ventoy is a great little app for testing stuff. The trouble is that a lot of distros are not including a live ISO any more and have to be installed to test them.

What model of Toshiba is it?