Show off your Linux desktop

blackbird, is the 64 bit version of Arch stable enought? Does it make any difference at all?

 

It is, but I doubt it makes a difference.

Above applis to all linux distros, pretty much all the codecs / packages / plugins /software are 32 bit, only a few have 64 bit alternatives.

Sure you can run 64 bit but 90% of your stuff is going to be 32 bit.


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Alright, for the Arch tut vid that I shall be making, can I ask who is interested?

Those that are mention your specs and whether your using static IP's or automatically assigned ones, this is just so I can cut out stuff that people here wont need.

 

Just got a text based browser, neat stuff. Pretty useful if all your left with is the command line and need to follow a guide or google for help.

 

I'm going to try an install.....have the core already downloaded....back in Mandriva trying to solve the VB problem...no fixes because the release is new....giving up....good time to give Arch a try.

 

Good luck, read and keep a copy of the beginners install guide and follow it.


Play close attention to partitioning, the area where you have to select which type of partition, its mentioned in the guide. Also once partitoning is complete it will ask you to select which one of the created is swap then root, I thought the first would be root so I messed up first time.

 

I want the vid tutorial ^^

my specs?: i am 1,72 tall , 22 years old and 55kg of weigth

Ow.. you want my computer specs?

Well, it´s a Vostro 1400 (C2D 1.6, 2GB dual corsair 667, 8400M GS, 120GB 5400 HD..). The IP is automatically defined.

I have to ask to you include in your tut how to configure stuffs like Wireless and laptop tools, things that are useful for laptops!

Thanks!

 

Age, s e x and location?... I might be interested

Yea this is a laptop forum so laptop stuff is going to be a must, thats why tut is gonna take longer, hopefully by Monday. What wireless card you got?

 

Text-based games FTW! Text-based browsers FTW.

Playing Shadows of Mordor in DOSBox is so fun.

--kill frodo--

*sam tries to kill frodo, but sam can't*

--use sword frodo--

*sam slashes at frodo with the sword*

*sam has given frodo a nasty scratch*

LOL.

 

The one in the pic is w3m

By the way, found another awesome site for abstract / cool wallpapers, I know you like that sort of stuff.

http://customize.org/browse/wallpapers/popular

 

intel iw3945

And, i´m from Brazil, and MAN.

 

You know me...Desktop Critic Extraordinaire.

 

Aren't there any Brazilian WOMEN on here? lol

 

Perfect, I'm a man too, in case you haven't noticed from my title "Manley Power" lol.

By perfect I mean the wireless card is supported, but I know what you were thinking...pervert

Its funny because its true


@theZoid, hows the install going?

 

Lol.. i think this is the hardest place to find one
Well, you are invited to visit my country, i can assure you that it will be a great trip. It´s hard even to us to visit all the places here, and of course, see all the beautiful womans we have, because there are lots and lots of them;

 

I guess you're right about this not being a good place to find them....hmmm, have any websites? lol ps was married a peruvian national for 14 years....

 

About the arch...

Well, the beginners guide is really useful, and the instalation process was really simple.

The rc.conf thing is really KISS, i love it. That´s one of the things that i was missing when using opensuse.

Right now i´m installing the Kdemod.... let´s see how fast is that.

 

rc.conf is amazing and the guide's rock, you learn so much about linux whilst keeping simpe.

by far the biggest hassle is getting the wireless up and running


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I recommend you install yaourt when your done, its amazing. to use just type "yaourt packagename" in terminal and it will fetch a list fro every repository, best of which is AUR wich has all the user submitted stuff.

 

here is my desktop. btw, brand new linux user here.

 

What distro is that & where can I get that look?

 

It's Ubuntu 7.10, as you can see in the screenshot.

 

Looks like I'm an idiot
Where can I get that icon theme/theme?

 

mmm... is that question directed to me? if yes, then only thing you need is ubuntu 7.10, kiba-dock, screenlets manager, wallpaper clock, emerald and compiz fusion.

windows style and icons are from gnomeart i believe, or something like that, dont remember exactly.

 

Thanks, OK, I've installed an emerald theme, how do I go back to the default non-emerald theme?

 

Nevermind, I've got it.

 

Added some more eyecandy, details in terminal

 

^I dabbled with many distributions a few years ago, when looking for something to settle on. I initially lived with Mandrake 8.1 for a long time, but lost interest when they started releasing buggy rubbish.

I tried Gentoo, but found it to be more complicated than I really wanted, and figured the speed differences from compiling source over generic packages were going to be minimal, given my use.

I then tried Kubuntu, and loved it. I've switched from Kub to PC-BSD(slightly tweaked FreeBSD) and back a few times - I love FreeBSD, but tend to remember having problems with hardware(sound card). I haven't really tried anything else for a good while. Now, I did download Arch a good while back, but don't think I can remember anything about it whatsoever.

Could you tell me how it fares with Ubuntu? What are the most compelling reasons for using it?

 

@Dayatona

My point of view may be biased as Arch is my distro of choice so ask those Ubuntu users what they prefer about Ubuntu as well:

I have also tried many distro's but always end up back in Arch

Ubuntu is easier to setup and get running than Arch, no doubt there. However Arch offers much more than Ubuntu.

Since you used FreeBSD, your probably familiar with RC.CONF file. Arch follows the same tradition

First off you learn a great deal about linux during the installation, this saves you from searching the net for help and howtos.

Arch is a much more stable, faster and smaller in size when compared to ubuntu, this is due to you installing only what you need rather than stuff for millions of different hardware. This means the installation requires some time and is much more involved.

Ubuntu has a larger community so when you ask for help there, youl get responses pretty quick, in Arch you have to be a little bit more patient. If your not there is always the IRC channel.

I find the wiki of Arch to be much more helpful than Ubuntu's.

The user repository of Arch (AUR) is one of my main reasons for choosing the distro, its full of very usefull stuff.

Arch is a rolling release which means a simple command keeps your distro up to date, unlike Ubuntu which has a 6 month release cycle.

The package manager, pacman along with a wrapper called yaourt destroy synaptics once you know how to use them.

Hardware support is also good, my setup outlined in my sig is fully supported. The sound card which is a Realtek HDA didnt work in Ubuntu at all but in Arch it does. The wifi card, intel 4965 is also supported.

All the laptop functionality such as synaptics touchpad, sleep, hibernation, cpu scaling, powermizer for nvidia all work in Arch, Im sure they would too in Ubuntu.

If you want something quick, easy to setup and use then go Ubuntu, if you want something more tailored for you then go Arch.

 

Here's my desktop.
@Daytona
I use Ubuntu for it's ease of use, stability, etc.

 

sweet... I'm still trying to figure out how to make the top and bottom of the cube transparent.

 

Cheers for taking the time to give me a pretty thorough insight .

How easy is it to get all the codecs and whatnot working under Arch? I always liked how the FreeBSD ports system worked; Ubuntu had a similar system(in comparison to the RPM nonsense associated with other distributions back when I switched to Ubuntu on a full-time basis), but installation was incredibly fast, and generally totally-painless.

Codec installation is a doddle these days, all one has to do is add a repository and install the entire package. MP3, DVD, the standard video codecs(Divx, Xvid, etc)... it's all very easy.

 

These commands take care of your codec needs, after installing thse I can play any file, even incomplete ones to check if they are what I want.

pacman -Sy codecs `pacman -Ss gstreamer | grep -e '^extra/gstreamer0.10' | awk '{print $1}'` (this command although weird installs every gstreamer codec/plugin)

pacman -S flashplugin mplayer mplayer-plugin codecs (or totem-plugin)

pacman -S libdvdcss

ofcourse you can use a frontend such as gtk-pacman or a cli wrapper yaourt to do the same.
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This is also where the user repositpry shines, if you cant find a codec that will play that one annoying file that doesnt play, some user would have a codec uploaded for it.

 

Neat, cheers blackbird. I'll download it and give it a shot in the near future .

 

Cool I might check it out later.

 

Nice desktop, Thomas.

Daytona, I use Ubuntu because it's easy to use, but it's still Linux (it has h4x0r capabilities).

 

I made it in abot 5mins lol.......

 

pixelot - Ubuntu is great. Very little to complain about, everything works and works well for most people. I've used it since 5.04(sheesh, that's 3 years now!), and still love it.

Doesn't stop me wondering whether I'd find something that suited me even better. It never hurts to dip ones toe in a different pool from time to time... maybe one day I'll find one full of blondes with big knockers .

I dare say I'll end up with 8.04, as a fresh install, and trying out KDE4 in the same move. Familiarity often wins - just look at the folks who keep using Windows .

I'm sitting here trying to think of reasons why I'm not happy with Kubuntu, but I really can't. There are minor niggles, and things I'd have preferred to seen done differently, but it's a bloody amazing piece of kit. I know Linux has been around for years, but it's only just dawned on me that Ubuntu has only been around for 3 years. Everything about it is totally remarkable, given how little time it has spent in the public eye.

Crikey, it's literally 10 years, just over, since I first tried Linux. I had to order a 6-CD boxset from the States, because we still used dial-up. And I didn't own a CD burner - they were still a couple of hundred quid. I'd read a review of FreeBSD in a magazine, and ordered that - but after a month, with still no sign of anything, I called them and found out they were out of stock. Opted for the Linux boxset instead. Think it was produced by a company called "Walnut Creek" - anyway, it had RedHat 5.0(?), Turbolinux, Slackware 3.4(?), Debian, and a couple of discs of 'projects' and kernels. It was amazing!

http://web.archive.org/web/19980210064338/www.cdrom.com/titles/os/linuxtol.htm

From that, I went on to Caldera Linux in Spring 1999. didn't like it much, think I spent most of my time using Turbolinux, for some reason. It was in late 2000 that I really started trying to use Linux more and more - I was co-admin of a website, and we needed to move to a dedicated server; getting to grips with Linux on the desktop made sense if I was going to be looking after a server too.

Sheesh, I'll shut up now. I'm taking this waaaaaay off-topic and I've hardly even started.

 

Same here. Also, I might release a ubuntu-based distro of my own this summer, PM me for more

 

Nice, I wish mine looked that good.

 

So nice. I really like the wooden finish wallpaper. Probably the best Linux screenshot I've seen. Great work!

 

Thanks, its pretty easy to make it look good. If you liked my one then everything you need to mimic the look is mentioned in the terminal within the screenshot.

I answered your question by PM.

Thanks, yea the wallpaper is good. I sent you a PM, check it.

 

Hey, could you give-me tips to make my gnome look like yours?
I´ve installed the arch on a VM, but i haven´t much time to spent with it yet..

 

Yea sure.

First youl need to install yaourt, its a very useful method of installing programs in Arch.

To do that edit your /etc/pacman.conf file and add these lines to it


[archlinuxfr]

Server = http://repo.archlinux.fr/i686

Save and exit, then in terminal type in "pacman -Sy yaourt" and install yaourt.

Now for the themes.

1). Grab the wallpaper here

2). Grab the Elegant Brit theme from here

3). Grab the Crashbit icon theme from here

4). Install Elegant Brit by going into System >> Preferences >> Appearance, then selecting Install and browsing to where you downloaded the theme and selecting it.

5). Install the Crashbit icon theme in the same way.

6). In the appearance window there will be an option to save the theme, save it as Elegant Brit.

7). Once saved click on customize, for controls and window borders make sure Elegant Brit is selected, for icons Crashbit is selected and for the pointer choose the white glass option.

8). In appearance, head over to the fonts and change the dpi to something which suites you more, my fonts were too large so I changed the dpi to 96. Also select subpixel smoothing if your on a LCD and in advanced options select full hinting.

9). Install a better font, I like vista's cleartype font Segoe UI. I cant explain how to get through other ways than obtaining it from the fonts folder of your vista installation.

10). Do this step after installing firefox. In terminal type in "yaourt firefox". It will search for all firefox related packages, scroll the list and look for the number besides firefox-beautifier, type that number in and hit enter to install. Your firefox wil look amazing, provided its not the version 3 beta.

11). Now if you want that clock and dock you will need to install compiz fusion, I suggest you install the git version as it is much better. Add these lines to the /etc/pacman.conf file

[compiz-fusion]
Server = http://compiz.dreamz-box.de/i686

and type in pacman -Sy compiz-fusion-git to install

12). Use yaourt to install cairo clock and awant window navigator.

13). Install the elegant brit theme for emerald/compiz from www.gnome-look.org, also use that site to get the dock icons.

14). Optional, install conky and get a neat config file for it

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****, was going to write a few lines but have written an essay

Anyhow this is how the final result should look like, notice the fonts look much better than previously (previous on left, new on right). Segoe UI rocks, also If you like the conky config Il put it up.

 

my desktop : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMUQ_nja39c

 

Wow.

 

Thanks blackbird....let me see what I can do with this KDE style...I'll post....

 

No probs, with Kde its pretty much the same. Although you will have to install brit theme for gtk as well in Kde as the default look of gtk apps like firefox in kde is f'd up.

Elegant brit kde theme here

Compiz Emerald brit here

I also suggest you to install the git version of compiz-fusion, its much faster and stable, just add those lines to the repository thing in synaptic.

A tip to make compiz even faster without sacrificing anything, right click the tray icon and enable loose binding. It REALLY helps

 

Here's 'bird's wallpaper, snowish icons, and a custom kicker panel....still playing around...mucho wood lol

 

I've been using Arch Gnome in a VM and it's awesome, if not easy to use

 

added Zekton for system fonts...looks like something from an 80's vid game: btw, I always swap out Kmenu for TastyMenu...had to put it in window mode to take the pic, looks cleaner in normal mode for those that haven't tried...Mint KDE CE uses this by default.

 

Those fonts look pretty bad, not that the style is bad, they just don't seem smooth/sharp enough. You have hinting and subpixel stuff on ?