[ Date Index ] [ Thread Index ] [ <= Previous by date / thread ] [ Next by date / thread => ]
On 27/12/2020 13:00, Neil wrote: > This has been a strange year. Nearly over now, thank goodness. So, as a > bit of fun, I have come up with a list of some of the defaults in Linux > which annoy me. (Agreed, I am easily annoyed.) > > Desktop > > I like to have the panel at the bottom. Some distros start with it at > the top, or even on one side. So I have to move it. > > The plank. Whose weird idea was that one? If it is there I remove it. > > Konky. Another weird one. It takes up a lot of space on the screen, it > is distracting, and if I need any of that information there are lots of > other apps that I can use. (uname, htop, neofetch, inxi to name just a > few.) > > All those pretty (or not) pictures to show on the desk top. To me just a > silly distraction. I always set up each desk top with a plain coloured > background. Each one a different colour. > > I always keep the panel hidden. When I need it I just move the mouse > pointer to the bottom of the screen and the panel appears. The rest of > the time it is out of the way. > > Browsers > > Firefox is usually the default. There was a time when I could place the > tab bar as the lowest bar. Then that facility was removed. So I now use > Waterfox Classic or Palemoon. Firefox is still installed but I just > ignore it. > > For some reason most browsers seem to be set up at the start so that > closing the last, only, tab also closes the application. Why? I always > switch that off via about:config. There are already several ways to > close my browser down when I have finished, I don't need another one. > > Terminal screen. > > Yes, I do use it a lot. But the default seems to be to open it up with a > small screen. I like to have it full screen, so I change that in > preferences. I usually change the font and background too. > > Laptop > > Very similar to the above, except that I never use a touchpad, I use a > wifi mouse instead. So I switch off the touchpad as one of the first > changes I make. > > The above is by no means a full list, but enough for now. > > I had better finish by saying that we are so lucky with Linux. Most > changes that I want to make are so easy. Try that in Windows or Mac. > That is one of my main reasons for using Linux. So please take this as > just a bit of fun, not a rant. > > Neil > To Neil & others at DCGLug. Neil’s pretend rant I appreciated this message from Neil. 20201227 To reply to Neil’s “a pretend rant” Such an essay can only be written by those who are very comfortable working in and on a Linux system, while others who are ‘just users’ have neither the depth of knowledge or use cases to do these things. I ‘just use Linux’ mainly by graphical methods as I rarely venture into the CLI. So: rant on rant: I concur a very strange year indeed, but it has sent us looking for solutions! Even in computing. Many 'oldies' started to use their devices in earnest! I looked up ‘konky’ but am just as unenlightened, except I deduce the various search engines look for ‘sound’ of word, as I got a lot of German names in sites similar in pronunciation. Then found Conky in Linux and understood. “Conky is a system monitor that will display pertinent information on your desktop.” Panel. I find keeping the panel hidden sometimes does not work, as in a freeze it is unrecoverable, so I may temporary hide (‘intelligently’) the panel. When I need screen area. No panel visible always ‘disturbs me’ as I have lost my control method. However I do not use a Command Line Interface except in extremis, as I have never mastered this method; and as ‘just a user’ I stay rigidly in the graphical methods. OpenSUSE YaST helps a lot for my use case. When depth of screen area is necessary I move panel to sides or on one machine to a floating bar (panel 2) in middle upper of screen. I use Firefox as default, even when teaching Windows users in Windows. I got used to tab bar at top. However I have a ‘rigid habit’ from older times with little RAM to only at most keep 2 tabs open. But that is a preference. I find more tabs distracts my thinking. I am a one task at a time person. I have had numerous requests to write about Firefox and its add-ons from my (elderly) pupils to reduce there adds, pop-ups etc. the Firefox Facebook Container and Multi-Containers are much appreciated by the oldies I teach. I demonstrate in Linux on my machine, they copy into their Windows systems. While introducing them to Gibson Research Corporation’s “shield’s up” to check if their machine ‘leaks’ or has open ports. Terminal. Easy to adjust size. I have to teach this to those using Xubuntu (old laptops) as easier to update /upgrade for them in a one line terminal (copy typing) rather than use graphical solution. Size adjustment and magnification of working screen is an essential skill to old folks with bad eyesight. Laptop finger pad. Some oldies are extremely ‘rigid’ in finger movement so mice or mouse control is almost impossible, however they can work touch pads. Even with a single knuckle! However here I almost always use a USB tethered by wire mouse, but never connected by WiFi. Wife or me operating a Microwave plays badly with WiFi. I have not built a Faraday cage round my laptop (Ethernet wire connected) yet. I have found Linux useful and easy by sticking to distribution’s versions. So no ‘mucking about’. Those oldies who are put on Linux stay with it. Yours aye, a satisfied Linux user from about 1998 or thereabouts on Live Knoppix 3 originally. (A 3.5 inch floppy disc distribution from a paper shop magazine in mid-Wales.) Kindest regards Eion -- Regards Eion MacDonald -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG https://mailman.dcglug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq