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Author: o1bigtenor
Date:  
CC: dng
Subject: Re: [DNG] What do you guys like about Desktop Environments?
On Sun, Dec 24, 2023 at 5:30 AM Didier Kryn <kryn@???> wrote:
>
> Le 23/12/2023 à 17:21, Martin Steigerwald a écrit :
> > Didier Kryn - 23.12.23, 16:56:49 CET:
> >> Le 23/12/2023 à 16:06, Antonio A. Rendina via Dng a écrit :
> >>> I like the apps to be integrated and have the same visual
> >>> widgets/colors, and I don't want to waste time to obtain this.
> >>       I'm totally insensitive to this æsthetic. Further more, I consider
> >> it a mean to force on the user a set of applications chosen by the DE
> >> team.
> > I like the flexibility to install any application and I still can.

> >
> > But I love the functionality of a lot of KDE applications. Gems like
> > Krita, Gwenview, Okular, Konsole, Spectacle, KMyMoney they have just
> > everything I need and them some. But that then some does not stand in my
> > way. Lastly I tried out annotation feature in the screenshot app
> > Spectacle. A breeze to use for quick annotations. I like how I can have a
> > Konsole everywhere. Separately, in Dolphin file manger or in Kate for
> > example.
> >
> > Those apps are not the same than just five years ago. In my opinion some of
> > them outperform anything I have seen anywhere else so far. But I admit I
> > have no up-to-date experience with GNOME, Windows or Mac OS X. Maybe
> > things evolved as neatly or even better there. I somewhat doubt it,
> > though, at least for my needs and use cases.
> >
> > If you have a ten year old impression of KDE applications… you don't know
> > much about the current state I'd say. It has not been bad back then, but
> > meanwhile it just got (much) better.
> >
> > Like for example multiple cursor editing and other new features Kate. The
> > basic block editing has been there since a long time and I use it often
> > enough to format things like markdown tables, anything that is based on
> > columns instead of (just) lines. But meanwhile they have multiple cursors
> > as well.
> >
> > Or Itinerary parsing train and other ticket information obtained from mail
> > or QR code. They can scan the PDF of a ticket and make an appointment,
> > enrich it with real time information in case you agree to access relevant
> > internet servers of the service providers, show local maps of train
> > stations and so on and so on. Also I can have Itinerary on desktop and/or
> > Android phone.
> >
> > Plasma can adapt to multiple form factors quite nicely. I do not yet have
> > a phone with Plasma Mobile, but it would be a nice thing to try out.
> > Possibly with Postmarket OS.
> >
>       FWIW Konsole, Gnome-terminal, Xfce4-terminal, and even Roxterm are
> pretty much as good. It might be possible to make Xterm just readable,
> though I'm not sure, but I agree it would be anyway a painfull
> configuration work.

>
>      Concerning text edition I have been using Emacs or Emacs-like
> editors since the beginning of the 80's and I haven't found a reason to
> change. By the end of the 80's I tried to make sense of Vi but couldn't
> find a usable tutorial, and, while observing Vi fans at work, they
> looked to me like disabled. Nowadays, everytime I launch Emacs from a
> terminal it writes a Dbus error message and fails to connect, but the
> editor works fine. I enjoy the failure to connect since I dislike Dbus
> (a common KDE/Gnome development, BTW) and I dislike the concept of an
> Emacs server in general.

>
>      Ah, just for the fun, I have replaced Kmahjongg, and yet another
> one I used after it, with Xmahjongg; everytime you change, it takes just
> a short time to get acustomed (~:

>
>      Generally the improvements of applications I value are, of course,
> a better/richer service, but also the reduction of dependencies. One
> thing I particularly dislike in KDE or Gnome apps is the huge weight of
> dependencies they carry, which is the cost for "integration". For the
> things I write myself, I try to eliminate dependencies as much as I can
> and I target minimalism.

>
>      Regarding the comparison with MacOS, I'm pretty sure that KDE
> provides a better productivity. But this is also true for free software
> in general, eg: a Mac is not able to open an SVG file unless it is
> reached through an URL. When such a file is attached to an email, the
> mail agent doesn't even show it.

>

Reading the responses to date has been quite interesting.

When I first started with linux in early 2000 it was recommended to me to
learn to use vi because it was always part of every distribution and with it
it was possible to modify config files and the like.
My start with 'puters was back on a Mac+ and although I prefer the control
of the cli I also very much appreciate the simplicity of the command codes.
This means that I use 'Geany' as a text editor. I use it a lot because I also
run 'ledger-cli' for my bookkeeping. Looking at moving to LedgerSMB for
invoicing and better AR.
I think that I am somewhat unusual in that I really push my DE and push
it fairly hard. this is as a result of having to keep a lot of balls in the air.
This means that I use things like virtual desktops - - - a 'lot' as well has
me having a LOT of monitor space - - - my physical monitor space is
7680 x 3000. I got to this size because I find that I can be pulling from a
number of different information sources and developing my stuff from all
of the input information.
Am in the beginnings of developing specific hardware for my requirements
which also is forcing me to starting the programming game. Was fortunate
enough to have as a mentor someone who although a highly gifted and able
programmer was different in his approach than most as he expected
highly disciplined code - - - wrote such so that I even as a non-programmer
could understand what he was doing even if I couldn't actually write it.
Am wondering if the perspective of computers being tools to get things done
is what drives a lot of the difference in usage between myself and at least
some on this list - - - dunno.

HTH