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Best GUI Distro

post #1 of 29
5/31/05 at 10:12pm
Thread Starter 
whats the best linux distro that has the best looking GUI i want something that looks realy kool like something u see from the mo9vies type of thing
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post #2 of 29
5/31/05 at 11:12pm
the beauty of linux is....every little bit is customizable. you can grab any old distro, give it some gnome, kde, fluxbox, enlightenment, or whatever else floats your boat and trick it out to the level that YOU are satisfied with, not the "designer"
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post #3 of 29
6/1/05 at 12:01am
Though to be honest, e16(Enlightenment) gained a well earned reputation for eyecandy in its heyday, and e17(Newer version of enlightenment currently in development) which is upcoming seems to be readily set to return to its crown. Though abf is right, customization can do wonders for your system. Just picked up a book of linux hacks, that things you can do are kinda incredible if you are used to a windows system, and impressive even if you are used to that much customization at times.

Seablade
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post #4 of 29
7/7/05 at 10:44pm
I have to put in a vote for Enlightenment.

All the other Window managers seem to have had windows in mind when they were built. It's true that they are all customizable but I have always felt that the enlightenment coders have an original vision that gives a much nicer user interface.

I like the easy and wide variety of personal customizations as well as the styles that it allows.

For me Linux is a great OS and Enlightenment is the best way to really make it shine.
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post #5 of 29
7/7/05 at 11:49pm
i tried e16 and wasn't impressed much, it was different, but not "great". I am a gnome fan to be honest, kde is ok, but i would rather not use it if i had the option between kde and gnome. Icewm and FluxBox are also fantastic GUIs. As of late, an offspring of the PC-BSD project, comes Camel. Camel is basically "kde improved". Camel combined with PC-BSD should give an OSX-like experience to the user. Keep in mind PC-BSD is only in version 0.7 right now, with 0.76 scheduled pretty soon which will include more languages (german, french, italian, spanish, english, and several others) and some bug fixes. Version 0.8 does not have a date set yet, but will carry even more bug fixes, a new system-update utility, easy printer configuration (which is usually hell under BSD...speak from experience here) and some other nice stuff. As of right now, PC-BSD uses KDE, however when the Camel project is mature enough, it will be integrated, so far it is still in the "planning and design" stage. The integration maybe will occur by PC-BSD 2.0 which will roughly come out in the 2nd half of 2006.

Just thought i'd share the wealth of knowledge
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post #6 of 29
7/8/05 at 12:23am
What didnt you like about Enlightenment?

I have tried most of the major window managers and once I got the hang of it, Enlightenment just seems to have the most customization as well as the great applets.

Gnome is cool I like that its all opensource unlike KDE but its just to windowsy for my taste.
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post #7 of 29
7/8/05 at 3:07am
Thing to remember about e16 is that it is still the same basic design that was great many years ago(Before I started linux 6-7 years ago I believe). Updates for e16 until recently have been few and far between because they have been working on e17, and even the recent updates to the asparagus libraries all are background updates, you really shouldnt be able to tell much about them unless you really dig into it. E17 on the other hand does look very nice and expect that to be at least on par with if not better than the choices out there when it does get released.

Seablade
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post #8 of 29
7/8/05 at 3:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mwillman
All the other Window managers seem to have had windows in mind when they were built.
wait, i thought windows ripped its look off of linux, not the other way around
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post #9 of 29
7/8/05 at 8:12am
KDE and gnome come packaged with too much extra crap that is rather unnecessary in my opinion and hinders performance. I like linux because of the level of customization (like everyone else has been saying) and I like to customize my systems for speed. That is why I go with a minimalistic window manager like fluxbox or blackbox. Lots of GUI crap slows your system down. Fluxbox is basic and simple, with easy menu/keys customizations. I also use torsmo as a system monitor because it uses very few system resources. This way I have a fast GUI setup that doesn't hinder performance.

However, if you want "l33t GUI shit that you see in movies," grab something like enlightenment, grab an applet program called GDesklets, learn python, and write you own GDesklets to customize whatever you want to fancy up your desktop. NOTE: GDesklets will slow the SHIT outa your computer. Running 1 or 2 will slow down performance noticably.
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post #10 of 29
7/8/05 at 11:12am
gdesklets does slow down your performance, but from my experience, superkaramba/karamba slows you even MORE.

also, for least performance hit and still be able to use a dock, install ksmoothdock
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post #11 of 29
7/8/05 at 11:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tlo
wait, i thought windows ripped its look off of linux, not the other way around
Windows ripped its look off apple, who ripped their look off xerox, who invented the gui and mouse.
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post #12 of 29
7/8/05 at 1:00pm
Heh swomeone knows their computer history... Windows ripping off Apple is of course correct, wanna go back more than that they didnt even write DOS originally, bought it from some other guy but I cant remember the name of what it was originally

Anyways if you are using E17 dont bother with the extra programs, it has a built in interface for what it calls epplets, and expect to see lots of them shortly after E's release, or code your own. E typically does a good job(At least in e16) not slowing down your system to much though.

And Gnome isnt to bad for slowing down the system, especially in Distros like ubuntu. I know several people that have done audio work in Gnome for example, it definitly is better for it than KDE.

Though yea most that are used to linux use fluxbox, it just shouldnt be your first choice if you want fancy looking stuff

Seablade

Used all of the above and still searching, waiting to see how fast e17 will run.
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post #13 of 29
7/8/05 at 2:57pm
If your building for speed why even use a GUI at all?

When i'm building a sendmail or web server I just use command line to keep the overhead as small as possible, I shut down all unnecisary processes and keep all unneeded ports closed as well.

Steve Jobs was given the GUI, mouse, and object oriented idea's, he didnt steal them. Xerox did not think it would use the ideas since it was a copy company not a computer company so they told parc's to show him all of their work. The scientists didn't like it but it was not stealing.

Steve Jobs showed Bill Gates the prototype to the Macintosh thus giving Bill the idea. None of it was accually stealing but the whole thing was kind of sleazy.
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post #14 of 29
7/8/05 at 4:09pm
Bottom line, Xerox basically facilitated the computer revolution, as the GUI is what made personal computing what it is today. Without PARC, we'd have nothing.

And without Charles Babbage, we'd have no computer. And yes, I do know my computer history
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post #15 of 29
7/8/05 at 6:46pm
no i meant the look of windows 95/98. with the start button and all that stuff. i thought that was linux first.

also, if i want to test several GUI's, is there a program that lets me install several, and then choose which to load at startup?
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post #16 of 29
7/8/05 at 7:11pm
Im pretty sure that they were all coming out around the same time. Windows might have taken a few things from early Window managers like CDE and Xwindows but I think the new Window managers like Gnome and KDE have used alot of things from windows to give people a simple, easy to recognize front end.

As for multiple Window managers, Sure you can just make sure you arnt starting one at boot up which is usually based on your your run level and RC files. Once you have it booting to a command line then just start which ever one you want. Us it for as long as you want then exit out of it and start up a different one and there you go.
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post #17 of 29
7/9/05 at 2:46am
Or just set up your system to run KDM, GDM, Entrance or one of the other login managers, and use those to switch between GUIs if you want. Most larger distros do this by default now anyways. Once you login it automaticly loads whatever GUI you select from the dropdown list of choices...

And in as far as the computers and stolen technologies debate... there are so many shady things that go on in computer history that I really dont need to go into it here, wether it was technically stolen or not, the idea is someone elses and was used by the newcomer. I personally dont have a problem with that really, but I find it funny that the people that did that early on are now trying to prevent it by use of software patents to make sure they stay in power. Ok so maybe it isnt funny, but it is troublesome the fact that the US lets them stifle competition in that matter, but that is a topic for another board, thread, and really drink in my hand before I cover that.

Seablade
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post #18 of 29
7/9/05 at 10:21pm
yeah, microsoft really shouldnt be saying a ****ing word about software patents
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post #19 of 29
7/9/05 at 10:24pm
fluxbox owns
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post #20 of 29
7/10/05 at 10:38am
This is obviously a loaded question, so if you expect a usable answer, you need to specify what you want in a window manager.

1. How high are your computer's specs? If it is an older low-spec machine, you may be limited in which window manager you can use.
2. What do you want to do with your computer? Gaming? Web browsing and e-mail? Programming? A server of some sort?
3. Is eye-candy the most important thing to you, or is speed? Or do you want a little of both?
4. Do you love or hate MS Windows?
5. How much time do you want to put into configuring your desktop look?

Also, DOS was originally called QDOS. It stood for Quick and Dirty Operating System. It was written by Tim Paterson, who according to legend (at least a dozen different ones available, and who knows which to believe) could have sold it to IBM but decided to go fishing instead. Bill Gates then bought it from Paterson, and sold it to IBM.
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