Suggestions for Cinammon based on KDE
Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 12:45 am
I run KDE on my desktop and Cinammon with Nautilus on my laptop (13 edition). I'm noticing a few things that I don't like with Cinammon which KDE seems to do better:
1. In my research on default applications, I found that Nautilus/Nemo is not showing the extension names - see http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=100362. When I went to /usr/share/applications the .desktop files were not showing their .desktop extensions, even though using that extension is necessary to open them. Note that the only one that I found to be the case here was pdfsam, which I downloaded. None of the others I could open by adding .desktop to the end... altho I think these desktop config files are text.
2. In KDE's file browser, I can always right-click and open in a text editor. Not so with Nautilus/Nemo. I realize that not everything is text, but still providing the option (so I can see gobblygook if it's binary) would be nice.
3. When I open the desktop Panel Menu app launcher (whatever you call it), a lot of applications have generic names such as "Files" (instead of Nautilus), Transmission, Document Viewer, etc. In KDE they show the generic function but also the name of the application. Makes it easier to get support and know what you're dealing with. I can find the names if I research, but I'd rather it be right there.
I tried the Mint 14 RC with a LiveCD and these things still seem to exist.
KDE is also better in other ways since it has more configurability; for example, in the above thread I pointed out that configuring default file associations is much easier in KDE. In Cinammon it can be next to impossible if the application isn't added to the right list, plus I can't seem to edit the .desktop files. KDE has an actual file associations program, similar to the Control Panel in Windows.
I'm somewhat inclined to switch to a distro that puts more focus into KDE such as Kubuntu or openSUSE. I feel like a lot of newbies problems would be eliminated if they used KDE. I can see that Mint has a lot of momentum and seems to be well-managed and, unlike many other distros, truy grassroots. I want to contribute to that rather than support a small distro (I hate the proliferation of distros), but I'm wondering if my resources are perhaps best spent focusing on improving the best situation. I'll be switching my laptop to KDE soon.
1. In my research on default applications, I found that Nautilus/Nemo is not showing the extension names - see http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=100362. When I went to /usr/share/applications the .desktop files were not showing their .desktop extensions, even though using that extension is necessary to open them. Note that the only one that I found to be the case here was pdfsam, which I downloaded. None of the others I could open by adding .desktop to the end... altho I think these desktop config files are text.
2. In KDE's file browser, I can always right-click and open in a text editor. Not so with Nautilus/Nemo. I realize that not everything is text, but still providing the option (so I can see gobblygook if it's binary) would be nice.
3. When I open the desktop Panel Menu app launcher (whatever you call it), a lot of applications have generic names such as "Files" (instead of Nautilus), Transmission, Document Viewer, etc. In KDE they show the generic function but also the name of the application. Makes it easier to get support and know what you're dealing with. I can find the names if I research, but I'd rather it be right there.
I tried the Mint 14 RC with a LiveCD and these things still seem to exist.
KDE is also better in other ways since it has more configurability; for example, in the above thread I pointed out that configuring default file associations is much easier in KDE. In Cinammon it can be next to impossible if the application isn't added to the right list, plus I can't seem to edit the .desktop files. KDE has an actual file associations program, similar to the Control Panel in Windows.
I'm somewhat inclined to switch to a distro that puts more focus into KDE such as Kubuntu or openSUSE. I feel like a lot of newbies problems would be eliminated if they used KDE. I can see that Mint has a lot of momentum and seems to be well-managed and, unlike many other distros, truy grassroots. I want to contribute to that rather than support a small distro (I hate the proliferation of distros), but I'm wondering if my resources are perhaps best spent focusing on improving the best situation. I'll be switching my laptop to KDE soon.
I installed skype via the download plus audacity with SYNAPTIC and somehow I got everything to work (maybe temporarily?) so I am giving credit where it's due! This is all with the live CD.