Desktop Manager designed for touchscreens

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earthlingkc
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Desktop Manager designed for touchscreens

Post by earthlingkc »

I picked up a Yoga 700 at Costco on sale and it runs Mint 18 well. Currently have Mate installed and the touchscreen works surprisingly well but of course is primarily designed for a mouse. It's an 11" with 1080 resolution so very small icons to touch. It's better if I change the resolution to a much lower DPI and doable but a pain to switch resolution and of course lose the space.

Are there any desktop/windows managers or addons for Mint that allow changing icon, button sizes, etc and optimized for touchscreens? Would be nice to quickly change tablet/laptop mode like Win10 can do.

BTW, Chrome browser works great with scrolling the page up/down, but Firefox doesn't do that.
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pdhunter1987

Re: Desktop Manager designed for touchscreens

Post by pdhunter1987 »

Linux Mint 18 KDE would be best for touch screens I would assume, when used with "application dashboard" alternative start menu.

In KDE right click start menu and click "alternatives" then choose "application dashboard".

It is a very gnome 3 like menu. Huge icons, I would say that be best in the mint world, gnome shell itself would be ideal.

That is if KDE plasma supports touch, which I don't know sorry.

I dont like touch screens myself.
earthlingkc
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Re: Desktop Manager designed for touchscreens

Post by earthlingkc »

Thanks, haven't used KDE for egads, will check into it.

Am surprised how often I use the touchscreen as at first I didn't think I'd use it. Typically when laptop is in my lap or on belly and while web browsing. Even with the high resolution/small buttons it's very usable. And it's great for scrolling up/down page and selecting an action or link. Press/hold on the screen acts as a right click as expected. And two finger drag zoom in/out works nice. But a touchscreen optimized mode would be even better. Hope to see more focus in the Mint world for touchscreens.
pdhunter1987

Re: Desktop Manager designed for touchscreens

Post by pdhunter1987 »

xeno wrote:Thanks, haven't used KDE for egads, will check into it.

Am surprised how often I use the touchscreen as at first I didn't think I'd use it. Typically when laptop is in my lap or on belly and while web browsing. Even with the high resolution/small buttons it's very usable. And it's great for scrolling up/down page and selecting an action or link. Press/hold on the screen acts as a right click as expected. And two finger drag zoom in/out works nice. But a touchscreen optimized mode would be even better. Hope to see more focus in the Mint world for touchscreens.
One thing though, Linux Mint does focus on the traditional desktop.
Ubuntu with unity 8, GNOME, etc focus heavily on touch.
earthlingkc
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Re: Desktop Manager designed for touchscreens

Post by earthlingkc »

Funny how things that go around come around. I switched to Mint back when Canonical went with Unity - hated it, head exploding awful. Have been a Mint man since and admit haven't even given Ubuntu a second chance after years. I knew Ubuntu had more touchscreen focus but hoping Mint gets there too now that I'm actually into both.

Pretty much all future laptops will have touchscreens. Time to start thinking about optimizing and improving that experience. Some slight additions to existing Mint sponsored Windows Managers could improve touchscreen experience and allow a quick mode switch from tablet to desktop modes.

With Chrome browser it's already pretty decent. I bought the Yoga 700 on sale from Costco as an impulse knowing I could easily return in 90 days but I'm liking the touchscreen and mobility of 11" enough that I will probably keep it.
pdhunter1987

Re: Desktop Manager designed for touchscreens

Post by pdhunter1987 »

xeno wrote:Pretty much all future laptops will have touchscreens. Time to start thinking about optimizing and improving that experience.
True but what if your like me and only use a desktop PC? Laptops are personally not my thing.

Don't worry like I said earlier, Ubuntu have their sights set on touch and that trendy word "convergence", Mint won't need to focus on touch, Mint team are great at producing a traditional desktop, all bases covered.

The only thing I want "touch" in my life is my mobile, even that annoys me sometimes. :lol:

However you have spoken truth, also kids now days (I know my kids) are very switched on with touch devices, unlike us who seem out of touch.

:lol:
MtnDewManiac
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Re: Desktop Manager designed for touchscreens

Post by MtnDewManiac »

I have two gripes with touch screens: The act of using them covers bits of the display, and I have never seen one that is fingerprint(/smudge/et cetera)-proof. IMHO, the latter should have been (a very important) step two of developing the technology.

I have a third gripe, too: Glass screens. I never cracked a plastic display screen. Scratched, sure, but not as easily as someone who has only seen the "Gorilla Glass" ad print might be led to expect - and I can polish most scratches away in a minute or less. One cannot polish out the cracks in a damaged glass screen. Glass displays are a WIN for manufacturers... They convinced the consumer that this feature(?) was actually needed, raised the prices of the devices that had them... whilst creating a product that was easier to destroy (and, thus, to require another purchase).

Regards,
MDM
Mint 18 Xfce 4.12.

If guns kill people, then pencils misspell words, cars make people drive drunk, and spoons made Rosie O'Donnell fat.
earthlingkc
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Re: Desktop Manager designed for touchscreens

Post by earthlingkc »

Either way touch screens are here to stay and pretty much all future laptops/hybrids will have them. Mint Windows Managers (at least one) may as well make the most of it. I didn't like idea for laptops either but am using touchscreen with Mint way more than I expected as is (especially when in Chrome browser). Could be better though. And no thanks on Ubuntu. I wouldn't use them if only distro focusing on touchscreens.
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