Re: Why I can not install software on debian easily?
On Tue, 20 Dec 2016 11:16:28 -0600
Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> wrote:
> On 12/20/2016 10:46 AM, Joe wrote:
> > On Tue, 20 Dec 2016 06:25:52 -0600
> > Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> wrote:
> >
> >> On 12/19/2016 5:28 PM, Ben Caradoc-Davies wrote:
> >>>
> >>> [1] Actual case. Thinks she is using Windows because she has
> >>> LibreOffice. Certainly not representative of all grandmothers.
> >>>
> >>
> >> I suspect the User Experience is as important as Application
> >> Software.
> >> Do you know which desktop is being used?
> >>
> >> I've been recommending Debian to an elderly friend who has
> >> expressed annoyance with current version(s) of Windows. He has
> >> sent me an old laptop with an implied "put up or shut up". I want
> >> to put together a demo system that will be attractive to him. I
> >> currently planning on Mate as the desktop. We live 1000 miles
> >> apart so can't just drive over to show him what I use. Comments?
> >> TIA
> >>
> >>
> >
> > A good start would be finding the reasons for the current annoyance
> > with Windows, you wouldn't want to replicate them in an attempt to
> > keep his environment familiar.
>
> I've known him and his wife for >40 years. The rumbles I've heard
> have been that Microsoft changes things for the sake of changing
> things -- cf the change in default GUI from Gnome2 to Gnome3 [the
> reason I use Mate]. I'm aiming for a DE that someone who
> comfortably went from Win 3.x thru WinXP would feel at home with.
> I've not personally used anything since WinXP.
Win7 is not far removed from XP, and productive work on a
non-touch-screen Win8 is done with it in 'desktop' mode, i.e. looking
like Win7. Pretty much any Linux DE can look and feel reasonably like
XP.
>
> >
> > I went from Gnome2 to LXDE without too much trauma, at the time of
> > Gnome3's arrival i.e. pre-Mate. When LXDE started giving trouble,
> > which I now know was due to systemd arriving, I moved to Xfce4 and
> > have been happy with it.
> >
> > Note that Windows 8 can be made somewhat civilized, as presumably
> > can 10. He doesn't really have to live with daft tiles and fixed
> > full-screen windows if he doesn't want to. My Win8.1 laptop looks
> > and behaves much like Win7 almost all of the time.
> >
>
> I don't know if the laptop in question can support it, but I'll
> investigate having Grub (LILO?) menu present a choice of
> desktops. It will take some thought to have them present the same
> application software and access the same user data files. [I.E.
> read email with SeaMonkey under Mate one day and under Xfce4 the
> next without mucking up content/context]
>
> [Previous paragraph is me thinking out loud ;]
>
>
As far as I know, it's no big deal. The Display Manager will select
between DEs (and pure window managers if any are installed). I believe
they behave more or less as 'skins', i.e. the underlying applications
and data behave the same if they are capable of operating in the
current session, but may look different. What will change is the
desktop 'furniture', such as panels. What is these days a somewhat
standard menu structure should be accessible from anything with a
right-click over the desktop.
Experiment. The more capable Display Managers are gdm3 and kdm, there
are lighter weight ones available such as lightdm and xdm, which tend
to have fewer features. The capable ones can select a different DE/WM
for one session only, so if you get stuck without any panels or menus
because of a configuration error, rebooting will get you back to the
usual session.
--
Joe
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