Digit

Mhmm. Though Zorin’s only one distro. And not a really well known one. Fun to speculate around all the unknown variables.

So… a few months before this, Linux had been noted to have just tipped 5% desktop market share…

What’s it going to be like now? 6%? 10%!?

Oh. Thanks. I wouldn’t/didn’t know. GNOME’s insanity is even greater than KDE4’s insanity. So insane (and anti-user) it overshadows its other flaws. I cant even bring myself to suffer it to find out its bloated.

Edit: Like, so far gone, I tend not even think of it any more.

Edit2: That’s even more astonishing now that I think about it. They’re heavier than KDE… KDE’s heavy with purpose, availing so much configuration to the user. GNOME have managed to be heavyweight, how? By depriving the user configurability?! That’s even more insane! Like genuinely, not just a flippant remark. The GNOME developers, need their minds examined, and offered help, to stop them being a harm to themselves and everybody. It’s simply not sane.

Edit3: … It’s GNOME who have that guy who did time for over a thousand instances of kiddy fiddling, right? If that’s right… like I say… there’s something simply not right in their heads.

It did. Even by KDE5 (which frankly I cant see much difference from KDE6).

But still, it’s never perfect.

And is still the fattiest FOSS has to offer.

Yup.

Well… it’s still plausible that a senior developer could still be vibe coding. We’d hope they not though.

And the other way too… can use an LLM and not be doing vibe coding. Like me (not considered a “senior developer”), making fin, with extensive consultations with several LLM, I insist is not vibe coded. https://lemmy.wtf/post/26550037

Takes a lot of discipline to not succumb to just blindly letting the machine do it, not reviewing nor learning the code; Takes discipline to keep using it as a tool to expedite your learning. Too easy a lure to fall for, the illusion of its competence and convenience.

“We believe when you let a machine do the work of a man, you take something away from the man.” (or words to that effect), from one of the Star Trek TNG movies.

Good stuff.

Though, I don’t think “headless” is the correct term there.

I asked Mistral LLM to check…

define headless, in terms of computing

In computing, “headless” refers to a system, device, or software that operates without a graphical user interface (GUI) or direct user interaction via a monitor, keyboard, or mouse. Instead, it is controlled remotely or through command-line interfaces (CLIs), APIs, or network protocols. Key Aspects of Headless Computing:

No Local Display: The system lacks a physical screen or input devices attached directly to it. Remote Management: Users interact with the system over a network (e.g., SSH, RDP, or web interfaces). Common Use Cases:

Servers: Headless servers are standard in data centers, where administrators manage them remotely. Embedded Systems: Devices like Raspberry Pi or IoT gadgets often run headless to save resources. Virtualization: Headless virtual machines or containers are managed via hypervisors or orchestration tools. Automation: Headless browsers (e.g., Puppeteer, Selenium) automate web tasks without rendering a GUI.

Example: A headless Raspberry Pi might run a home automation script, accessible only via SSH or a web dashboard, with no monitor or keyboard connected. Would you like examples of headless software or tools?

Some do use their GNU+Linux (or BSD or others), running in just TTY, just the terminal, without X11 or wayland, but even then that does not necessarily mean no GUI, with some graphical tools (like “mpv” is a good example) able to run without a graphical server (and certainly at least TUI… the web browser “browsh” is a good example). And not necessarily not headless either, with either direct use, or perhaps ssh’ing in through a network, or just running things configured to automate (as per the example the LLM gave). “Dumb terminals” are another related thing, where the “head” is separate.

Poe’s law has struck again.

It’s frightening to me that I seem like an expert.

I also don’t think I have “strong opinions”. Just ever evolving preferences as I continue to explore.

Maybe, idk.

I (and the podcasters) meant also re-licensed under a Free Software license, like GNU GPL.

I heard some podcasters recently promote the idea/wish that M$ release the source code for Windows3.1.

Could be how Windows starts to get fixed.

A-ha! So that’s where the development resources go. To where the money’s made.

Maybe all the dependable beta testers who would report bugs had already left to Linux or BSD.

Or like the other commenter replied here suggests,

Maybe dependable beta testers who would report bugs had too steep a workload they gave up and moved to Linux or BSD.

Trinity’s more stable and dependable.

Or openbox, declared feature complete something like a decade ago.

Or could take a look at the code, find what’s broken, and see if you can find how to mend it, and either offer a pull request or fork it…

… ohhhh but wait.

It’s broken at that level too. Denied the right to repair.

What it boots into is broken.

The more it works, the more it’s broken.

It’s broken that much, at such a deep level.

Vibe coding!?

Oh yes. That’ll make windows even better. Doh!

Does it have to be a DE?

Preferred WM is Xmonad (with my tabular boonad config, the grandpa version).

But much love also for herbstluftwm.

And dwm, openbox, icewm, i3, and others.

I have all these window managers in my wmrotate scripts in my wminizer script, so I can kill one and move to the next, without losing all running gui programs, keeping my X11 session going.

But if it has to be strictly DE…

I guess LXDE’s still my fave.

Respect to XFCE and Trinity too. And Mate.

KDE’s awesome. Big love to it again, after it got settled in after the KDE4 debacle.

LXQt’s fine too (though I prefer LXDE).

I’ve not tried Cosmic.

I dont know my way around cinnamon and the various other similar. Only briefly experienced.

GNOME have utterly lost the plot.

Why’d you ask?

So they’ve taken a leaf out of KDE’s development book.

Is windows11 Microsoft’s KDE4 moment?

Yep, for sure there’s room for improvement here. Perhaps someone can provide some configurations, pull requests, forks, or even entirely new shells, that do prioritise upfront documentation for new users who wont go out of their way to find the documentation to learn.

KDE4. Plasma. The fattiest FOSS has to offer.

Worth looking at Trinity (KDE3 fork/continuation).

XFCE looks like it’s trying to go from lightweight to fattiest some upgrades too. Still, very elegant, and you wont notice that on new beefy hardware. But on ancientware, … best stick to LXDE, or even just openbox, or any other window manager, pretty much.

IceWM, calls itself a window manager, but it seems to cover all the main basics for a desktop environment feel.

There still be places to go to get the light, fast and shiny in FOSS, even if KDE went nuts around 15 years ago (whenever KDE4 was).