[Discuss] Debian Buster is the worst desktop OS

[gmongardi at napc.com (Grant Mongardi)]

All of this is fine, except the last part. The installer doesn't offer you
a list of desktops to install, it just installs GNOME by default, so I
would call that "tied to the desktop". And given that Cinnamon was the
default desktop for the prior release I'm not sure why you would make that
drastic a change to the default behavior. Whatever the Debian folks decide
is the default for their installer is the default experience that every
user is going to experience out-of-the-box, so you would think they'd
_want_ to make that experience pleasant and not, well, whatever this is.
I'd call it wholly unpleasant, but that's just me.

But fine, if I have to:
   * Replace the desktop.
   * Replace the software installer/updater (using the command-line
tools?!?!)
   * Add additional optional packages
just to get a usable desktop from a distribution, well then so be it. But I
have to say that really doesn't encourage new desktop users to adopt it.

Thanks,
Grant M.

On Thu, Jun 4, 2020 at 9:30 AM Dan Ritter <dsr at randomstring.org> wrote:

> Grant Mongardi wrote:
> > > Tell us what you actually did, please
> > For the reboot I went to "Applications->System Tools->Software Install"
> and
> > selected the "Updates" tab, It showed only the Firefox update so I
> > installed it. It did say "Install and Restart" but I assumed it just
> meant
> > restart Firefox. I was wrong.
>
> "sudo apt install apticron" and the system will send you mail whenever
> you have packages to upgrade. "sudo apt upgrade" and the upgrades will be
> done. No reboots will be performed automatically. Add "sudo apt install
> needrestart" and the upgrade process will also tell you if it thinks
> that you *should* reboot the machine, or any long running processes.
>
> > > What's a toolbox?
> > It's a sort of notifications panel that certain apps can minimize to so
> > that they aren't on the toolbar. Applications like Slack, Reminna RDP,
> and
> > others will minimize to an icon that in Cinnamon would show in the bottom
> > right of the toolbar next to the powerbutton and date panel.
>
> Oh, an iconbox. GNOME doesn't do that.
>
> Maybe you'd like to go back to Cinnamon?
> "sudo apt install task-cinnamon-desktop"
>
>
> > > You're making lots of complaints about GNOME as though it were
> > > the operating system. It isn't.
> > It is the default desktop for Debian buster. It wasn't in Debian stretch.
> > So no, it's not the OS, but it is the distribution. So yes, I'm
> complaining
> > about Debian buster, the release, not specifically the OS.
>
> No, sorry, Debian isn't tied to the desktop, and nobody on debian-users
> will tell you that you really ought to be using GNOME because it's the
> default. It's just the one that gets selected for people who don't have a
> preference. You have a preference. Go install cinnamon and be happy again.
>
> Incidentally, you should subscribe to debian-users. Lots of help
> there.
>
> -dsr-
>


-- 

Grant Mongardi
*Senior Systems Engineer*
*NAPC inc*
p: 781-799-5340
a: 444 Washington Street Suite #210, Woburn, MA 01801
w: www.napc.com  e: gmongardi at napc.com
<https://facebook.com/napcgroup>   <https://twitter.com/NAPCgroup>
<https://www.linkedin.com/company/205941/>