I installed the previous release (luna) a while ago on an older pc I had laying around. I was really impressed. Though much of it is a ripoff of OS X design it's a pretty well done ripoff and coming from a Mac I think it's the most usable linux distro I've used so far. I'd love to see more adoption of this project, as it has a lot of potential to make linux more usable to non-technical types.
This is a very well-polished distribution in terms of usability and user interface. I don't care actually if they ripoff some good design examples as long as it gives a good overall feel. And it certainly does. I remember it was one of the fastest growing linux distribution some time ago...
As a new potential user I'd like to see more screenshots on the front page before I send them my money or download and install the OS. A video preview of 2-3 minutes would be even better.
There is a surprising lack of information on the website. Here are a couple links that help fill in the gaps.
"elementary OS is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu. It makes use of a desktop with its own shell named Pantheon,[2] and is deeply integrated with other elementary OS applications like Plank (a dock), Midori (the default web browser) and Scratch (a simple text editor). This distribution uses Gala as its window manager..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_OS
A browser that's not Firefox or Chrome scares me slightly, considering the amount of resources that go into securing them, yet they all fall at cansecwest.
WebKit isn't the only possible source of insecurity in an app that uses it. It may not even be in the top 10 versus things like image and font rendering libraries.
Yes, it's not surprising and not limited to them either. But seeing all the similarities in a non fanatic context also makes Apple work a tad less amazing.
So between this and mint cinnamon, what's the best choice to install to parents and friends that have little knowledge of *nix, but need a PC to work, email and IM with?
Anyone use linux (via Virtualbox) on a MBP? I really miss Linux but I really do not wanna fuck around with hardware/drivers anymore. And eOS is just gorgeous.
I'm sure you can run Linux without a virtual machine of any kind on a Mac. With the right hardware (which MBP of some generation just might be) there's no need to fuck around; everything just works (and, unlike Windows, you can count on pulling a hard drive from one machine and putting into another). I have installed Ubuntu 14.04 on a white 2008 MacBook and it just worked.
Indeed. Macs are pretty popular for running Linux, since they have a very small variety of hardware that's mostly supported just fine, don't have locked bootloaders or any weird stuff like that (I'm looking at you, Sony), and offer pretty good hardware and price.
I've got an Arch image on my MBP, it's just as simple to setup as it sounds, just load the iso and follow the installation steps based on the distro. You may need to install some virtualbox drivers, but that's not difficult.
They write their own apps for elementary OS instead of making UI changes to other apps. This includes the music player, file explorer, calendar, terminal emulator and settings app among others. IIRC the browser, email app and photo viewer are written by third parties specifically for elementary.
For those of us who equals 'right' with 'the way Apple does it'? Serious question; I am unfamiliar with this particular distro, and I've tried using a Mac and couldn't get used to it.
I like eOS. Like you I don't use Mac because of a few things that totally breaks it for me. eOS looks kind of like Mac OS X but IMO does a few things a lot better.
For example consider just the fact that you can get a nice desktop where you can apt-get all your[0] normal programs and they look nice. Or the fact that the menu follow the window in question instead of being locked to the top of your screen.
[0]:yes I consider myself a linux user who sometimes have to use other OS, not the other way around.
Yep, just tried it in stores a few times. Well, too bad for Apple, since I don't feel like buying a machine just for experimentation (maybe I will, sometime, but I don't feel like it right now). I respect Apple's approach to design, just don't feel like it's "the right thing" for me. Linux offers much more choice, and mimicking Apple looks funny to me, but well - that's the power of choice I guess: you are free to do what you want, including acting like there's no choice, right?
Right now I have a souped-up ThinkPad X200s as my main machine, which I use with an external monitor, keyboard and mouse via a docking station at home and at the office. I'm running Ubuntu, stock flavour; sure, getting used to Unity took some effort and I'm still not too happy with it, so I'm looking to other window managers, mostly tiled-based ones. Are there even alternate window managers for Mac? I doubt so; surely all Apple store staff I asked were puzzled by this. I figure if one desires to change desktop environments, then Mac is not for them.
To be fair I doubt any powerful desktop OS (ie not Android/iOS) demos particularly well to a new user - I bet Ubuntu with Unity wouldn't, and nor would eOS, and I bet Windows 8 didn't either. I used eOS for a little bit on my old laptop and it doesn't really feel like "acting like there's no choice", it feels like choosing design. It's compatible with everything Ubuntu, you're not giving anything up.
I won't disagree that OS X is probably not for you if you take advantage of Linux. But yes, there are programmes that claim to be window managers for OS X:
> I doubt any powerful desktop OS (ie not Android/iOS) demos particularly well to a new user
Definitely so. I have switched from Windows to Ubuntu not because I liked Ubuntu in store, but because I kept encountering pieces of technology that appear first and/or work better on Linux, and I knew that I have to, for a while. I chose Ubuntu because it' apparently a solid mainstream choice and self-consciously endured the accommodation.
> it doesn't really feel like "acting like there's no choice"
I meant Apple's style here: they seem to be eager to simplify away things, making choices for you: 'you don't want to fiddle with changing batteries on your player/phone, do you?', 'who needs extra USB's, anyway?', 'you won't need that many configuration options for a PC', 'one button should be enough' - obviously, I'm not familiar with Mac software, but I get the impression that simplification is the norm there, too; which is great if the choices they make for you are mostly the ones you would make anyway, or you don't care much. I had the impression that eOS copies their style, here.
Choosing design, though, is the thing that Ubuntu really could use more of (Linux, in general, but Ubuntu seems to be the one that could potentially have resources to pull it off). I figured I could close windows with Ctrl+W: 'oh, so I can close any program with Ctrl+W instead of Alt+F4?' Nope, not just any program, e.g. not GNOME Terminal or Calculator. In Ubuntu I can start programs with 'Win+1' ... 'Win+0' shortcuts, maximize with Ctrl+Shift+Up. Not in Lubuntu/Xubuntu, it turns, out: I figure there isn't any design document for such things, spanning several official Ubuntu flavours; There isn't any reason for such things to be done differently, really.
Got you. eOS has a really anaemic settings gui (or did when I used it) - I get that they're still early days, it's still Ubuntu and there's probably a wealth of console and config file stuff that fills in all the gaps, but it's very lacking in that regard. It looks like the OSX settings menu but I definitely think there's more options in OSX.
As for the weird keyboard shortcuts changes between Ubuntu versions, that's definitely a bit surprising. Again it's something I'm sure there's methods to change but still, something you'd expect to be standardised across the flavours.
I've tried OS X in stores. It's always awkward. But the same is true of Windows in stores, Android in stores, iOS in stores, or Windows on a public computer.
When I tried OS X on my own machine, I quickly fell in love with it.
What kind of software did you use that switching OS was no problem for you? Did anything that working differently on your previous OS annoy you at first? Some of the software I used heavily on Windows, I was very reluctant to leave behind, and still miss, years since. One could find replacement for some; use some through emulation, but some, usually the ones deeply tied to the inner workings of the OS, are either impossible to replicate/emulate or it makes no sense: the time and effort invested into skills using them goes to waste.
Just one little thing: what are the shortcuts for 'Show desktop' and 'Maximize window' on a Mac? The store assistant I asked couldn't tell me (he was eager to Google, but I spared him the agony). When I asked him whether he actually uses a Mac, he said 'not really' (I guess he can't afford it). Granted, that wasn't an Apple Store (there aren't any here in Russia) but an 'official reseller', all fancy, shining and proud, which is the best you get around here. What is the reason to pay salary to such bored, pleasant and obliging young men is beyond me.
Software support, graphics and audio "just work" unlike Linux, Unix-like but can also do things that aren't just development (best of both worlds vs Windows (other things only) or Linux (development only)).
Also, the general look and feel is quite nice. More consistent than Windows certainly.
> What kind of software did you use that switching OS was no problem for you?
Well, if it runs on Windows, then it either runs on OS X or has a decent equivalent. And if it runs on Linux, it probably runs on OS X. So all the stuff I need for development ran on OS X, and most of my favourite applications ran on OS X. The few that didn't had replacements (I switched from gedit to TextMate). Crucially though, OS X let me run more than I could before, because it has far better support than Linux.
> Just one little thing: what are the shortcuts for 'Show desktop' and 'Maximize window' on a Mac?
F11 and I have no idea, respectively. You can look up or change keyboard shortcuts in the settings.
Free, online operating systems that "install" in less than 2 seconds and never ask for any payment are the wave of the future. Oh, and did I mention the integrated AI?
Isis is a nice name with interesting mythological significance. Sad that it has been ruined for the foreseeable future.