Matthias Ettrich: The KDE-Man! (EFYtimes) [LWN.net]

Matthias Ettrich: The KDE-Man! (EFYtimes)

Posted Mar 21, 2008 20:28 UTC (Fri) by job (subscriber, #670)
In reply to: Matthias Ettrich: The KDE-Man! (EFYtimes) by dale77
Parent article: Matthias Ettrich: The KDE-Man! (EFYtimes)

Does "as good as" necessarily mean "a perfect clone of"?

You should use whatever software is most practical for you. But if you want to use Linux, you
should learn your UNIX environment to take advantage of that. If you use Linux as a cheap
Windows clone you will miss out on its advantages.

You run software arbitrarily on remote computers as default behaviour in X. MS Windows is
limited to one desktop per computer because it has its roots in a single user system
("personal" computer) while X has been networked from the start. If you want to connect to a
running X desktop you use proxy software.

Remote file system access is integrated in all common Linux desktop environments. The
underlying system for access to both remote file systems and applications is normally SSH, but
this is not a normal user would need to know. Remember, there is no special LAN treatment
here. Remote applications and files are truly arbitrary as this designed for IP from the
start.

This design is older than than MS Windows and I must say I prefer it in (almost) every way. It
is not perfect as some things show their age (such as the X proxies which has almost fell in
disuse, also the "resources" system which is very useful but hardly used anymore), and stuff
like local printers and sound is unnecessarily difficult.

Editors is another story, because they are mostly a matter of taste. A good editor for MS
Windows is actually one thing I miss the most in that environment. (Of course, Emacs people is
independent of their operating system, as usual. But not everybody wants that.) If you like
Notepad++ I think you should like the default editor in KDE, called Kate. It is interesting
you mention winmerge which I've always found to be a poor substitute for kdiff3.

As you can see the Linux world is different and you should not always look for equivalents of
older software you liked in other operating systems. Then you miss out on the more powerful
software in Linux. Most free software originate in the Linux world so I am sure you will not
be left out. But changing environment is not something you do overnight so you must give
yourself time to learn and adapt.

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Matthias Ettrich: The KDE-Man! (EFYtimes)

Posted Mar 22, 2008 8:24 UTC (Sat) by dale77 (subscriber, #1490) [Link]

Does linux software have to be a perfect clone? No, but I am used to "missing something" in my
linux experience of various applications. I can't ever recall having "more" on linux than the
functionality available on windows, at least in an area that mattered to me.

Here I am talking about the utility of particular apps. I do appreciate the usefulness of the
linux platform in general as an alternative to windows. But wouldn't it be great if linux was
leading the way, as opposed to playing catch-up to the windows lead.

Linux is great for my interest as a hobby, and certainly provides the opportunity for skilled
people to build a better app using the source from the community. Has that opportunity been
realized yet?

Matthias Ettrich: The KDE-Man! (EFYtimes)

Posted Mar 26, 2008 14:09 UTC (Wed) by oak (guest, #2786) [Link]

I haven't really used Windows for over 10 years (even at work), so I'm 
basing this on Wikipedia article on WinMerge:
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinMerge

The main things the Linux alternatives seem to be missing are being able 
to edit the files being diffed&merged and handling of multiple files.  Are 
these the features you're missing from Meld or KDiff3?


> Remote desktop in windows has this nifty feature where you can bring 
your local resources with you to the remote. Just check a box on the 
connect dialog and once connected \\tsclient\C in explorer will show you 
your C drive... Can do in X?

Not in X, but otherwise it shouldn't be a problem as that's something 
needed in LTSP setups.  I believe It should work out of the box on 
Edubuntu:
http://www.edubuntu.org/UsingEdubuntu

...as it's handbook:
http://doc.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/edubuntu/handbook/C/custom...

says this:
------------
LOCALDEV  
This parameter enables local devices support, like CD's and USB sticks. 
Users plugging them in should see them on the desktop, after they've been 
added to the fuse group on the server. You can do this by going to: 
System->Administration->Users and Groups selecting the user, clicking 
on "Properties", the going into the "User Privileges" tab, and making sure 
the "Allow use of FUSE filesystems..." box is checked. The default is: Y.
------------