Best new Desktop Environment for a new user

Jason · June 16, 2020, 07:02:32 PM

I'm trying to convert my wife to a Linux user by installing it alongside Windows. Since a lot of distros have almost the same features but different Desktop Environments (DEs), what do you guys think is a good beginner DE? If you want to suggest a distro, too, I'll allow it.

BusterE · June 16, 2020, 08:24:19 PM

Trinity, available in Q4OS.

Jesse on Distrowatch: I had wondered going into this trial if Trinity would be available on the Plasma install media and, if so, if Trinity would offer a usable experience. Trinity was created as a continuation of KDE 3 about eleven years ago, after KDE 4.0 was launched, and I did not expect a particularly modern or polished experience. However, Trinity worked well and, with a little adjustment, looked quite good in my opinion. In a few places, like the settings panel, it shows its age, but Trinity provided a solid performance and I found I enjoyed it better than Plasma.

https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20190812#q4os

And Harry adds thatI have it installed and use it sometimes.

Jason · June 16, 2020, 09:50:14 PM

It looks better than I thought it would. I thought I remembered you showing Trinity before and it looked like KDE 3 which, while nostalgic, had a really outdated look. This looks more modern. But this part in the review worries me:

QuoteThe one weak point in the experience for me was Discover. The software manager offers several features and I like that it can integrate with both Flatpak and Snap, but trying to do almost anything with Discover (apart from installing updates) caused the centre to crash.

I don't know if that's a common experience or just something about his particular network connection or repositories. Maybe he added some software and repositories and Discover hiccuped on one of them. I know that she would not take well to synaptic.

buster · June 17, 2020, 10:26:17 AM

"I don't know if that's a common experience or just something about his particular network connection or repositories. "

Mine just works. Upgrades and updates just happen. I never look for updates. A little symbol just shows up and I click it. I did add Synaptic for convenience, but not for updates. I also don't bother with Konqueror . The little orange item, bottom right in the picture means updates. It doesn't show when there aren't any, and it's very quick. Had it for quite awhile.

Old, stable, quick, easy.

Jason · June 17, 2020, 12:47:30 PM

Is it doing updates through Discover, though?

buster · June 17, 2020, 01:54:46 PM

No. I don't think so. They just buzz by quickly as they did this morning.

You are not encouraged to look for updates, as I remember from one thread last year. They will find you. I use Synaptic to get new software, but I suppose you could use Discover to do that.

Jason · June 17, 2020, 03:13:33 PM

I just looked at again and Jessie said Discover worked fine for updates. It was installing anything that would cause it to crash. I don't have that experience in Kubuntu.

My wife is open to using a new interface so I was thinking Ubuntu but Pop OS might be better as it takes Ubuntu as tweaks it to make it more usable and it has a better software center than Discover for finding things.

fox · June 17, 2020, 04:47:39 PM

Why not Mint Cinnamon?

buster · June 17, 2020, 05:28:47 PM

"Why not Mint Cinnamon?"

My understanding Dr Fox, is that this is a dalliance, not a marriage, and that she may play the field for awhile behind Microsoft's back. Q40S is a dead simple throwback to old Windows releases so she should be very comfortable. Click bottom left and everything is there.

A serious suitor can be found later, but don't spoil the young lady's fun. We only come to Linux once, and marriage can be so serious and repetitive.

Jason · June 17, 2020, 06:46:04 PM

I think you hit the nose on it being a dalliance. She hasn't made any commitments but is willing to give it a shot. I was thinking Mint but as soon as I asked her, do you want to try a different looking interface from Windows, she was like "yeah!". Which really surprised me. I think that a new user to Linux would probably find Gnome did easy. She uses her tablet a lot so it'd be almost like that.

But if she doesn't like Pop we could try Mint next or Q4OS. But I think Discover being broken kind of kills the deal for Q unless there's another graphical installer that could be installed.

BusterE · June 17, 2020, 07:39:53 PM

"Discover being broken kind of kills the deal for Q"

Read the date on the review. I see no evidence when I use it that Discover is broken, I don't care a lot. But you could mention that the person who suggested Q4OS used the word 'dalliance ' . Watch what effect that has.

I will be heart broken if she chooses Gnome though. Tell her she will send me into a deep despair.

Jason · June 18, 2020, 03:42:48 AM

Quote from: BusterE on June 17, 2020, 07:39:53 PM
I will be heart broken if she chooses Gnome though. Tell her she will send me into a deep despair.

I'll let her know and do my best to dissuade her.

Jason · June 27, 2020, 04:36:04 PM

Originally she wanted a different look but when I asked her again, she wanted a DE (Desktop Environment) that is similar to Windows so I put Linux Mint Cinnamon on. What surprised me, but shouldn't have, is that the feature she was most interested in was games. And most of the games available in the repository look like something out of the 90s. Those were her words, not mine but I can't say I disagree. She doesn't actually do much on the computer but games and listening to ebooks (that she partly does through a web browser. And she has a favourite game she's playing right now that is only Windows-based.

She has a bunch of tabs open all the time in her web browser so I suggested she could use Linux for that and, like I do, just boot into Windows for games. I doubt she will continue using Linux, but we'll see.

Can anybody think of anything in Linux that you don't get with Windows that I can try to sell her on?

Also, besides Steam, does anyone know of any good games you download for Linux?

I just realized that I could maybe use WINE so she could have access to more games under Linux. I could set up a VM guest with Windows but that might confuse her and also I don't have an extra license for Windows 10.

Any other thoughts?

buster · June 27, 2020, 06:56:48 PM

Games:

Kpat, change to blue background and standard deck. This is important. Learn Yukon, Aces Up, and Mod3.

Ksudoko

and of course, ExtremeTuxRacer - practice, simplest course, evening.

Jason · June 28, 2020, 02:48:13 AM

I'm not sure she likes card games but I'll check. Ksudoku, I never thought of. Cool.

I mentioned TuxRacer and she immediately said, "I don't like those kinds of games". Maybe I'll have to show it to her as she might have found it harder than it is, at least at the beginning.

She prefers strategy games and casual games similar to Bejeweled. And for those types of games, they look dated. I'll take a look at my PC for games and look for something similar. Do you play games like Bejeweled or Tetris? What do your grandkids play?

I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier, maybe the games she plays under Windows can be played under Linux with WINE. The problem is that she got them out of the Windows store. I don't know if they're like regular Windows games installed separately. I don't like to need a Microsoft account just to install programs so I don't use it.

Thanks for the suggestions.