Posts by Paul 135
322 posts • joined Tuesday 30th June 2009 08:02 GMT
Re: XBOX always on INFINITY FAIL
All you people moaning about "Eadon" are more annoying than anything he could say. Stop your obsession with the guy.
Re: KDE is configurable for a reason
Agree with most of what you said except for the "Choice and simplicity are not compatible goals". You can have a simple UI on the surface, but layer choice beneath a series of options menus for configuration and advanced settings. I think KDE comes pretty close to nailing both, being simple to use whilst also offering choice in the depth of the control centre for those who want it.
Re: Back from the brink?
I really wish Nokia would stop being Microsodt's lapdog and drive hard Mer + Qt-based phones (e.g. Sailfish etc. though I'm not a fan of gusture-based UIs such as that in Sailfish).
After all, it looks like Mer + Qt is going to be the most open of all mobile platforms, and it would be such a shame to see the company that invested so much to make both happen not profit from them.
Re: nonsnse that KDE isn't easy to use
Leaving aside that Distrowatch doesn't really mean much, it may be what is the single most fashionable at the moment on that site (not combined as KDE distros summed outnumber it) for end-users, but not in terms of the development community behind it and long-term potential. It's wasted energy on an out-of-date forked UI and ancient GTK+ toolkit IMO that would be better spent improving more modern and modular environments like KDE, Qt etc, especially given that you can configure KDE to look in almost any way you can possibly imagine.
Re: nonsnse that KDE isn't easy to use
I got the feeling that the kid is a Mint fanboy who heavily weighted her in that direction, because he blabbed on about WINE etc. in that test that he didn't in others. Still, KDE was in her top favourites and top of all the environments listed here, so think it shows that to say KDE isn't for new clueless Linux users is a lot of nonsense.
IMO, looking at the bigger picture of Linux communities, Cinnamon is a waste of time fork based on an ancient codebase, with effort that would be better spent improving more mainstream desktop environments.
Re: nonsnse that KDE isn't easy to use
It isn't an "imposition of 4 or 5 extra categories". Rather it's taking the categories that are already there and logically labeling them in an explicit manner, rather than placing things in a random location and leaving you to figure out for yourself what the categorisation is supposed to be.
The problem with heavily nested pop-out menus is that you have to be very precise with your mouse to use them, often the menu frustratingly collapsing on you if you move the pointer a pixel out of place. (for the same reason Microsoft changed the stlye of start menu between XP and Vista/7)
The default KDE menu is therefore more logical and more friendly to new users, and if you want the classic menu for people used to that then you can have it with one right-click.
Re: nonsnse that KDE isn't easy to use
II also think that the "strange columnar launch menu" is the most logical and clutter-free of any "Start" menu on Amy system.
nonsnse that KDE isn't easy to use
"I found it overpowering, busy and confusing."
Right click on desktop -> lock widgets. Stuff that you haven't bothered to understand is gone!
It's all nonsense to say KDE isn't easy to use. Just watch the OsFirstTimer videos on YouTube where an annoying Australian kid gets his mum to try lots of OSs. She vastly prefers KDE over Unity and finds it more familiar and logical.
Re: KDE
The reviewer also has not appreciated how extremely useful the "Folder view" widget is on KDE. If he had just bothered himself to actually understand and then explain what it is, then there might be a bit more appreciation for how the KDE guys are evolving the desktop and making it useful in ways Microsoft are not.
It all depends on what the RAM is being used for (e.g. caching etc.). I have seen other stats with KDE on other distros (openSUSE I think) where it uses less RAM than the GNOME-derived competition.
Posted in Galaxy S4 radiant, but has black holes
"We'll happily put that down to the presence of Android 4.2.2 which remains, I feel, a mixed bag because its mixed user interface metaphors offer plenty of chances for early user confusion."
Care to elaborate?
A good time to leave...
With the horror known as "Australis" about to land on the desktop it would be a good idea to get out before the massive backlash to this mess is unleashed!
(other than that I love Firefox on the desktop as it is. Their Android browser is also more fluid than Chrome's these days, though I love the just released Chrome beta).
Re: Linux will be ready for the desktop when
"take it home and get it running with a resonably current (say 4 year old) version of Linux without using Google / reading manuals etc."
Not even Windows can do that at present with its near-monopoly market share, so to expect it with Linux in the future is a little unrealistic.
Most users do not want to fart about with installing or setting up operating systems and drivers, and would not know how to install Windows or Windows drivers either. The only way that Linux can become mainstream is if it comes pre-installed with Linux out of the box. The only way I see that possible is if there is some sort of EU regulation that forces retailers to give consumers a CHOICE of OS at the point-of-purchase.
Re: Why is there not an EU law?
Dell may do so, and you may have had personal luck, but the problem is that it isn't a consistent experience across PC manufacturers and not a consistent experience across retail outlets, and not a consistent experience between countries.
The EU is in the perfect position to simplify this and make it more obvious for average consumers. I also think that you should not have to submit any claim retrospectively.
Heck, it shouldn't only affect Microsoft either -- if it were to apply to all PCs and Apple (who won't get away with an argument that they don't sell PCs) were forced to decouple their software and hardware if that's what the consumer wants then I might even consider a MacBook, I wouldn't then feel as uncomfortable about contributing to crApple's lock-in ecosystem through crappy and obscure OSX.
Re: Multiple desktops on windows...
*over -> offer
Re: Linux users = moaning losers
What you call "moaning" is more constructive criticism. Linux users at present tend to be technical people who are more likely to have perfectionist tendencies.
while I'm ranting about Europe...
...can someone in Europe not redesign European keyboards? This has been bugging me for years, but why do European keyboards all insist in having a tiny shift key on the left and a humongous shift key on the right? Could you not take that extra key added on the left side and move it to the right side so that the two shift keys are roughly the same size?
Why is there not an EU law?
Why is there not an EU law mandating that any PC vendor must also offer the option to any customer to buy their PC at a cheaper price, without an operating system pre-installed? The fact is that, at present, not very many people like Windows 8, yet have no other option than to buy it if they want a new PC (this case being the rare exception).
I understand that this could cause support headaches, but there could be a clause stating that if the user is having software difficulties with their own software then the vendor is not obliged to give support for non-hardware issues. However, the vendor at an extra charge equivalent to no more than the original price difference between the OS and no OS, must offer post-sales service to install the manufacturer's OS of choice to cover software support.
This is not only useful for those of us who do not want to use Windows, but also for those of us who do not want to be presented with retarded Linux distros such as Ubuntu (or "Um Bongo-grade bonkers" as El Reg called Ubuntu in their openSUSE review)
Why do laptop manufacturers STILL not get and make hardware that people would PAY for?
Why are laptop PC manufacturers still not listening to what users who want a machine to be PRODUCTIVE by giving them the hardware they want? It isn't so hard, as they almost had it perfect about 7 years ago, only to lose all sense with the era of glossy "HD" screens.
First and foremost give us a goddamn matte screen with sRGB coverage and a screen ratio that is taller than the GOD AWFUL 16:9.
Secondly, stop going backwards by removing things that are useful such as ethernet, soldering in RAM, making it difficult to get at batteries.
Re: Multiple desktops on windows...
KDE's Activities over a superior work-flow for complex projects than just having multiple desktops (not of course that you will ever get to use it if you are using a retarded distro like Ubuntu as Dell are offering).
Posted in Sonic the Hedgehog
screenshots wrong
el reg, your sonic 2 screenshots are mostly of sonic 3.
The best sonic games are Sonic 2, only mentioned briefly, and Sonic Generations (not mentioned at all!).
Re: Why does the Pirate Bay even need a host?
Yes, I never understood the Pirate Bay/BitTorrent model of using normal web domains to list content when it is so obvious what the inevitable outcome would be. Why on earth did they not savw themselves a lot of hassle in the first place, and built upon the model used by networks such as gnutella, allowing the search functionality to be within the protocol itself?
I don't see the point in removing it
Just leave it alone
I find it annoying anyway
It annoys me that Firefox for Android even uses this. I think it must be that few millisecond delay that it adds when you reach the edge of a page. Wish Mozilla would just use the standard Android method instead.
If crApple can sue a competitor who produces a rectabgle with rounded corners...
... then Sony should sue for such an oval side-profile resembling the Sony Ericsson Vivaz.
Re: Is it just me?
Indeed, it seems kind of pointless to have a screen on the back. The only use I could see for it is if the back screen were capable of being hinged round to double the size of your screen on the front.
PS: I'd rather phone manufacturers would bring back something useful like QWERTY sliders rather than faffing about with such ideas with little practical benefit.
I really wish the lot of you would shut the hell up about this "Eadon" guy. You are obsessed with the guy, and all the references to the guy are more annoying than anything he could possibly say.
Re: "As one of the inventors of Cleartype..."
Subpixel rendering is now back in freetype again. However, it still doesn't look as good as it could by default. As others have mentioned, the remaining Infinality tweaks do improve things a bit.
You can find Infinality-patched freetype on the Open Build Service at software.opensuse.org under the freetype-infinality package. However, from what I read, the most authoritative repo may be at: http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/namtrac:/subpixel/.
Personally, I then run the scripts included with infinality in /etc/fonts/infinality and set the rendering type to the Windows 7 style, and it looks great along with the kde-oxygen-fonts, webcore-fonts, webcore-fonts-vista, and google-droid-fonts packages.
Posted in Ubuntu support periods slashed
Re: With Unity being pushed down the throat, who cares
yes, that's Mint... dependent on Ubuntu.
Time to use a proper distro like OpenSUSE with 18 months on standard version.
Don't understand the hate
I am trying to transition away from Microsoft products these days towards Linux (after the fail that is Windows 8). However, I don't understand the hate here for Word. Word is one of their better products, and I have much more frustration trying to use LibreOffice than I do with Microsoft Office (e.g. in LibreOffice Writer I can't even crop an image visually, images pasted from the web are linked by default etc. Etc.).
I do agree though with these excessively minimal UIs getting on your nerves, though I think for more minimal interfaces you need to have a bit more intelligence when designing the UI. E.g. I think Microsoft have done a bad job with IE9/10 -- it tries so hard to be minimal that it ends up cramped. (and has really illlogical menus now e.g. most items under tge "File" menu now have absolutely nothing to do with files or filing). Firefox does a better job, but they should really have kept the status bar by default with more info IMO.
One truly excellent example of more minimal design, however, is KDE's Dolphin File Manager. It gets the balance just perfect IMO and really puts the cluttered mess of Windows 8's new ribbon based File Explorer to shame.
Re: Toolbars disappearing?
I'd put more blame for that on laptop manufacturers for forcing 16:9 upon users rather than blaming Microsoft!
video?
Could you not link to a video El Reg?
Posted in Review: HTC One
obscure button arrangement
The obscure button arrangement used here really makes me doubt HTC's competence when it comes to user experience (never used Sense so I don't know). Apart from the SD/battery issue, why ruin what could be a near perfect phone with such unnecessary idiocy?
As it stands, I think Xperia ZL looks better.
Posted in Review: Sony Xperia Z
Re: After so many many SE phones...
Yes, they need to bring out the Xperia Pro II with QWERTY slider. Auto"correct" on touch-only keyboards is driving me nuts!
However, I do find much of this review overly negative and subjective. E.g. (one out of many) I don't find the Sony software skin "dated" at all, and much prefer it to Google's efforts. (much of the ideas for which were taken from the Sony skin in the first place).
Re: Eh? Wifi?
Sorry, wrong link. Meant this one for WiFi issues:
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Wireless_network_card
Re: Bad UI decisions may be part of the problem @Graham Dawson
"However it was gnome not kde."
There lies your problem.
"Um Bongo" in the title refers to Ubuntu (sometimes need a translator for the El Reg slang!). "Bonkers" is as good a description of it as I've seen!
Re: Linux as a desktop is a failure, its time to move on
I installed this latest OpenSUSE on an old Toshiba laptop from 2006. Everything worked out of the box, and works BETTER and FASTER than it did on Windows XP. Even the fan noise is now unnoticable! Small things like track pad gestures and volume controls etc. work that did not work in Windows at all, out-of-the-box without me installing a single driver!
KDE is also a MUCH more powerful and logical desktop environment than any version of Windows, especially now that Microsoft has borked Windows 8. Microsoft, as much as I have been a fan over the last 20 years, the game is up.
Re: On google reader / other google project dumps
Yes, and pigs might fly. The "do no evil" company are dropping open standards by the day, such the modicum of support that they had for open standards such as CalDAV/CardDAV.
Re: Eh? Wifi?
I'd hazard a guess that you have a Broadcom WiFi chip set. See here:
http://opensuse-guide.org/wlan.php
Re: We have an app for this!
That is a customisation added by Sony.
Re: GLONASS was cheap to add in.
It was actually mandated by the Russian government that you couldn't sell a phone with GPS in Russia unless it also included GLONASS.
Agreed, there are some hideous fonts by default on Linux. Thankfully, however, KDE will soon be switching by default to a new default Oxygen font which seems to address the issue as IMO is better than any other OS font:
http://code.newtypography.co.uk/oxygen-sans-0-2-3-in-progress/
It can't come soon enough!
Re: Yawn - real android please...
ERM Google Now?? Not that I would ever use it out of disapproval of Google's spying.
Re: bloody hell
We need a return to proper QWERTY keyboards. My old Xperia Pro is superior to any touch keyboard I have used. Now that devices are becoming thinner and thinner, surely there is ROM to innovate on even thinner QWERTY sliders.
