Linux elementaryOS 0.4 Loki Beta1 released!
- Thread starter vishalrao
- Start date
Beta 2 is out! See http://blog.elementary.io/post/147507276666/loki-beta-2-is-here
I think this has the potential to become my favourite distro even though I still prefer the "capabilities" of KDE (also using KDE Neon) and I would recommend elementaryOS to folks to try over even stock Ubuntu or other fan favourites like Mint or Lubuntu.
If you're looking for "power user" stuff then probably something like KDE still goes but for simple and elegant UI with minimal settings this one is very nice indeed!
I think this has the potential to become my favourite distro even though I still prefer the "capabilities" of KDE (also using KDE Neon) and I would recommend elementaryOS to folks to try over even stock Ubuntu or other fan favourites like Mint or Lubuntu.
If you're looking for "power user" stuff then probably something like KDE still goes but for simple and elegant UI with minimal settings this one is very nice indeed!
The stable release version of Loki is out! See http://blog.elementary.io/post/147637979911/loki-04-stable-release[DOUBLEPOST=1473489543][/DOUBLEPOST]Video announcement and walkthrough by the lead developers/founders themselves:
Last edited:
You should probably watch that video to get an idea of what it offers... I tried Mint (not the latest version though, it was a while back) and didn't like the UI (I guess it was Cinnamon)- thought it a bit clunky. Plus I found their package management (some weird choice of kernel versions if I remember) bit "worrisome".
elementary OS is very smooth/clean/polished (people use the word "elegant") and pretty much most usage "just works". But if you are picky/choosy and want to customise a lot then probably another desktop like KDE Neon is the way to go - or maybe Arch for maximum effect.
I've been a long time KDE fan (though have mostly been using Win10 so far) but liking this OS/desktop a lot too. Haven't customised it at all, just needed to install some additional apps like Firefox, Chrome (I also use the default Epiphany browser), qBittorrent, LibreOffice, Skype Alpha, Pidgin. Default apps for music, video work well, haven't needed to install my usual VLC player so far.
I'm currently trying to figure out getting Conky to work well (looking for some good theme to work with) because I miss Rainmeter on Win10 (mainly to get constant info about network download speeds/usage).
Made it my default boot selection (currently have Win10, KDE Neon and elementary OS installed) so that I get used to it as a "daily driver" thing.
elementary OS is very smooth/clean/polished (people use the word "elegant") and pretty much most usage "just works". But if you are picky/choosy and want to customise a lot then probably another desktop like KDE Neon is the way to go - or maybe Arch for maximum effect.
I've been a long time KDE fan (though have mostly been using Win10 so far) but liking this OS/desktop a lot too. Haven't customised it at all, just needed to install some additional apps like Firefox, Chrome (I also use the default Epiphany browser), qBittorrent, LibreOffice, Skype Alpha, Pidgin. Default apps for music, video work well, haven't needed to install my usual VLC player so far.
I'm currently trying to figure out getting Conky to work well (looking for some good theme to work with) because I miss Rainmeter on Win10 (mainly to get constant info about network download speeds/usage).
Made it my default boot selection (currently have Win10, KDE Neon and elementary OS installed) so that I get used to it as a "daily driver" thing.
I tried the following distros' in search for a light weight one: Peppermint, Solus, Antix, SolyDx, Mint, MacPup, LinLite, LxPupXenial, Lxle-electica, Sparky, Bodhi, Core+, and Lubuntu. To be honest I found Antix and Peppermint 7 OS to be the best, in terms of being light weight and fully functional. I will try out the Elementary OS too.
I also have not got Conky to show Network details for some reason. Tried many widgets. But, ya, I just love Conky.
I also have not got Conky to show Network details for some reason. Tried many widgets. But, ya, I just love Conky.
I feel this quest for a "light weight" distro is misguided. Today even KDE and Windows (Win10) are quite "light weight" while being fully functional I feel. And by misguided I mean, you don't install an OS just to boot the OS and check if it's lightweight. You also run apps, browsers, games etc... THESE stuff are what take up the CPU/RAM/Disk resources anyway. Even for really old and underpowered PCs something like KDE Neon works well enough (tried it on my 9 year old laptop with a dual core AMD CPU and 2GB RAM).
Right now, with Chromium browser with a couple of tabs and Music (noise) player running, elementary OS is using 1.5 GB RAM on my current new desktop - let me close everything then post back what is the clean boot RAM usage...
Right now, with Chromium browser with a couple of tabs and Music (noise) player running, elementary OS is using 1.5 GB RAM on my current new desktop - let me close everything then post back what is the clean boot RAM usage...
So I booted into KDE Neon (user edition), Win10 and elementary OS to check initial RAM usage... Win10 shows 1.5 GB used but half of that is for caching/buffers.
Both KDE Neon and elementary OS show under 600 MB used in htop and the "free" command shows around 200 mb for cache/buffers.
As soon as I open either Chromium or Firefox browsers the RAM usage crosses 1 GB and opening a few tabs makes it approach 1.5-2GB used.
The default included Epiphany browser in elementary is much lighter - seems to only increase RAM use by 200-300 MB or so when opening with a couple of tabs.
Both KDE Neon and elementary OS show under 600 MB used in htop and the "free" command shows around 200 mb for cache/buffers.
As soon as I open either Chromium or Firefox browsers the RAM usage crosses 1 GB and opening a few tabs makes it approach 1.5-2GB used.
The default included Epiphany browser in elementary is much lighter - seems to only increase RAM use by 200-300 MB or so when opening with a couple of tabs.
Found an alternative to Conky (kind of) - since the window manager does not really have a desktop maybe that's why all the hassles... noticed someone's screenshot which seemed to have a network speed indicator in the top panel, so searched a bit and came across a few options. Went ahead and installed the one mentioned here: http://tipsonubuntu.com/2015/08/19/network-speed-on-panel/
Seems to be working good and exactly what I needed. Apparently there are other indicators for system info like CPU/RAM/Disk/Temperature out there.
Seems to be working good and exactly what I needed. Apparently there are other indicators for system info like CPU/RAM/Disk/Temperature out there.
I tried that application you have listed it is quite good. Thanks for this. I will give Loki 0.4 a review.
Does this OS have the Synaptic Package manager, or do all applications have to be installed using the CLI.
It has their own "App Center" tool but is newly developed and not very sophisticated - for example they are yet to include (soon) indication for hardware drivers (GPU/firmware etc) - but I guess they are sticking to their goal of keeping things simple for their users.
I've seen people posting who just install synaptic package manager from command line then you can use that GUI tool from then onwards. I personally prefer to use the terminal with "sudo apt..." commands.
Haha comic strips yeah
elementary OS is worth a try for sure - heck since we try various distros anyway this one should also get some of our time spent and opinions posted.I believe the new KDE (Plasma 5.x) series does have some updates to comic strip applet (something to do with using their new "Kirigami" mobile UI toolkit on desktop as well) - I seem to vageuly remember some blog post updates from KDE team members, If I find it will post the link(s) here.[DOUBLEPOST=1473680146][/DOUBLEPOST]@ssslayer comic strip applet seems to be working - booted into KDE Neon and tried it out, screenshot here:
Last edited:
Found this PPA to install custom "Plank" (dock) which allows you to enable the icon magnify effect (like in MacOS) when you move your mouse over them: http://elementaryos.stackexchange.com/questions/1933/plank-magnifying-effect
Just adding the settings in the file didn't work, needed to CTRL+RightClick on the plank/dock and enable the new "icon zoom" option. Didn't like the animation though, so disabled it.
Apparently the elementary OS devs patched the upstream plank code to remove this animation option to avoid risk of getting sued by Apple who've patented it.
Just adding the settings in the file didn't work, needed to CTRL+RightClick on the plank/dock and enable the new "icon zoom" option. Didn't like the animation though, so disabled it.
Apparently the elementary OS devs patched the upstream plank code to remove this animation option to avoid risk of getting sued by Apple who've patented it.
Boss, you made my day! Can't live without Calvin & Hobbes and Dilbert.
Weekend plan to shift to new KDE.
Looks like I have been out the game for long ... What exactly is KDE Neon?
KDE Neon website: https://neon.kde.org/ for wiki/FAQ etc.
They're using Ubuntu 16.04 LTS as the stable base OS and publishing the latest KDE releases as and when they happen. You can run the "user edition" for latest stable KDE releases or the "developer unstable edition" for the version pulled directly off latest developer source code repositories. Kubuntu (my previous choice) has the disadvantage of being stuck to 6-month release cycles and even their latest releases can have slightly outdated KDE version and the 16.04 LTS probably will be stuck even farther back.
Other alternatives to get latest KDE are distros like Arch, Chakra, KaOS, Manjaro, OpenSUSE etc. but I like the familiarity/support of Neon's Ubuntu base which is comfortable for me.
They're using Ubuntu 16.04 LTS as the stable base OS and publishing the latest KDE releases as and when they happen. You can run the "user edition" for latest stable KDE releases or the "developer unstable edition" for the version pulled directly off latest developer source code repositories. Kubuntu (my previous choice) has the disadvantage of being stuck to 6-month release cycles and even their latest releases can have slightly outdated KDE version and the 16.04 LTS probably will be stuck even farther back.
Other alternatives to get latest KDE are distros like Arch, Chakra, KaOS, Manjaro, OpenSUSE etc. but I like the familiarity/support of Neon's Ubuntu base which is comfortable for me.
BTW elementary OS is also based on ubuntu 16.04 LTS version, so both it and Neon have disadvantage that you run current LTS kernel and hardware drivers (GPU/WiFi etc) may take a while to get updated (for stability reasons) - so if something about your hardware doesn't work, you should probably move to rolling distro like Arch/KaOS to get latest kernel.
Of course, nothing stopping you from going ahead and installng latest kernel in eOS/Neon manually if you need to and if you are comfortable with doing it.
Of course, nothing stopping you from going ahead and installng latest kernel in eOS/Neon manually if you need to and if you are comfortable with doing it.
Actually I prefer sticking with the LTS, because it doesn't force me to upgrade every now and then.
SO right now I am still using the earlier LTS (14.04 I recall). But yeah, one does get to miss the "new developments" happening in the packages.
KDE Neon appears to be the best of both worlds!
Elementary OS definitely looks more polished than KDE. (And Stock Gnome, and others), but it still retains a lot of characteristics of the Gnome.
SO right now I am still using the earlier LTS (14.04 I recall). But yeah, one does get to miss the "new developments" happening in the packages.
KDE Neon appears to be the best of both worlds!
Elementary OS definitely looks more polished than KDE. (And Stock Gnome, and others), but it still retains a lot of characteristics of the Gnome.
Yeah, I wasn't (still not) a fan of a top panel and bottom dock (although you can move the dock to the left) - in KDE/Win10 I always place the taskbar to the left of my screen (as you might have noticed in the comics screenshot posted earlier) to maximise the vertical space for websites/documents etc. But while using elementary OS I'm trying to keep changes/customisations to a minimum.