Is there an Operating System that actually works?

Question

I can't stand any Linux distro that uses KDE 4+, or Gnome 3+. However, I need something that's easy to use and has a familiar feel to Windows. Linux Mint was my best shot, but I can't find a way to undo the hideous default theme, particularly the butchering of the Firefox icon. I managed to change the icons, but the ugly themed FF icon always shows up the MintMenu and I can't find any way to change that. Again, I'm aiming for a familiar feel to Windows, so I'd prefer stock app icons that are recognizable. What are my options?

Answer 1

you could try Trinity Desktop Environment

in a nutshell, it is the good old KDE 3 started by Timothy Pearson (and meanwhile developed by a wide community of ppl like you who don't like... well the alternatives)

TDE's homepage http://www.trinitydesktop.org/

one of the most important improvements TDE did was to switch over to Qt 4 (Qt being the API on which KDE is build; Qt was originally created by Trolltech; the official Qt 3 was not developed anymore and in order to remain able to continue development, TDE upgraded to Qt 4 (which obviously is KDE 4's primary API))



personally i started using openSUSE (with KDE 3) as my primary OS 5½ years ago (when m$ v!$t0 came out) and never looked back. as openSUSE was also one of the leading distro for the KDE 4 development (11.0 was the 1st mainstream distro to offer it as an option & made it its primary DE with 11.2.

by that time, some ppl in the openSUSE community decided to use TDE's source code to maintain KDE3 next to 4. since openSUSE 12.1, KDE3 is again one of the DE offered as an alternative even though it isn't included in the DVD's yet.

have a look at http://en.opensuse.org/KDE3 to see how you can (easily) install KDE3 on openSUSE.



alternatively, you can download a Kubuntu Live CD from TDE to have a look at it

http://apt.pearsoncomputing.net/cdimages/

it also offers the option to install it to your HD if you like to try it further.



if you already have a distro setup (based on Debian, buntu, RedHat / Fedora or Slackware) you can add the TDE repositories and add the DE to your current setup from http://www.trinitydesktop.org/installation.php



if you decide to go the openSUSE road (which i strongly recommend; the buntu crap is... just that & the deb package management a calamity) and run into any snatch, feel free to ask a question here on Y! Answers; i'm usually checking in every day or two...



EDIT: TDE, KDE, Gnome & Co are NOT operating systems but Desktop Environments on top of the actual OS (GNU/Linux); not liking KDE4 or Gnome 3 is comparable to the general public's aversion to the m$ v!$t0 interface, reason for which many ppl (& companies) remained with XP for so long;

the actual problems of NT 6 (the OS version of v!$t0 as opposed to NT 5.1 for XP) is not relevant here as the kernel version (either 2.6.36 or even 3.0.1 for openSUSE 12.1) is perfectly up to date & safe.

again, openSUSE was the 1st mainstream distro to offer the 3 kernel (with 12.1)

Answer 2

hey gang, i'v been using linux from the time it came to be. i find it much better than windows. i am presently using linux mint 17, better than ubuntu. i have in the pass used ubuntu 10.4 and found it to be okay until i changed to mint 17. as for browsers, i am presently using firfox for my main browser. however, i do like slimboat. it's very fast and i can do just about anything i want with it. i tried chromium several times but to no avail. it just does not work with mint 17. another browser i found to be very good is maxthon. opera is okay but, still not to my liking. thanks everyone. jr (i'll be 82 the 23rd of next month. happy birthday jr.

Answer 3

Try the Xfce or LXDE versions of some of the major distros. Fedora may support your hardware better as it tends to be a bit more cutting edge, but by the same token tends to be more broken on release than ubuntu.



You could also try the beta version of Xubuntu 12.04 LTS:



http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/12.04/beta-1



or try Ubuntu 10.04 LTS which has the old Gnome 2 de and is still maintained.

Answer 4

Ubuntu is a pretty nice linux based operating system thats really fast and good runs firefox and chrome and with wine alot of windows programs

Answer 5

If you want something with a similar feel to Windows that is free and/or open source, I suggest Haiku as the current best option if you have an x86_32 processor. Its main problem is that it doesn't have office or image/audio/video editing programs ported yet.

Eventually, ReactOS will be your best bet, but it's barely in its Alpha stage.

KolibriOS is great if you want small and usable and don't mind ugly.

If you want to stick to your Linux guns, I suggest trying Bodhi.

Answer 6

Microsoft Windows is a good option if you want something that acts and feels like windows... It comes in a variety of flavours, starting with Windows 1.01 which was published back in 1985 through to Windows 3.11 which was that last Windows before a major redesign, followed by Windows 95, 98, etc, through to XP, Vista, and Windows 7 with Windows 8 coming out shortly.

Answer 7

agreed, ubuntu is nice, very simple even 1st time Linux users can handle it,