Elementary OS, worth my time?

Audigex

Audigex

Audigex

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3 Feb 2009
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I'm turning a couple of old machines into Linux boxes for family - but my desktop life is Windows and OSX, I tend to prefer my Linux sans-tete, and when I do have to run in a GUI, I tend to just use LXDE or something lightweight to get things done and then remove it again

My family, though, aren't quite as happy in a terminal window as I am, though, so I'm eyeing up Desktop Environments... the problem being that they all look/feel clunky to me.

Then Elementary OS caught my eye: based on Ubuntu, so presumably compatible with anything Ubuntu/Debian is, but with a nice OSX-lookalike theme, so hopefully fairly user friendly (particularly to family members who can work my MacBook already)

Has anyone used it? Does it live up to the promise? I'm currently downloading it to try in a VM and possibly on a laptop later, but the opinion of someone who's tried it in the wild would be great
 
Sounds good then, thanks - it's pretty much going to be for email, letter writing, web browsing and photos: the user isn't even slightly interested in anything under the hood or more complex: and as you say under the Terminal it's pretty much Ubuntu... I presume that I can add pretty much any Ubuntu applications, too?

And OhEsEcks I completely agree: while Linux is definitely more usable than 10 years ago, I still find the UI's to be horrible. Now that WiFi is much more widely supported, the only things that really stop me adopting it for Desktop use are the User Interfaces and lack of decent Disk Utilities (everything's way too complex or doesn't explain things)
 
I've been quite impressed with eOS, very simple and easy to use: I haven't noticed any bugs yet

Mint is fine, but it's still gnome at the end of the day... intuitive only to the nerdy. I'm sure others can pick it up and learn it, but it still "feels" clunky even to me, and I'm quite happy flicking between operating systems.

Frankly, I'm just glad SOMEONE is trying to "do" Linux while even considering the user interface as important: even the best of the rest of the community seems bolted on as an "Oh, I suppose we'd better have a GUI, then" afterthought.
 
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