Hi there@Switched to Linux, GeckoLinux creator here. Thanks a lot for the open-minded and fair review! Well done. To respond to a few of your points: I'm surprised that the ROLLING edition failed in your VM, and I'm also surprised at the xmessage the STATIC edition threw. I do try to included flawless VM support, so obviously something needs to be improved. Which VM technology are you using, and specifically how did you configure the virtual graphics? Do you have the necessary VM graphics drivers installed on the host system? You're correct that GeckoLinux does not provide an auto updater. Frankly I hate them. I only update my systems when I have free time and can afford a bit of downtime. Also, the openSUSE auto updater interferes sometimes with the YaST package manager and uses the dreadful PackageKit backend, which I avoid like the plague. Regarding the Elementary vs. GeckoLinux question, first of all I'd like to give a shout out to the folks at Elementary for being very classy in making Pantheon open source and portable to other distros. They do have a strong vision for their distro, which is fine, and it's very different from mine. ;-) I have an interesting anecdote to that point. I have a friend who is a disenchanted Mac user and Windows hater, with absolutely zero Linux experience. They ended up installing Elementary thanks to its impeccable visual presentation. But there were also some major hurdles with it: - WiFI did *not* work out of the box. At that point fortunately they had access to an ethernet connection, but that's not always the case, and would normally be a showstopper. - We both use Element.io for communicating, so I suggested that we use its WebRTC screensharing feature. Except, it doesn't work on the default Epiphany browser (just like all other WebRTC apps). - My friend is more comfortable with Chrome, and also needed Zoom. The app center appeared to be intuitive enough, but my friend assumed that those were the only apps available on Linux. ("So it looks like there's no Zoom for Linux?") When I explained that the base system is similar to Ubuntu in this case, they quickly downloaded a DEB for Zoom and Chrome. Which led to the next hurdle: - No DEB installer GUI. My friend had no idea what to do with the DEB file, and I was reluctant to make them revert to the terminal so early on in the experience to avoid creating scary impressions that Linux is difficult. With GeckoLinux, none of these things would have been an issue. WiFI would have worked out of the box, the default Firefox is a much more capable browser, and Chrome can be installed directly from the YaST Software manager without adding additional repositories. 99% of new users will go directly to the website of a commercial software vendor and download packages, which in the case of RPM can be directly installed with the YaST GUI by simply double-clicking, with automatic dependency resolution. So although I can't fault the polish and aesthetics of Elementary, I'm confident that GeckoLinux is much more suitable and intuitive for most new and advanced users. I also very much agree with your complaint of Elementary's handling of non-eOS apps with scary warnings. Thanks again! Hope to talk to you again in future reviews.
Not a fan of Elementary OS. I agree @ 06:00 you either love it or don't. It's buggy and made to be simple, but it is probably one of the least intuitive distros out there. Great video!
I’d say it’s ironed out a lot of the bugs. Loki was a terrible release but it’s improved much since. It isn’t intuitive for power users, but I actually daily drove it for a while which surprised even me since I usually default to a KDE based distro (which is the literal opposite of simple).
December is near and the Elementary OS 6 is still not out yet ! I already changed distro's just to get the new stuff because elementary is still based on ubuntu 18.04
I don't get Elementary OS, when Ubuntu Mate can be made to look just like it very easily and doesn't bug you to donate money and if you get bored with it, just change the theme in seconds on MATE. With Elementary, it all looks the same.
I like Elementary 5.1 but I can't use it. I have a Schitt Hel Amp for sound and it doesn't recognize it. It is the first distro that hasn't supported it that I've tried lately - likely due to the age of the kernel.
Hi Tom, I've read the following on a forum, how do you feel about this? ''GL is just a group of packages picked by an anonymous person built in SUSE Studio or with Kiwi. Someone who has no name, no contact address, offers no support, has no liability and could be injecting who knows what into those images and people running them would have no idea. It's no different than installing Windows from a pirate site as far as security goes.''
I’m stoked that Elementary OS 6 is getting released alongside Half Life 3.
You cannot sway me from openSUSE! YOU CANNOT SWAY ME! ... starts downloading Gecko ISO...
Hi there@Switched to Linux, GeckoLinux creator here. Thanks a lot for the open-minded and fair review! Well done. To respond to a few of your points:
I'm surprised that the ROLLING edition failed in your VM, and I'm also surprised at the xmessage the STATIC edition threw. I do try to included flawless VM support, so obviously something needs to be improved. Which VM technology are you using, and specifically how did you configure the virtual graphics? Do you have the necessary VM graphics drivers installed on the host system?
You're correct that GeckoLinux does not provide an auto updater. Frankly I hate them. I only update my systems when I have free time and can afford a bit of downtime. Also, the openSUSE auto updater interferes sometimes with the YaST package manager and uses the dreadful PackageKit backend, which I avoid like the plague.
Regarding the Elementary vs. GeckoLinux question, first of all I'd like to give a shout out to the folks at Elementary for being very classy in making Pantheon open source and portable to other distros. They do have a strong vision for their distro, which is fine, and it's very different from mine. ;-) I have an interesting anecdote to that point. I have a friend who is a disenchanted Mac user and Windows hater, with absolutely zero Linux experience. They ended up installing Elementary thanks to its impeccable visual presentation. But there were also some major hurdles with it:
- WiFI did *not* work out of the box. At that point fortunately they had access to an ethernet connection, but that's not always the case, and would normally be a showstopper.
- We both use Element.io for communicating, so I suggested that we use its WebRTC screensharing feature. Except, it doesn't work on the default Epiphany browser (just like all other WebRTC apps).
- My friend is more comfortable with Chrome, and also needed Zoom. The app center appeared to be intuitive enough, but my friend assumed that those were the only apps available on Linux. ("So it looks like there's no Zoom for Linux?") When I explained that the base system is similar to Ubuntu in this case, they quickly downloaded a DEB for Zoom and Chrome. Which led to the next hurdle:
- No DEB installer GUI. My friend had no idea what to do with the DEB file, and I was reluctant to make them revert to the terminal so early on in the experience to avoid creating scary impressions that Linux is difficult.
With GeckoLinux, none of these things would have been an issue. WiFI would have worked out of the box, the default Firefox is a much more capable browser, and Chrome can be installed directly from the YaST Software manager without adding additional repositories. 99% of new users will go directly to the website of a commercial software vendor and download packages, which in the case of RPM can be directly installed with the YaST GUI by simply double-clicking, with automatic dependency resolution. So although I can't fault the polish and aesthetics of Elementary, I'm confident that GeckoLinux is much more suitable and intuitive for most new and advanced users. I also very much agree with your complaint of Elementary's handling of non-eOS apps with scary warnings.
Thanks again! Hope to talk to you again in future reviews.
Not a fan of Elementary OS. I agree @ 06:00 you either love it or don't.
It's buggy and made to be simple, but it is probably one of the least intuitive distros out there.
Great video!
I’d say it’s ironed out a lot of the bugs. Loki was a terrible release but it’s improved much since.
It isn’t intuitive for power users, but I actually daily drove it for a while which surprised even me since I usually default to a KDE based distro (which is the literal opposite of simple).
December is near and the Elementary OS 6 is still not out yet !
I already changed distro's just to get the new stuff because elementary is still based on ubuntu 18.04
I would love to see the Pantheon desktop on endless OS
I think Wingpanel needs additional options. There's no hiding functionality at all. There used to be a nice variant called wingpanel-slim.
I don't get Elementary OS, when Ubuntu Mate can be made to look just like it very easily and doesn't bug you to donate money and if you get bored with it, just change the theme in seconds on MATE. With Elementary, it all looks the same.
I like Elementary 5.1 but I can't use it. I have a Schitt Hel Amp for sound and it doesn't recognize it. It is the first distro that hasn't supported it that I've tried lately - likely due to the age of the kernel.
One,s a walled garden,the other isnt,little lizards for the win.
Hi Tom,
I've read the following on a forum, how do you feel about this?
''GL is just a group of packages picked by an anonymous person built in SUSE Studio or with Kiwi. Someone who has no name, no contact address, offers no support, has no liability and could be injecting who knows what into those images and people running them would have no idea.
It's no different than installing Windows from a pirate site as far as security goes.''
Ubuntu Budgie is better for MacOS users in my opinion. I haven't experienced OpenSUSE or Gecko, so I can't comment. Thanks for the walkthrough.
Lel no and you are comparing a distro with a specific desktop vs others that are variable
Actually, Elementary OS is nice for people who like MacOS's design...
This guy didn't see the video
@@nachonvgr8696
Me? What do you mean?
@@SkyFly19853 elementary os desktop is available on gecko, that's why the comparation
@@nachonvgr8696
Hmmm... I see...
I never want to see anything even remotely OpenSUSE-related again.
I wanted to like Elementary, but the last version I tried had too many issues.
Elementary DE is simple attractive and beautiful though no tweaking.