Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > comp.misc > #1047

Re: Nine Lessons Other Desktops Can Learn from KDE

Show all headers | View raw

When I set up FreeBSD recently on an old MacBook, I decided to use KDE as the desktop, 
just so I could have a look at something alternative to Ubuntu/Unity, which is my 
/de facto/ non-Windows desktop. I'd say my biggest gripe with it is that it doesn't 
use the "standard" keyboard mappings which I'm used to, such as  
#v+ 
Alt+Space
#v- 
 to open the system menu, 
#v+ 
Ctrl+Esc
#v- 
, etc, etc. (These keyboard mappings are entrenched in my muscle memory from over 
20 years of using Windows at work, and, for the most part, they work in Unity as 
well.)

But, as the article says, KDE is highly configurable, so with a bit of poking around 
in the settings, and some google fu, it wasn't to hard to remap any unfamiliar 
keyboard shortcuts. I also mapped all the various laptop brightness/volume controls 
so that they correspond to the Mac's funtion keys with the appropriate icons.

And then, I probably spent 3 or 4 hours reskinning widgets, tweaking the colour 
scheme and downloading new themes, until I had the 'perfect' look: light text 
on dark background with red accents. I don't think I've spent so long customizing 
my desktop since I discovered FVWM at University back in '94. It seems that the 
trend these days is away from user configuration -- some modern versions of Windows 
7 don't even let you change the colour of widgets at all -- and removing "power-user" 
functionality (rather than just hiding it) in the name of making things easier for 
the hypothetical "average computer user". 
-- 
--
"Make use of a lover or white-noise machine inside your master bedroom to assist you in drifting off to sleep."
View this thread at http://squte.com/node/4821#comment-11267

Back to comp.misc | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

Nine Lessons Other Desktops Can Learn from KDE RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-02-27 15:33 +0000
  Re: Nine Lessons Other Desktops Can Learn from KDE "jonh" <jon@nada-sub.co.uk> - 2014-02-27 11:41 -0600
    Re: Nine Lessons Other Desktops Can Learn from KDE RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-02-28 15:33 +0000
  Re: Nine Lessons Other Desktops Can Learn from KDE Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-02-28 11:24 +0000
    Re: Nine Lessons Other Desktops Can Learn from KDE Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-02-28 13:50 +0200
      Re: Nine Lessons Other Desktops Can Learn from KDE Bjoern Hoehrmann <bjoern@hoehrmann.de> - 2014-02-28 14:04 +0100
    Re: Nine Lessons Other Desktops Can Learn from KDE RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-02-28 13:47 +0000
      Re: Nine Lessons Other Desktops Can Learn from KDE Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-03-01 00:46 +0000
    Re: Nine Lessons Other Desktops Can Learn from KDE RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-02-28 14:01 +0000
      Re: Nine Lessons Other Desktops Can Learn from KDE Mike Easter <MikeE@ster.invalid> - 2014-02-28 08:03 -0800

csiph-web