[lproven]

I have tried it, and reviewed it.

I kinda like the window tiling, but it's still GNOME and GNOME is still a pain.

As a cleaned-up Ubuntu, I like Zinc.

https://teejeetech.com/2022/05/07/zinc-22-04/

Ubuntu, with the smallest cleanest but richest desktop on Linux -- Xfce -- and neither Snap nor Flatpak. Instead, `deb-get` which finds and installs native DEB packages, configures the repos for you, manages updates and so on.

[teekert]

I was on KDE for a bit, love it on my ultrawide monitor with tiling. But on my laptop Gnome is so sweat. I have a 2nd hand HP ProBook and I swear, for the very first time ever in my Linux life the trackpad feels like my MacBook trackpad. 3 fingers swipe up, overview of windows, another swipe is app grid, swipe left right, move to other desktops. I really find the whole experience very smooth and I enjoy it a lot (all Wayland, on NixOS).

I have suspend/wake working well so far, USB-C charging + screen + all peripherals via 1 USB-C cable, all "media" buttons work. And this is still on 8 GB of ram (soon the 2x32 GB will arrive ;)), I haven't even heard the fans so far! I'm on Teams, camera works, nobody would even know I'm on Linux if it wasn't for my constant evangelizing!

I'm really impressed (yeah, I know, Linux people easily are when it comes to desktops, basically we're impressed if things work).

I did enable AppIndicator. Solaar, NextCloud and Tailscale all really require it to be considered functional. I don't understand why that is not a standard thing (it is on many distros though).

[lproven]

> Gnome is so sweat

... Sweet?

I don't like GNOME. I don't like GNOME accessories; I hate CSD and hamburger menus and that big empty wasted top panel. I want more things vertical, while GNOME is moving its vertical workspace-switcher to horizontal.

The Cosmic tiling is good. That's an improvement. GNOME's window management sucks, and this is better.

I also really don't like systemd-boot and it broke one of my laptops severely.

So, I am happy that it is good for you, but it is not something I'd choose.

[teekert]

Arg yeah sweet indeed, pronounciation is just no guide at all in English (neither in Dutch btw)...

...Seat, sweat, chaste, caste, Leigh, eight, height, Put, nut, granite, and unite. ... [0]

And I do agree on the very high amount of pixels wasted in the top panel, expecially on an ultrawide monitor, something MacOS does better. On a laptop screen it's ok for me.

[0] http://ncf.idallen.com/english.html

[lproven]

:-D A wonderful poem. When I was a TEFL teacher, I sometimes tortured advanced students with it.

As for the panel... well, Dash-to-Panel tames it:

https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1160/dash-to-panel/

... but it does not handle vertical mode well. E.g. Status icons should be in rows, not a single column.

[SSLy]

Do you have a git repo somewhere with your configuration.nix?

[teekert]

Not yet, but it's fairly simple, I now have 1 week of NixOS experience ;) I installed with the graphical installer, choose Gnome, added some specific things like darkmode and many packages to the configuration.nix. Then I read about Home Manager and put packages under there.

OOTB the Gnome install was as good as can be. It's a nice way to play with Nix, batteries included.

Right now I need to deploy a server used for bioinformatics, and I need Conda... And that is a pain [0], so again I'm on the fence: Deploy Ubuntu or NixOS and persevere... I'm thinking Ubuntu, then perhaps later in the learning curve I go for Nix or perhaps just make a container to use on Nix.

[0] http://www.jaakkoluttinen.fi/blog/conda-on-nixos/

[SSLy]

deploy ubuntu or fedora, and run nix with home-manager. that gives you devshells/devbox which you can migrate into at your own pace

[teekert]

Yes, I just did that, thanx for the tip :)