The Official Windows 7 Discussion Thread

meetdilip

Computer Addict
I somehow despise KDE for their choice of grey. But saw last day that they working towards a more lighter shade of grey sans gradient appearance. I prefer cleaner windows than too much strong grey.
 

meetdilip

Computer Addict
No, I had no idea when I tried it the last time. But now I think about it, perhaps there are themes for KDE just like GTK themes. Would be nice if you can talk about them. A different thread or here.
 

SaiyanGoku

kamehameha!!
Plasma: A Safe Haven for Windows 7 Refugees

If any of you don't want to upgrade to Windows 10, consider using a Linux distro with KDE Plasma. It has a similar UX to Windows and most of the common applications are available.
I thought ZorinOS or Mint with XFCE would be better. :)
 

Desmond

Destroy Erase Improve
Staff member
Admin
All of them are good in their own ways, but KDE explicitly attempts to be similar to windows so that those who are used to it will feel at home. XFCE's UI is pretty different compared to it but it's not bad in itself.

Cinnamon also does it though but I like KDE slightly more than Cinnamon.
 

Zangetsu

I am the master of my Fate.
Plasma: A Safe Haven for Windows 7 Refugees

If any of you don't want to upgrade to Windows 10, consider using a Linux distro with KDE Plasma. It has a similar UX to Windows and most of the common applications are available.
The UI looks really good.

Which are other good themes in Linux OS ?
 

Desmond

Destroy Erase Improve
Staff member
Admin
The UI looks really good.

Which are other good themes in Linux OS ?
Check this out: r/unixporn - the home for *NIX customization!

Edit: There are many sites for UI themes, icons, cursors, etc depending upon the desktop environment you use:

KDE: Browse Plasma Themes Latest | *store.kde.org/browse/cat/104/
Gnome: Browse Latest | *www.gnome-look.org/
XFCE: Browse Latest | *www.xfce-look.org/
Cinnamon: Browse Latest | *www.cinnamon-look.org/

and more

Edit2: There is a theming engine for Linux called Kvantum (only for KDE I think) that has some seriously over the top modification potential: Kvantum | SparkyLinux

Edit3: I used to use this theme in Kubuntu: Sweet KDE

Note the hardware accelerated blur.
 
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meetdilip

Computer Addict
Dash to Panel extension and Arc menu combination will give you more or less a Windows like UI in Ubuntu.

How is Lubuntu ? Is it low on resource consumption ?
 

kg11sgbg

Indian Railways - The Vibrant and Moving INDIA
MATE is the choice of Linux Desktop for me in Fedora 31 or Manjaro as installed in laptop and desktop .
 

Nerevarine

Incarnate
Plasma: A Safe Haven for Windows 7 Refugees

If any of you don't want to upgrade to Windows 10, consider using a Linux distro with KDE Plasma. It has a similar UX to Windows and most of the common applications are available.

This is fine for people like us but suggesting Linux just because someone doesnt want to switch from win 7 to 10 is a really bad idea for most people.
Most people expect Linux to function exactly like windows, and when it doesn't, they get a bad impression that it's too hard to learn, it's all cmd based, it doesn't have apps..
People need to know Linux is not windows, not even a bit, just having a theme and general UI like windows isn't going to make it any easy.
You have to get into Linux from a fresh mindset, otherwise you will see most people will just drop. The non availability of apps part is a completely valid thing, no matter how good GIMP is, it's not gonna be Photoshop.

But you can say, hey u can run windows app on Linux.. how bout that ?
Yes true, but it's never going to be as stable as running natively, and all those slowdowns, crash, hitches etc etc contribute to people not liking Linux and giving an early judgement that it's not as good as win or mac

Watch Linux Experiment video where guy switches to elementary from Mac for his work.
You will get a fair idea what I'm talking about.

Article clearly doesn't understand this. But good article nonetheless.

PS I use kubuntu too with official dock, although it's mostly a hobby usage.
Windows for gaming, Mac for work, kubuntu if I wanna tinker with open source and OMV for nas
 
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meetdilip

Computer Addict
but can change it anytime if you want.

To ? GnomeDM ?

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@Nerevarine What you said is true. mod edit

While we can say that apps won't work, most of the work is command-line based etc, there is a part that most malware skips Linux. Especially when you use something like Manjaro. Virus-free is a great selling point for most people.

Also, it is not command line based anymore. There is an Ubuntu Software store just like App Store or Play Store.

Almost 70 - 80 % of Windows users use it for browsing, watching movies, listening to music and MS Office.

There is

1. Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Vivaldi, Maxthon
2. VLC Player, Kodi
3. More than one reliable music player
4. Libre Office

While some may say Libre Office is inferior, if you get used to it, it is as good as MS Office for a normal user.

Android Studio, Plex, VS Code, Atom Editor, Adobe Brackets etc are available natively on Linux.

I have been using GIMP and Inkscape for years now. And believe me, when you know how to use it, you will never have to use those cracked PS or Illustrator for your needs. A common man cannot afford 10 k + for Windows, then more money for MS Office, Photoshop and so on. They take refuge in pirated OS, software etc. It is much safer to use a mediocre Linux than being a bot yourself.

I am no advocate of Linux. But Linux has evolved a lot since the early days of this decade. If you can put some effort, it is an effective replacement for something which you will be spending 20 -30 K.
 
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Nerevarine

Incarnate
I am not disagreeing dilip, people have got used to premium software without paying the high price. It's just too normalized and I'm not here to discuss ethics here.
My point was the article just tried to do a theme and offer a "replacement" for win7 which is just clickbait. Lol
 

meetdilip

Computer Addict
people have got used to premium software without paying the high price. It's just too normalized and I'm not here to discuss ethics here.

Agree. I have no interest in policing. People can do whatever they want as long as it does not hurt others. But people have no idea the PC they use their credit/debit cards on has a backdoor and probably a keylogger. If they know, will they still try to use them ?
 

whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
People still tell their otp & install apps instructed over phone.No OS can make up for common precautions irrespective of which os one use.A person following basic guidelines using windows is safer than a person not following any guidelines while using linux. As for malware,wait until linux becomes mainstream because no serious malware author actually create malware for linux because it is simply not worth it.
 

SaiyanGoku

kamehameha!!
Any "install and forget" distro for an 8 year old Dell N5110 (2350m, 4GB ram)? My father is using Win 7 Home on it (basic office tasks) and he won't be needing the 525m. Might need to install HP AIO printer.
Also, since the laptop and by extension its hdd are too old, would it be better to just get a new laptop or replace hdd with cheap 250GB ssd?

I tried linux mint 19.3 xfce yesterday on a guest vm with 2 cores/4 threads, 25GB disk and 4 GB ram and it was surprisingly good. Ran into issues while trying to install KDE Plasma on it. I'd test the distro suggestions (including ZorinOS and PopOs) this weekend.
 

Desmond

Destroy Erase Improve
Staff member
Admin
This is fine for people like us but suggesting Linux just because someone doesnt want to switch from win 7 to 10 is a really bad idea for most people.
Most people expect Linux to function exactly like windows, and when it doesn't, they get a bad impression that it's too hard to learn, it's all cmd based, it doesn't have apps..
People need to know Linux is not windows, not even a bit, just having a theme and general UI like windows isn't going to make it any easy.
You have to get into Linux from a fresh mindset, otherwise you will see most people will just drop.
I didn't imply that it will be completely identical to Windows. But the learning curve is not very steep either if the UI is somewhat similar to Windows. As for the command based thing, a lot of the common activities can be done using UI based tools and utilities. Most distros these days come with a software center, so you don't even have to deal with package managers directly.

The non availability of apps part is a completely valid thing, no matter how good GIMP is, it's not gonna be Photoshop.
This is okay for someone who uses photoshop on a daily basis, but for someone who doesn't, it's a moot point. Let's say an average person who only uses computers for browsing the web and watching videos doesn't need anything more than Linux.

But you can say, hey u can run windows app on Linux.. how bout that ?
Yes true, but it's never going to be as stable as running natively, and all those slowdowns, crash, hitches etc etc contribute to people not liking Linux and giving an early judgement that it's not as good as win or mac
But that really is problem with how the applications are built. Either they are tightly coupled with Windows API or use some non-standard DRM system. But still a good percentage of applications run on Wine perfectly as well. Hell, look at all the windows games that run perfectly on Steam Proton at protondb.com.

Watch Linux Experiment video where guy switches to elementary from Mac for his work.
You will get a fair idea what I'm talking about.
I'll check it out later.
Article clearly doesn't understand this. But good article nonetheless.
It's actually KDE asking for the community to brainstorm ideas to help people looking to move away from Windows 7 to move to Linux.
PS I use kubuntu too with official dock, although it's mostly a hobby usage.
Windows for gaming, Mac for work, kubuntu if I wanna tinker with open source and OMV for nas
I use Manjaro + KDE as my daily driver for the last few months, I have distro hopped a few times but ever since it was possible to play most of the Windows games on Linux steam, I have not booted into Windows in a long time. I only rarely do when I feel like playing something like PUBG, otherwise there is no reason to do so.

Any "install and forget" distro for an 8 year old Dell N5110 (2350m, 4GB ram)? My father is using Win 7 Home on it (basic office tasks) and he won't be needing the 525m. Might need to install HP AIO printer.
Also, since the laptop and by extension its hdd are too old, would it be better to just get a new laptop or replace hdd with cheap 250GB ssd?

I tried linux mint 19.3 xfce yesterday on a guest vm with 2 cores/4 threads, 25GB disk and 4 GB ram and it was surprisingly good. Ran into issues while trying to install KDE Plasma on it. I'd test the distro suggestions (including ZorinOS and PopOs) this weekend.
Plasma has actually become much more efficient these days. But for sake of ease of use, I suggest getting an ISO that has a desktop environment pre-installed so that you don't have to tinker around too much. Pretty much any light distro can extend the lifespan of your old laptops so to say. These days KDE and XFCE both use ~500MB of RAM only.
 
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