The return of a practical desktop in Mga8 [Closed]

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The return of a practical desktop in Mga8 [Closed]

Postby rodgoslin » Jul 8th, '21, 23:13

I recently installed Mga8 as an update to Mga7. There were a number of problems with this, and the advice was to carry out a clean install of Mga8, from scratch. This I have now done.To it's credit, the install went without a hitch. All the installs, updates went without any problems. It was not until the re-boot that disillution set in. Again, the login went without problem. Until the screen cleared to a completely blank blue with a few blue swirls to the right. At first I thought that the display had failed, until I noticed at the top left, the word 'Activities'. Clicking on this brought a column of oversized and anonymous icons to the left. Most of which had no relevance to anything I would want to do. The bottom icon an arry of dots, brought up yet anotjher screen ful of pointless icons, for applications that I certainly had not elected to install. It slowly dawned on me that the white dots to the right of the screnn brought up successive collections of applications. Who in their right mind would arrange applications by title, in alphabetical order. Nowhere in all this could I find a way back to a rational, pratical, simple and usable layout.
The computer is a tool, with which to work. Much developement over the years has led to a simple, practical environment. This presentation is a dumbed down version, about two miles below the worst that Microsoft have ever presented.
How do I get back to something I can use? My first inclination was to scrap the whole thinfg and return to an ealier version of Mageia. This is by far, the very worst desktop layout that I have ever seen, anywhere. I though that before junking several hours of work, I'd give it a chance to change into a workable system. Any help, folks, and please, not too many flames
Last edited by rodgoslin on Jul 9th, '21, 10:12, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The return of a practical desktop in Mga8

Postby dalto » Jul 9th, '21, 00:15

rodgoslin wrote:How do I get back to something I can use? My first inclination was to scrap the whole thinfg and return to an ealier version of Mageia. This is by far, the very worst desktop layout that I have ever seen, anywhere. I though that before junking several hours of work, I'd give it a chance to change into a workable system.


It sounds like you chose to install gnome during the install process. That is how gnome is intended to work. It is a minimalistic environment designed for you to focus only on your open application.

There are different ways to change that:
* There are many gnome extensions that will bring in elements of a traditional desktop. You can install the ones you like restoring a workflow that is more familiar to you.
* You could just install a different desktop such as kde/plasma or xfce which has a more traditional layout.

rodgoslin wrote:Who in their right mind would arrange applications by title, in alphabetical order.

gnome, by default, is heavily keyboard driven. I think you are intended to search for the app you want as opposed to browsing through the pages of icons.
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Re: The return of a practical desktop in Mga8

Postby benmc » Jul 9th, '21, 03:39

as suggested, you likely installed the Gnome desktop, or chose the Gnome desktop at login.
If you have installed more than one desktop, logout and choose another,

or some options available to you:

kde/plasma: urpmi task-plasma

cinnamon: urpmi task-cinnamon

mate : urpmi task-mate

LXDE : urpmi task-lxde

Xfce: urpmi task-xfce4

then at login, choose the required desktop.
installing any of the above will also draw in a default DM, so you also change that via MCC => boot if you so desire
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Re: The return of a practical desktop in Mga8

Postby rodgoslin » Jul 9th, '21, 09:16

Thanks benmc, I have'nt tried the logout/login method, but I did check on a normal login for alternative desktop environments. There arent anythe login option sks only for usename and password. There are no options. So far, I've installed Mga8 five times with the same result. I commonly run the install as "custom", since only with that choice do you get to choose individual installs. otherwise selecting, say 'KDE' you get no choice as to what is installed, and it's a prettu minimalist install, at that. My last install was with 'KDE' as the choice, which did give me a rational desktop environment
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Re: The return of a practical desktop in Mga8

Postby kajosim » Jul 9th, '21, 09:29

On the login screen when you click your name then the password field is shown --- but also --- at the lower right corner of the screen a wheel turns up , click the wheel.
Regards.
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Re: The return of a practical desktop in Mga8

Postby bbfuller » Jul 9th, '21, 10:02

Can I suggest taking a look at this page:

https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Installation_Media

from the website and also taking a look at the "Downloads" link at the top of the forum page.

The desktop options you get are dependent on the install media you choose when you download.

If you choose the smaller download option of "Live Media" Then you have a choice of three desktop options Plasma, Gnome or Xfce. Which one you download determines which is installed and that is the only choice you have to run unless you choose to add a second desktop after install.

If you go for the full DVD download then you get a choice of which desktop is installed during the installation routine.

If you only have one of the other desktops installed, the Mageia Package Manager in the Mageia Control Centre gives you a choice of downloading and installing other desktops in the section "Graphical Desktop".
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Switch to Plasma desktop from Plasma Netbook workspace

Postby meinsta » Aug 22nd, '21, 15:59

Hello,
I recently switched to Mageia 8 from Mageia 7.
My desktop looks strange. I searched and find out that it is Plasma Netbook workspace. I don't know how to minimize the windows and I would prefer the 'desktop' version of Plasma, as I had before.
Can someone help me please?
Thank you in advance!
Last edited by meinsta on Aug 22nd, '21, 17:20, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: The return of a practical desktop in Mga8 [Closed]

Postby isadora » Aug 22nd, '21, 16:27

It is very much advised to open up a new topic for any new issue.
As you might have seen, this topic was closed already.
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Switch to Plasma desktop from Plasma Netbook workspace

Postby meinsta » Aug 22nd, '21, 21:38

Thank you!
I started a new post here https://forums.mageia.org/en/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=14302
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