Re: MP3 players? Linux? I'm not sure, but I know there's hate

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From: Juerd
Subject: Re: MP3 players? Linux? I'm not sure, but I know there's hate
Date: 14:35 on 22 Apr 2005
Peter da Silva skribis 2005-04-22  8:22 (-0500):
> > My distribution of choice is Debian. I like that with a simple command,
> > or a simple instruction in one of the GUI frontends, I can install
> > almost any kind of software.
> That was a great idea FreeBSD came up with, wasn't it?

Yes, certainly. It's even better when done right :P

> > You have to install third party
> > utilities for things like virtual desktops and a run program dialog.
> OK, I don't get this one. Linux is nothing but a bunch of third
> party utilities flying in cliose formation. 

Yes, it is. Whenever I say Linux, most of the time I really mean "a good
GNU/Linux desktop distribution".

> The idea that "third party utilities" is somehow a bad thing,
> especially when (in this case) said utilities are free and open source
> (just like the ones that go into Linux) just boggles my mind.

They are not a bad thing, but some features should be supported by the
platform itself. This is exactly the same thinking as wanting sane
defaults instead of having to configure everything to sanity yourself.

For example, I use QuickSilver, which I like much. But it'd be good if
OS X had something like it integrated so it's immediately useful after
installing the OS. Of course, there'd still be room for improvement and
thus third party utilities.

> Annoying as Finder is, I haven't found a UNIX file manager that can
> lay a finger on it.

Konqueror is rapidly improving. (And going downhill in some areas.)

> > I hate how clicking a dock icon opens a new window only if there's none
> > open already,
> If there is, it pops that window to the top and focuses on it.

And because I already pressed the key for a new window, I end up with
two new windows instead of just one. I pressed that key because I wanted
a new window.

If I don't press that key myself, I have to click, wait 5 seconds, and
then if there is no new window, press the key anyway. It's too much work
to hit F9 for expose and then scan the surface for similar windows
before clicking a dock icon.

> > I hate how Firefox under this platform won't let me use tab to select
> > hyperlinks and always opens tabs in the foreground.
> Have you checked your preferences?

Yes, and I even have the extension loaded that lets you finetune tab
settings. To no avail.

> > I hate how there is absolutely no telling how keys like home and end
> > will behave in a text input box.
> As opposed to Linux, where there's no way to tell how ANY keys will
> behave in a text input box, and in some pretty important apps (like
> XV) the key bindings either don't exist or were devised by a
> crack-addled lemur?

Yes.

> > I hate how by default radio buttons and checkboxes cannot be focussed
> > with tab.
> Preferences.

"how by default". I think sane defaults are not too much to ask, and I
find this default setting pretty insane.

> > I hate how the terminal can't send page up and down with just those key
> > presses.
> I love the way Terminal.app doesn't pass keys like that through
> because  99.5% of the software (including curses software) running
> inside it doesn't understand it, so you hit "page up" and see a
> bunch of X3.64 line noise.

Really? The programs I use much (mutt, less, vim) all understand the
keys very well. If that's on linux systems, of course. BSD hates me.

> > I hate that there's no easy way to find out where diskspace is going
> > (like KDE's blocked view in Konqueror).
> Put Finder in list mode.
> Finder->View->Show View Options.
> Select "Calculate all Sizes".
> Sort by size.

Sounds good. Will try as soon as I get home. Thanks!

> > I hate that I can't find where the hell I can set program bindings, so
> > movies start with VLC instead of Quicktime.
> Click on a movie.

Movies I click are usually hyperlinked from web pages.

> Cmd-I or select "Show Info" from the menu.
> See where it says "Open With"?

It's not the place where I expected that, as opening is not information.


Juerd
-- 
http://convolution.nl/maak_juerd_blij.html
http://convolution.nl/make_juerd_happy.html 
http://convolution.nl/gajigu_juerd_n.html
There's stuff above here

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