[sf-lug] Fedora 15, KDE 4.7, Gnome 3

[Bobbie Sellers]

  Hi Team,

     Well I bought a magazine on computer administration
with a Fedora 15 live and install CD.  This is the
best Fedora I have tried so far but what is good is
not necessarily what is under the hood but the access
permitted.
     The live boot menu offers KDE and Gnome
boots either in 686 or 64 bit mode selected by
accessing the 3rd item from the top of the boot menu
Architecture selection which will then let you chose
to boot in either or those modes.
     Each version offers an install from the main screen
even when as with Gnome 3 it doesn't work too well.
I don't think I would like G-3 even if I had the hardware
with 3D acceleration to make it work well.  It has Windows
emulation syndrome.   As a matter of fact one of the
offered widgets is Windows Programs which I did not
have the resources to investigate further.
     As Alan Swithenbank pointed out the Gnome 3
2D interface is a step backward from Gnome 2.3.
Linux Torwalds by the way agrees.
     KDE 4.7 is tamer but less adaptable than the earlier
version I use daily.  For example I run an extra task
bar on the left side of my desktops as well as the main
task bar on the top of my screen(AmigaOS style).  This
proved impossible to duplicate with the KDE 4.7.
You can make a new panel with your choice of Default
with the menu icon and a few widgets running Task
Manager and Desktop chooser or Empty.   You can put it
at the top or bottom of the Desktop but it seems the
capacity to have a task bar on the side is absent.
     In either environment it was possible to rotate the
screen but when I connected my 32" TV monitor it
could only use a rather small resolution.   But when
I rebooted after playing with the switches my Desktop
came up in 1920 x 1080.
     KDE 4.7 is a clear winner despite it loss of adaptability
to the users whim.