Make Linux Mint Look & Feel Like Windows 2

[1DMF]

Hi,

I thought it would be possible to skin LinuxMint to look and work roughly like windows, but I seem to be stumped.

Having looked into this, it seems 'Plymouth' is just a boot screen, so no help with the actual desktop and user interaction.

I have tried :

http://www.securitronlinux.com/linu...w-to-make-linux-look-like-vista-or-windows-7/

But it seems the Vistar7 theme doesn't actually work properly, a load of icons are missing, the ones that aren't only look similar to Windows 7.

It also only installs for a user 'vistar7', so no good to actually apply to a real user and there is a caveat not to actually use it as it's not supported and it's just a bit of fun.

I also installed the vista icon theme, but it barley alters any icons and kickoff (start menu) , system tray etc all look exactly the same as it does under LinuxMint default theme.

So does a fully working KDE windows skin / theme actually exist?

All input appreciated.
1DMF

"In complete darkness we are all the same, it is only our knowledge and wisdom that separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!"
Free Electronic Dance Music

 

[ChrisHirst]

Have a look at [link=http://kde-look.org/]KDE Look[/url] there is probably one that will get close.

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Time flies like an arrow, however, fruit flies like a banana.
Webmaster Forum

 

[1DMF]

I got to page 30 and have given up.

Half are junk, just wallpapers, or only make the command box (close, minimise etc.) or other such nonsense looks like windows 7, the rest is Linux?

Loads have invalid download links, the most promising ones turn out are for Cinnamon or Gnome NOT KDE!

Quite a lot, looking at the screen shots were clearly put together by someone who has never owned or even seen a windows operating system, it's ridiculous!

Making windows appear transparent through each other doesn't not constitute as being a windows look-a-like.

If I put boot polish on my face , that doesn't make me look like Will Smith!

I even found what I thought looked very promising :

http://kde-look.org/content/show.php/Windows+7+KDE+Transformation?content=111800

Then the downloads are just screen shots, HUH? - What's the point of putting up a 'I made a Win 7 KDE theme' , 'but you can only have pictures of my screen'.

The most recent KDE themes are for Windows 8? Windows 8 is the reason I'm looking at Linux in the first place, I certainly don't want Linux to look, work or be anything like Windows 8.

Maybe I'm missing something, I can't quite work out what a theme for a theme means (if that's what they are?), it seems some are for emerald, but I can't find an emerald, what is emerald, where is emerald?

Thanks,
1DMF




"In complete darkness we are all the same, it is only our knowledge and wisdom that separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!"
Free Electronic Dance Music

 

[ChrisHirst]

Have you tried MATE with 'Taqua' selected from the standard themes?

System -> Preferences -> Appearance -> Customise

or LXDE with xfce-curve

Preferences -> Customise Look and Feel -> Widget tab
nuoveXT 2.2 Icon theme
DMZ (Black) for Cursors

Those are what I usually set when giving "Unbelievers" a 'go' on my laptop, and they are close enough to mean they don't get confused, and different enough to for them to realise they aren't in Kansas anymore.

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Time flies like an arrow, however, fruit flies like a banana.
Webmaster Forum

 

[1DMF]

Well to be honest I'm only bias towards the KDE desktop as it's the first Linus distribution I found to work across vendors, be it Kubuntu, LinuxMint KDE or even Debian 7 KDE, the KDE desktop version of Linux has always worked for me. You can check out my new found journey into Linux via

http://www.catalystframework.org/calendar/2013/18

If I can find another desktop GUI that enables me to mask Linux as a Windows desktop, then I'm desperate to give it a go, this would give me the biggest opportunity to move away from the Windows desktop OS, while keeping the end user in an environment they are familiar with and used to.

I like KDE and I clearly express that having personally tried XCFE, I prefer KDE, but I understand basic OS GUI's, my users still stares blank when I try to explain the difference between the task bar and the system tray!

However I care nothing about the underlying desktop GUI engine, all I want is it to look like Windows to my users, so I can wean them off M$ and start spending more time & money on in-house software development instead of bullshit M$ OS licensing, and constant maintenance plus support!

Suggestions welcome!

1DMF



"In complete darkness we are all the same, it is only our knowledge and wisdom that separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!"
Free Electronic Dance Music

 

[ChrisHirst]

when I try to explain the difference between the task bar and the system tray

Oh yes, even saying "It's the bit between the clock and the "Start" button" often gets the response of "what clock"?

It always makes me wonder how some of them actually manage to read their emails, then there is the; "What browser do you use"? Which gets a reply of: "What's a browser"?

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Time flies like an arrow, however, fruit flies like a banana.
Webmaster Forum

 

[1DMF]

You're not kidding. Just trying to explain the difference between Windows Explorer vs. Internet Explorer is soul destroying, then to make things worse dumbass M$ keep changing the freaking name!





"In complete darkness we are all the same, it is only our knowledge and wisdom that separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!"
Free Electronic Dance Music

 

[mikrom]

Have you tried any distribution with LXDE ? IMO it's very similar to windows.
I have tried Lubuntu - but unfortunately, it does not offer a Long Term Support release (LTS) at this time.

When searching for a Linux distribution, Windows look-and-feel for me is less important as other criteria - namely:
* It should be a main stream distribution with big user community
* It should offer Long Term Support (LTS) releases

Until now my serious candidates are:
Ubuntu/Xubuntu/Kubuntu LTS (12.04), Linux Mint 13 Maya LTS, CentOS 6.5 (or maybe Oracle Linux R6U5)

I have tried BSD system too and I'm impressed by PC-BSD and DesktopBSD...

The choice isn't easy, because there are so many distros. Windows look-and-feel is for me not important, bacause IMO I have to learn best practices for working in the new environment.

 

[mikrom]

Today I have read about Zorin OS. I have not tried it yet, but it should be designed for windows users:

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=zorin

http://zorin-os.com/index.html

 

[mikrom]

I forgot to give link n this article

http://www.pcworld.com/article/258219/new_to_linux_zorin_os_6_makes_the_transition_easy.html

 

[1DMF]

Making it look and feel like windows is only the start!

The biggest single obstacle with Windows -> Linux migration for your average user is case sensitivity!

Is there a way of turning it off in Linux?

I will check out this Zorin OS and let you know what I think, if it's based on Ubuntu, as is Mint, then they are all Debian based, so at least I am familiar with the syntax.

I love the article's main premise

As the dawn of the Windows 8 era approaches, there are more reasons than ever for longtime Windows users to consider switching to Linux.

Phew, I thought it was just me who felt like that!

"In complete darkness we are all the same, it is only our knowledge and wisdom that separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!"
Free Electronic Dance Music

 

[mikrom]

The biggest single obstacle with Windows -> Linux migration for your average user is case sensitivity!
Is there a way of turning it off in Linux?

If you mean the case sensitivity of command, then you cannnot turn if off.
It's like with programming languages, some are case sensitive and other not.

Zorin OS ... if it's based on Ubuntu ...

Yes it's based on Ubuntu and has LTS too.

 

[1DMF]

If you mean the case sensitivity of command, then you cannnot turn if off.

Well it's folder and filenames that's going to do everyone's head in, but I didn't think I could make it non-case sensitive.



"In complete darkness we are all the same, it is only our knowledge and wisdom that separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!"
Free Electronic Dance Music

 

[1DMF]

I've installed Zorin, and am notimpressed.

OK the start menu is a little like Win 7, but that's about it, their start button icon looks like a 5 year old made it.

The system tray is awful, why is the username taking up most of the space, and how do you even edit the system tray?

I can't even connect to a windows share via SMB. In Linux Mint it has worked first time every time, I went round in circles trying to find how you even add a network share in Zorin , when I found the option it refuses to accept my network password?

Browse network takes ages and finally when I see the domain, clicking on it throws up some error about unable to read the share list!

OK, it does come with WINE per-installed, but then that keeps erroring when trying to get Office 2010 installed. It claims there is a WINE update, but WINE doesn't have an update option that I can find and the standard OS update manager, isn't offering me anything.

I think I'll try Mint again with a different desktop engine and see if I can find a better Win 7 theme.

Any suggestions which skins better MATE or XFCE ?



"In complete darkness we are all the same, it is only our knowledge and wisdom that separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!"
Free Electronic Dance Music

 

[ChrisHirst]

Actually it is not Linux/Unix that is case sensitive, it is the filing system being used, Linux with FAT/FAT32 can be just as insensitive as Windows (the word 'case' missed out deliberately) FAT being case preseving not case sensitive.

NTFS is case sensitive but the Windows core systems is designed to be case insensitive.

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Time flies like an arrow, however, fruit flies like a banana.
Webmaster Forum

 

[1DMF]

? you've lost me Chris.

The install formats the drive and I don't get to choose FAT/NTFS, is this an install option I was not aware of?

Basically I would like Linux to see...

Chris.txt
chris.txt
chrIS.txt
chriS.txt
chris.TXT

etc... to all be the same file, do I simply need to find a way of installing Linux on NTFS to achieve this?

"In complete darkness we are all the same, it is only our knowledge and wisdom that separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!"
Free Electronic Dance Music

 

[ChrisHirst]

Like Windows7 or 8 You can't install the OS on a FAT drive, that has to be on EXT but you can partition the drive during installation and have a data partition that can be formatted to FAT. You obviously lose out on the file security and the 'journaling' of EXTn but the data files will be case insensitive.

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Time flies like an arrow, however, fruit flies like a banana.
Webmaster Forum

 

[mikrom]

Any suggestions which skins better MATE or XFCE ?

I tried Linux Mint with Cinnamon and Mate. Cinnamon seems to be main stream supported environment - IMO better choice.
I tried XFCE only with Ubuntu i.e. Xubuntu and I like it. I will try Mint with XFCE too.
Now I'm trying Ubuntu and Mint witk KDE.

 

[1DMF]

OK, yes , I am trialling all the flavours of Mint - My personal favourite is Mint KDE, which I use to run my devel environment at home.

I meant which version has someone managed to mimic windows best / easiest with.

I'm currently VMing Cinnamon and will try the thread I found on the community.

I tried the walkthough on MATE, but it was driving me nuts. I can't work out how to open 'file manager' (caja) in SU reliably to be able to create the folder in /lib/Plymouth let alone get it installed.

Plus the right mouse click functionality in MATE is mindboggling, at first I was right clicking as I would in windows and before I knew it I had 10 Terminal windows open (all I wanted was the context menu to select 'paste'), I finally realised I had to hold the right mouse to keep the menu open, otherwise it just auto selects the first item. Very bizarre behaviour for a windows user!

I'm sure there are a more settings than I can shake a stick at, I was just hoping for a less time consuming migration!

I may have better luck with Cinnamon, but at first glance it looks suspiciously like MATE, so this could be a long night!

"In complete darkness we are all the same, it is only our knowledge and wisdom that separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!"
Free Electronic Dance Music

 

[1DMF]

Well, I give up!

I've tried this several times :

http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/1173

I cannot get Plymouth to work nor the start menu.

I have the icons / cursors, task bar all working, but that's all!

Plus this Cinnamon x86 on 1GB ram and 1 processor, is a little slow.

"In complete darkness we are all the same, it is only our knowledge and wisdom that separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!"
Free Electronic Dance Music