Yes, you can hop over to the Software Center and install LibreOffice, but we’re looking at a Linux desktop variant that offers one of the most well designed interfaces for new users. There is no LibreOffice to be found (and with the state of Midori rendering Google Drive useless, this is an issue). In fact, the closest thing to a word processor is the Scratch text editor. Upon installation, you will find no sign of an office suite or graphics tool. Outside of a supported browser, the one area that Elementary OS needs a bit of attention is the application selection.
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Once this was done, the Chrome Download page loaded fine (from Chrome only) and Google Drive worked flawlessly. deb file for Chrome on one machine, transfer it (via USB), and then install Chrome on Elementary OS. So install Firefox through the Software Center and then download Chrome with Firefox. Every attempt to load the Chrome download page (through either Midori or Firefox) actually crashes the Freya desktop to the point where a hard restart is necessary. NOTE: If you want to install Chrome on the current Freya beta, I highly recommend against doing so. If you install either Chrome or Firefox, surprisingly enough, the design scheme holds true for both. If I want Chrome, I head over to the Chrome download location and download the installable. All I need to do is hop on over to the Software Center and install Firefox. To get around this, I must install either Chrome or Firefox. When I try to access Google Drive, I receive the warning You are using an unsupported browser. For someone like me, who depends upon Google Drive, Midori simply does not work. I get the desire to use Midori over the likes of Chrome or Firefox but the reality is that choice limits the platform in a number of ways (think supported sites). This also happens to be one area where Freya does stumble a bit.
Where Elementary OS Freya departs from Ubuntu (besides Unity) is the default applications. This also adds the Ubuntu System Settings tool, which is quite simple to use (Figure 2). With this, they receive the Ubuntu Software Center, which happens to be one of the most user-friendly package managers within the Linux ecosystem. The foundationĮlementary OS did right by choosing Ubuntu as its foundation.
Consider this:ĭo you see where that is going? With those pieces working as a cohesive unit, the Freya desktop is already light years ahead of a number of platforms. You only need scratch the surface to find out that Freya has taken hints from nearly every major interface and rolled them into a coherent whole that will please everyone. Upon installation (or loading up the live image), you are greeted with a minimalist interface that, at first glance, looks like a take on GNOME Shell with an added dock for good measure (Figure 1). This is where Freya truly nails just about every possible aspect of the desktop interface. With that said, let’s examine what it is about Elementary OS Freya that makes it, quite possibly, the most ideal Linux desktop distribution (and maybe what it could use to draw it nearer to perfection). You can download the beta here and install it alongside your current OS or as a virtual guest in VirtualBox. That being said, the beta release of Freya is rock solid. The end result is a desktop interface that anyone (and I do mean anyone) can use without hiccup.īefore I dive any further into this, I must say that Freya is still in beta (and has been for quite some time). True user-friendliness.Įlementary OS Freya takes all of the known elements of a good UI, blends them together, and doesn’t toss in anything extraneous that might throw the user for a loop. Why? Because Elementary OS Freya gets a lot of things right, including some things that other distributions have failed to bring to light. However, that mixed bag turned out to be something kind of special … something every Linux user should take notice of. What I wound up seeing didn’t disappoint on that level-it was a mixed bag of those very things. A variation of GNOME, a tweak of Xfce, a dash of OSX or some form of Windows, and the slightest hint of Chrome OS. So when I set out to start kicking the tires of Elementary OS Freya, I assumed it was going to be just another take on the same old desktop metaphors. Not a desktop interface has gone by that hasn’t, in some way, touched down before me. I’ve tried just about every flavor of Linux available.