Is Knoppix ugly?

[UnderScore]

Why is knoppix still ugly?
My gripe is with the poor choice visual interface defaults that the Knoppix devs has made in regards to KDE. I am not asking for super-shaded drop shadow eye-candy superkaramba goodness as the KDE default. I just want a Knoppix default that I would not feel embarassed to hand out to friends & family.

Compare their default screens Knoppix 3.6 (KDE 3.2.3) (http://shots.osdir.com/slideshows/167/5.gif) versus Knoppix 3.9 (KDE 3.4.0) (http://www.virtualacuity.com/james/knoppix-other/snap1.png)
Not so good.

Compare Knoppix to itself
Knoppix 3.6 (KDE 3.2.3) (http://shots.osdir.com/slideshows/167/38.gif) vs Knoppix 3.9 (KDE 3.4.0) (http://www.virtualacuity.com/james/knoppix-other/snap2.png)


Compare Knoppix's KDE Control Center to others
Klax (KDE 3.4.1) (http://shots.osdir.com/slideshows/352_or/4.png) vs Knoppix 3.9 (KDE 3.4.0) (http://www.virtualacuity.com/james/knoppix-other/snap3.png) vs Suse 9.3 (KDE 3.4.0) (http://shots.osdir.com/slideshows/322_or/69.png)

More shots of ugly Knoppix 3.9
- Not a good looking desktop (http://www.virtualacuity.com/james/knoppix-other/snap4.png), transparent menus (http://www.virtualacuity.com/james/knoppix-other/snap5.png), transparent menus on top of transparent konsole (http://www.virtualacuity.com/james/knoppix-other/snap6.png)


Keramik is no longer the default style for KDE. To get Plastik for KDE 3.3.x, you would have to install the kdeartwork debian package. To get Plastik permanently you would have to install Knoppix to the HD or remaster the Knoppix CD. You do not have to install kdeartwork to get Plastik in Knoppix 3.9 because KDE 3.4.0 has the Plastik window decorations & widgets as default styles. So why is knoppix still using Keramik? Load up Knoppix 3.6 to 3.9 and you will notice a minimal of visual changes.

Notice that the fonts in Knoppix 3.9 are still ugly and harsh on the eyes. Is it too much to enable anti-aliased fonts by default? Knoppix 3.9 is still using ugly helvetica & Luciatypewriter fonts. KDE 3.4.0 uses the BitStream Vera Sans & Serif fonts by default, but again Knoppix devs seem to be ignoring it.

Some examples of older KDE 3.3.x done right:
Vector Linux (http://www.vectorlinux.com/images/vl50soho/vl5_soho_default_desktop.jpg)
Simply Mepis 3.3.1 (http://shots.osdir.com/slideshows/336_or/4.png)

Am I the only one who feels there should be a visual improvement?

[Harry Kuhman]

I hate to find fault when these are things that I'm willing to overlook, and I would much rather that priority be given to things like getting a good boot menu system and having config files work reliably. But I do have to agree with you, James, on the points that you made.

I haven't be very impressed with the 3.6, 3.7 3.8 or 3.9 desktops. I would have to go through my old CD's to get the exact versions, but there were some good desktop artwork efforts (the "cyber eye" comes to mind). I can understand contributors reluctant to put a lot of effort into such artwork though, if the desktop is going to change with each release and some releases last only a few weeks. I would be glad to see Knoppix go back to some of the older better artwork.

I don't know my way around the different KDE styles, but it does seem that things could be improved there. And have been, just not in Knoppix.

Even some of the added touches seem a bit dated. The clock in the corner looks worse in Knoppix than in any other live distro I've seen. And I've seen plenty of other distros that have some nice metering touches on the desktop that Knoppix lacks (and would benefit from).

These are little things, but they do go a long way in making a good impression on a new user. The ceiling sign didn't make much sense, and the desktop full of penguins made that version look more like a children's disc than the tool it really is.

[bigkahuna]

I think Underscore has a point and although the top priority for Knoppix (and my favorite: Kanotix) should always be functionality, it wouldn't hurt to give it a facelift.

Heck, I'll volunteer to hunt up some GPL themes, backgrounds and icon sets if the Knoppix team wants. No need to divert precious programmer time away from what's most important.

[UnderScore]

Heck, I'll volunteer to hunt up some GPL themes, backgrounds and icon sets if the Knoppix team wants. No need to divert precious programmer time away from what's most important.
I think I figured out why Knoppix 3.9 irks me. I know how to make custom Knoppix CDs and I did a whole lot of heavy lifting in figuring out how to make Knoppix 3.8.1 look good. I hate seeing my changes "get reverted back to normal" with every new Knoppix release.

I have made my own custom Knoppix 3.8.1 CD which I presented at our LUG meeting Tuesday May 10, 2005. The presentation was about making your own custom Knoppix CD (http://virtualacuity.com/james/knoppix-lilug/presentation/). The OpenOffice.org Impress slides give insight into how Knoppix works and also contains my my speaker's notes on how I made KDE GUI customizations. I changed icons, mouse cursors, wallpaper, bootlogo, splash screens, upgraded KDE from 3.3.2 to 3.4.0. If you are really interested, then you can download my custom knoppix ISO image (http://virtualacuity.com/james/knoppix-lilug/). Check out my screen shots of Knoppix 3.8.1 LILUG Edition (http://virtualacuity.com/james/knoppix-lilug/screenshots/screens.html). Compare my Knoppix customized default screen with custom welcome HTML (1024 x 768)(415 KB) against Knoppix 3.9's default screen
http://virtualacuity.com/james/knoppix-lilug/screenshots/thumbs/screen1.jpg (http://virtualacuity.com/james/knoppix-lilug/screenshots/screen1.png)

[eco2geek]

This is all subjective, of course...

I don't particularly care whether or not Knoppix uses ugly (read: non-anti-aliased) fonts by default, or transparent menus, etc. All these things can be changed. In fact, the first thing I do when running Knoppix without a persistent home (or when making a new one) is go to the Control Center and make a bunch of changes. I've done it enough times that now it only takes a few minutes.

(It is nice to finally have Plastik in there, although it is possible to make Keramik look pretty good.)

My one gripe with 3.9's cosmetics is that the latest background picture is (in my opionion) flat ugly. That's the worst one I've seen, and I've been using Knoppix since v3.1. Up until now they've been pretty good.

Maybe Klaus needs to farm out the default look 'n' feel to someone else!

[cintra]

Glad somebody else brought this up.. I've been thinking this too of late.

Both Knoppix and Kanotix have these deathly opening screens, and I was beginning to wonder if this was a German thing...

Mvh

[chris-harry]

well, it not that bad... i prefer it better then the xp layout... i cant see why people think thats cool...

but yet again, its not the best... i recon it needs to be round... soft... and tanned... if that makes any sence... but yet again, i'm not the best artist in the world....

I recon we need some theams, real theams we can relate to in life...

Like the space theam, where you have icons as supernovas, or the sun, jupiter etc... and elabourate on that.
Or B5 theam, well, we should all know what B5 can do... :D:D <--almost finished the series, and i am starting to make me own one of these, but its on Kosh (the nice one)..
Or Water, you can do alot with water... fish, a inflatable crocodile as the K menu.... :D:D <-- roar...
Or tin can...
Or windows theam <-- just have the blue screen, all windows enthusiastics will feel at home (and the bad joke of the day goes to me)

http://www.keymedia.co.uk/resources/images/accessibility.jpg

i'm being serious by the way, apart from the can. its like a theam party, and the host runs away with the theam and goes crazzy... it could be inviting...

thats just me sugestion...