this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2026
240 points (96.9% liked)
Linux
11278 readers
260 users here now
A community for everything relating to the GNU/Linux operating system (except the memes!)
Also, check out:
Original icon base courtesy of lewing@isc.tamu.edu and The GIMP
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
This is mean-spirited. Someone created something that they like and shared it with others, and people (who are clearly not the intended audience), are taking a big public dump on it.
I didn't like the Windows 8 start menu, but attacking someone who did like it and who is sharing how to experience the same thing on Linux, is pretty dickish IMO.
That's one of the aspects I like from Linux: The ability to make the desktop your own. And, like you, I'll defend that preference and choice regardless of how terrible it is ;)
Sometimes for no apparent reason I will reconfigure my desktop to look like an old OS (Workbench, MacOS, OS/2, etc..)
100% this.
Every time I try a new distro I spend 1-3 hours messing around with the settings, themes, and widgets to get things exactly the way I want it. This is why Linux rocks.
I am not a developer, but I can only imagine how demotivating it would be if I were to put in the effort to develop a layout I like, share it with other people, and then encounter a post like this.
Most opinionated people hated the Appearance Manager in MacOS, but for me it was a huge highlight of running that OS, with a dear preference towards "Drawing Board".
There's a mockup that mocks me as I do really wish this could be done: https://www.pling.com/p/1219916
And then Apple decided to close down any tweaking and convert it into a single look because the great leader wanted uniformity and some brand bs: https://www.wired.com/2002/10/the-mac-os-that-cant-be-tweaked/ - paywall
Workbench? How does one go about doing this, I'd love to feel like I was on an Amiga again lol
e: also is there a way to make my shell look like the commodore 64 blue screen
You will have to submit to XFCE, I have it as a spare when I feel nostalgic from my daily DE (KVM).
Icons are.. hard to accomplish:
There are a couple of png libraries out there, so it is possible to recreate either the 3.5 or posterior looks, however the older workbench with its lovely drawers and different sized icons is something I haven't achieved.
You can still pick a modern DE, add png icons to the desktop and recreate something like this without the filesystem navigation (or prefs):
(I found interesting the lower bar with the nextstep-like icons, though this was on 1994 so..)
AmigaOS is still available and able to run all your Linux favourite applications as well as 'classic Amiga software', except of course it requires you to be running a PPC processor. Plus it costs money. So you'd have to invest £lots in 'most of a new PC' to see whether it even works for you.
Now, if we could open-source it and get it running on x64, I'd love to be running workbench again. It was ahead of its time.
https://amigaos.net/
Or you could just chuck AROS on a bootable thumbdrive.
I have my old Amiga hard drive image with Workbench 3.9, and sometimes start it up in an emulator ... it doesn't take me long to remember that guis have come a long way since the Amiga was relevant :-/
The windows 8 start menu could be dope if you took the time to theme it like we did with windows of yesteryear.
My start menu was customized for the things I wanted, steam quick launch links that looked like steam big picture links.
It was clunky at first and quite the change from the normal start menu … but MacOS JUST ditched its full screen “start menu” and gnome still has one
Duality of Linux community. On the one hand people can be extremely helpful and nice; I'm way more likely to find a solution to a problem, niche or otherwise, for a Linux system than Windows. On the other hand the community can be unbearably toxic and gatekeep like no other.
My feeling so far is that there are few meaningful generationalizations that can actually made about the online Linux community. It's a very diverse set of individuals. To me the gatekeeping elitists seem more like a vocal minority, but I'm sure that varies a lot by distribution and forum.
The main thing I encountered has been gatekeeping the OS itself. I.e. you have to be a Linux nerd/expert to be allowed to use Linux. I personally haven't seen that type of gatekeeping for other OSes. It's literally just an OS. There are dozens of distros one can choose from. There's something for everyone. I'm sure it's just a vocal minority, but they do exist.
I've pretty much seen the opposite. Windows fanboys love to come up with excuses for why they COULDNT POSSIBLY switch to Linux but most of the Linux users I've seen are constantly trying to convince people that it's NOT that intimidating and that you DON'T need to be a super genius or nerd to use it.
Lmao, you must be new to the linux community.
That's like the main linux nerds do