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View Full Version : What was 1st ever Linux GUI desktop enviroment ?



asifnaz
December 15th, 2011, 07:25 AM
I had listen about Linux OS during my 11th grade computer science class in 2001 . The picture we were shown was a CLI desktop .

At that time we were using windows 2000 so I had no interest to install a DOS-like OS on my expensive PC .

I am very curious to know ..

What was Desktop Linux for a common user back in 2001

and what was first few GUI DEs for Linux and in what year ( I will appreciate if you could provide pics or links )

papibe
December 15th, 2011, 08:29 AM
Before there was Linux, there was the X Windows System (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_windows). I remember using it over SunOS (Unix) in the late 80s.

I believe Linux started to use the first open source ports (XFree86) around early to mid 90s.

By the 2001, there were both KDE and Gnome desktops (both on top of X Windows). Check this history in screenshots (http://zebardast.wordpress.com/2008/02/02/kde-history-in-screenshots/) of KDE. For Gnome check the screenshots linked in this page (http://xwinman.org/gnome.php).

This (http://whiteandnoisy.org/linux.html) is also an interesting reading about the history of GUI on Linux.

Kind Regards.

lukeiamyourfather
December 15th, 2011, 08:53 AM
I tinkered with Mandrake (now Mandriva) circa 2000 when I was in high school which was my first experience with Linux. It had the first version of KDE if I recall. I found it to be quite unpleasant at the time and didn't give Linux another try until around 2005 with Ubuntu. I didn't know the difference between all the desktop environments but I found GNOME to be much more likable (but didn't know it was called GNOME).

Mandrake circa 2000 - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Mandrake-7.2.png
Ubuntu Circa 2005 - http://www.winsupersite.com/content/content/127225/reviews/ubuntu_02.jpg

Now having used Linux on a regular basis for years I find myself using the command line interface multiple times a day and find the desktop interface to be less important. I suppose this will be different for every user depending on what they will be doing with the system. By the way, papibe, thanks for sharing those links!

asifnaz
December 15th, 2011, 09:14 AM
Before there was Linux, there was the X Windows System (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_windows). I remember using it over SunOS (Unix) in the late 80s.

I believe Linux started to use the first open source ports (XFree86) around early to mid 90s.

By the 2001, there were both KDE and Gnome desktops (both on top of X Windows). Check this history in screenshots (http://zebardast.wordpress.com/2008/02/02/kde-history-in-screenshots/) of KDE. For Gnome check the screenshots linked in this page (http://xwinman.org/gnome.php).

This (http://whiteandnoisy.org/linux.html) is also an interesting reading about the history of GUI on Linux.

Kind Regards.
Its very informative . Now I wonder why Linux is displayed as CLI until very recently .

Many of people are scared to try Linux because they still think it is CLI OS

Paqman
December 15th, 2011, 09:48 AM
Many of people are scared to try Linux because they still think it is CLI OS

That's because the overwhelming majority of Linux systems are just that. Desktop machines are a pretty small slice of the Linux pie.

asifnaz
December 15th, 2011, 10:02 AM
That's because the overwhelming majority of Linux systems are just that. Desktop machines are a pretty small slice of the Linux pie.

I think you are talking about servers . Most of the people have seen servers running Linux and of course with CLI

Lars Noodén
December 15th, 2011, 10:25 AM
I didn't start using Linux until 1997 at work. There we were using FVWM which I had first seen in the mid-1990's on other systems. So FVWM was one of the first. You can install it or a modded version, FVWM-crystal, to see what it is like. It is fast and clean.

guyver_dio
December 15th, 2011, 10:50 AM
Many of people are scared to try Linux because they still think it is CLI OS

It's still not a total graphical interface yet, meaning you can't do everything through the graphical interface. Most windows and apple users wouldn't know what a command or terminal window is or looks like but no matter what linux distro you have you still can't escape using the terminal for some things. All linux users will have to open the terminal at some point, I think that alone is a deal breaker for most people.

asifnaz
December 15th, 2011, 11:09 AM
It's still not a total graphical interface yet, meaning you can't do everything through the graphical interface. Most windows and apple users wouldn't know what a command or terminal window is or looks like but no matter what linux distro you have you still can't escape using the terminal for some things. All linux users will have to open the terminal at some point, I think that alone is a deal breaker for most people.

You are right . When I installed Ubuntu 10.04 (My first Linux experience ever ) . I had some issues I joined these forums and as for solution .They said open Terminal and type such .

I asked "what is terminal " they mentioned it was a CLI console I was scared like hell asking, " do I need to work in command line..?

But now I prefer CLI over GUI when it comes to fix certain things and help others

3rdalbum
December 15th, 2011, 11:09 AM
It's still not a total graphical interface yet, meaning you can't do everything through the graphical interface.

You can't on Windows or Mac OS either.

With Linux, it's pretty rare to actually need the terminal; most of the time you only really need it for fixing problems, and occasionally installing an obscure piece of software or driver that does not come pre-compiled.

Windows and Mac OS require terminal use for those tasks too.

lukeiamyourfather
December 15th, 2011, 11:27 AM
I think you are talking about servers . Most of the people have seen servers running Linux and of course with CLI

I often use Linux related to work. At one location there were over 800 machines in the building and 95% of those machines were running Linux in the datacenter where there was only a single monitor on a cart just for troubleshooting. What's the point of having a graphical interface if nobody uses it? The majority of machines that have Linux installed are probably in a similar deployment.

Like Paqman has said, the desktop and consumer use of Linux is a very small portion of the overall ecosystem of Linux. There's also probably some bias in the materials you have in school. For example most "Introduction To Computers" courses are really just a course about Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office. If they took the time to dedicate more than just half a page about Linux (and half of that half page is a picture of a terminal) then people might get a better understanding of what else is out there.

szymon_g
December 15th, 2011, 12:25 PM
i believe it was CDE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Desktop_Environment closed source, commercial DE.
ugly like hell: only in 2000's DE for unixes/linux became usable and good looking.

forrestcupp
December 15th, 2011, 01:20 PM
Its very informative . Now I wonder why Linux is displayed as CLI until very recently .

Many of people are scared to try Linux because they still think it is CLI OS

Paqman was right about the majority of Linux use being for servers. But unfortunately, CLI is also still the stereotype. People still believe that Linux is command line because they remember hearing about that command line OS 15 years ago, and they just haven't cared to keep up with its progress. It's almost like me remembering when I bought my first x86 based computer that ran MS-DOS and thinking that Microsoft still puts out DOS based OSs.

A few years ago, I was telling an IT computer "expert" that I use Linux. He said that he's not into command line operating systems. I told him I'm not either.

rsvancara
December 15th, 2011, 02:34 PM
Since you are talking at a "desktop" environment instead of a window manager, I would have to say gnome or kde where you actually had an integrated file browser, window management and other desktop functionality.

---------------
http://www.knowyourlinux.com/ (http://knowyourlinux.com/content/ssh-rest-us)

3Miro
December 15th, 2011, 03:32 PM
Form the current ones, KDE is the oldest, winning by a few months over XFCE. Gnome comes about a year or so later. LXDE is of course very new.

There have been windows managers before KDE, however, I am not sure how many other applications you have to add to a WM to make it into a DE.

asifnaz
December 15th, 2011, 03:43 PM
A few years ago, I was telling an IT computer "expert" that I use Linux. He said that he's not into command line operating systems. I told him I'm not either.

:)

As I told a person ,who is a computers science teacher (assuming he must have some know how )

but his response was :" Linux is a command line OS and very difficult to use"

Primefalcon
December 15th, 2011, 03:52 PM
LXDE is of course very new.
Yeah but it's also sitting on open box which is again very old, which was itself built on blackbox

grahammechanical
December 15th, 2011, 03:59 PM
Am I the only person who sees this observation that Linux is perceived as a Command Line OS as an argument in favour of the development of Unity and Gnome shell?

Regards.

N00b-un-2
December 15th, 2011, 04:00 PM
(but didn't know it was called GNOME).


@Lukeiamyourfather - not to be condescending especially if you already know this but I wondered about the same exact thing when I first adopted Ubuntu myself! In all my searching including on GNOME's offical website and Ubuntu's documentation I never once came across a definition for GNOME, but when I was doing some research for a paper on the history of Linux, I came to find out that GNOME is an acronym for "GNU Network Object Model Environment".
Also, I learned that both the G in GNU and the K in KDE both have absolutely NO significance whatsoever, except that they can both be silent when placed at the beginning of a word. GNU is a term created by Linux Godfather Richard Stallman which literally stands for "GNU is Not UNIX" and is pronounced like "new", a play on words. GNU is a recursive acronym, a type of inside joke that have a long standing tradition with *NIX hackers that dates back to the dawn of computer language (another prime example of a recursive acronym would "LAME" which stands for "LAME Ain't an MP3 Encoder"). The K in KDE also has no significance, except that K can be used interchangeably for the purpose of grammatical pronunciation with the letter C in many instances, and KDE was initially conceived as a FOSS alternative to the UNIX CDE (Common Desktop Environment).

asifnaz
December 15th, 2011, 04:33 PM
"GNU is Not UNIX" and is pronounced like "new",

Well I do agree with most of you said but GNU is pronounced as "GNU" G is not silent .

I suggest you to watch movie "Revolution OS " where RSM himself pronouncing it as GNU

Primefalcon
December 15th, 2011, 04:34 PM
And another would be wine as in wine is not an emulator

N00b-un-2
December 15th, 2011, 04:35 PM
Really!? I got some bad information then! I'll be sure to get a copy of that movie and watch it!

N00b-un-2
December 15th, 2011, 04:36 PM
And another would be wine as in wine is not an emulator

True, its a compatibility layer which translates windows byte code into something readable by the Linux system. but that's neither here nor there:D

asifnaz
December 15th, 2011, 05:01 PM
Really!? I got some bad information then! I'll be sure to get a copy of that movie and watch it!

you can watch full movie here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDQeAh57dQ4

ikt
December 15th, 2011, 06:46 PM
What was Desktop Linux for a common user back in 2001

->

http://distrowatch.com/index.php?dataspan=2002

1 Mandrake 473
2 Red Hat 453
3 Gentoo 326
4 Debian 311

->

http://www.theosfiles.com/os_linux/ospg_Linux_Mandriva.htm

27-Dep-2001 Linux-Mandrake 8.1 Available
14-Oct-2003 Linux Mandrake 9.2 Released

->

http://mirror.cc.columbia.edu/pub/linux/mandriva/official/iso/9.2/i586/

Earliest version still available is 9.2

->

Virtualbox:
http://ikt.id.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/mandriva1.png
http://ikt.id.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/mandriva2.png

That's about as close as I could get in 5 minutes

N00b-un-2
December 15th, 2011, 06:56 PM
Just watched Revolution OS. Very interesting and informative look at the explosive history of Linux. However, the awful song at the end made me want to stab myself in the eardrums

forrestcupp
December 15th, 2011, 09:54 PM
:)

As I told a person ,who is a computers science teacher (assuming he must have some know how )

but his response was :" Linux is a command line OS and very difficult to use"Hmmm. I just told you that I use Linux, and you're trying to let me know that it's hard to use? ... :confused:


Well I do agree with most of you said but GNU is pronounced as "GNU" G is not silent .

I suggest you to watch movie "Revolution OS " where RSM himself pronouncing it as GNURight. RMS doesn't just pronounce it that way, but he has actually stated that it is pronounced "guh-new". Since he created it, I guess he probably knows. ;)