Netbook: What OS for 2014?

[Torn Mind]

Well, they did abandon the advanced technologies known as right click and desktop icons.

I had Debian installed on a Toshiba NB505 netbook. GNOME 2 worked really well with the hardware then and pretty much "intuitive". Then GNOME 3 came along and my sister was going "what the hell". I too didn't know what exactly was I supposed to do to access the menus and apps. Had to switch over to XFCE, which I didn't like as much as GNOME 2. As far as UI changes go, I consider that to be MUCH WORSE than going for XP or 7 to Windows 8.

 

[mfenn]

I had Debian installed on a Toshiba NB505 netbook. GNOME 2 worked really well with the hardware then and pretty much "intuitive". Then GNOME 3 came along and my sister was going "what the hell". I too didn't know what exactly was I supposed to do to access the menus and apps. Had to switch over to XFCE, which I didn't like as much as GNOME 2. As far as UI changes go, I consider that to be MUCH WORSE than going for XP or 7 to Windows 8.

Try MATE, it's basically a fork of GNOME 2 dedicated to keeping the same look and feel while updating to newer libraries.

 

[Torn Mind]

Try MATE, it's basically a fork of GNOME 2 dedicated to keeping the same look and feel while updating to newer libraries.

I knew of MATE since it first came out, but Debian was slow to add it to the repos and I hardly use it myself anymore; my sister uses it almost exclusively. Since I installed the apps via meta-package when first setting up that netbook, uninstalling GNOME will give me a massive headache.

 

[mfenn]

I knew of MATE since it first came out, but Debian was slow to add it to the repos and I hardly use it myself anymore; my sister uses it almost exclusively. Since I installed the apps via meta-package when first setting up that netbook, uninstalling GNOME will give me a massive headache.

MATE takes pains to not conflict with GNOME names, so you should be able to install them side-by-side. Just choose the desktop environment that you want when you log in.