@ChampagneSupernovaX apple only grants VPN entitlement signatures to app store apps, you can't self-distribute notarized VPN apps. the only way you can get app store apps is with an Apple ID, even free ones.

thus, no ID, no NetworkExtension entitlement signatures. period.

want anonymity via a VPN? show ID.

@sneak basically facepalm

@scops linux desktop environments are ugly trash

@scops and also won't run at all on the fastest CPU in this building

@sneak than you need another computer/CPU x) all i want to say is; your (still) _have_ the choice.

@scops i have a lot of computers and cpus, at least 100 in this lab. that doesn't change the fact that linux won't run on the fastest cpu in this building.

@sneak it depends on what one prefer... :) if you like macOS, Elementary OS comes close for example. But yeah, i got your point ;)

@sneak Yes, Ubuntu is ugly, but I must agree with @scops, there are some beautiful #GNULinux distros out there.

If you end up using #Manjaro. I helped develop a GTK CSS file that improves the bottom panel.

https://forum.xfce.org/viewtopic.php?pid=59790#p59790

I also started a topic about blocking tech giants using data they provide. If someone is able to develop a script that automatically edits the hosts.txt file and the firewall (#pihole?) then you'll hardly need worry about surveillance 👌

https://forum.xfce.org/viewtopic.php?id=14353

@juliank @scops i've never seen a linux DE that wasn't ugly, in any environment or on any distro.

@sneak @juliank the thing is; on linux (or BSD,...) you can define it yourself. just puzzle your DE you like. the possibilities are nearly endless. but yes, it (maybe) takes time and you need the knowledge to do it... but the distros are only "start points" - if you want.

@sneak @scops Manjaro is almost perfect, it comes with a slick flaticon pack for thousands of apps, called #Papirus.
https://github.com/PapirusDevelopmentTeam/papirus-icon-theme

After improving the bottom panel with my CSS. The only thing that's a bit odd looking in my opinion is the 'Whisker menu' (aka 'Activities menu'/'Start menu' if you are a windows user). I've already made it known on the Xfce forum, that one of my interests will be in improving the CSS for that menu also, but I'm fairly picky 😅 , it's actually awesome.

@juliank @scops it takes about a billion dollars more than "nice icon bitmaps" to make a DE not ugly

@sneak @juliank yeah... the "ugliness" is also not a UI thing exclusively... it's also how apps/services works together and how their UX is designed. i know why macOS - i use it since 10.0 - is _not_ ugly. but for me i take some downsides and pay with my time to make linux less ugly for me as replacement for macOS in the future *waiting for hardware* *still using macOS 14.x* ;)

@scops @sneak Yes UI/UX are hugely important.

To improve the functionality of the launcher icons (aka pinned apps) in the bottom panel, ToZ on the forums, with some suggestions from me, was able to develop something that I've found to be super functional.

https://forum.xfce.org/viewtopic.php?id=6168&p=2

There are a couple other weird issues, like the need to make the Date/Time settings easier to locate.

Instructions in the next toot

/1

@scops @sneak

On #Manjaro #Xfce the Date Time settings are strangely difficult to find.

- How I solve this is in the Whisker menu type 'Manj'. An application called "Manjaro Settings Manager" should appear.

- Right-click the program and select Edit Application...

- To the 'Name' field, add "(Date/Time included)".

Now try searching for 'Time' or 'Date' and the correct application should appear in the list.

@sneak @scops For sure, and those icons can be used on any GNULinux tbh.

I've found Xfce to be a lot snappier and nicer to use than any OS I've used in the past. I've also successfully on-boarded people to it, and they love it. In the "speak-aloud" user tests I've done they have had a really positive reaction to it.

Just don't dismiss it until you have a proper look at it.

@juliank @sneak it depends what one wants. i dont like the flat look for example. ... if flat then LCARS - or something like Sailfish OS. imho.

@scops @sneak The #Papirus is simply a better alternative to the often fugly icons that plague open source software, but I agree there may be other ways to improve it.

@scops all other browsers that show the full hostname are slower than this one, so my options are functional xor fast.

@sneak i wonder what browsers you have/use and what pages you visit... i use firefox with ublock origin (and others with custom configuration files) and don't have performance issues. Yeah, chrome or safari would be maybe faster, but it doesn't matter in daily usage for me. At work (fullstack webdev) i use chromium - because chrome is used by most users of my employer - and there i see the whole url for example.

@scops firefox is spyware

@sneak same as on linux; if you don't like certain stuff; disable it; https://github.com/arkenfox/user.js

@scops i disable it by not running firefox

@sneak and you use... links2?