Tuesday 1 June 2010

E17 review

Enlightenment has been quite interesting to me. It has not even got a beta release so far yet I like to use it. That is because, it does things differently. It is very efficient, keeps the CPU far more cooler than any other desktop environment, has nice effects already built-in, and is far snappier than most mainstream desktop environments [I am not interested in comparisions here; so I won't point to any other desktop environment in particular.].

However, there still are some issues [Actually, when you install E17 and read the about dialog, they clearly acknowledge that it is under "heavy development"]. I would like enumerate a few of them here. These are the ones that have concerned me recently while trying to make E17 my regular desktop environment.

#1. emacs bottom-line problem
Well with auto-hide on, the emacs bottom line goes below the screen. Have a look.
I would rather have it as follows:
I have started a thread in their developer mailing list about this. Apparently, the issue isn't a serious one.

#2. no create file option in file manager
Well the file manager is good; but not good enough at this stage. It open C source files in read only mode in emacs, which I don't like. It does not have options to create new files yet.
I hope this will be fixed soon.

#3. keystroke problem
This was a strange problem I noticed recently in E17. Well I guess the best way to put it is through an example. Suppose I am using chromium. I have multiple tabs opened. After some time, all of a sudden Ctrl+L does not respond. I any streamed video has taken focus. If so, I click outside the streaming video frame and try again. However, no response again. I click on the URL bar and press delete or backspace to clear the field and enter the new URL. No response. Well basically, with some apps, suddenly keystrokes do not get passed to the apps [There could be alternate explanations.]. I am clueless with this issue.

4. with streaming videos temp rises very fast
While watching online streaming videos, I have noticed the temperature suddenly shooting up very fast. With temperatures around 40-50, its fine; but when it rises till 60 it becomes alarming. This isn't very serious though as the temp falls down after streaming; though at a much slower speed.

Overall, E17 is nice. It is nice to note that E17 keeps with latest development in software. For now, it is bleeding edge; however I suggest give it a shot before believing anything about it. Its a nice experience.

10 comments:

Wido said...

"4. with streaming videos temp rises very fast
While watching online streaming videos, I have noticed the temperature suddenly shooting up very fast. With temperatures around 40-50, its fine; but when it rises till 60 it becomes alarming..."

and.....why is this an E's problem??? I'm an E17 daily user, but video streaming has anything to do with E or EFL

Anonymous said...

This is not a "review" and shouldn't pretend to be. This is almost NO information here for someone wanting to learn about E17. This is just a gripe about a few bugs (or PEBKAC's as the case may be). Call it "E17 bugs that annoy me", or something else honest: "E17 Review" gets picked up by Google etc. and then people wanting to learn about E17 are directed to this instead.

Phoenix said...

@Wido: Well this does not happen on KDE 4 on the same system. Initially, I also thought E should not have anything to do with streaming videos; however since it became E17 specific, though I do not have the missing link, I can not help but doubt.

Phoenix said...

@Anonymous; I did not a tutorial that you start looking forward to learning something. I do not understand why people try to learn from reviews. If you want to learn about E17, go to their wiki page.

Unknown said...

I use E17 on my main workstation and on my netbook. I have not encountered the keystroke problem. I do not watch streaming video very often so I cannot comment on the high temp problem. I do not use EMAC's, so again I cannot comment. I am very happy with E17.

scottiger said...

Regarding #3: could be that you are switching desktops. This happens to me a lot. When I switch desktops, the window in the new desktop that is under the mouse does not obtain focus, even though it appears to. Alt+tab fixes the problem. Of course, this is a bug.

Alex, e17 user

Phoenix said...

@swiftnet: When as long as I haven't traced the root of the problem, I can't comment. That is why I said I am clueless. For now, it appears to be related to E17.

@Alex: Well is there a bug report filed about it?

Anonymous said...

@Phoenix

Really this isn't a review, this is way too short for it.
Just mentioned a few things you don't like.
You did not mention ONE THING about what they do differently. Or what Enlightment 17 is build with.
Seriously, change the name.

Phoenix said...

@Anonymous: Well the reason this blog is short is that I didn't want to repeat things I have already blogged about. So, I have just included a link to my previous blogs that talk about Enlightenment. I think that suffices to make it a review and thus the name.

Inversiones en oro said...

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