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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Plasma. It’s the most customizable and you can dive in and shape it. It feels much more natural for me to jump into.
I put xfce on older hardware.
Distro wise I tend to go with Ubuntu flavors most because they seem to have better compatibility for various software and stuff I need, but I haven’t really shopped around too hard in years. Work is RHEL (and clones) and they make me sad.
KDE is what finally got me to switch from Windows.
Out of the box I found it a better user experience than Windows 10s desktop, but having it be stupid easy to customize and theme on top of that has made me never wanna go back.
KDE
It's like a swiss-army knife of DEs.
I try to make it look like Windows 7.
Plasma, but only on Wayland (which is better anyway unbiased opinion).
Xfce. It's lightweight and looks great with a little bit of customisation. For me it's the perfect balance between performance, usability and looks
KDE
XFCE. It's just so easy to click and drag things where I want them and edit icons to be uniform.
Have you tried testing out DE in a virtual machine? It's a big time saver versus installing it on actual hardware.
KDE and Cinnamon.
Gnome
Sway
Sway is a WM not a DE. So you create your own DE? Or, I see Regolith is integrating sway, I think with Gnome Flashback as with i3. Not sure if there are others.
Yeah, I thought about not responding on the basis that Sway wasn't a DE, but someone else responded CWM, so I figured at least if I bucked the system, I wouldn't be alone in it.
Plus, not everyone really knows the difference between a DE and a WM. And not everyone knows that a lot of people don't use a DE. So, often times, people use "DE" and "WM" synonymously, not really knowing there's a difference.
(Not saying that describes OP or anyone here in particular. But there was definitely a time when that described me. And I wouldn't be surprised if that described some folks who were browsing this thread.)
Oh, but to answer your question directly, no I don't use anything that could be considered a DE. I use "dmenu_run" from Suckless to launch applications. That's about the only thing I "add" to Sway in my setup.
I didn't realise that people use them interchangeably. I've got an idea on what a WM is and what a DE is but nothing super in depth.
Personally I've been on KDE for a few years, I love the way I can customize my workflow, from the default apps to the panels layout. The KDE team has made fantastic progress since I've started using it, and it's now very stable and feature rich. I'm very excited for the upcoming Plasma 6
And as a reminder to everybody, please donate if you can, no matter what software you use. Especially if you've been using that DE for a while. Open source projects like these are always in need of funding!
I really like plain "boring" vanilla Gnome. It's straightforward, I like it's workflow, it does everything I need it too, and looks nice too. I'm not a fan of "power user" UIs as I feel like they have too many features I'll never use filling them up. You can always get more programs to do more things anyway. Like I use compilers and disassemblers all the time, but I'm not upset that Gnome doesn't ship with those features built in when I'm in some weird 1% of users that need them. On the other hand, I think KDE is important to the ecosystem too, and I donate $100 a year to both the Gnome and KDE projects.
I love cinnamon a lot
KDE. I tried gnome, xfce etc. but theyre either stripped down (xfce) or designed in a way that bothers me. (gnome)
I like Xfce and Plasma, it's pretty hard to decide between the two
GNOME
Cinnamon LMDE
maybe this is a hot take but I just really like vanilla KDE. I don't even customize that much, I just think it looks and feels nice out of the box
GNOME. A lot of people customize it to look and behave more like Windows or Macos, and I used to as well, but after giving the default configuration a chance and getting used to it, I prefer it over everything else. It's way more focused and organized, and I can navigate through my open windows quicker and easier. It's just a different workflow you need to adjust your brain to.
I LOVE KDE. Seriously. But there is no proper Sliding TWM for it at the moment and it's soooooo good having a proper one. I tried Karousel but it was too glitchy, especially when streaming. Thus, I am on Gnome with PaperWM. A simply phenomenal experience! :)
xfce. For me, it strikes that perfect balance between lightweight and featureful, looks good but not too fancy, is customizable and usable. I set it up the way I like it and it never changes on me.
Kde Plasma. Customized so there are no visible panels, only an auto-hide panel at the top for wifi/bluetooth etc. I do app switching and opening new apps via the Overview effect.
I have to say KDE Plasma, but I look really forward toward Cosmic Rust.
KDE is simply so damn old and has weird quirks everywhere, it has features and basic things like
But it also just has too many features. Extensions are not tested or versioned so many simply dont work anymore, often some of the dozens of components has an issue. I cant imagine Cosmic reaching the level of features in like 3 years, but if it would do, this could be great. But in the end its up to the devs, so I have no idea at all.
I dont find GNOME usable really. At least in the default settings. The decorations make no sense on Desktops (they are perfect for tablets), the top bar makes you look down too much, the ubuntu way wastes space too. Everything is too thick, too little GUI settings and the standard apps could be from Android, the little features they have.
Plasma 6 is coming out soon. Not sure if it addressed any of your issues though.
Hyprland
Honestly, this is the first I've heard of Hyprland, but it looks sick.
Thanks for all your discussions. All your experiences are very helpful for me. Now here is my top list and reasons:
Out of this list:
hyprland currently but maybe switching to awesomewm or qtile. it takes effort to configure/learn them so idk if you are open to try them at the beginning. or if you prefer a conventional environment like gnome, kde, xfce...
KDE, I've been using it since the late 90s. I've tried other DEs but nothing comes close IMO.
I like Vanilla GNOME the best atm.
Xmonad!!! (And in 25 years, Waymonad!)
In my (and my friend's) experience, KDE has been notoriously unreliable. We faced issues like the wifi icon just disappearing randomly, the time thingy disappearing, etc.
I have been using GNOME for around five years now (I temporarily switched to KDE 2 yrs back and reswitched to GNOME 3 months later). Till now, GNOME has been extremely stable for me. The only issue that I experienced was a memory (although that was fixed in subsequent updates).
Hence, based on this experience, if you're looking for stability, I would highly recommend GNOME. However, if u'r looking for more customization at the cost of less stability, KDE ain't bad.
KDE is very stable. You are using some bad, 2 years old version because Ubuntu LTS cycle.
Keep in mind I am insane and you shouldn't take this as a recommendation unless you are also weird in the ways I am, but I absolutely love NsCDE, it's an FVWM based modern clone of the old CDE desktop from old UNIXs and VMS and it is so so well executed and I love it.
Gnome on laptop, gnome with extentions on one pc and kde on another.
LXQT followed by Plasma
kde with bismuth for tiling
I like Budgie. It looks nice, lightweight, and doesn’t get in the way. There’s a few missing features but I like that it’s a smaller community project.
I recently switched back to GNOME after a few years on KDE, mostly because of Wayland support. I honestly don't care much about the DE, provided it gets out of my way. I used to use a Tiling WM, so I may give a Wayland tiling WM a shot.
I much prefer Cinnamon.
I use Hyprland, but if not, then GNOME... It's just pretty and easy to use out of the box
My university Linux cluster was my first introduction to Linux in general, and they ran MATE of all things.
A few years later, when I decided I was done with Window's bullshit and wanted to jump my daily driver to Linux, I installed Ubuntu MATE so I'd have the best familiarity edge I could to minimize friction.
MATE is alright. Despite being rather barebones and dated (being a life support fork of GNOME 2, I understand that is indeed kind of the point), it served me well for about 5 years.
I got a real urge to switch, though, due to just how little support or documentation there is for anything in MATE. I was also getting fed up with Ubuntu's Snap crap as well. So I decided to dump both for something else.
I wanted to stay on Debian's architecture for now, but no longer had need for Ubuntu's handholding, so raw Debian it was. As for the DE, I personally like the rich, full-fat ones more than the lean ones, and I wanted something modern, popular, and with highly proliferous support resources. That basically meant GNOME 3 or KDE Plasma. And I guess maybe Cinnamon, but I always see it marketed as the "newly ex-Windows user training wheels" DE, and that isn't my need.
GNOME 3 strikes me as the "MacOS" of Linux DEs. It wants to swim against the current to introduce its own paradigm. Everything designed to work in its ecosystem is buttery smooth and sexy, yes, but since it's also a counterparadigm, that tends to relegate you to the pack-in software and a handful of big vendors. Most other software has to rely on clumsy shims to fit in. I'm not about it, tbh. I'm sure it's fine, I just don't think higher highs are worth the lower lows, and I generally wasn't in the mood for a drastic paradigm shift.
So, KDE Plasma for me. It was unfortunate I made the leap just as they decided, "Wayland is stable and supported enough for everyone now!" (it isn't, lol), so it's a bit rockier than I was hoping, but whatever. Stability and support can only improve with time. And I expect faster adoption of Wayland than I do the GNOME 3 paradigm since Wayland is currently the only ship of its kind in the water that isn't sinking.
Aaaaall that said, KDE treats me pretty well, minus the Wayland issues. Upgrading to it from MATE was like trading up from a cheap, dingy hostel to a clean 4-star hotel. Should've leapt years ago.
KDE and Budgie