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    #1

    Desktop Environment Preferences

    Hi all!

    I've been using Linux solidly now for around two years. The first distribution I tried was Linux Mint (as a user familiar with Windows, it "just worked", with no need to change anything - barely even the need to use the terminal), before migrating over to Ubuntu (I figured since I now had a little more experience, and knew Mint was based on Ubuntu, it would be sensible to try Ubuntu - and move "closer" to the source).

    Coming from Mint, which never had the unusual Unity/Dash interface, Ubuntu was something of an uphill struggle to learn to use - I hated it. Eventually though, I discovered KDE, and I'm now a confirmed fan, running Kubuntu 12.10 - this has reaffirmed my love of Linux . The whole having a menu that you can browse through and doesn't randomly disappear, and is at the bottom, where I expect it to be by default, is comforting. The ability to customise everything is also nice - I've read stuff suggesting that there is no where near the same level of this in GNOME/Unity? I'm thinking of a blog post by one Mr L Torvalds in particular...

    Originally, I was dual booting. A few months back, I scrubbed my PC clean of Windows completely though, and haven't looked back. However, I do still feel a lingering sense that I'm using KDE not because it is best, but because I've been sort of..."socialised"? by Microsoft. And I really resent that, having left Windows, wanting to get rid of any kind of software coercion!

    So, my question to the forum is: what do people use? How popular is each desktop environment, and what makes it so? For instance, "I use Unity because that's what's installed in vanilla Ubuntu" doesn't really strike me as a "fair" reason, not when I'm trying to get to the bottom of what is the best DE.

    Also, before it comes up in a reply, I do understand that objectively trying to find the best DE is a little bit of a wild goose chase - obviously personal preference is a major player here. I still think it'd be useful to canvass opinion, however, to weigh up and conclude for myself where I should be heading, and if I'm right sticking with KDE.
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    #2
    i have tried most all the DE's that you can have installed. In Terms of popularlarity GNOME and KDE are the most popular. GNOME mainly because alot of distros use GNOME as default. Why GNOME? ,its a long story but the main reason is because, the toolkit kde is build on was not completely free untill recently, it was only free for KDE's use) . i think if that were not the case KDE would be mostly set as default.

    There are LOTS of DE's to try

    GNOME - GNU Network Object Model Enviroment. most common *nix Enviroment. (wiki)
    KDEsc - K Desktop Enviroment Software Compilation , My personal preferance (wiki)
    XFCE - Uses Gtk wants to be a light and fast , yet visually apealing DE. (wiki)
    LXDE - Lightweight X11 Desktop Enviroment. very light but useful. (wiki)
    Razor-Qt - New Qt based Lightweight Desktop has only a panel and few items currently (wiki)
    Enlightenment - Light and Powerful. finally released after a long dev peroid (wiki)
    Awesome - a tiling window manager , uses LUA script to extend the desktop (wiki)

    And about 100 other ones that fit somewhere inbetween the rest of them .
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      #3
      I use KDE on all my desktops and laptops, Enlightenment on my netbook (but am trying Razor_QT on it soon), and no desktop at all on my servers. I do have some older Fedora installations at work that use Gnome 2.

      I notice sithlord left out Unity - likely for good reason! I would like to try it again with a touch screen, but until then I will leave it alone.

      Please Read Me
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        #4
        I love KDE. Its my DE of choice because its easy to use, highly configurable and looks great.
        I also really like LXDE. Its very light so does well on older hardware but still has a decent amount of configuration options.
        Openbox also deserves mention. It isnt technically a DE, but can act as one. Im using it right now on my older laptop combined with lxpanel to give it a more traditional desktop feel.
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          #5
          This thread got me to thinking .. not a good thing.. about starting with an lxde install and adding only kde, calligraphy suite , firefox ( I need some of the extensions) amarok, gimp a very few utilities like ksnspsot glables etc and stopping with that, only adding others as the need arises. Comments?
          Woodsmoke
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            #6
            Apart from KDE, I like Openbox a lot. It's really light and fast and if you want you can make it look pretty fancy.

            .
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              #7
              Originally posted by woodsmoke View Post
              This thread got me to thinking .. not a good thing.. about starting with an lxde install and adding only kde, calligraphy suite , firefox ( I need some of the extensions) amarok, gimp a very few utilities like ksnspsot glables etc and stopping with that, only adding others as the need arises. Comments?
              Woodsmoke
              Why start with an lxde install when youll be putting on KDE? It would be better to start with server edition and building up from there. Be warned though....when I tried that I ran into serious dependency issues which eventually led to a broken system.
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                #8
                KDE was the first desktop environment I used when I started using Linux, i have briefly tried other desktop environments but always came back to KDE. The main reason for this is because KDE is by far the most flexible and integrated desktop environment there is. Don't want it to look like windows? Then change it! You can make it look and act like almost all the other desktop environments if you want.


                Originally posted by whatthefunk View Post
                Why start with an lxde install when youll be putting on KDE? It would be better to start with server edition and building up from there. Be warned though....when I tried that I ran into serious dependency issues which eventually led to a broken system.
                i find that ubuntu does not behave well when installing a desktop environment with out installing the *-desktop meta package (ie kubuntu-desktop) and normally breaks when you try a big upgrade. This is one reason i moved to arch.
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                  #9
                  Originally posted by james147 View Post
                  i find that ubuntu does not behave well when installing a desktop environment with out installing the *-desktop meta package (ie kubuntu-desktop) and normally breaks when you try a big upgrade. This is one reason i moved to arch.
                  Thats the experience I had too. Its much better on a Ubuntu system to install the kubuntu-desktop metapackage and then strip down from there.
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                    #10
                    I really like KDE, and have pretty much stuck with that for over 10 years. Configurability and customization is key for me though I don't actually change much. Most other DEs just don't have the specific styles I do like.

                    My current second fave is...Unity actually. I could live with it as my daily driver if I had to.

                    But, realistically once I used a particular desktop long enough, I could use any of them exclusively to be honest. I do not understand the extreme dislike poured on Unity (or sometimes KDE). It is as if no one remembers using linux for the first time. I do find Gnome3 to be rather clunky and odd feeling, in a way I cannot describe despite the similarities it has with Canonical's offering.

                    I usually have a lite window manager (as opposed to a full DE)installed such as fluxbox, my third fave. I find I don't use it much as I gain more experience with the command line.

                    But in the end, what works best for you is the best desktop, and that is all that matters
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                      #11
                      KDE was the first DE I tried when trying out Linux (3.4 on Mandrake 9). I have tried a bunch of other DE/WM's out there, and so far among those my favorites are Gnome (2 series, under mostly Suse and Ubuntu), Unity (yeah, really it's quite usable) and XFCE. I like KDE for its configurability, though I don't go wild with it, and its default look is/was similar to Windows when I first used Linux.
                      The unjust distribution of goods persists, creating a situation of social sin that cries out to Heaven and limits the possibilities of a fuller life for so many of our brothers. -- Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires (now Pope Francis)
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                        #12
                        Originally posted by claydoh View Post
                        But in the end, what works best for you is the best desktop, and that is all that matters
                        Ahhhh. Behold the true power of Linux! Well said.
                        ​"Keep it between the ditches"
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                          #13
                          Used Gnome and KDE. No comparison (for me). KDE all the way baby!!
                          Windows no longer obstructs my view.
                          Using Kubuntu Linux since March 23, 2007.
                          "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." - Sherlock Holmes​
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                            #14
                            Originally posted by oshunluvr View Post
                            I notice sithlord left out Unity - likely for good reason! I would like to try it again with a touch screen, but until then I will leave it alone.
                            1. Unity makes liberal use of right-click.

                            2. Unity cannot, in its current form, interpret press-hold to be a right-click, even if you fiddle with accessibilty settings.

                            3. Therefore, Unity pretty much fails at being touch aware, at least for now. I've taken it off my Nexus 7 for the time being. Soon, I will try Plasma Active on the thing!
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                              #15
                              Originally posted by sithlord48 View Post
                              its a long story but the main reason is because, the toolkit kde is build on was not completely free untill recently, it was only free for KDE's use).
                              This sort of depends on your definition of "recently" and "completely free".

                              Qt has been released under the GPL since 2000 (a license that most people consider "completely free" in the open source sense...for any GPL compatible development, not just KDE). Of course Qt was more recently (2009) also released under LGPL that allows non-GPL-compliant or proprietary software development to also use Qt under LGPL terms.

                              So it's more "free" than GPL in that sense, but not even LGPL is literally "completely free"...(but both are generally accepted as free licenses).
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