News Linux Desktop Environment Face-Off: Which GUI is Best?

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Math Geek

Math Geek

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very informative. after tinkering with the various desktops i also decided cinnamon was the best one for me at the moment. Gnome was pretty easy to work with but i liked the "feel" of cinnamon better. you put into words some of what i found to be different between the 2.
 
LinuxGuy2020

LinuxGuy2020

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Who wrote this? Not a single mention of XFCE or MATE? I hate Gnome 3 trying to turn my i7 into "tablet mode". Gnome 2 was great and MATE carries that on. KDE has so many settings its overwhelming. Cinnamon is freaking amazing, especially in Linux Mint. But Cinnamon on Debian looks ugly as can be. Never heard of Regolith.
 
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Math Geek

Math Geek

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there are MANY MANY desktop variants out there. no possible way anyone could compare and write up a hundred different options. so they chose to go with the TOP 5 at the moment.

so keep listing obscure other desktops if you want but they are not the popular ones most people new to linux are going to hear about and try out first. just the way it is.

KDE, gnome and cinnamon are the only ones i even considered. and most of those other ones people are mentioning are derivatives of the main ones, you should now be able to read the description of those more obscure ones and understand how it changes from what was written about here.

so rather than complaining about the missing ones, perhaps a few sentences about why the one you like differs from the one it is based on and how that makes it better suited for you.

just a thought anyway
 
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escksu

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Nice article!!

Sadly, Even after so many years, it still remains as os for hobbyists and hackers etc (i use both windows and linux, on kde.. because i started with kde back then, just stick with it).. it was once hailed as replacement for windows.... Haha.... That was a long long time ago. All these despite it being free...

I was hoping redhat could become mainstream. Sadly it didnt happen.
 
Math Geek

Math Geek

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escksu said:
. it was once hailed as replacement for windows.... Haha.... That was a long long time ago. All these despite it being free...

I was hoping redhat could become mainstream. Sadly it didnt happen.
Click to expand...

i am learning linux now so i don't have to use win 10. i know a lot of people who are hoping i can find a relatively easy distro/desktop combo so they can also make the switch. the plan of course is for me to figure it out and then teach the others. i don't think linux will ever replace windows, but they will certainly push a bunch of people to linux who are willing to learn.
 
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escksu

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Math Geek said:
i am learning linux now so i don't have to use win 10. i know a lot of people who are hoping i can find a relatively easy distro/desktop combo so they can also make the switch. the plan of course is for me to figure it out and then teach the others. i don't think linux will ever replace windows, but they will certainly push a bunch of people to linux who are willing to learn.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, its not going to happen. Almost all companies uses windows and windows based application. So no way to avoid.

And then, the lack of users means many vendors aren't even interested to support Linux. Esp. drivers. Eg. for gaming. Look at how many games work on linux and its performance. Not to mention problems associated with it.

I feel redhat could change it.... I believe end users don't care about the OS at all (looking at how quickily pple gotten used to android in phones/tablet and ditch windows totally). They just want something thats easy to use. As long as it runs their games and apps, they are fine.

If redhat could release a "redhat Linux", I feel it would be awesome. i.e. everything redhat, no more KDE, Gnome etc...... Basically it looks and feels like windows/MacOS (call it redhat desktop). Then easy updates etc.... a few clicks. I feel pple will use it. Of course, we still need Microsoft to have a linux version of Office. Or something thats close to it (don't need to be free). Pple will buy and use it. We had work perfect and lotus 123 back then..... They were the dominant till MS word/excel came along....
 
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dragonfly-A

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Math Geek said:
there are MANY MANY desktop variants out there. no possible way anyone could compare and write up a hundred different options. so they chose to go with the TOP 5 at the moment.

so keep listing obscure other desktops if you want but they are not the popular ones most people new to linux are going to hear about and try out first. just the way it is.

KDE, gnome and cinnamon are the only ones i even considered. and most of those other ones people are mentioning are derivatives of the main ones, you should now be able to read the description of those more obscure ones and understand how it changes from what was written about here.

so rather than complaining about the missing ones, perhaps a few sentences about why the one you like differs from the one it is based on and how that makes it better suited for you.

just a thought anyway
Click to expand...

Sorry but the other dude was definitely correct. XFCE and MATE are household names in the Linux-based world. If the article didn't have Regolith listed I'd probably throw you a bone but the point is moot with that.

Source: been using desktop Linux since 2001. CDE endures.
 
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Wayne Borean

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Yeah, I know I’m weird, but I like the Debian desktop. Gnome I’ve never liked. KDE is too flashy. I want something lightweight that gets out of my way so I can do things!
 
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kenjitamura

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I've been using KDE for the past couple of years now and not had any problems. It feels natural and responsive so I don't really see much reason to change. I actually wouldn't have suspected even three or four years ago I'd be using KDE because I remember trying it when KDE4 came out and it was a god awful experience. Before KDE my desktop of choice was MATE which worked well and was light on resources but I do remember having the occasional small and slightly irritating problems.

A desktop environment I might be looking to try in about 5-10 years time if it sticks around is the Fyne desktop. Most desktop environments are written in C or C++ but in the last year or two some developers decided to make a GUI library for the Go language and are also making a desktop environment out of the library as a toy project and that sounds neat to me.
 
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crysis2

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Last edited:
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crysis2

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escksu said:
Unfortunately, its not going to happen. Almost all companies uses windows and windows based application. So no way to avoid.

And then, the lack of users means many vendors aren't even interested to support Linux. Esp. drivers. Eg. for gaming. Look at how many games work on linux and its performance. Not to mention problems associated with it.

I feel redhat could change it.... I believe end users don't care about the OS at all (looking at how quickily pple gotten used to android in phones/tablet and ditch windows totally). They just want something thats easy to use. As long as it runs their games and apps, they are fine.

If redhat could release a "redhat Linux", I feel it would be awesome. i.e. everything redhat, no more KDE, Gnome etc...... Basically it looks and feels like windows/MacOS (call it redhat desktop). Then easy updates etc.... a few clicks. I feel pple will use it. Of course, we still need Microsoft to have a linux version of Office. Or something thats close to it (don't need to be free). Pple will buy and use it. We had work perfect and lotus 123 back then..... They were the dominant till MS word/excel came along....
Click to expand...
You mean Fedora?
It is already out there you can use it!
WPS is very close to MS office in look and performance (yeah i know it is not that much mature but it is good)
 
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vagrantprodigy

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I got halfway through the article, and had to stop due to the glaring biases and inaccuracies. First, these are 5 popular desktops? Awesome and Regolith are extremely niche, nowhere near top 5. Where is XFCE, LXDE, LXQT, Mate, Budgie, etc? Those are more popular than either of the other two mentioned.

What really got me was the mention of KDE using quite a bit of memory. That was once the case. That has not been the case in quite a time. Cinnamon gets glossed over, but it's footprint is near to Gnome's last time I checked.

For anyone who is reading this, and not familiar with Linux, please do not take anything in this article as fact.

For those who haven't actually compared desktop environments in a while, look at this Ubuntu comparison: https://www.ubuntubuzz.com/2019/07/...sages-of-ubuntu-1904-and-flavors-in-2019.html
 
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bit_user

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I don't want to get into any kind of war over desktop environments and window managers, because a lot of it boils down to user preference. However, I've generally done pretty well on KDE.

I guess the main reason I like it is that I can easily configure it to behave pretty much how I want, which is a little more old-school (like fwvm2 - the last window manager I used before switching). Beyond that, I don't look for much, from my window manager - speed, stability, virtual desktops... that's about it.

If you want to use Ubuntu with KDE, the easiest option is to install Kubuntu, which is basically the normal Ubuntu repos and a custom installer that pulls in the KDE packages instead of their default desktop environment.

 
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vagrantprodigy

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bit_user said:
I don't want to get into any kind of war over desktop environments and window managers, because a lot of it boils down to user preference. However, I've generally done pretty well on KDE.

I guess the main reason I like it is that I can easily configure it to behave pretty much how I want, which is a little more old-school (like fwvm2 - the last window manager I used before switching). Beyond that, I don't look for much, from my window manager - speed, stability, virtual desktops... that's about it.

If you want to use Ubuntu with KDE, the easiest option is to install Kubuntu, which is basically the normal Ubuntu repos and a custom installer that pulls in the KDE packages instead of their default desktop environment.

Click to expand...
KDE Neon is very good as well if you want Ubuntu based KDE.
 
unis_torvalds

unis_torvalds

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Appreciate this article but I agree with others here. XFCE is one of the most important, long-running, and popular desktop environments and seems a glaring, even uninformed, oversight.
Also, for an article aimed at Linux novices, Budgie and Elementary should absolutely be included as these are frequently held up as the most beginner-friendly environments.
 
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crysis2

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vagrantprodigy said:
I got halfway through the article, and had to stop due to the glaring biases and inaccuracies. First, these are 5 popular desktops? Awesome and Regolith are extremely niche, nowhere near top 5. Where is XFCE, LXDE, LXQT, Mate, Budgie, etc? Those are more popular than either of the other two mentioned.

What really got me was the mention of KDE using quite a bit of memory. That was once the case. That has not been the case in quite a time. Cinnamon gets glossed over, but it's footprint is near to Gnome's last time I checked.

For anyone who is reading this, and not familiar with Linux, please do not take anything in this article as fact.

For those who haven't actually compared desktop environments in a while, look at this Ubuntu comparison: https://www.ubuntubuzz.com/2019/07/...sages-of-ubuntu-1904-and-flavors-in-2019.html
Click to expand...
I can say right of the bat that comparison is wrong, gnome uses nowhere near 1 GB without any app being running in the background(mine uses around 350-380 without anything running) so at least in my perspective that comparison is moot!
Anyhow i agree with"Where is XFCE, LXDE, LXQT, Mate, Budgie?"
 
Wayne Borean

Wayne Borean

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kenjitamura said:
A desktop environment I might be looking to try in about 5-10 years time if it sticks around is the Fyne desktop. Most desktop environments are written in C or C++ but in the last year or two some developers decided to make a GUI library for the Go language and are also making a desktop environment out of the library as a toy project and that sounds neat to me.
Click to expand...

I have to look that up. Sounds neat.
 
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