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The Desktop Environment Debate

zokudu

zokudu

Diamond Member
Hey there. I'm curious what DE you guys are using and why you have chosen it. With KDE (allegidly) improving a lot with version 4.8, GNOME 3 being a huge shift from previous GNOME DEs, Cinnamon and MATE forking from GNOME 2 it seems like a very different landscape than has been in the past.

I'm asking because I'm planning on testing Arch Linux this summer (Plan on doing a write up about it 😉) and maybe into next school year once I get my laptop back from Dell (Hinge broke 🙁).

I had actually been messing with it right when the hinge broke and had been running GNOME 3 at the time after abandoning KDE again.

So what are you using and why? I'm leaning towards XFCE when my laptop returns but I want to see you linux peoples arguments.
 
I run Kubuntu 12.04 with KDE 4.8 and am as happy with it as with the old KDE 3.

I was initially disappointed with KDE 4 and stuck with KDE 3.5 until KDE 4.4 was released so I am hard to please.
 
Xfce. It uses the classic computing paradigm, and works the way I want it to work. I also like E17 and OpenBox. The problem with the last two is poor panel implementation. I don't care for KDE. I don't like the look, and it has too much stuff.

I have some interest in Cinnamon and MATÉ, but I'm kind of a bandwagoner. I like my software to be well supported, and have a stable future. I need to wait and see if these 2 have staying power. That's why I use Xfce. They've been around awhile, and I feel they have the same vision of the desktop I have. I don't think I have to worry about radical change. Incidentally, that's why I switched to Debian. It gives me everything I liked about Ubuntu, without some grand vision from above screwing up my gig. Debian provides software, and I can use it or not. No wacky desktops, no changing colors or logos, and nothing that strays far from the core GNU/Linux system. It does what I want.
 
Pretty much what Ixskllr said (and it's probably no accident I'm also running a Debian-based distro and xfce). Xfce works pretty much how I want and doesn't make a pain of itself, and is just shiny enough that I don't feel like I am living in the dark ages.
 
+2 Xfce

Xfce is what I install for family and friends, does all they need.

For me I prefer a tiling WM; xmonad being my choice. This works great for me, since I do most tasks in a terminal[urxvt].
 
I use Gnome 3. Like most people, I bashed it when it came out originally. However, after getting my new laptop last year I decided to use it for two weeks and if I didn't like I'd switch. You can tell how that went. 😉

IMO the GNOME developers got it right. Dynamic workspaces are great, removing the minimize and maximize buttons was a ballsy move, but they can be put back if need be. GNOME 3 also has a lot of polish and subtle tweaks to things that may not have been easy to implement with GNOME 2.
 
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zokudu said:
So what are you using and why? I'm leaning towards XFCE when my laptop returns but I want to see you linux peoples arguments.
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I'm smitten with Peppermint OS Two, lately, soooo LXDE on the netbook & USB thumbdrives.

On the desktop: Ubu Unity/Gnome 3.

Everything else bores me... or pisses me off. 😎
 
my more powerful laptop that I'm using as a desktop is running debian squeeze and still has gnome 2 but the netbook I take to school with me has gnome 3. I find myself at home throwing the mouse into the top left corner and starting to type. Things got better once I turned off compiz.
 
I find myself still using GNOME 2 in most of my boxes, which are mostly CentOS and RHEL 5.8 and 6.2 based. It's an old staple, and it feels like home. After 6 years of using mostly GNOME 2, any other desktop environment just feels off.

Otherwise, I use OpenBox on #! on a regular basis on my low-powered machines (an old Atom box and my Lenovo T61), with a little GNOME 3 on OpenSUSE on my old workstation. LXDE and XFCE are used sparingly sometimes, when I feel a need for a change of scenery.
 
I (mostly) used gnome in the past, maybe 70% of the time...

Now I used KDE on my heavy rig usually, and XFCE on wussier computers and smaller screens, laptops and such. Sometimes I still run XFCE on the main computer though, if i'm feeling minimalist :awe:

Gnome 3 is an abortion from what I've tried - I've been running it in fallback mode on one laptop, and it's much less awful, but still broken compared to 2. In 'normal' mode it's a fucking circus. I started laughing the first time I accidentally upgraded to it, wtf were they thinking.
 
I run Arch with Gnome Shell. I love it as it as I can work very, very fast with the shell and not have to use the mouse/touchpad that much.

Not a fan of KDE, LXDE/XFCE are ok, and Unity is just god awful.
 
This XFCE you speak of kind sir please tell me more.

This Ubuntu 12.04 must go, no matter what I do I still do not like it.


May I move all "taskbar's" and other items to the bottom of the screen? Without having to install a bunch of other crap that I have to install still more crap to fix the other crap?


Yea, I am about to loose my inner S.O.B. on Unity....

I want it simple, I want it clean, I do not want stuff dancing around on the screen.

By the way Mint did not impress me either. Cinnamon caused other issues that I did want to deal with.


.
 
Kwatt said:
This XFCE you speak of kind sir please tell me more.
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op3KT.jpg
 
lxskllr said:
I like earth tones. Ubuntu switching from brown was the start of our divorce :^D

I usually use some form of brown or green, but sometimes grey. I was always a big fan of the Rainy Day theme on Windows.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I remember using Ubuntu 6.06 LTS, and the orange and brown was really nice.
 
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