Desktop Environments

matrim

So I know there have been a few threads on this but just looking for peoples current opinions.

I'm coming from normally using standard gnome and I'm updating my laptop to Ubuntu 12.04 and playing around with the desktop environments.

I tried Unity for the last 2 days and while it has vastly improved since the last time I used it I found a few things annoying. It's a bit slow to load and uses a good bit of ram (I've only 2GB). And using multiple windows of the same application (something I do alot) is awkard.

I'm now playing around with Gnome-shell and it seems faster and cleaner than Unity but I've not tried alot of things so far

Other than that there's gnome classic which I took a quick look at and seems easy to conigure to be the same as what I'm used to from previous version.

I know there are a few other options for gnome style shells e.g. cinnamon (sp?) but what are the advantages of it over say gnome classic?

I've previously tried XFCE and while it was decent and lightweight I don't think I'd like it for a fulltime environment. Have there been any significant changes in it in the last 1 - 2 years?

human 19

matrim wrote: »

So I know there have been a few threads on this but just looking for peoples current opinions.

I'm coming from normally using standard gnome and I'm updating my laptop to Ubuntu 12.04 and playing around with the desktop environments.

I tried Unity for the last 2 days and while it has vastly improved since the last time I used it I found a few things annoying. It's a bit slow to load and uses a good bit of ram (I've only 2GB). And using multiple windows of the same application (something I do alot) is awkard.

I'm now playing around with Gnome-shell and it seems faster and cleaner than Unity but I've not tried alot of things so far

Other than that there's gnome classic which I took a quick look at and seems easy to conigure to be the same as what I'm used to from previous version.

I know there are a few other options for gnome style shells e.g. cinnamon (sp?) but what are the advantages of it over say gnome classic?

I've previously tried XFCE and while it was decent and lightweight I don't think I'd like it for a fulltime environment. Have there been any significant changes in it in the last 1 - 2 years?

If you are looking for gnome 2 style, you could try Linux Mint debian edition 201204 from where you can boot between cinnamon (fork of gnome shell) and MATE (fork of gnome 2)

matrim

human 19 wrote: »

If you are looking for gnome 2 style, you could try Linux Mint debian edition 201204 from where you can boot between cinnamon (fork of gnome shell) and MATE (fork of gnome 2)

Well I don't necessarly mind moving away from the gnome 2 look and feel. Just looking for choices and opinions.

What does cinnamon offer that gnome-shell-classic doesn't?

BopNiblets

You don't need to switch distro to try Cinnamon, add repos, install and try!
http://www.howtogeek.com/103691/install-linux-mints-new-cinnamon-desktop-on-ubuntu/
Don't like it, just switch back.

matrim

I've been using Gnome Shell since not long after my OP and I've been liking it so far. Especially after adding a couple of extensions like the Applications and Places menus and the dock.

I'll probably give cinnamon a go in a couple of days.

I'll also be reinstalling my netbook so might give it a go there where I was thinking of using the Mint Debian edition

Khannie

I've been sticking with gnome 2 on older ubuntu distros for a while now but I'm due a new OS on a new box. Interested to hear how you get on. I might go with what human 19 suggested (in the likely event that I get horribly frustrated by all the whizz-bang ).

human 19

You could try bodhi linux with enlightenment 17. <700MB image. 3 mins install time

I am waiting for Mint 13 KDE to replace mint 9 (long term support)

cian1500ww

I've been using XFCE for almost a year now as an alternative to Gnome 3. It's definitely worth a try and the recent update it got has added some lacking features like window tiling. It's got good support from the community and most of its development is based on user requests so there won't be any drastic changes like what happened with Gnome 2 -> 3.

matrim

Gnome shell has been working out pretty well so far but I have had a couple of lockups where I have to completely restart the gnome-session. I've found a hack that will let me just restart the shell so I don't lose my work if it happens but it can be annoying.

I think it might be some kind of problem with my ATI drivers. I've seen similar reported by others so hopefully they get if fixed soon.

Scruffles

try downloading new window managers as well,as the layout of a WM plays a big part in the overall look- http://www.linuxlinks.com/article/20081209153125602/WindowManagers.html
blackbox is a personal favourite of mine when have kept a distro long enough to install it.

if are interested in trying other distros out,woud recommend trying pearOS.
its forked from ubuntu but its theme,use and looks are based on macs OSX-looks very pretty if are into OSX, it works great on the craptop x netbook of mine,link if interested-
http://pear-os-linux.fr/

Minimum System Requirements

• Personal computer with an Intel Pentium III 500 MHz or higher processor
• 512 MB physical RAM
• 8 GB available disk space
• 800x600 display resolution

if have got a spare USB stick,woud recommend downloading a few different distros to it to try them out,personaly find this prog-
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/
a godsend in ease of use and much better than the popular unetbootin but think its wind doze only.
YUMI partitions as many distros as wanted/can fit onto the stick,have currently got pearOS,porteus,DEFT,matriux,back box & slacko puppy on mine/well dads.

Stuxnet

Im liking unity these days, but also digging solusOS, its a debian based distro, from one of the main developers that used work on mint debian edition, he left as he felt the project was moving too slow, so has rolled out his own vision, its gnome 2 and its really slick ! and has up-to-date package repositories !


http://solusos.com/

http://ftp.heanet.ie/mirrors/solusos/ :cool:

GreenWolfe

I use Linux on my netbook only but I really like LXDE. It just gets out of the way, that's all I really want from any DE tbh.