What are your 3 favorite Desktop Environments?

Worztron · 17-06-2019 12:23pm #1

Hi.

My top 3 DEs are (in order of most preferred):

MATE
Xfce
LXDE (development is about over but it's still functional)

I began with Gnome2 so MATE was a natural progression.

rayzercork · 18-06-2019 2:35pm

XFCE
LXDE
JWM

i prefer the lighter desktops, they not be as nice out of the box but i typically end up building custom themes for each.

source · 18-06-2019 3:42pm

Unity
Budgie
Mate

Tom Dunne · 18-06-2019 4:32pm

Oh here I go again with the Old Man talk...

My first real introduction to Unix was on x-terminals running Motif Window Manager, so I have a strong affinity for what was back then, MWM. Simplistic, adaptable, uncluttered, perhaps a metaphor for my life back then. Seriously, though, in a corporate environment, with upwards of 250+ clients, that simplicity was always appreciated when things went pear-shaped at 4:30am.

I became familiar then with CDE, which still stands the test of time.

To show I am not a complete dinosaur, I like Mate currently.

Now where are my sandals?

Johnboy1951 · 18-06-2019 5:16pm

Its a long time since I used CDE .......

Presently

KDE
KDE
ICeWM

Worztron · 19-06-2019 7:56pm

rayzercork wrote: »

XFCE
LXDE
JWM

i prefer the lighter desktops, they not be as nice out of the box but i typically end up building custom themes for each.

Hi rayzercork.

JWM is nice alright. Have you tried 4MLinux?

Worztron · 19-06-2019 7:57pm

source wrote: »

Unity
Budgie
Mate

Hi source. I've never taken to Budgie nor Unity - but to each their own.

Worztron · 19-06-2019 7:57pm

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Oh here I go again with the Old Man talk...

My first real introduction to Unix was on x-terminals running Motif Window Manager, so I have a strong affinity for what was back then, MWM. Simplistic, adaptable, uncluttered, perhaps a metaphor for my life back then. Seriously, though, in a corporate environment, with upwards of 250+ clients, that simplicity was always appreciated when things went pear-shaped at 4:30am.

I became familiar then with CDE, which still stands the test of time.

To show I am not a complete dinosaur, I like Mate currently.

Now where are my sandals?

Hi Tom. MATE FTW! (-:

Worztron · 19-06-2019 7:57pm

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Its a long time since I used CDE .......

Presently

KDE
KDE
ICeWM

Hi John. You like KDE so much that you listed it twice? ;-)

source · 20-06-2019 9:48am

Worztron wrote: »

Hi source. I've never taken to Budgie nor Unity - but to each their own.

When I first started with Linux Ubuntu was using gnome 2 (mate) and I loved it, then Ubuntu went to unity and I initially hated it, it was a complete departure from what I was used to. It led to my first ever bout of distro hopping.

I looked at a few but at the same time gnome went to v3 which I really disliked. I eventually went back to Ubuntu and fell in love with unity once I had it set up the way I liked.

Then came the Canonical decision to end unity and move to gnome and I just couldn't, I absolutely hated it. So I again went distro hopping, avoiding distros that used gnome, and found Solus, as you said to each their own, but I just love the simplicity and fictionality of the budgie UI.

Also its the first distro that I've installed that I haven't had to go searching for a fix to solve some problem or other. Everything just works out of the box. I used to like tinkering with my machine, these days I just want it to work following install.

Edit: I should note that I've tried mate again but after Unity and Budgie it feels ancient.

opus · 20-06-2019 11:17am

MATE for me, used to use Gnome but couldn't stick the changes to it so switched to Cinnamon but it crashed too much so ended up with MATE.

mcmoustache · 20-06-2019 12:39pm

It's been KDE for me for around the last 10 years. I know it's heavy but my PCs were built for gaming so it wasn't an issue. I did use LXDE and XFCE on some crappy laptops in the past though and those desktops worked very well. I also used gnome briefly when KDE went from version 3.5, I think to KDE 4 which was a bit buggy. I went back to it when it stabilised and Unity came on the scene and have been there since.

So:

KDE
XFCE
LXDE

rayzercork · 20-06-2019 3:02pm

Worztron wrote: »

Hi rayzercork.

JWM is nice alright. Have you tried 4MLinux?

ive seen it but not tested it, as far as jwm goes ive just rebuilt my old config i had running & managed to get transparency effects and conky working on it too. ive integrated xfce's app finder into it so it has a pop out version of the whisker menu, makes life so much easier

Worztron · 21-06-2019 1:39pm

source wrote: »

When I first started with Linux Ubuntu was using gnome 2 (mate) and I loved it, then Ubuntu went to unity and I initially hated it, it was a complete departure from what I was used to. It led to my first ever bout of distro hopping.

I looked at a few but at the same time gnome went to v3 which I really disliked. I eventually went back to Ubuntu and fell in love with unity once I had it set up the way I liked.

Then came the Canonical decision to end unity and move to gnome and I just couldn't, I absolutely hated it. So I again went distro hopping, avoiding distros that used gnome, and found Solus, as you said to each their own, but I just love the simplicity and fictionality of the budgie UI.

Also its the first distro that I've installed that I haven't had to go searching for a fix to solve some problem or other. Everything just works out of the box. I used to like tinkering with my machine, these days I just want it to work following install.

Edit: I should note that I've tried mate again but after Unity and Budgie it feels ancient.

I've tried GNOME3, Unity, and Budgie and dislike them all. Despite MATE have an older setup - I absolutely love it.

Worztron · 21-06-2019 1:40pm

opus wrote: »

MATE for me, used to use Gnome but couldn't stick the changes to it so switched to Cinnamon but it crashed too much so ended up with MATE.

Hi opus. Kudos on your DE of choice! :-) I've never seen the point of Cinnamon.

Worztron · 21-06-2019 1:41pm

rayzercork wrote: »

ive seen it but not tested it, as far as jwm goes ive just rebuilt my old config i had running & managed to get transparency effects and conky working on it too. ive integrated xfce's app finder into it so it has a pop out version of the whisker menu, makes life so much easier

Damn, that's a really nice setup you have there. (-:

chonix · 24-06-2019 2:24pm

So far, I've using 1) MATE for a long time, and I quite like it. Slick, smooth, simple. When I have to set-up stuff for a Windoze user, I get 2) Cinnamon as base launcher, if it doesn't crash right from the bat... if that's the case, I go with 3a) LXDE or 3b) XFCE

Keplar240B · 02-07-2019 2:35am

I just stick to XFCE everytime light weight, highly customizable , just works.
Does everything I need and want.

Worztron · 02-07-2019 10:08am

Keplar240B wrote: »

I just stick to XFCE everytime light weight, highly customizable , just works.
Does everything I need and want.

Xfce may well have the perfect balance of speed, customizability, stability, and looks.

Sir Oxman · 05-07-2019 12:00am

Am I the only one who likes Gnome 3??
I just like the way it flows once I customise it.

Gnome
KDE
Budgie

Worztron · 05-07-2019 12:18pm

Sir Oxman wrote: »

Am I the only one who likes Gnome 3??
I just like the way it flows once I customise it.

Gnome
KDE
Budgie

Different strokes for different folks.

PropJoe10 · 06-07-2019 10:15pm

Sir Oxman wrote: »

Am I the only one who likes Gnome 3??
I just like the way it flows once I customise it.

Gnome
KDE
Budgie

GNOME is great. More keyboard driven than others but there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. The extensions make it highly customisable too.

Worztron · 07-07-2019 10:30am

PropJoe10 wrote: »

GNOME is great. More keyboard driven than others but there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. The extensions make it highly customisable too.

I've tried to like GNOME (3) but find it unbearable.

PropJoe10 · 07-07-2019 11:03am

Worztron wrote: »

I've tried to like GNOME (3) but find it unbearable.

Anything in particular that you hate about it? I use Dash To Dock to move my dock to the bottom and with some nice custom themes it works like most other desktops for me.

Worztron · 07-07-2019 11:54am

PropJoe10 wrote: »

Anything in particular that you hate about it? I use Dash To Dock to move my dock to the bottom and with some nice custom themes it works like most other desktops for me.

The file manager is awful, the DE is resource hungry, it takes some jumping through hoops to get it looking right. What if some of the extensions you need go away? I much prefer to just use MATE.

PropJoe10 · 07-07-2019 12:58pm

Worztron wrote: »

The file manager is awful, the DE is resource hungry, it takes some jumping through hoops to get it looking right. What if some of the extensions you need go away? I much prefer to just use MATE.

Mate is great! GNOME is actually a lot more efficient on system resources since 3.30 - they've fixed some of the memory leak issues and it's much more responsive now. File manager does need some work though.

Still reckon that Dolphin (KDE) is the best file manager around.

Worztron · 07-07-2019 1:18pm

PropJoe10 wrote: »

Mate is great! GNOME is actually a lot more efficient on system resources since 3.30 - they've fixed some of the memory leak issues and it's much more responsive now. File manager does need some work though.

Still reckon that Dolphin (KDE) is the best file manager around.

MATE just works right from the get go - no going to a website/Tweak App to get extensions to add a feature that should be there already. :-)
I really can't understand why the GNOME devs stripped down Nautilus/Files so much. I may give GNOME another go in a VM some time down the line.
Yes, Dolphin is sweet but my favorite file manger is Caja - if I were to choose a 2nd favorite FM - it'd be Nemo.

The high horse brigade · 07-07-2019 8:15pm

PropJoe10 wrote: »

GNOME is great. More keyboard driven than others but there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. The extensions make it highly customisable too.

I absolutely love Gnome, it's so productive once you get the hang of the shortcuts and install a few extensions

Keplar240B · 09-07-2019 2:07pm

I have seen some data from a big survey before that shows that Gnome is the most popular DE, there is a gap of some % points and then its KDE with XFCE not far behind and all the others combined are less than 5% of Linux users.

So its 95% of Linux users who use a DE are using Gnome KDE and XFCE according to that survey which I cannot
find now.

rayzercork · 14-07-2019 5:51pm

oldschool linux users tend to like mate from the gnome 2 days, while recent distro hoppers tend to adopt the newer desktops unless they want a lightweight setup.

Worztron · 14-07-2019 6:20pm

rayzercork wrote: »

oldschool linux users tend to like mate from the gnome 2 days, while recent distro hoppers tend to adopt the newer desktops unless they want a lightweight setup.

MATE fan here.

Johnboy1951 · 14-07-2019 10:16pm

rayzercork wrote: »

oldschool linux users tend to like mate from the gnome 2 days, while recent distro hoppers tend to adopt the newer desktops unless they want a lightweight setup.

Some of us are just stuck in our ways

I started with KDE 3.2 I think and still use KDE to this day.

The high horse brigade · 14-07-2019 10:28pm

rayzercork wrote: »

oldschool linux users tend to like mate from the gnome 2 days, while recent distro hoppers tend to adopt the newer desktops unless they want a lightweight setup.

I didn't like it when Ubuntu moved from gnome. At that time I started investigating many other distros and moved away from gnome 2 type desktop GUIs but really took to gnome 3 right away. It just puts the control right in the gestures and keyboard shortcuts which work well with a laptop touchpad which is what I'm mostly using.

Worztron · 15-07-2019 10:23am

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Some of us are just stuck in our ways

I started with KDE 3.2 I think and still use KDE to this day.

Old habits certainly die hard. ;-)

Johnboy1951 · 15-07-2019 10:53am

Worztron wrote: »

Old habits certainly die hard. ;-)

I have just tested as a live session, the test release of the trimmed down PCLinuxOS ISO.
It has both KDE and IceWM on it so is useful for weaker hardware too, IceWM being very lightweight.
http://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/os/Linux/distr/pclinuxos/pclinuxos/live-cd/64bit/pclinuxos64-kde5-darkstar-test-2019.07.iso
http://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/os/Linux/distr/pclinuxos/pclinuxos/live-cd/64bit/pclinuxos64-kde5-darkstar-test-2019.07.md5sum

rayzercork · 15-07-2019 8:13pm

i hated unity right from the start, just felt sluggish all the time & gnome 3 i liked until they started dumbing it down.
ended up using lxde after that then moved onto xfce when the conversion to lxqt started.
mate doesnt appeal to me though, theres something about the theming i cant stand.
i play around with window managers too occasionally tweaking them and making themes.
at the moment im running mostly xfce with jwm as a backup.

spannerotoole · 11-10-2019 3:50am

Cinnamon
KDE
MATE

L1011 · 11-10-2019 7:14pm

GNOME 2. Everything else since then has been form over function to a hideous extent; or is actually *too* lightweight

Lots of decent GTK apps started going the same way at the time.

L.Jenkins · 12-10-2019 10:34pm

Cinnamon
XFCE
MATE

Prefer Cinnamon though, as it gives the appearance of a Windows OS.

Johnboy1951 · 13-10-2019 9:48am

L.Jenkins wrote: »

Cinnamon
XFCE
MATE

Prefer Cinnamon though, as it gives the appearance of a Windows OS.

Lots would regard that as a huge negative

PropJoe10 · 05-11-2019 8:40pm

For anyone running KDE or thinking of checking it out, the new 5.17 release is incredibly lightweight and snappy. Running it on PCLinuxOS on an old Macbook 2008 Core2Duo and it's absolutely delightful. Runs even lighter than XFCE does in terms of RAM usage!

sheepsh4gger · 05-11-2019 8:56pm

1. Fluxbox (Openbox)
2. Ice WM
3. Mint

Puke: Unity

Worztron · 05-11-2019 9:25pm

sheepsh4gger wrote: »

1. Fluxbox (Openbox)
2. Ice WM
3. Mint

Puke: Unity

Hi sheepsh4gger. Did you mean MATE or Cinnamon for your 'Mint' entry?

DeconSheridan · 08-11-2019 7:04pm

I gave Xfce desktop a go last year on the Server but it annoyed me because it has a bucket load of dependencies. When i went to install apps that I needed or update them it started giving out about how the dependencies for this or that cannot be updated.. Back to cli, its grand.

You could though RDP to it via Windows machine which was nice.

Worztron · 09-11-2019 4:34pm

DeconSheridan wrote: »

I gave Xfce desktop a go last year on the Server but it annoyed me because it has a bucket load of dependencies. When i went to install apps that I needed or update them it started giving out about how the dependencies for this or that cannot be updated.. Back to cli, its grand.

You could though RDP to it via Windows machine which was nice.

I find Xfce to be excellent.

DeconSheridan · 10-11-2019 11:15am

Worztron wrote: »

I find Xfce to be excellent.

It is, I was really impressed and liked the GUI for the Server for a change. Currently im using Ubuntu Server 18.04.2 LTS no GUI I think its great how solid the Linux boxes are...

limnam · 13-11-2019 4:03pm

Used to be a big fan of window maker.

Having kids has turned me into a gnome user. :pac:

PropJoe10 · 13-11-2019 4:08pm

Never had a problem with GNOME 3 myself. Its very functional once you get used to the fact that it's keyboard based rather than mouse based. its performance has really stepped up as well since 3.30 - I'm not one of these "the lighter it runs on RAM the better" folks. RAM is there to be used.

L.Jenkins · 15-11-2019 10:07am

Using LXDE instead of Cinnamon today and I find it to be much quicker and less labour intensive. Any other Desktop Environments that have good performance?

Johnboy1951 · 15-11-2019 11:12am

L.Jenkins wrote: »

Using LXDE instead of Cinnamon today and I find it to be much quicker and less labour intensive. Any other Desktop Environments that have good performance?

MATE, Xfce, any of the window managers such as Fluxbox, icewm, openbox etc etc

KDE5 is quite responsive these days once it is loaded, and is full featured.

PropJoe10 · 15-11-2019 3:31pm

L.Jenkins wrote: »

Using LXDE instead of Cinnamon today and I find it to be much quicker and less labour intensive. Any other Desktop Environments that have good performance?

KDE 5.17 runs incredibly light on resources these days.

What are your 3 favorite Desktop Environments?

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