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Linux Desktop Environment Face-Off: Which GUI Is Best

16 points by jlpcsl 6y ago

dilandau 6y ago
Xfce is undoubtedly my favorite, but it's gradually adopting all the trendy crap they're strongarming into gtk. Expect full client side decorations and super huge widgets in the next release.
- stOneskull 6y ago
  I love the fun configurability of Xfce. And that it stays lite even with all the goodies installed. Recently been appreciating Cinnamon for kinda the opposite, in that I don't think about tweaking much, it's just simple and standard for my old brain; balanced, like this article says.
modzu 6y ago
gnome has taken some heat lately so i feel obliged to share some love for it. it's a great DE in that it stays out of my way when i want it to and it offers subtle help to things i need it to (window manage, multitask, etc). i think in 2020 it beats them all (including macos and win) ️
- tdubhro1 6y ago
  I just came back to running Linux as my primary OS and went for Fedora 32 with the default Gnome install; overall I’m blown away at how great the experience has been so far, everything works well out of the box (for many years I used Ubuntu and had endless problems with basic stuff like audio and networking), and the desktop environment feels incredible, it manages to combine the minimalist uncluttered feel of dwm or xmonad (when in app) with the kind of rich experience of MacOS when navigating to an app or settings. Kudos to everyone involved.
- thekyle 6y ago
  There's lots to like about GNOME. I would say its one of the most polished desktops with lots of first party apps for it. It definitely has the best search of any DE. But I would have a hard time recommending it to most people I know (at least vanilla GNOME). It just breaks too many workflows. They removed desktop icons which I don't use but lots of people do. The removed the minimize and maximize buttons meaning you either have to close apps or move them to another desktop. The most annoying one for me is that they removed the system tray which just straight up broke a bunch of apps (mostly sync clients like Dropbox). Now, all of those features can be added back with extensions (which may break in a future release) but I don't thing most people want to deal with that. Thankfully there are distros like Ubuntu and Manjaro that patch GNOME and add back in missing features.
  - modzu 6y ago
    grab gnome tweaks (some distros include it). it exposes many of those native settings for you (desktop icons, min/maximize buttons, etc)
    - thekyle 6y ago
      Cool, I didn't know desktop icons was an option in Tweaks now. I'll check that out next time I use Fedora.
leephillips 6y ago
What concrete advantage does a desktop environment offer me over just running a window manager like dwm? I've tried it both ways, and all the desktops seem to do is take up resources while offering little in return. Can you describe a significant way that your desktop improves your computing life?
- wazzaps 6y ago
  Good defaults
  - leephillips 6y ago
    I've asked this question several times, and this is the best answer I've seen yet.
- totony 6y ago
  Automatic monitor setup (plug in/out), audio controls, notifications
  - totony 6y ago
    User switching, sane session locking (+ automatic locking), better accessibility (e.g. you can use mouse to do pretty much anything)
panpanna 6y ago
Which is the best? I don't know. Which should you use? The same as most other people, so we can get some actual work done. Right now thats gnome. Having a crazy efficient setup that only you in the office understand isn't good for collaboration.

16 points by jlpcsl 6y ago

Xfce is undoubtedly my favorite, but it's gradually adopting all the trendy crap they're strongarming into gtk. Expect full client side decorations and super huge widgets in the next release.

stOneskull 6y ago
I love the fun configurability of Xfce. And that it stays lite even with all the goodies installed. Recently been appreciating Cinnamon for kinda the opposite, in that I don't think about tweaking much, it's just simple and standard for my old brain; balanced, like this article says.

modzu 6y ago

gnome has taken some heat lately so i feel obliged to share some love for it. it's a great DE in that it stays out of my way when i want it to and it offers subtle help to things i need it to (window manage, multitask, etc). i think in 2020 it beats them all (including macos and win) ️

tdubhro1 6y ago
I just came back to running Linux as my primary OS and went for Fedora 32 with the default Gnome install; overall I’m blown away at how great the experience has been so far, everything works well out of the box (for many years I used Ubuntu and had endless problems with basic stuff like audio and networking), and the desktop environment feels incredible, it manages to combine the minimalist uncluttered feel of dwm or xmonad (when in app) with the kind of rich experience of MacOS when navigating to an app or settings. Kudos to everyone involved.
thekyle 6y ago
There's lots to like about GNOME. I would say its one of the most polished desktops with lots of first party apps for it. It definitely has the best search of any DE. But I would have a hard time recommending it to most people I know (at least vanilla GNOME). It just breaks too many workflows. They removed desktop icons which I don't use but lots of people do. The removed the minimize and maximize buttons meaning you either have to close apps or move them to another desktop. The most annoying one for me is that they removed the system tray which just straight up broke a bunch of apps (mostly sync clients like Dropbox). Now, all of those features can be added back with extensions (which may break in a future release) but I don't thing most people want to deal with that. Thankfully there are distros like Ubuntu and Manjaro that patch GNOME and add back in missing features.
- modzu 6y ago
  grab gnome tweaks (some distros include it). it exposes many of those native settings for you (desktop icons, min/maximize buttons, etc)
  - thekyle 6y ago
    Cool, I didn't know desktop icons was an option in Tweaks now. I'll check that out next time I use Fedora.

leephillips 6y ago

What concrete advantage does a desktop environment offer me over just running a window manager like dwm? I've tried it both ways, and all the desktops seem to do is take up resources while offering little in return. Can you describe a significant way that your desktop improves your computing life?

wazzaps 6y ago
Good defaults
- leephillips 6y ago
  I've asked this question several times, and this is the best answer I've seen yet.
totony 6y ago
Automatic monitor setup (plug in/out), audio controls, notifications
- totony 6y ago
  User switching, sane session locking (+ automatic locking), better accessibility (e.g. you can use mouse to do pretty much anything)

panpanna 6y ago

Which is the best? I don't know. Which should you use? The same as most other people, so we can get some actual work done. Right now thats gnome. Having a crazy efficient setup that only you in the office understand isn't good for collaboration.