Choosing a Desktop Environment (Linux for Noobs 3)
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- Опубліковано 12 січ 2021
- One of the most important decisions you will make during the process of switching to Linux is which desktop environment to use. This will also help you choose a distribution. In this video, I'll show four popular desktop environments.
*⏰ TIME CODES*:
04:22 - GNOME
10:06 - Plasma
14:36 - xfce
17:45 - Cinnamon
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As a recent noob, my recommendations for DEs:
1. Cinnamon for long time Windows users
2. Pantheon (and elementaryOS) for longtime MacOS users
3. KDE for when you have time to kill/urge to tinker
I didn't go that route. I had default Gnome for the longest time while I ran KDE as an alternative to tinker. I have lost count of the the number of times I broke the KDE desktop in those first few days - I was on the verge of giving up on it so manytimes. Thankfully it was the lockdown and I didn't have work or any other commitments. I also had Cinnamon in case I bungled things up beyond repair.
One year later, I can't see myself on any DE long enough before I need to go back to KDE. I can't use Cinnamon and Gnome at all any longer. The former because it reminds me too much of Windows like experience, while Gnome is just clunky for my tastes.
Pantheon would be my second choice today. In design and UX philosophy, it's the polar opposite of KDE but the team behind elementaryOS have done and outstanding job to flatten the learning curve for new comers to Linux. It is also so pretty AF.
What I miss here are specific example scenarios/workflow in which one DE might be more suitable for than another. Because, as a noob, that might be where you are coming from.
For example in an academic environment, both as a student of a college/university, as well as someone working at a university as e.g. a lecturer, you might want to think twice before choosing the Gnome DE. Cause in that case, you will probably have several windows and documents open at the same time and want to easily change between them and sometimes have two or more, tiled or overlapping, on the screen at the same time. Only then you are easily able to write essays and articles with different references and so on and so forth. This does not work very well on Gnome, in contrast to basically any other DE such as the mentioned Plasma, xfce or Cinnamon.
If you have several devices for different purposes, e.g. a laptop for work, a main pc for gaming, and some small pc hooked up to a TV, which means for each device a different appearance of the desktop is beneficial, but you still want to use the same DE for each device, go with xfce or Plasma. Then you can easily customise the desktop for each device according to its function and still use the same DE.
So these are the use cases that are relevant for me, but I am sure, there are many more. However, as mentioned above, different use cases are probably important from a noob perspective trying to figure out what DE is most suitable.
I only use gnome for the workspaces, i tried mate, cinnamon, and plasma and just never figured out how to tweak workspaces so they were just how i liked them.
Beyond that they were phenomenal.
I've been using Plasma since I started dabbling in linux. I can't seem to give up the infinite customizability. Also, I finally got your book. Super easy to read. I'm only at chapter 8 but it is really easy to understand and very palatable. Great starting point for new user. I have no intentions of becoming a linux administrator outside of my home but I love how you give good tips for someone that might be working for an organization.
video starts at 4:45
How obnoxious to bore everyone with recycled begging for subscribers, etc.
Hands down this is the best Linux channel on UA-cam.
Truth
I tried all these DEs but KDE Plasma just feels at home for me! I luv how much you can customize it! 👍
Jay you make the Linux learning curve really enjoyable, informative and topical, thank you...
I've been liking this channel more and more.
I would add Pantheon to the list. MacOS users should take a look at Elementary OS' beautiful Pantheon desktop.
Cinnamon has become my favorite
Thanks a lot Jay. I really like and appreciate these videos for noobs like me.👍🏼
What I really love about XFCE on LinuxMint is the ability to "middle/roller" mouse click on the desktop to access the "short-cut" menu to all open windows on all my 4 workspaces and select to jump to any of them.
I can also easily access my desktop by "rolling-up" the window with the mouse wheel on the window title-bar.
Alt+scroll Up/Down to zoom up/down. It even work when I run windows in Virtualbox😊.
Very good demonstration of each Desktop. I think MATE and Pantheon deserved a mention here. MATE because how flexible/customizable (MATE Tweak), and not-heavy at the same time it is, and Pantheon because it's maybe the most beautiful (pixel-perfect) Desktop.
My Top 5 are:
1. KDE... I mean Plasma :)
2. Xfce
3. MATE
4. GNOME
5. Cinnamon
I like the UI of Pantheon a lot but I don't like how closed it is. Even Windows lets you make more changed to the UI than Elementary OS.
KDE Plasma is my no.1 GDE. Where would I be without its Window Rules, Widgets, Virtual Desktops, Activities, Dolphin, Autostart, customization-all-over-the-place, etc etc?
Gnome is an excellent desktop but the reason I don't use it is not because it is not traditional. I don't use it simply because for a mature and popular DE it is not acceptable having to install third party software (Extensions) in order to make it usable and give it more functionality.
I used a few distros before finding Mint, forever I used Cinnamon, but now I use XFCE, though with customization it looks more like Cinnamon all the time. I have ran it on various Dell Laptops, and on a surplus Server I repurposed as my Desktop many years ago.
👍Same here - XFCE on LinuxMint😊
Great video. I like xfce desktop env since it is very lightweight and can be installed on cloud instances (AWS for example). Also I've used Gnome & KDE (now Plasma) in the past.
My favorites of these:
1. MATE
2. Xfce (very close 2nd)
3. Cinnamon
4. Plasma (TOO many options!)
5. GNOME (makes my head hurt)
If I HAD to have something lightweight:
LXDE...or just straight Openbox
This is a fabulous Linux video channel 👍I started on Linux a couple of months back after the Windows 11 monster was unleashed on the world. I've been distro hopping now I'm using mabox Linux with openbox desktop and it's blown me away. It's fantastic
👍👍👍👍👍Welcome onboard‼️😊
I upgraded from xp to LinuxMint and never look back.
Sit tight & Enjoy🍷🍾
Great video. My go-to has always been xfce, but I have decided to give plasma a go and stick with it for a bit. It's great that my distro of choice, MX Linux, has several to try out.
Great video! Thanks. It use to be Gnome but now I’m liking XFCE. Looking forward to more videos!
19:47 you can actually change that in Cinnamon. This is something people need to know. When you install Mint it has a simple button to switch to the tradition (XP-style) panel. You can do it yourself by right-clicking onto the panel and going into Applets. Cinnamon is VERY customizable. Maybe not as much as KDE, but more so than many other DEs.
Yeah Cinnamon's customizability is very understated. Theming is pretty much akin to a Minecraft resource pack - you just download it and put it in a designated folder. After that, the cinnamon.css file (as well as other files) give you an almost-complete granular control over the tiniest details of your desktop, down to the coloring and padding of individual categories and icons. I'm pretty sure you can do it in other DE's as well, but Cinnamon makes it so much more accessible IMO.
Thanks for the video. As a fairly new Linux user I find that I like the XFCE and KDE Plasma environments. Cinnamon is nice too. Gnome is probably my
least favorite. And I don't care much for Window managers
Wow! This review is everything I imagined when I searched for an overview of Linux desktop UIs. Thank you for a great job.
Oh yeah, thanks to you I think I'll move to xfce.
Liking and commenting for the algorithm ;-) great content as always, keep it up Jay!
KDE Plasma for me, Mate in second and if I don't have any other alternatives GNOME.
I am gettting interested in KDE desktop environment
I choose GNOME because it doesn't have too many options like KDE. Animations are smooth, and it allows me to focus more on what I am doing. I can use extensions, but so far I didn't needed any.
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KDE is by far the best .
Unfortunately doesn't work with my MATE MINT 20.1 .
Also , i don't know how KDE & Compiz can work together .
GREAT video once again .
Thank you .
I use Ubuntu, and while I like Gnome a lot there is something about Cinnamon that I just love, maybe it is because I used Windows 7 for the longest time so what I ended up doing is use Ubuntu with the Cinnamon DE and I could not be happier
What about MATE, Budgie, Pantheon and Unity?
Just want to express my appreciation for your exceptional content- priceless information shared very expertly.
Thanks, for the quick look at the Desktops. It is exactly the sort of thing I wanted to see. I started with Linux Mint 19.3 this past year and like it. Don't plan to Distro hop, Linux Mint is fast easy to use and works great. I came to Linux after using Windows for nearly 40 years. I started with Windows 3.1 that ran from DOS. I liked your presentation of the Dalphin File manager of KDE. Would love to see more about the differences in the Desktop's utilities like the file manager and the default text editors. Linux Mint uses the Nemo file editor and xed text editor. Both are very functional. I also downloaded xfe file manage and it works on Mint and comes with the xfwrite text file editor. I really like the fact that xfwrite wraps long lines in full view. On the other hand I like the spell check feature that comes with xed. When I looked some other text editors, they seemed to come from the same thing. "xed" looked like "Mousepad".
If you have Linux Mint with the Cinnamon desktop, you can do much more than is shown in this video. You can switch between workspaces by Ctrl+Alt and the arrow keys. You can add applets to the toolbar (right click and choose applets for a list and you can download more) You can also choose a lot of different themes to custo mize the look and feel of the desktop.
using windows 40 years? hahaha
I use Linux Mint Cinnamon 19.3 currently as my daily driver, but I do notice it is a bit heavier on system resources. So my alternative, depending on my mood at the time I boot up I also have LxQT desktop with ICEWM which performs much faster on my intel x79 xeon e5-2650 v2 w/16 gb ddr3-1333 ecc in quad channel. I swap between Cinnamon and LxQT regularly. I also have a media center PC running Linux Mint 19.3 XFCE running on a Ivybrdge i5 3470 with 8GB ram. I like XFCE for the speed it gives on a givin machine. Used to also run Mint with KDE, but don't need that much of aesthetic custumization as much now that I'm older hehe.
The best desktop environment is the one that gives users the most choice in customizing it. The best candidates for that are zorin's layout chooser, now also being used on Manjaro GNOME. I'm happy to see more distros/DE's offer more choice.
10:36
My mind still reads "KDE" if it sees "Plasma" 😃
Plasma might be more customizable than others, but most of its customization options are kinda unnecessary. Whereas some things that I really wanted to customize on it weren't customizable. I found Cinnamon to be much more convenient and intuitivie in that regard. I was able to make it look and function almost exactly how I wanted. That being said, I did still like Plasma, and will consider it as a second candidate, in case Cinnamon is discontinued or something. My third candidate would probably be MATE.
Awesome video - just what I was looking for! You sold me on the Gnome right away (I will keep the other ones in mind). thanks for posting! :D
I chose KDE Plasma, for it's customization, and cause it was beloved by the broadest communuty, so I'd figure there would be more community support
I love Gnome specially after 40+ series. ❤️
Mint + Cinnamon + Papirus icon theme = ♥️
XFCE + Dolphin !
For me I need stability and functionality. That's it. My computers are business grade desktop with 4GB of RAM so what I do is split my 250GB SSD drives in two. I do a net install of debian in one with all available desktops environments, and a net install of opensuse with all available desktop environments in the other partition. This way if I feel like working in gnome,no problem. Total flexibility with no issues. I have been doing this for months! Works great and that's all I need. Loved your video😀
honestly the best video out there explaining the stuff properly to new users like me...so grateful for this video..thanks a lot
For what it's worth, I like Cinnamon (within Linux Mint 21).
On my PC Xubuntu or Mint XFCE are incredibly stable. So what is the point of learning Debian when Xubuntu or Mint XFCE are so good?
I'm partial to the Gnome desktop since I use it in Qubes, which is based on Fedora 30. However, I have used the Plasma desktop in the past and like it very much too.
I kind of miss Mint Cinnamon, been using Garuda KDE Plasma Dr46onized for awhile and I'm beginning to mull over going with Arch Plasma.
My favourite is Gnome and it will be my favourite always.
But in between I use kde too just for customisation
Gnome is for a garden, are you a garden?
Plasma/ Feren OS here.... fabulous!
Please keep these videos coming
Lxde + compiz fusion is also great for older computers.
Also Xfce.
LXDE has been superseded by LXQt though.
In my opinion,
For general-purpose desktop where you actually browse the web, watch videos, etc ==> Gnome
For single-purpose or specialised computer like some sort of home server ==> XFCE
KDE is buggy and slow. All other DE's are minor which means that it will be hard to find answers when you encounter problems.
thnx for your time and great content
Thanks, this was helpful. My background was as a unix programmer where I first encountered graphic interfaces with X-windows and I can't remember what window manager. It was enough to get a few terminal windows up where I could run vi or emacs to get my work done. The windows system was useful because by virtualizing the terminal it let me do more things at once. However, it was still esentially a cli environment.
After that I was seduced by the dark side and went into marketing ... where I used Windows. At first the horrors of windows 3.1. On that system I had to reboot at least two or three times a day to recover from the memory leaks and the desktop paradigm was incomprehensible. But by the time windows 95 came out Microsoft, taking a lesson from Apple, had figured out how to make a GUI based system useable. Windows continued to improve but enough of that.
I have a linux server now that I run samba on to feed my windows desktop. I have been looking for a decent GUI for the linux box but have found that rather than getting better they seem to be getting worse. Less intuitive, harder to use, unable to find things that should be readily visible. I think that the problem is that linux is still basically a cli based system and the most useful thing in the windows system is still the terminal.
In my last installation I asked to include graphical system management tools but nowhere can I find them in gnome. In fact the default gnome desktop in its spartan emptiness can find almost nothing useful. Well Firefox is there so it's not completely useless.
What they call traditional gnome is better. I will try KDE and maybe cinnamon. Wish me luck.
And don't get me started about Linux. Unix had an elegance and simplicity that seems to have been completely lost in Linux. I guess running on machines with a 64KB address space enforced some discipline.
Thanks alot, im a new linux noob as you can see , i love the way you explain the environments you got yourself a new sub and a fan sir🤝
Been using the XFCE Desktop b/c it's more light-weight & yet customisable on an older h/w. So am now stuck with it on more beefy h/w.
KDE was my favourite until I experienced too much instabilities in the past; perhaps due to old h/w issue.
I've been enjoying the transition process from Windows to Gnome on Debian 12. The aha! moment when I properly ingested that really I don't need maximise/minimise buttons was lovely. I initially installed dash2dock but as the gnome workflow embeds itself, I'm starting to think I don't particularly need it.
When I heard what Plasma is, I don't know if there's any way I won't go with it. I'll watch the others, but I'm itching to get to PLASMAAAAA
LXDE with Openbox was great for old computers back in the day. Nothing like adding KDE Connect integration to PCManFM hacking text files. Ah, the good old days!
Just out of curiosty, anyone know if Bluecurve is still kickin' around? I remember that being the default for redhat 9, but it's been ages. Edited for a spelling error.
Another great video! Excellent work, I appreciate your efforts to help educate the rest of the community 👍👍
I like PopOs that has Gnome but I like a lot Plasma (especially with his file manager Dolphin). Are there problems to use Plasma on PopOs? I tried to istall Dolphin on PopOs but he give me an error when I scan other partitions or disks. Did you ever try?
My most used desktops today are Gnome, Xfce and Windows XP. Gnome for its workspaces, xfce for its simplicity and Windows XP as jukebox.
I use the Ubuntu version of gnome for my Host-OS and for a VM to try-out new stuff. Xfce for all my communication Apps, like email; whatsapp; kdeconnect etc. In the past I have used the following VMs for that purpose Xubuntu 18.04, 20.04 and now 22.04. I use the Windows XP VM to play the wma copies of my LPs and CDs. I like to keep some VMs as flashback, so I kept Xubuntu 18.04 and 20.04. The Windows XP VM has been installed and activated 12 years ago and it survived 3 desktops and 4 CPUs.
Video starts at 5:35
I've been using Linux since 2004, and have been using XFCE for 99% of that time. I don't like the eye candy on the fancier desktops, and I could change almost anything that I wanted to change. I also had an old computer with an even lighter desktop, IceWM.
Great video. Shame that the Plasma looks like from year 98. Also that Gnome's 'Super/Start screen' could allow you to put some widgets in it (I liked the philosophy of Win10 start menu in this). Wish that these enviroments be a little bit more modern and smarter.
Can you put desktops like: KDE, Gnome and XFce on distributions like - Fedora?
Well, Plasma is still KDE; it's just more specifically the name of the newest desktop environment, while KDE refers to the project as a whole now.
Following your video, I want to install Debian 12 but want to use XFCE desktop or Cinnamon, so my question is can I change my desktop after install or do I have to re-install again to change it? I am using Linux Mint at the moment.Thanks, Bob in the UK
Is there a front end for choosing what desktop environment I want to run when I login?
Not by default. Usually when you download a distribution you choose what desktop environment you want to use an download that specific ISO. However, once your system is set up you can install another desktop environment alongside it and after a reboot you can pick which one you want at login.
Xfce and Lxqt for me.
I use xfce. I value speed, efficiency, and minimalism.
I really like the look of Gnome. I assume that you can open a web browser in separate windows in addition to using tabs.
Thank you for this. Will there be a part two regarding window managers?
4:42 start
GReat guide, thank you very much!
This channel is superb. Thank you Jay
this really does feel like TV since it takes him such a long time to get to the point
Great Linux video channel. 👍 Being a Linux newbe UA-cam has been an absolute god send. I'm using mabox Linux which has openbox desktop. I won't use anything else now it's a work of genuis
Thank you, Jay. GNOME with pop-shell has been and remains my perfect DE.
Mine too :)
XFCE is my favorite, sometimes awesome wm works better for me.
Other popular desktop environments are MATE and Budgie. Then there is LXQt (also LXDE).
I hated gnome, but once I tweaked it with the extensions I love it. It's smoother and less buggy than KDE. The other DE I like is Cinnamon
Fedora Cinnamon looks interesting. I've hopped a bit from Mint Cinnamon to XFCE (Manjaro currently) and KDE. Not sure which I might try next: LXQt or LXDE. I have ram it's just I'm not sure what my perfect environment is.
I do love a DE comparison. I went from xfce to Cinnamon when Debian 10 provided a few DEs to install. I tried them all. Cinnamon is perfect in usability and customization, but a couple of times per year, it decides to stop working because of a video driver update. I use Plasma as a secondary option (you can pick the DE at the login screen in Debian 10) and it works pretty well and seems not to suffer from the driver issue. Having said that, Plasma is just not quite as user-friendly as Cinnamon in my opinion. Xfce was great and stable enough, but I found that there were graphical glitches that had no impact on usability but looked a bit strange.
Personally, I started with slackware 1...slackware, rockylinux, gentoo, and arch respectively are probably the best places to start learning Linux....if you just want to use it out of the box, however, go with lubuntu.
I use Q4OS 3.13 with TDE as my desktop. Plasma, gnomes, xfce all feel like variations of vista...
Do you know which desktops work using Orcathe screen reader?
Cinnamon works best for me
It would be a good idea to show how to switch from one desktop to another if some chose many desktop during installation.
Ubuntu with Cinnamon is the best. :)
Awesome 👍 review
Love the Buddha statue. I have one similar but pocket sized haha
"It looks kind of empty, doesn't it? There's no icons anywhere on the desktop at all." Exactly as it should be.
Hey You Noob, I didn't want to know customizations. I really wanna know the advantages and disadvantages over one another
For example, I may not be using the vanilla File Manager in KDE. That might cause some trouble in troubleshootings.
Nice intro, I like it!
Thanks!
As a Linux veteran, I like the diversity of Linux DEs (and the tastes of the other Linux users) because then I can stick further with the most stable and eye-pleasing DE of all without supporting a monopoly. And that is Gnome. If you want to USE your desktop environment in a convenient way instead of tweaking or repairing it all the time then Gnome is the way to go. 🙂
There is no choice. There is only XFCE master race.
KDE for me. Well i used most of the DE. But KDE looks better in opinion. But for light DE I would go for xfce or Mate. Vanilla KDE uses 7-900 MB in my system. With all customization (which is huge) it uses 1300 MB of memory in my system. But vanilla gnome uses 1300 MB in mine🤣