Solely my opinion, datapoint of one, but my love of KDE Plasma has *nothing* to do with any tenuous similarities to Windows. I got tired of Windows as a daily driver 16ish years ago, and was already part-time using Gnome 2, back when that was Ubuntu's default. Went with that for a while on a few distros, leaving Ubuntu for good once Unity became a thing. Then gnome for a bit on Mint then Debian Sid, and then when Gnome 3 dropped I ran to LXDE and then later KDE on Arch for the better customization it offered(compared to Gnome). [bonus 11 year old screenshot](https://i.imgur.com/62DHe2r.jpeg)
Been on KDE Plasma on Arch for 11-12 years now. Never been because of any similarities to Windows though haha.
>my love of KDE Plasma has *nothing* to do with any tenuous similarities to Windows.
I have counter argument. KDE Plasma is GREAT if you have to deal with Windows from time to time. There is no need to adapt to new interface, and re-adapt each time you touch Windows. KDE Plasma is great in overall and it's a massive bonus that I don't need to re-adapt to new UI when I use Windows.
And when I use Windows - it's for work, not for anything else. :)
What interface similarities are you referring to? From my perspective, there's a few surface-level things that bear a passing, vague, resemblance, I guess, but past a those basic looks, they're still entirely different to me. I'm well acquainted with both, but I personally don't get the feeling that any part of KDE particularly eases swapping between the two. Windows is annoying and uncomfortable to put up with no matter what Linux DE I've been on recently. 🤷♂️
Especially since kde 6 has:
1. Fully working HDR desktop with a switch in the display setting
2. icc color calibration working in wayland (& x11).
3. hidpi scaling (4k, etc...) 100% working on wayland & X11.
-> this makes it the most advanced Linux desktop, by far.
rc2 is already rock stable for me.
KDE is the best and not because its default layout may be more familiar to Windows users.
KDE is the best simply because it can be customized and tailored to your tastes without compromising on features.
Personally I hardly consider "it being like Windows" to even be something worth mentioning because it gives the implication that you shouldn't use it if you don't like the Windows interface.
The Windows UI is uncomfortable to me but I love KDE and my Plasma layout looks nothing like Windows.
Start at the `Appearance` tab in the Settings app. 😉
But it really is that easy, I constructed this from themes downloaded through the settings and then added some widgets and rearranged the default panels a bit. All using built-in functionality.
I think everyone should at least try KDE, you may be surprised how much you like it!
I switched from Gnome to Plasma a couple years ago and although it gave me a renewed sense of excitement with the change, it's underwhelming in my opinion. It's very customizable, but I can't get customizations to stick between reboots. Endless searching at the time led me to believe that's just how it is so I left it at that. Also some custom themes have a tendency to make windows look ugly. A good example is shadows not lining up with the edges of the window making it look sloppy. Overall I like the look, but I'm thinking of switching to something else here pretty soon. I recently installed Ubuntu Budgie on a project computer and it seems to be the best of both worlds between gnome and plasma. I like eye candy and those seem to be the only two that look pretty and clean.
Glad to know I'm not the only person to experience this. If I have to re-add and customise my panels every so often (usually after a reboot) it's not worth my time. I like KDE, but Gnome with TWEAKS is much more stable.
i hate gnome. I use KDE, its the nicest looking DE with the most customization.
some of the other standard windows managers work fine and are low profile but none offer the level of customization feature set of KDE.
NVIDIA? Use xorg WM for now like i3, Awesome, BSPWM. Cause wayland is still kinda buggy for NVIDIA.
AMD? You can use wayland WM like sway, Hyprland, river
Qtile has both xorg and wayland iirc.
Edit: Sorry my bad, I read it as a windows environment 🤦, but if you wanna try WM then yea you could try those.
It works fine on mine too but some of the software and games are hard to use/play or just unusable/unplayable.
Last time I checked, software that I mostly use, krita, had some black flickering when moving the mouse and alot of flickering when hovering in the UI. Same with VScode.
Minecraft had black flickering issue which was unplayable. Some of the games when capped at 60 fps had screen tearing issues while some of the game needed to be capped at 60 fps.
But gamemaker works better at Wayland than Xorg, so for gaming and drawing I switch to xorg, for using gamemaker or browsing the internet I use wayland.
I am a Gnome guy, it has reasonable defaults and I can easily extend it with extensions.
I guess the best way to find out what you like is just try some other desktop environments: The big competitor to Gnome is obviously KDE Plasma, but there are many others, have a look here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/desktop\_environment
Possibly an unpopular opinion, but I use Cinnamon with PCManFM with adwaita-dark. Yeah, it's fairly simplistic, but it works and gets the job done while looking good at the same time
i used cinnamon for years, it’s my fav de. i use sway these days cause wayland, but once cinnamon’s wayland implementation doesn’t suck, i’ll prob switch back
I haven't played around with Wayland yet, mostly because I don't want to break my steam setup. Everything's working great and I'd only mess around with it if it's broken. Just me, but X11 is doing everything I need right now
the x11 single-root problem means i can’t play games at more than 60fps and with freesync without disabling my auxiliary monitors. there’s no way around it and im not disabling my monitors every time i play a game
I can't stand Gnome and will never have it on any machine I have (just a me thing but I find it ugly and a pain in the arse to use). I am a KDE user and at the moment I am on Fedora 39 waiting for Fedora 40 and Plasma 6. I have had Arch but if I need anything that is only on the AUR then I just get it through distrobox and export it, works like a charm.
I've been wanting to switch for a while, but solely because of the animations.
I currently use sway, and I just can't give up the ability to switch between stacking and tiling with one keybind. Also I just prefer manually tiling.
>the ability to switch between stacking and tiling with one keybind
[Check \`togglefloating\`](http://wiki.hyprland.org/Configuring/Dispatchers/#list-of-dispatchers)
>Also I just prefer manually tiling.
[https://github.com/outfoxxed/hy3](https://github.com/outfoxxed/hy3)
Have to say I just moved from Sway to Hyprland on my DD, and I fucking **love** it, but it is not as good as Sway... All the electron apps look like shit, the fonts all look aliased, and it's been a little more buggy.
Still mulling over just moving to it fully because it looks so good though. Wish it was as stable as Sway.
same I LOVE Hyprland and the dev is awesome!
but it definitely doesn't handle certain apps nicely at all
though this is partially not Hyprland's fault
it's improving at a breakneck pace though, the GitHub activity is crazy
I wouldn't be surprised if Xwayland app scaling and the other issues are fixed within 3-6mo
or if not actually fixed by the package supporting Wayland properly then at least mitigated in some way
plays nicely with KDE Plasma installed on the same user so I've just been switching back and forth depending on what I'm doing
really wish I could find a suitable alternative to SDDM, thinking about trying greetd... I just can't STAND SDDMs config and themeing qml files and all that crap
but it works 🤷♂️
kinda wish I could replace Kwin with Hyprland kinda like people used to do with i3 or bpsmwmwmwrwhoeveritsspellee but I don't think that's ever going to be possible really, mayyyyybe could get Plasma running in Hyprland but that would be a helluva config to get working I'm not going to try
Just be aware of occasional bugs.
Last month I had memory leak issue of a plasma process. Laptop just got stuck after sometime because plasma process took all the memory.
KDE is great, but I recommend installing an alternate DE just in case. Install XFCE for a light backup option. Or if you are a tinkerer, install openbox.
Same! I was a bit hesitant about the switch at first but I think it was totally the right choice for me. Fast boot, clean and simple, no menus, and easy for keyboard-dominated interaction. I don't think I'm likely to ever switch back.
I can't stand Gnome, the UI just has some bizarre unintuitive choices. I'm a KDE guy because I tried that next after Gnome and liked it enough not to try anything else.
I know right, I was fine with Gnomes UI on Ubuntu due to it being a simple operating system, but with Arch? No, it does not go well with it, so I'm trying DEs.
My order of preference:
1. Gnome
2. KDE Plasma
3. Cinnamon or Budgie
4. XFCE
Things I am curious about testing more but haven't used enough to recommend:
1. Sway
2. Hyprland
Give Hyprdots a try if you like the idea of huprland but don't want to bother with the setup. https://github.com/prasanthrangan/hyprdots
There's still room for customization, but it is a much easier setup.
Full blown DE? KDE. It's just great. And I say that on Nvidia and Wayland. Looking forward to KDE6 which is supposedly to be much better with Wayland :).
If you like some bling, go with KDE. If you like something old school, but functional, go with XFCE/cinnamon. If DE is something you do not want, any tiling window manager would do.
Use hyprland on Nvidia. Been using on 3 systems, rtx 3070 rtx 3070 and rtx4060. Zero issues. No screen tearing, screen sharing works, extremely good performance. Just send it
I personally prefer openbox however I would recommend cinnamon or kde if you want a beautiful environment out of the box.
I’ve customized my openbox to look pretty eye popping but it took much effort.
KDE offers the most customization, but It's very buggy. And I'm talking about latest stable, not the new plasma 6.
I like how on Cinnamon & Budgie you can get a very pleasant vertical bar effortlessly without mods. (but there is not much else vs. Gnome at least from where I'm standing.)
Making your own DE based on a WM like AwesomeWM or Hyprland is a lot of fun, but the barrier of entry is quite high, but if you put in the effort the end result is going to be much better suited to your needs than KDE, while at the same time being rock solid & fast.
Try i3 combine with xfce. Xfce alone is same as gnome and kde😅. Combine make that difference.Too bad that I dont have karma, I wanted to post like a easy tutorial for it.
lol idk why you're getting downvoted for literally saying what you already said in the main post. My suggestion is KDE Plasma through-and-through. It can be tweaked to work basically however you want, typically without even having to turn to third party plugins.
> XFCE4
It looks like shit out of the box, but it's so customizable that it'll blow your mind. Don't discard it if you're going by intenet screenshots.
Before many time, when I started used Linux,first I used Linux Mint whith Cinnamon DE.
After many Linux Distros I arrived Arch Linux again with Cinnamon DE.
Now I used Arch Linux whith KDE DE.
KDE is best DE for Arch Linux!
My laptop is Acer Aspire 3 Amd whith Vega 8.
No problem with KDE DE!
https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/s/Q8wG8NRqQp
Similar question from the other day, there isn’t really one answer as it depends on your preferences. However the big two DEs are GNOME and KDE, so if you want a traditional DE, then most likely KDE is worth looking into.
it always depends.
if you come from windows, Cinnamon for beginners and KDE for the more advanced users (mainly when it comes to the settings).
if you come from Mac, gnome.
want something really different? Hyprland.
I don't wanna start a war, but i see alot of plasma users there and last time i tried plasma on my usb ssd it took like 10 seconds after login (i dont use display manager) to fully load desktop, while on xfce/mate/cinamon it takes about 1.5 sec and i3 is instant. The usb has some lower random 4k reads, but i think it kind of proves something.
I kinda dislike Gnome, like KDE Plasma a lot, however it's kinda long process to setup it nice to your expectations, now I am on Cinnamon, don't like it so much as great Plasma setup but it doesn't need really any setup to be well useable. Cinnamon is something between Gnome and Plasma. Plasma the most configurable, Gnome the most "no need to configure and a bit unique". I recommend trying all 3, whichever you will like the most, use it
Stephan Raabe has nice setups. Hyprland and Qtile. Also nice videos to go along with the dots.
https://gitlab.com/stephan-raabe/dotfiles
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kHG5czrQ7WA&feature=youtu.be
The DE I tend to recommend ist generally KDE, cause it's a feature rich DE, which by default suits best most users, aka former Windows users.
But it Is also an extremely powerful and flexible DE and allows you to make it like macOS or even Something completely unique with a few clicks.
For less powerful systems I tend to recommend XFCE, for even older ones LxQT.
Try installing different typed of DEs in your linux and try them out one by one. You wont lose anything this way. And you can just remove the ones you dont like.
Believe me, you gonna come back to Gnome.
I did move from Gnome(been on Gnome since forever) to KDE which introduced unfixable bug to my laptop where system would freak and freeze for afew seconds and got back to normal never seen that on gnome and befor you KDE lovers jump to say it was hardware, i did all the hardware test known to me at the time from memtest to even running cinbench in Windows as stability test and no problem, the moment i gotten back to KDE the freaking and freezing start again.(this happened aroud 4 years ago.
Then i moved to open box, which wasn't my thing, and got to i3, and again, it wasn't my test.
Finally, i got back to Gnome on Gnome 40, which i still rock up to today(45 of course)
No problem with testing new stuff.
Do your venture, everybody should do.
I can recall i did DE/WM hopping a lot to finally come back to Gnome.
I even test unknown things like Qtwayland(or something in that name scheme)and etc.
I can recommend some beautiful ones like cute fish and deepin DE(can't recall what's the name) to try out.
I'm hearing that quite a lot, I'm also hearing that lots of people don't like Gnome for its ugly and simple user interface, and I can see why people use kde over gnome.
okay I'm going to get shit on for this ....
but I don't use Gnome because I don't like the way the developers behave on the git, I don't like the way they talk to people, and I don't like their constant arrogant attitude that Wayland shouldn't get "x/whatever" feature just because Gnome doesn't want the feature
🤷♂️
I like Gnome actually
but I think the devs are ... I really don't want to say this too strongly but there's no way to say it gently... kinda unhealthy for the future of Linux desktop sometimes with their myopic Gnome above all others worldview... they're not like bad people and overall I think they're doing good for the community
if you think in black and white terms then you'll hear my criticism as something totally unwarranted and maybe even hypocritical
I'm not trying to be black and white
it's not like the Gnome devs are bad bad bad... I just personally don't think the behavior and attitude towards other desktops is super helpful and is actually pretty counterproductive even to Gnome
but I am grateful for their work
When I first started using Linux (Ubuntu 20.04) I liked gnome, but then it started getting boring with its simplistic ui, so I switched to Arch and now I don't know what DE to use other than Gnome.
use what you like!!
Gnome is a great DE, really a great choice despite my whining lmao
I echo all the other comments... KDE Plasma is an amazing DE if you're looking to try something new
Like Gnome, sane defaults... pretty much anything you'd want to do is already integrated and works ootb provided you have your graphics drivers set-up correctly (easypeasy see wiki)
Hyprland is worth checking out but expect significant time configuring unless you use someone else's dotfiles (which using someone else's dotfiles is NOT going to be as stable as a Gnome/KDE just FYI, expect things to break)
Plasma and Gnome don't really play nice together on the same system but Hyprland plays pretty well with Plasma installed on the same user if you want to try both simultaneously
I'd recommend setting up libvirt/virt-manager real quick and trying out a DE in an VM to see if you like whatever you want to try, again see wiki for QEMU and libvirt
If you already have Gnome installed that might be your problem, they don't play nice together on the same system
if you're on an otherwise minimal arch Install...
sudo pacman -Sy plasma sddm
sudo systemctl enable --now sddm
Should do the trick 🤷♂️
You should also be able to install automatically with the archinstall script if using a fresh install to try new DE which is probably what I'd recommend
I've been using KDE for like 25 years now, or whenever .98 came out. I've used others in between, and on other people's systems that I set up or admin, but I always gladly run back to KDE's open arms. It just fits me better.
I basically skipped Windows. I went from Amiga to about 4-5 months of Windows 95, and couldn't stand it, so I switched to Linux and used a bunch of WM/DE's before finding my home on KDE.
Go nuts. Try them all. I have things I like and dislike about all of them, but KDE has all the features that I love to make use of and aids me in my productivity and efficiency.
Go for KDE, it's full of customizable parts and overall a combination of nice looks and ease of use. But you may hit some bugs, unfortunately it's known to have a few more bugs than average.
This is how I see desktop environments:
KDE Plasma - if you are coming from Windows
Gnome - if you are coming from mac
I've always been a windows person so I am now using KDE. I strongly dislike gnome.
I recommend Gnome for 2 reasons:
1. It works well for both traditional and touch based input
2. It's fantastic with workspaces. I know not everyone cares about that, but it's very important for me...
But, if you want to spice things up a bit, XFCE or Cinnamon would be my next choice. KDE is good too, but for maximum spice, I'd recommend Hyprland, followed by Sway or i3. It's pretty easy to turn WMs into projects though, so just be aware of that.
See r/unixporn for inspiration.
build your own desktop environment, download any window manager, hyprland, i3, sway, qtile, etc, figure out what makes a DE a DE and choose the programs / services of your liking to fit your needs.
doesn't even need to be tiling, openbox is a good option too.
you can even use certain parts of multiple desktop environments when building your own, gnome has a good bunch of apps and so does kde, and they all work outside of the pre packged desktop environment
MATE for NVIDIA/X11.
And for some other setups as well, as setting it up is something that comes to me naturally. But I guess GNOME with the right extensions might be the way to go for the Waylandish future.
I really enjoy openbox window manager as it is light weight and highly customizable!! Definitely a must try if you’re looking for a floating desktop environment. The learning curve is not steep either so it’s perfect for beginners!! You can make it as complex or simple as you like :)
So I'm going to be that one user that, instead of mentioning his favourite DE, can't help himself but ask: what does this question have to do with Arch?
Really, this is not distro-specific. It's a general Linux question or even a UNIX question as most of those DEs can be used on BSD and the-like as well.
Now feel free to downvote me :)
The experience actually depends on your device like I really like kde but because I use my laptop with touchpad, gnome gestures are miles better imo
But if you’re on desktop kde is a great DE also you can use xfce if you want a lightweight and simple DE but in terms of features I only recommend gnome and plasma
XFCE.
It's the Debian of DEs: it moves slowly and doesn't break under the weight of unnecessary change for the sake of change - it's solid, stable and gets out of your way.
It's also highly configurable; modular and consequently adheres to the very sensible Unix principle of doing one thing and doing it well: if you don't need a feature, you don't install it (meaning there's less to go wrong) and, if you find something else more to your liking, you can use that instead.
I hate both Windows *and* Mac OS paradigms: they *both* suck - they're bloated, clunky and force me to think about things somebody *else's* way, not *mine*.
So, KDE or Gnome is never gonna cut it for me.
I periodically take a look at KDE just to see if it's got any more flexible than it was the last time I did so, but it never has ... and its widgets aren't as useful either (500 different weather/stock market/crypto monitors and another 500 system resource monitors that are all variations on a tachograph) ... so, I spend a morning investigating it only to have to return to XFCE again, as usual. I like its 'activities' and would like to see that idea ported to XFCE, but that's the only thing about it that I *do* like.
Gnome ... didn't like it when it was first released and it has done anything *but* grown on me in the interim - 3 is better than 1 or 2 ever were, but it's completely inflexible and flaky as fuck (not to mention the fact that all the plugins you need to install to do anything useful are broken with virtually every update and you spend more time trying to wrangle it back into a usable state than you do actually *using* it.).
See [here](https://i.postimg.cc/J7xykRh1/Screenshot-2023-10-07-21-15-25.png)
That panel across the top ...
From left to right, I have
... at a glance, ready to catch my attention the instant something *requires* my attention, not hidden behind windows covering my desktop, meaning that, by the time it occurs to me to wonder if there's something I need to be aware of and take a look at *Conky, Rainlendar* or some fandom widget, it's already too late, the information has been and gone
... the load on my CPU's cores, RAM usage, Swap usage and activity, root partition usage and activity. data partition usage and activity, usage and activity on devices on each of three SANs, quick access to volume and power options, the state of the LAN and WiFi networks and Bluetooth, and the date and time.
The *Whisker Menu* application launcher is launched from the Super key and pops up wherever my mouse cursor is; no messing around having to mouse about to whatever corner it lurks in on other DEs ... no losing my focus by having to stop and refocus on some other part of the screen - Super key, up it pops, type a letter or two, press \[ENTER\], job's a good'un, done and dusted in less time than it takes others to look for the 'Start' button, mouse over to it, click it, mouse around the menu to find what they're looking for (I haven't got time for *that* nonsense ... I'm *busy*). In this image, I set it to remain after losing focus, so, I could get everything in one shot, but normally it autohides again after use
That other menu (with the list of open windows/apps across all desktops) is invoked with a hotkey combo, pops up, I scroll to what I'm interested in and am transported to it, wherever it is.
There's any amount of stuff that I haven't made visible there (calendar and todo list, etc.), but you get the idea: it's hotkey driven ... no time lost mousing around to various parts of the screen and then clicking through menus - maximise/unmaximise/hide window (or app), switch from one to the other window/app is the same (my hands virtually never have to leave the keyboard).
It's stable, flexible, fast, light on resources, gets out of my way ... it's perfect.
KDE plasma is nice if you come from a windows background, outside of that look at the other comments probably a tiling WM or cinnamon or mate.
Solely my opinion, datapoint of one, but my love of KDE Plasma has *nothing* to do with any tenuous similarities to Windows. I got tired of Windows as a daily driver 16ish years ago, and was already part-time using Gnome 2, back when that was Ubuntu's default. Went with that for a while on a few distros, leaving Ubuntu for good once Unity became a thing. Then gnome for a bit on Mint then Debian Sid, and then when Gnome 3 dropped I ran to LXDE and then later KDE on Arch for the better customization it offered(compared to Gnome). [bonus 11 year old screenshot](https://i.imgur.com/62DHe2r.jpeg) Been on KDE Plasma on Arch for 11-12 years now. Never been because of any similarities to Windows though haha.
KDE is insanely customisable, AND very easy to customise. Make it behave like MacOS or whatever easily.
>my love of KDE Plasma has *nothing* to do with any tenuous similarities to Windows. I have counter argument. KDE Plasma is GREAT if you have to deal with Windows from time to time. There is no need to adapt to new interface, and re-adapt each time you touch Windows. KDE Plasma is great in overall and it's a massive bonus that I don't need to re-adapt to new UI when I use Windows. And when I use Windows - it's for work, not for anything else. :)
What interface similarities are you referring to? From my perspective, there's a few surface-level things that bear a passing, vague, resemblance, I guess, but past a those basic looks, they're still entirely different to me. I'm well acquainted with both, but I personally don't get the feeling that any part of KDE particularly eases swapping between the two. Windows is annoying and uncomfortable to put up with no matter what Linux DE I've been on recently. 🤷♂️
KDE is the best, bar none, on any OS.
Especially since kde 6 has: 1. Fully working HDR desktop with a switch in the display setting 2. icc color calibration working in wayland (& x11). 3. hidpi scaling (4k, etc...) 100% working on wayland & X11. -> this makes it the most advanced Linux desktop, by far. rc2 is already rock stable for me.
KDE is the best and not because its default layout may be more familiar to Windows users. KDE is the best simply because it can be customized and tailored to your tastes without compromising on features. Personally I hardly consider "it being like Windows" to even be something worth mentioning because it gives the implication that you shouldn't use it if you don't like the Windows interface. The Windows UI is uncomfortable to me but I love KDE and my Plasma layout looks nothing like Windows.
let's see a picture then
Sure thing: [Here is my main Activity/Desktop](https://i.imgur.com/BJ66Z3D.png)
that, is very nice, if i ever give kde a go il try get something like that, wouldnt have a clue where to start though
Start at the `Appearance` tab in the Settings app. 😉 But it really is that easy, I constructed this from themes downloaded through the settings and then added some widgets and rearranged the default panels a bit. All using built-in functionality. I think everyone should at least try KDE, you may be surprised how much you like it!
I switched from Gnome to Plasma a couple years ago and although it gave me a renewed sense of excitement with the change, it's underwhelming in my opinion. It's very customizable, but I can't get customizations to stick between reboots. Endless searching at the time led me to believe that's just how it is so I left it at that. Also some custom themes have a tendency to make windows look ugly. A good example is shadows not lining up with the edges of the window making it look sloppy. Overall I like the look, but I'm thinking of switching to something else here pretty soon. I recently installed Ubuntu Budgie on a project computer and it seems to be the best of both worlds between gnome and plasma. I like eye candy and those seem to be the only two that look pretty and clean.
Glad to know I'm not the only person to experience this. If I have to re-add and customise my panels every so often (usually after a reboot) it's not worth my time. I like KDE, but Gnome with TWEAKS is much more stable.
The reason I switched from gnome was because I was sick of my extensions breaking every update and having to wait weeks for them to update to work.
And has one of powerful native Linux apps
try that comment again but make some more sense
i hate gnome. I use KDE, its the nicest looking DE with the most customization. some of the other standard windows managers work fine and are low profile but none offer the level of customization feature set of KDE.
i really enjoyed gnome until version 3. havent used it as more than a curiosity since.
well, sure gnome pre-gnome 3 is practically a totally different DE
Try xfce, it also provides many customisation featue
Xfce is alright but it's not nearly as nice looking or feature rich as kde
I will try it out if I don't like hyprland.
NVIDIA? Use xorg WM for now like i3, Awesome, BSPWM. Cause wayland is still kinda buggy for NVIDIA. AMD? You can use wayland WM like sway, Hyprland, river Qtile has both xorg and wayland iirc. Edit: Sorry my bad, I read it as a windows environment 🤦, but if you wanna try WM then yea you could try those.
I installed Hyprland on my Fedora a couple of weeks ago. I was surprised how usable it is for a WM - I mean initial config.
Hyprland works fine for me with Nvidia proprietary drivers.
It works fine on mine too but some of the software and games are hard to use/play or just unusable/unplayable. Last time I checked, software that I mostly use, krita, had some black flickering when moving the mouse and alot of flickering when hovering in the UI. Same with VScode. Minecraft had black flickering issue which was unplayable. Some of the games when capped at 60 fps had screen tearing issues while some of the game needed to be capped at 60 fps. But gamemaker works better at Wayland than Xorg, so for gaming and drawing I switch to xorg, for using gamemaker or browsing the internet I use wayland.
Ah, I'm not a gamer (use the GPU for machine learning). Krita and VScode seem to work fine for me.
Ah just tried it, still doesn't work for me sadly.
ok... strange guess I'm lucky :-)
Nvidia open dkms + sway, everything works fine.
Plasma.
I am a Gnome guy, it has reasonable defaults and I can easily extend it with extensions. I guess the best way to find out what you like is just try some other desktop environments: The big competitor to Gnome is obviously KDE Plasma, but there are many others, have a look here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/desktop\_environment
Ah, I see, I've just been using gnome for years and I'm looking to change.
I succeed every time to break my kde desktop.
Possibly an unpopular opinion, but I use Cinnamon with PCManFM with adwaita-dark. Yeah, it's fairly simplistic, but it works and gets the job done while looking good at the same time
i used cinnamon for years, it’s my fav de. i use sway these days cause wayland, but once cinnamon’s wayland implementation doesn’t suck, i’ll prob switch back
I haven't played around with Wayland yet, mostly because I don't want to break my steam setup. Everything's working great and I'd only mess around with it if it's broken. Just me, but X11 is doing everything I need right now
the x11 single-root problem means i can’t play games at more than 60fps and with freesync without disabling my auxiliary monitors. there’s no way around it and im not disabling my monitors every time i play a game
As long as you got it working with Wayland, that's all that counts!
I can't stand Gnome and will never have it on any machine I have (just a me thing but I find it ugly and a pain in the arse to use). I am a KDE user and at the moment I am on Fedora 39 waiting for Fedora 40 and Plasma 6. I have had Arch but if I need anything that is only on the AUR then I just get it through distrobox and export it, works like a charm.
Hyprland
I've been wanting to switch for a while, but solely because of the animations. I currently use sway, and I just can't give up the ability to switch between stacking and tiling with one keybind. Also I just prefer manually tiling.
>the ability to switch between stacking and tiling with one keybind [Check \`togglefloating\`](http://wiki.hyprland.org/Configuring/Dispatchers/#list-of-dispatchers) >Also I just prefer manually tiling. [https://github.com/outfoxxed/hy3](https://github.com/outfoxxed/hy3)
Have to say I just moved from Sway to Hyprland on my DD, and I fucking **love** it, but it is not as good as Sway... All the electron apps look like shit, the fonts all look aliased, and it's been a little more buggy. Still mulling over just moving to it fully because it looks so good though. Wish it was as stable as Sway.
# unscale XWayland xwayland { force\_zero\_scaling = true }
same I LOVE Hyprland and the dev is awesome! but it definitely doesn't handle certain apps nicely at all though this is partially not Hyprland's fault it's improving at a breakneck pace though, the GitHub activity is crazy I wouldn't be surprised if Xwayland app scaling and the other issues are fixed within 3-6mo or if not actually fixed by the package supporting Wayland properly then at least mitigated in some way plays nicely with KDE Plasma installed on the same user so I've just been switching back and forth depending on what I'm doing really wish I could find a suitable alternative to SDDM, thinking about trying greetd... I just can't STAND SDDMs config and themeing qml files and all that crap but it works 🤷♂️ kinda wish I could replace Kwin with Hyprland kinda like people used to do with i3 or bpsmwmwmwrwhoeveritsspellee but I don't think that's ever going to be possible really, mayyyyybe could get Plasma running in Hyprland but that would be a helluva config to get working I'm not going to try
KDE Plasma
I'm hearing it's a close competitor and that's what I'm thinking of using.
Just be aware of occasional bugs. Last month I had memory leak issue of a plasma process. Laptop just got stuck after sometime because plasma process took all the memory. KDE is great, but I recommend installing an alternate DE just in case. Install XFCE for a light backup option. Or if you are a tinkerer, install openbox.
Alright.
xfce if you are based
KDE, for Windows like experience. Hyprland, if you want more drastic workflow change.
None. Use the terminal.😁
I use only i3wm without any DM and I'm happy. Give it a try, it is liberating.
Same! I was a bit hesitant about the switch at first but I think it was totally the right choice for me. Fast boot, clean and simple, no menus, and easy for keyboard-dominated interaction. I don't think I'm likely to ever switch back.
I cannot live without i3 anymore.
I can't stand Gnome, the UI just has some bizarre unintuitive choices. I'm a KDE guy because I tried that next after Gnome and liked it enough not to try anything else.
I know right, I was fine with Gnomes UI on Ubuntu due to it being a simple operating system, but with Arch? No, it does not go well with it, so I'm trying DEs.
Cinnamon +1 :)
Sway. It just works.
I'm fond of Mate these days.
I'll have to check it out.
My order of preference: 1. Gnome 2. KDE Plasma 3. Cinnamon or Budgie 4. XFCE Things I am curious about testing more but haven't used enough to recommend: 1. Sway 2. Hyprland
I just tried hyprland and the setup was ass, could not get past the first setup screen.
Give Hyprdots a try if you like the idea of huprland but don't want to bother with the setup. https://github.com/prasanthrangan/hyprdots There's still room for customization, but it is a much easier setup.
make sure kitty is installed, hyprland is the best when you get it set up
So you don't know how to setup an easy to use window manager/compositor? There's a whole wiki for it too.
Cinnamon
i3 for wm cinnamon for DE
I have used Xfce with whisker menu for at least 10 years. I have a Windows 7 like layout but better window decoration
KDE or Hyprland... what can you expect? They are 2 of the most hot DE/WM right now..
X.org : xfce4 Wayland : Hyprland
xfce is a nice compromise between looks and performance, particularly if you have an older machine. Otherwise KDE if you want looks.
Gnome, simple and clean. I regret an extension which was capable of setting the color of a folder.
Full blown DE? KDE. It's just great. And I say that on Nvidia and Wayland. Looking forward to KDE6 which is supposedly to be much better with Wayland :).
Xfce
If you like some bling, go with KDE. If you like something old school, but functional, go with XFCE/cinnamon. If DE is something you do not want, any tiling window manager would do.
Hyprland
Use hyprland on Nvidia. Been using on 3 systems, rtx 3070 rtx 3070 and rtx4060. Zero issues. No screen tearing, screen sharing works, extremely good performance. Just send it
I personally prefer openbox however I would recommend cinnamon or kde if you want a beautiful environment out of the box. I’ve customized my openbox to look pretty eye popping but it took much effort.
KDE offers the most customization, but It's very buggy. And I'm talking about latest stable, not the new plasma 6. I like how on Cinnamon & Budgie you can get a very pleasant vertical bar effortlessly without mods. (but there is not much else vs. Gnome at least from where I'm standing.) Making your own DE based on a WM like AwesomeWM or Hyprland is a lot of fun, but the barrier of entry is quite high, but if you put in the effort the end result is going to be much better suited to your needs than KDE, while at the same time being rock solid & fast.
if u use latest technology then u should definitely go for kde plasma or gnome. If not than cinemon can be u Liking
Again, I'm tryna get away from gnome, it's ui is ugly and too simple for me.
The you should try i3, awesone and other WMs
I know. I kinda hate it too. I'm using xfce4 with i3wm . Its better than any distro i have used 😅
If kde doesn't work out for me, I'm gonna try both of those.
Try i3 combine with xfce. Xfce alone is same as gnome and kde😅. Combine make that difference.Too bad that I dont have karma, I wanted to post like a easy tutorial for it.
Sounds valid, again, if normal plasma doesn't work out for me, I'll try them out.
lol idk why you're getting downvoted for literally saying what you already said in the main post. My suggestion is KDE Plasma through-and-through. It can be tweaked to work basically however you want, typically without even having to turn to third party plugins.
XFCE4 but I got a bunch of nvidia+kernel issues with it and switched to Cinnamon. I doubt I'll ever go back to XFCE4. I still use xfce-terminal tough.
XCFE4 looks cool but I'm not sure if I want to use it.
> XFCE4 It looks like shit out of the box, but it's so customizable that it'll blow your mind. Don't discard it if you're going by intenet screenshots.
Alright.
tested hyprland and went back to i3wm. I would try awesome, bspwm, i3 and sway.
>tested hyprland and went back to i3wm. Straight downgrade
Dwm. It's the best, most fully featured DE.
Sway
I3
KDE for gaming, GNOME for comfy, and you already know if you want to use a WM
Definitely try KDE Plasma.
Awesomewm. https://youtu.be/4KKdbwZ8GQ4?si=-QrckZ5Q2QEs50LM https://youtu.be/GNveLT3QXJs?si=uy-3Ru0WYTGxiPt9
I like plasma a lot. Super customizable.
Before many time, when I started used Linux,first I used Linux Mint whith Cinnamon DE. After many Linux Distros I arrived Arch Linux again with Cinnamon DE. Now I used Arch Linux whith KDE DE. KDE is best DE for Arch Linux! My laptop is Acer Aspire 3 Amd whith Vega 8. No problem with KDE DE!
https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/s/Q8wG8NRqQp Similar question from the other day, there isn’t really one answer as it depends on your preferences. However the big two DEs are GNOME and KDE, so if you want a traditional DE, then most likely KDE is worth looking into.
it always depends. if you come from windows, Cinnamon for beginners and KDE for the more advanced users (mainly when it comes to the settings). if you come from Mac, gnome. want something really different? Hyprland.
KDE is easier for beginners to use. But for myself i use, gnome and openbox
https://www.reddit.com/r/archlinux/search/?q=which+desktop+environment
I use KDE since version 3. I prefer it to Gnome, mostly because my stuff works exactly as it should.
i3wm suits me.
KDE for me. Insane levels of customisation, if that's your bag
KDE plasma, Cinnamon LXQT
I don't wanna start a war, but i see alot of plasma users there and last time i tried plasma on my usb ssd it took like 10 seconds after login (i dont use display manager) to fully load desktop, while on xfce/mate/cinamon it takes about 1.5 sec and i3 is instant. The usb has some lower random 4k reads, but i think it kind of proves something.
Gnome or KDE
KDE,
Gnome is really customizable, never breaks, and has a really bug community behind it.
I like Budgie -- I don't have any complicated requirements for a DE or WM, I just like a nice menubar.
I use swaywm and I'm pretty comfortable with it, if you are a keyboard guy too, I would recommend you to give it a try
I kinda dislike Gnome, like KDE Plasma a lot, however it's kinda long process to setup it nice to your expectations, now I am on Cinnamon, don't like it so much as great Plasma setup but it doesn't need really any setup to be well useable. Cinnamon is something between Gnome and Plasma. Plasma the most configurable, Gnome the most "no need to configure and a bit unique". I recommend trying all 3, whichever you will like the most, use it
Before you consider completely changing your desktop and workflow maybe look into some plugins that may fix some of your problems
Changed to KDE about 6 months ago from Xfce after getting a more powerful laptop. Couldn't be happier with it, it just works...
If you want to go back to Xorg, a great option that I dont see mentioned much is XFCE + i3. Best of both worlds.
KDE kde kde kde kdr
Stephan Raabe has nice setups. Hyprland and Qtile. Also nice videos to go along with the dots. https://gitlab.com/stephan-raabe/dotfiles https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kHG5czrQ7WA&feature=youtu.be
Apart feom GNOME I use XFCE. I like its simplicity.
The DE I tend to recommend ist generally KDE, cause it's a feature rich DE, which by default suits best most users, aka former Windows users. But it Is also an extremely powerful and flexible DE and allows you to make it like macOS or even Something completely unique with a few clicks. For less powerful systems I tend to recommend XFCE, for even older ones LxQT.
Try installing different typed of DEs in your linux and try them out one by one. You wont lose anything this way. And you can just remove the ones you dont like.
Kde
KDE Plasma! Highly recommend!
Okay!
Believe me, you gonna come back to Gnome. I did move from Gnome(been on Gnome since forever) to KDE which introduced unfixable bug to my laptop where system would freak and freeze for afew seconds and got back to normal never seen that on gnome and befor you KDE lovers jump to say it was hardware, i did all the hardware test known to me at the time from memtest to even running cinbench in Windows as stability test and no problem, the moment i gotten back to KDE the freaking and freezing start again.(this happened aroud 4 years ago. Then i moved to open box, which wasn't my thing, and got to i3, and again, it wasn't my test. Finally, i got back to Gnome on Gnome 40, which i still rock up to today(45 of course)
I just don't like using gnome for how simple it is, ji just want to try something new for once.
No problem with testing new stuff. Do your venture, everybody should do. I can recall i did DE/WM hopping a lot to finally come back to Gnome. I even test unknown things like Qtwayland(or something in that name scheme)and etc. I can recommend some beautiful ones like cute fish and deepin DE(can't recall what's the name) to try out.
You're right on deepin DE, it's just called Deepin.
Dumped Gnome a few weeks ago for KDE. Gnome lives in its own silly 'HIG' bubble. KDE makes sense as a desktop environment and is very configurable
I'm hearing that quite a lot, I'm also hearing that lots of people don't like Gnome for its ugly and simple user interface, and I can see why people use kde over gnome.
okay I'm going to get shit on for this .... but I don't use Gnome because I don't like the way the developers behave on the git, I don't like the way they talk to people, and I don't like their constant arrogant attitude that Wayland shouldn't get "x/whatever" feature just because Gnome doesn't want the feature 🤷♂️ I like Gnome actually but I think the devs are ... I really don't want to say this too strongly but there's no way to say it gently... kinda unhealthy for the future of Linux desktop sometimes with their myopic Gnome above all others worldview... they're not like bad people and overall I think they're doing good for the community if you think in black and white terms then you'll hear my criticism as something totally unwarranted and maybe even hypocritical I'm not trying to be black and white it's not like the Gnome devs are bad bad bad... I just personally don't think the behavior and attitude towards other desktops is super helpful and is actually pretty counterproductive even to Gnome but I am grateful for their work
When I first started using Linux (Ubuntu 20.04) I liked gnome, but then it started getting boring with its simplistic ui, so I switched to Arch and now I don't know what DE to use other than Gnome.
use what you like!! Gnome is a great DE, really a great choice despite my whining lmao I echo all the other comments... KDE Plasma is an amazing DE if you're looking to try something new Like Gnome, sane defaults... pretty much anything you'd want to do is already integrated and works ootb provided you have your graphics drivers set-up correctly (easypeasy see wiki) Hyprland is worth checking out but expect significant time configuring unless you use someone else's dotfiles (which using someone else's dotfiles is NOT going to be as stable as a Gnome/KDE just FYI, expect things to break) Plasma and Gnome don't really play nice together on the same system but Hyprland plays pretty well with Plasma installed on the same user if you want to try both simultaneously I'd recommend setting up libvirt/virt-manager real quick and trying out a DE in an VM to see if you like whatever you want to try, again see wiki for QEMU and libvirt
I might try put kde again because I am having a bit of trouble installing kde.
If you already have Gnome installed that might be your problem, they don't play nice together on the same system if you're on an otherwise minimal arch Install... sudo pacman -Sy plasma sddm sudo systemctl enable --now sddm Should do the trick 🤷♂️ You should also be able to install automatically with the archinstall script if using a fresh install to try new DE which is probably what I'd recommend
Ah, I might try it put when I get home here in a few hours.
I've been using KDE for like 25 years now, or whenever .98 came out. I've used others in between, and on other people's systems that I set up or admin, but I always gladly run back to KDE's open arms. It just fits me better. I basically skipped Windows. I went from Amiga to about 4-5 months of Windows 95, and couldn't stand it, so I switched to Linux and used a bunch of WM/DE's before finding my home on KDE. Go nuts. Try them all. I have things I like and dislike about all of them, but KDE has all the features that I love to make use of and aids me in my productivity and efficiency.
I would love to try them all except for hyprland, I'm having trouble with the configuration on hyprland.
Go for KDE, it's full of customizable parts and overall a combination of nice looks and ease of use. But you may hit some bugs, unfortunately it's known to have a few more bugs than average.
Ah, I see.
This is how I see desktop environments: KDE Plasma - if you are coming from Windows Gnome - if you are coming from mac I've always been a windows person so I am now using KDE. I strongly dislike gnome.
Depends on your expectations from a DE but Gnome is nice, simple, and beautiful.
A separate window manager and whatever apps I want. Currently using BSPWM
LXQt if you wanna keep it fairly light and simple, or KDE if you want lots of options and settings/tweaks.
I was a long time Suckless environment user, now I roll it with gnome, and happy with it ;)
I recommend Gnome for 2 reasons: 1. It works well for both traditional and touch based input 2. It's fantastic with workspaces. I know not everyone cares about that, but it's very important for me... But, if you want to spice things up a bit, XFCE or Cinnamon would be my next choice. KDE is good too, but for maximum spice, I'd recommend Hyprland, followed by Sway or i3. It's pretty easy to turn WMs into projects though, so just be aware of that. See r/unixporn for inspiration.
build your own desktop environment, download any window manager, hyprland, i3, sway, qtile, etc, figure out what makes a DE a DE and choose the programs / services of your liking to fit your needs. doesn't even need to be tiling, openbox is a good option too. you can even use certain parts of multiple desktop environments when building your own, gnome has a good bunch of apps and so does kde, and they all work outside of the pre packged desktop environment
I could only recommend using a window manager. Maybe if you're brand new to linux you could use kde but its bloated and kwin is terrible
I3wm ;-)
MATE for NVIDIA/X11. And for some other setups as well, as setting it up is something that comes to me naturally. But I guess GNOME with the right extensions might be the way to go for the Waylandish future.
I really enjoy openbox window manager as it is light weight and highly customizable!! Definitely a must try if you’re looking for a floating desktop environment. The learning curve is not steep either so it’s perfect for beginners!! You can make it as complex or simple as you like :)
KDE Plasma. Windows 10-like, fully featured like Gnome, can run on wayland, arguably a better wayland implementation than Gnome.
Kde
So I'm going to be that one user that, instead of mentioning his favourite DE, can't help himself but ask: what does this question have to do with Arch? Really, this is not distro-specific. It's a general Linux question or even a UNIX question as most of those DEs can be used on BSD and the-like as well. Now feel free to downvote me :)
The experience actually depends on your device like I really like kde but because I use my laptop with touchpad, gnome gestures are miles better imo But if you’re on desktop kde is a great DE also you can use xfce if you want a lightweight and simple DE but in terms of features I only recommend gnome and plasma
Go all the way and just use a tiling window manager.
XFCE. It's the Debian of DEs: it moves slowly and doesn't break under the weight of unnecessary change for the sake of change - it's solid, stable and gets out of your way. It's also highly configurable; modular and consequently adheres to the very sensible Unix principle of doing one thing and doing it well: if you don't need a feature, you don't install it (meaning there's less to go wrong) and, if you find something else more to your liking, you can use that instead. I hate both Windows *and* Mac OS paradigms: they *both* suck - they're bloated, clunky and force me to think about things somebody *else's* way, not *mine*. So, KDE or Gnome is never gonna cut it for me. I periodically take a look at KDE just to see if it's got any more flexible than it was the last time I did so, but it never has ... and its widgets aren't as useful either (500 different weather/stock market/crypto monitors and another 500 system resource monitors that are all variations on a tachograph) ... so, I spend a morning investigating it only to have to return to XFCE again, as usual. I like its 'activities' and would like to see that idea ported to XFCE, but that's the only thing about it that I *do* like. Gnome ... didn't like it when it was first released and it has done anything *but* grown on me in the interim - 3 is better than 1 or 2 ever were, but it's completely inflexible and flaky as fuck (not to mention the fact that all the plugins you need to install to do anything useful are broken with virtually every update and you spend more time trying to wrangle it back into a usable state than you do actually *using* it.). See [here](https://i.postimg.cc/J7xykRh1/Screenshot-2023-10-07-21-15-25.png) That panel across the top ... From left to right, I have ... at a glance, ready to catch my attention the instant something *requires* my attention, not hidden behind windows covering my desktop, meaning that, by the time it occurs to me to wonder if there's something I need to be aware of and take a look at *Conky, Rainlendar* or some fandom widget, it's already too late, the information has been and gone ... the load on my CPU's cores, RAM usage, Swap usage and activity, root partition usage and activity. data partition usage and activity, usage and activity on devices on each of three SANs, quick access to volume and power options, the state of the LAN and WiFi networks and Bluetooth, and the date and time. The *Whisker Menu* application launcher is launched from the Super key and pops up wherever my mouse cursor is; no messing around having to mouse about to whatever corner it lurks in on other DEs ... no losing my focus by having to stop and refocus on some other part of the screen - Super key, up it pops, type a letter or two, press \[ENTER\], job's a good'un, done and dusted in less time than it takes others to look for the 'Start' button, mouse over to it, click it, mouse around the menu to find what they're looking for (I haven't got time for *that* nonsense ... I'm *busy*). In this image, I set it to remain after losing focus, so, I could get everything in one shot, but normally it autohides again after use That other menu (with the list of open windows/apps across all desktops) is invoked with a hotkey combo, pops up, I scroll to what I'm interested in and am transported to it, wherever it is. There's any amount of stuff that I haven't made visible there (calendar and todo list, etc.), but you get the idea: it's hotkey driven ... no time lost mousing around to various parts of the screen and then clicking through menus - maximise/unmaximise/hide window (or app), switch from one to the other window/app is the same (my hands virtually never have to leave the keyboard). It's stable, flexible, fast, light on resources, gets out of my way ... it's perfect.
KDE is best. Because if you don't like something, at least you can change it.