this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2023
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I wanted to get a feel for everyone’s thoughts on desktop environments (or window managers if you don’t use a DE). I’m new to Lemmy, so apologies if this is too low-effort a post.

Personally I’m running KDE on my main computer, but I have an Arch virtual machine I use for more experimentation. That VM has seen KDE, i3, and will probably see hyprland at some point soon

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

I use a window manager, Openbox. It's great once you have your personal config file and shortcuts! Also, I can't be sure but I think @[email protected] recently switched to Hyperland lol

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Lol read this comment first then understood the last sentence after a short stroll. Take my up vote!

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I'm using xfce. It's on endeavros as I like to belong to the arch crowd without working with the lengthly set up from scratch.

I prefer xfce as anything of note is accessible with a few minor exceptions due to endeavros security concerns such as Bluetooth which requires a quick systemctl command.

I started off with it after discovering ubuntu and trying the xfce version. I liked it and went through a few distros including crunchbang with openbox but ultimately xfce is a very straightforward experience for me and fairly customisable. The only drawback is it doesn't look like some of the awesome screenshots I've seen of i3 or other tiling managers but as a teacher I don't do development or have that much knowledge to tinker so xfce is my go-to.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

XFCE is also very light on resources and it looks better than LXDE so I always install XFCE on old laptops.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

I just jumped up on the Hyprland band wagon (4 weeks ago). Very pleased with it so far!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

I have Plasma installed on my Arch based installation, but I hardly use it since I also have i3 installed which I adore.

My i3 setup looks very similar to my Plasma setup, I prefer window managers because they are more productive to use.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Kde, let me change everything every time I get bored instead of switching to a whole different WM.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

I recently switched to hyprland, love it!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

I just use GNOME with a few extensions. Works fairly well for me.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

i3 with dmenu and polybar. Such a great and efficient setup for school and work, love it.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

long time i3 user, now switched to sway

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I’ve seen people mention Sway every once in a while. What’s the benefit over i3 if you don’t mind me asking?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

Gnome. It just seems simple, elegant and smooth. It does what I need from a DE (not that much, I do a lot in terminal and Emacs). It has good keybindings out of the box and good virtual desktop mechanisms. It was also the first DE with good Wayland support. At first I was unsure if I liked Gnome's concept and restrictions, but I've grown to like it fast.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

Xfce on Manjaro VM. Love it.

[–] boomboxnation 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Sway. I look around every few months but nothing usually, um, erm pendulates my interest. I have hyprland installed...but my config file breaks with every update, and it's rice first, function later. I'm an opposite-ricer. I like to strip all decorations.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

AwesomeWM and KDE as a fallback when I mess my configuration.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I've switched to LXQt recently. I like KDE and use mostly Qt apps, but KDE itself has too many features I don't really need. So far so good, I can't say I miss anything.

[–] yardy_sardley 2 points 2 years ago

Longtime cinnamon user here. I've also spent significant time in i3, plasma, and mate on variously specced systems. I'll probably end up switching to gnome at some point though, whenever I finally commit to de-xorgifying my pc.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I went from Gnome2, a few months on MATE, then Mint's Cinnamon until I moved on to Manjaro Cinnamon for 2 days, then tested KDE and got stuck on KDE.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I have tried tiling WM's but they are not for me. KDE Plasma offers the right balance of customisability, look consistency and features to always come back on top again. It's been my go-to desktop environment since KDE3.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I used to build e17 / Enlightenment on Arch for years, was kinda cool and I learned a lot about building packages, but now I don't care anymore and I just use gnome. Or rather I'm using Firefox and a terminal and that's pretty much it. Oh and Gimp every once in a while. But most of the time it's fullscreen Firefox so who cares what de is behind it as long as it just works

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

None - I don't run any DE, just a WM - i3. All I need is a terminal, browser, sublime-text for larger projects, and that's about it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I use xmonad on my laptop with my small screen, and xfce on my desktop with a slightly roomier screen. I think tiling window managers tend to matter less and less as emacs has begun to take over all of my time on the computer everything tends to stay in one or two emacs frames (and many buffers).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I recently switched to hyprland and I love. I used plasma before but wanted to touch base with a tiling wm.

Sorry for the spam. These are my first activities with Lemmy, guess I should click less and be more patient

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I have been using Arch+KDE plasma for ~5years on my main rig, I love it!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

KDE on Mandrake/SuSE back when they were on version 1/2, GNOME on Debian/Ubuntu until 2016, a little bit of Enlightenment for the quirky days, XFCE instead of Enlightenment when I had to do actual work on a lighter machine, and now have been using GNOME daily for 4-5 years. For me it's customizable enough, and I prefer the design to KDE these days (KDE has too many different margins and paddings for me to handle).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I'm using Cinnamon

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Hyprland window manager on my PC and laptop at the moment, but I might switch (back) to KDE soon for some QoL stuff and bc why not lol

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

qtile and picom. It took some getting used to but I never want to leave the luxury of dynamic tiling.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

For years I was using KDE, but since 2-3 years I'm now using Cinnamon: it's fast, it's uncluttered, it gets the job done. I like it 😊

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I just switched from GNOME to Xfce after many years of the former. I had enough after some extensions broke for the millionth time. And the amount of resources used was bonkers. Currently working on setting up Xfce to my liking (sorry for the spam, got a network error and ended up with multiple posts)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Arch, btw and I use KDE on my desktop and laptops. I did put Gnome recently on one of my laptops to try and see all the new hub-bub from the latest upgrade, but went running back to KDE. I love 'global menus' and to my knowledge, gnome doesn't have an extension for that, but besides, the DE always feels simplified and overly constrained for usage, imo. I only with the Gnome devs weren't such control freaks, LOL, but maybe that is why some like Gnome.

I am excited about the development of Hyprland, kind of the best of two worlds, customization theming and dynamic tilling in one, although not really ready yet for everyday usage from what I have read.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Desktop - KDE

Laptop - Gnome

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

I like KDE but it's just... buggy.

So using GNOME, its slightly less buggy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

I use Xfce on my computers except my Pi where I use Window Maker. Window Maker with its lower resource needs really helps when the Pi is used with resolutions over 1080p.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

I'm currently using Xmonad on my main Arch system, before that was Herbstluftwm. Occasionally I boot up KDE to check on how it's coming along or when i'm feeling nostalgic for what helped get me into Linux many years ago.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

KDE on Wayland or sway. Thinking about trying hyprland somewhere soon.

Trying GNOME from time to time, without installed mutter-performance from AUR it is piece of lagging sh*t.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

I have been using Arch+KDE plasma for ~5years on my main rig, I love it!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

I use KDE, and have done so for many years. Because I also use Mac computers, I tweaked KDE to look just like MacOS using https://store.kde.org/u/vinceliuice themes. I am loving the DE

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