I know Gnome is the default on popular distros: Fedora, Ubuntu, Rhel, Pop OS (it’s Cosmic Desktop yes but it is still based on Gnome)…etc. But Gnome just doesnt work for me. I would pick XFCE - stable and no BS.

Before Manjaro and their cetificate shenanigan, I used to use their XFCE version. At the time, it was marketed as the “Flagship Manjaro version”. I went 4 years without any problems and I did tinker a lot, just couldnt get their XFCE to break.

After a tough Arch or Gentoo installs, I just want to put XFCE on and call it a day.

What about you guys?

  • Kory@lemmy.ml
    5·
    23 days ago

    That’s not too hard a question for me, I’ve been using the same DE for years: KDE

    • aksdb@lemmy.world
      2·
      23 days ago

      KDE is one of the main reasons for me to use Linux. I immensely like the performance, silence and battery lifetime of MacBooks. But if I have to work with anything but KDE, it’s not worth it for me. The only thing OSX does better than basically any other desktop out there, is the ability to drag whole virtual screen between monitors.

  • AusatKeyboardPremi@lemmy.world
    3·
    21 days ago

    MATE has been on most of my machines, except the BSD ones.

    But past year or so, I have grown a fondness towards ctwm, and gradually migrated my machines to it, Linux and BSD alike.

    It is not a DE, but the fact that I have to assemble my suite of software myself on my machines, makes the point of using DEs moot.

  • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
    2·
    21 days ago

    KDE, always

    Used it since I switched to the Linux Desktop 25 years ago. Quickly tried gnome, and others, and hated it.

    KDE is fast, efficient, looks awesome, is ready to work with, and highly customizable

  • Lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    2·
    23 days ago

    Cinnamon by and far.

    I’ve used so many distros and DEs I don’t even know where to begin, but Cinnamon got me hooked for the long run. It’s legitimately the most polished and “ready to run” DE I’ve ever used, yet still allowing for far more customization than Windows ever offered.

  • bytesmythe@lemmy.ml
    1·
    23 days ago

    I’m using PopOS Cosmic alpha (not based on Gnome) on my new laptop and like it a lot so far. It has a few rough edges, but nothing I’d switch to something else over. (In fact, I did use the Gnome version of Cosmic until my previous laptop broke.)

  • potemkinhr@lemmy.ml
    1·
    21 days ago

    KDE plasma. Coming from 30 years of running exclusively windows it’s just the most comfortable and easy for me to use (way more than Gnome). Easily configurable, works. Can’t ask for more.

  • KindaABigDyl@programming.dev
    1·
    23 days ago

    Well, it’s gotta be a tiling system. And a good one. At this point I can’t function in a non-tiling environment. Specifically a manual tiler with an auto-tile a la i3 w/ i3-alternating-layout or a dynamic tiler that still let’s you break stuff (doesn’t really exist).

    It’s just a better way to use a computer, and I can’t go back. It’s so much nicer. I would stop using a computer before I go back to dragging windows around.

    And that rules out most DEs. It rules out Mac OS and Windows, as well, but at least on Windows I can almost get by with Fancy WM. It’s “okay.”

    And speaking of just getting by, that’s Polonium with KDE. KDE is pretty good as an “environment,” but it doesn’t have a tiler that meets my needs, or at least I thought it didn’t until recently. Then I discovered Polonium. It works pretty well. Used it for several months (and still do on one machine). It’s very bare bones tho, and is hard to configure the handful of floating windows I do want like popups. So KDE is just scraping by.

    GNOME on the other hand has the excellent Pop Shell 2. But well, GNOME is GNOME. It’s buggy when you try to use it a different way than intended. God forbid I want Qt, Gtk2, Gtk3, Gtk4, and libadwaita apps to all look nice on my system! It’s clunky, but the tiling is excellent at least.

    Now you mention XFCE. So what about that? You could use i3 as the WM for Xfce. I used i3 for years and years and years as my WM and know how to build a DE around it. Why not use Xfce + i3?

    Well, the thing is X11 is as good as dead, and while XFCE now supports Wayland, you can’t use a tiling system with the Wayland version of XFCE.

    So what does that leave me?

    Nothing. At least for a full on DE, which is what you asked.

    There is not a single (pre-made) Desktop Environment that suits my needs. Not a one. Either it doesn’t support good tiling, is too rigid, or hasn’t switched to Wayland.

    My only options are:

    • Roll my own DE built around Hyprland/Sway, and since I’m on nvidia, those aren’t fantastic options (albeit Hyprland works a lot better on Nvidia these days), and that’s what I’m using.
    • Deal with the slight annoyance of the under-implemented Polonium in KDE

    Right now I’m on Hyprland. May go back to KDE bc multi monitor is being weird on Hyprland rn.

    My one hope is that COSMIC polishes itself up and gets to its first real release.

  • lengau@midwest.social
    1·
    22 days ago

    This isn’t even hard. KDE without a second thought.

    I regularly try other desktops, and I regularly come back to the only desktop with any sort of reasonable thought put into it.

  • Lemmchen@feddit.orgEnglish
    1·
    23 days ago

    I’d rather not use a computer at all than use GNOME for the rest of my live.
    For me it’s KDE Plasma all the way.

    • Photuris@lemmy.ml
      0·
      23 days ago

      It’s wild to me how GNOME evokes such strong opinions in folks. It really is a love it or hate it kind of deal (I’m in the “love it” camp).

      I wonder why that is. I like KDE ok, but it doesn’t elicit a strong emotion from me. KDE works fine, I just really like GNOME.

      There must be something about GNOME in particular that some people love, and others hate.

      • pmk@lemmy.sdf.org
        1·
        23 days ago

        You know how the ending of LOST or Game of Thrones can bring up feelings in people? That’s how it was for me when Gnome 3 first came out. I had been using Gnome 2 for a few years and had a good workflow, and then suddenly, everything changed. Back then Gnome 3 was buggy and lacked a lot of things, which didn’t help. It also didn’t help that the devs took a “the problem is you” stance to all feedback. That said, I use Gnome now, and I like it, it took some years to mature and become good. But the feeling is still there sometimes.

      • desentizised@lemm.ee
        1·
        23 days ago

        I was team Gnome before Gnome 3 came out. Nowadays I don’t mind it for auxiliary computers that I don’t interact with regularly. It has a huge community behind it and that is a quality in its own right. But since MATE never really managed to become a worthy successor to Gnome 2 I guess I’m team Plasma now. I got it “forced” on me by my beloved Steam Deck and I can definitely see why Valve went for it.

        Currently I’m experimenting with Hyprland but that is definitely too early to call it my forever pick, so Plasma it is.

      • Semperverus@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        23 days ago

        For those of us that expect room to breathe and make our machine work for us rather than the other way around, we feel like Gnome takes a lot of liberties away for the sake of “simplicity.” There is so much missing from Gnome that is present in most other DEs and even custom WM setups.

        The primary contributors who work under The Gnome Foundation also come off as controlling and arrogant in a lot of cases, and refuse to take community feedback to heart, whereas KDE has literal summits to get user feedback on major core features we want to see which then later get added to their backlogs and sprints as Epics. Gnome acts a lot like Apple in the sense that they’re very much “we know what’s best for you better than you do.”

        Now, the singular area I can give Gnome true props in is their accessibility functionality, but that’s primarily it. KDE’s accessibility is fairly behind by about a decade in comparison.

        That’s just my take, take it as you will.

      • Domi@lemmy.secnd.me
        1·
        23 days ago

        There must be something about GNOME in particular that some people love, and others hate.

        GNOME is heavily opinionated.

        As such it gets praise from people that share that opinion and gets hate from the people that do not. Many other DEs are much more configurable, giving a broader audience the possibility to adjust everything to their liking.

  • Aelis@lemm.ee
    1·
    22 days ago

    Always wanted to like gnome but never could, and xfce is fine but I much prefer KDE, it is verry likely that I’ll actually keep it till my pc breaks.

    • easily3667@lemmus.orgEnglish
      1·
      22 days ago

      That’s the beauty of gnome: they don’t give a single fuck if you like it. You can return the favor.

      • overload@sopuli.xyz
        1·
        22 days ago

        Gnome has the apple philosophy that the user conforms to technology, not the other way around.

        • njordomir@lemmy.world
          0·
          22 days ago

          No shade to Gnome, because there is a place for them in the ecosystem, but this is why I moved from Gnome 2 to KDE (with a few stops along the way). One size will not fit all.

          • overload@sopuli.xyz
            1·
            21 days ago

            Oh yeah for sure. I think if Gnome works for people they should use it. I’m not stoked on the situation of Gnome Extensions being needed for some pretty basic customisations, adding instability to the DE though.

  • adarza@lemmy.caEnglish
    1·
    23 days ago

    it’s probably gonna be plasma6 by a hair over cinnamon on a rolling distribution. as much as people shit on manjaro here and on that other site, it has never broke on me–whether i update constantly or let it go 2-3 months between them.

    but if the de and the underlying os are magically compatible, and those and programs kept up to date, never obsolete, and new ones appear for it as needed or desired… then sorry, it won’t be linux… i’m going back to something like 95osr2, 98se or w2k.