I’m thinking of switching to Linux as my daily driver after trying it out both Fedora Workstation and KDE using Live USB, but I’m wondering if I should consider other distros besides Fedora. I’ve heard of openSUSE, is that decent? Not many people really mention them. Linux Mint is great, but I don’t like Cinnamon all too much.
What’s a good desktop-agnostic distro that lets you easily swap between the two?
edit: Woah, it seems that you’re able to swap between DEs from the login manager as long as you install both. Okay then, new question, for a beginner friendly distro, should I go for Fedora, OpenSUSE, or something else?
edit 2: a bit more information about my device and my preferences…
On KDE Plasma vs GNOME, I would like to try both out and see which I like better long-term. KDE Plasma seems a bit more familiar (closer to Windows 10) whereas GNOME is a bit more different but I’m open to using either.
I’m running a laptop with an Intel i7-1360P. It’s one of those 2-in-1 convertible 360 degree hinge laptops.
I would say I’m open to learning how to work with the terminal and customising the distro a bit, but I don’t want to do anything too out of my scope. I don’t want to spend too many hours setting it up, I’d rather have something that works mostly out of the box :D
I want a stable distro as in I don’t want to break my system after an update, but still want something up-to-date though. I’m open to rolling release distros, but to my knowledge those are usually less stable with more breaking changes than fixed release options.
While most distros can handle having both installed and switching between them, it will cause redundant apps and KDE’s font settings will bleed into gnome.
My recommendation is NixOS as it will take care of removing all packages that come with one DE before installing the other one.
But NixOs is pretty weird even for regular Linux users.
While pretty much any distro can do this, I will warn you that it’s not the greatest idea. GNOME and KDE are both massive software suites and you’ll have a lot of redundant programs, e.g. two GUI file managers, and sometimes you’ll get unexpected behavior. There are also some look and feel issues that might crop up with apps getting style hints from two places. Again, it’s nothing super major, and it’s been a while since I’ve done this so maybe it’s improved, but any time I’ve tried I end up rolling back or reinstalling with only one big DE.
It’s much less of an issue to have one big DE and then potentially several other more modular window managers, as those have much less opinionated payloads. I’ve got sway and hypr installed alongside GNOME.
Yeah this is important to know as installing two DE’s can and will cause a lot of problems.
I’ve read, but have not tried, that installing each DE under it’s own user can prevent the majority of these problems. This also prevents using apps from different DE’s simultaneously, you have to switch users to do so. Session saving makes it faster than restarting constantly but it can still interrupt workflow. Again, I have not tried this myself but have considered trying it.
I’m probably not going to have two DEs permanently installed together, I am hoping to make it easier to swap between the two to see which I prefer. Once I decide which one I like using I’ll likely uninstall the other
I would recommend installing a fairly vanilla Gnome distro (like Fedora or something) and then a KDE version (most major distros have a KDE spin) in a virtual machine. Gnome Boxes is a really easy way to do that. And then just customize the shit out of both of them and see what you like best.
Gnome is more of a macOS-like experience so to me, it feels more trackpad driven (though keyboard shortcuts are plentiful). Install some extensions if you don’t like something. Someone else probably also didn’t like something.
KDE is more like Windows. I’m less familiar with it but it’s on my Steam Deck so I use it a decent amount. It’s more mouse and keyboard driven, as far as I can tell. So, that’s why I think it would be fine to evaluate in a VM.
They’re both high quality, though, so it’s really about what you prefer. I like Gnome, obviously, but I prefer to code on a smallish laptop (for portability/travel reasons) and a dock whereas a lot of people want an elaborate multi-monitor situation and a different interface. Everyone has their own workflow. Both work equally well so it’s just a matter of taste and preference. (Most Linux decisions are like that and people get weirdly angry about it but that’s part of the fun. Choose your own adventure.)
This is a great answer. I will just add that KDE in general exposes more settings in the UI than stock Gnome (but Gnome Tweaks is a thing). If you are the kind if user that just sticks with the defaults, Gnome is probably less confusing to use and what I recommend, but I personally prefer KDE because I like to tweak things.
Try Fedora Immutable distro it allows easy switching between different bases.
Most of them should be able to handle that easily. Even those that come in “flavors” like Kubuntu. OpenSUSE certainly does. You just install them both or start with one and install the other later and in the login manager you can choose which one to start.
Damn, you can just choose from the login manager? You don’t get ANYTHING like this on Windows! Crazy that you can just swap out the whole GUI of your OS like that
Not only that, you can use the programs from one desktop environment in the other one. Really confused me the first time I used Linux because it had installed both Gnome and KDE and I was wondering why I had two of almost every type of app. But I really liked Gnome’s Solitaire.
Ohh interesting. So I could simultaneously compare things like GNOME and KDE’s built-in software without repeatedly restarting. Nice.
You don’t need to reboot to switch either. Just log out.
cool :O
Popular FOSS also tend to have multiple GUI options.
Technically you can replace Explorer with any other desktop shell, but you’ll probably end up launching it anyway because of how many components use it.
I don’t know what you mean by “A distro that allows you to easily switch between KDE and GNOME”, because any distro that has both should be able to easily switch between KDE and GNOME. As for user-friendly, something like Ubuntu or Mint, maybe Manjaro and Pop, EndeavourOS if you don’t mind learning and don’t mind using a terminal.
I want a more stable distro, so I’m not considering the rolling release options (like manjaro and EndeavourOS). I’ve also heard that not many people like Ubuntu because of snaps, why is that?
edit: are rolling release distros stable enough (e.g. will it randomly crash/have weird issues?) and is it possible/easy to roll back to a previous version if there’s a breaking update
I’ve also heard that not many people like Ubuntu because of snaps, why is that?
Well, people don’t like snaps for a number of reasons, because they are forced on users, bloated and slow, Canonicals themselves are quite shady, systemd, etc.
I would rather use several different types of packages than trust one that is tied to a shady company.
are rolling release distros stable enough
I’ve been using Arch (or some flavor of it) for several years, and I’ve never had any serious issues that I didn’t cause myself. The thing that might catch you with your pants down is if a dependency introduces a change that breaks another application, but catastrophic failures are fairly rare, as long as you’re willing to learn how to maintain your system.
is it possible/easy to roll back to a previous version
Yes. The application is called Timeshift, and it’s specifically designed to back up the system files to a separate partition. If your root filesystem is btrfs, it can also manage filesystem-level snapshots that you can roll back if you bugger the system.
ah ok cool :D
I wasn’t too familiar with Linux so didn’t know that you’re able to just change out the DE really easily on any distro.
You can even not use DE, some people use only Window Managers (with additional things), or even just terminal.
I’m a big fan of debian (with their netinstaller) for stuff like this, it allows you to pick the desktops you want to install during the install process and it does everything else for you
before you actually commit though, you should test the distros you’re interested in in a vm to get a gist for how it works
I used to do this way back and when I saw the question I was interested in the replies and yours is the only one that I would say answer it. The only answer to me is a distro which asks you what desktops you want to install and gives you the option for several. Its great that you can install them all on any linux but hes asking beginner friendly so to me that implies you being able to install them from the get go.
Testing a bit more is probably a good idea.
Okay then, new question, for a beginner friendly distro, should I go for Fedora, OpenSUSE, or something else?
OP, consider making up your mind regarding which one between GNOME and KDE Plasma you’d like to use (at least for the foreseeable future). Afterwards, consider answering the following so that we may do a better job at helping you:
- What kind of hardware are we dealing with? Can we have the specs?
Note that both Fedora and openSUSE may be considered beginner-friendly. Though, there does exist some considerable difference in design ethos between these and say something like Linux Mint; the former two give you a relatively bare system and assume (at least some) responsibility from its user while setting up the system. By contrast, Linux Mint offers considerable more hand-holding. This may of may not be to your liking.
Note, however, that Fedora and openSUSE are far from the worst offenders in this regard; within the spectrum, they definitely belong to the better half as we’ve even got distros that assume their users are willing to learn an otherwise useless programming language from scratch. (FYI: I love NixOS and I wouldn’t want it anyway else.)
Therefore, allow me to ask another question:
- How much hand-holding would you deem desirable?
There’s also the fleet of distros by Universal Blue that some swear by. These operate with a different paradigm; most of its users would describe them as a better alternative for newbies (under certain circumstances). But I digress…
Finally, I have noted how you’ve pronounced your preference for a stable system. I do think I understand what you mean by stable, but just to be sure:
- Stable, as in little to no updates except for those related to security? OR Stable, as in not being afraid to bork your system after an update or otherwise (i.e. kinda synonymous to reliable)? OR… Another use/definition that I’ve missed?
On KDE Plasma vs GNOME, I would like to try both out and see which I like better long-term. KDE Plasma seems a bit more familiar (closer to Windows 10) whereas GNOME is a bit more different but I’m open to using either.
- a laptop with an Intel i7-1360P. It’s one of those 2-in-1 convertible 360 degree hinge laptops.
- I would say I’m open to learning how to work with the terminal and customising the distro a bit, but I don’t want to do anything too out of my scope. I don’t want to spend too many hours setting it up, I’d rather have something that works mostly out of the box :D
- Stable as I don’t want to break my system after an update. I still want an up-to-date distro though. I am open to rolling release distros, but to my knowledge those are usually less stable with more breaking changes than fixed release options.
Also, how are the “immutable” distros from UB different from the “mutable” distros? Does it just mean that you’re unable to change system-level settings and such/break anything with a mistyped terminal command? What are the downsides to using an immutable distro?
Mint comes with a few desktop environment/window manager options: https://www.linuxmint.com/download_all.php Cinnamon, MATE, and XFCE. It’s also capable of running KDE and basically any other option, you just have to install it in a slightly more manual way.
I’ve heard that Mint doesn’t play well with DEs that aren’t Cinnamon (or Mate/XFCE), is that still an issue? Also, do the benefits of Mint (not requiring the terminal for everything) vanish if you KDE Plasma or GNOME?
I haven’t been a mint user for a while, but the fact that the mint folks specifically release MATE/XFCE versions is a good sign that they are tested for compatibility. You can try those versions on liveusb, too.
I’m guessing here, but the “less terminal needed” parts of Mint are probably specific tools and GUI settings managers they have put together to be more user friendly. if you search something like [name of Mint settings manager or tool] XFCE compatible, you’ll likely get an explanation. You might want to check out their Matrix chat room with specific questions: https://app.element.io/#/room/#linuxmint-space:matrix.org
As a Fedora user, I would go with Fedora. 😄
OpenSuse Tumbleweed is good, but I find Yast to be kind of overkill. I’m sure it’s great when people figure it out, but there are too many options before then.
Fedora is much simpler, which is weird to say.
I’ve decided to switch since nearly all the programs I use are either cross-platform (e.g. Inkscape) or have good Linux alternatives (e.g. Okular rather than SumatraPDF). The only hiccups I might get would be games, but I only really play a few retro games w/ emulators and just a couple games (the latter of which I’ve checked are all supported by Proton). Also, if I do run into issues with games, I can always just partition like 100GB for Windows and the rest for my distro of choice.
Nice, just learnt that pCloud also offers a Linux app! :D
