Why I Don't Show Other Desktop Environments ...

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► Chapters:

00:00 - Gnome or KDE Plasma?
00:28 - One word of caution!
00:57 - UI/UX Design and Trends
02:04 - Hotkeys and muscle memory
03:05 - Finding help
03:29 - Wayland support
05:43 - Give them the right things
06:50 - They not better!
08:00 - Conclusion

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► Description Tags:

linux desktop environments, linux desktop environments comparison, linux best desktop environment, best linux desktop environment 2024, most popular linux distros 2024, most popular desktop environment, gnome vs kde plasma, gnome vs cinnamon vs kde, hyprland vs gnome, michael horn

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#linux #opensource #discussion

[archaichobo]

I fell in love with Plasma on the Steam Deck. Now I run Plasma on all my machines.

[horizon]

For me, I just love the simplicity of Cinnamon's design mixed with Mint's super user-friendly nature. The only thing stopping me from switching to it is precisely the lack of Wayland support due to my multi-monitor setup as well as the extra things that Wayland offers like variable refresh rate. Having it "look more modern" isn't that relevant to me personally.

[Dr-CthulhuOfRlyeh]

You have the right idea. I attempted a Linux move back in 2020 and X11 didn't like my multi-monitor setup and Wayland wasn't there yet, which was a dealbreaker, and so I went back to Windows. I spent years waiting, watching Linux videos (including yours) and being in Linux groups and watched it grow. I came back and Wayland is amazing for my use case. Linux has grown so much in those 4 years thanks to Wayland.

You also have the right idea with DE, I feel exactly as you said about the other DEs, I feel they look as good as maybe Windows 98 (some even worse) and they were never an interest to me and I have no use case for a TM as cool as Hyprland looks, I feel they are for terminal users. To me, it's a "two man race" between Gnome and Plasma. Gnome is there for people who like the look of Mac and KDE for Windows (yes, you can customize both, but I also mean out of box) I also think Gnome is much better for a laptop user because of touch screen gestures, big icons and better calendar/productivity support, while KDE is better for multi-monitor users who don't need gestures, likes to customize, has better gaming performance and is just a better overall daily driver for desktops. (I am a Plasma guy)

So you definitely have the right idea to entice people to come to Linux.

[szymonnowak]

You encouraged me to install linux on my main PC, Your content is very helping

[SirChristoferus]

GNOME has become my favorite desktop environment ever since switching from the Microsoft ecosystem to the open-source ecosystem, it really brings out the uniqueness of Linux when compared to Windows or macOS.

[ivobrick]

I use Cinnamon. It is fast, light - relative to a new computer and mostly - boring. I like it like that. Later we will have cinnamon wayland, on nvidia.
Many people will come here and start to fight which is better, the best for you is the one you choose, regardless of what it is.

[MegaManNeo]

I dunno about Cinnamon, seems like a good middle ground to me.
Otherwise I agree that both GNOME and Plasma surely are the once that catch the eye the most.

[Aluminio_siete_tres_siete]

I like cinnamon over both KDE and Gnome, is a middle ground between the two I think, and it can be made to look fresh with ease... I would get to say that cinnamon does quite a few things better than those two, is meant for ease of use yet is customizable.

There is also the experimental wayland support that is not 100% daily-driveable yet but supposedly in august, as LM 22 comes out, it will be nicely upgraded.

[Bloxomatic]

Been watching you for awhile now. Your videos are VERY insightful and enjoyable! Great job :)

[gotoastal]

At least you showed & acknowledged the color management situation on Wayland.

[Drazil]

For me when introducing a new user to Linux the overall distro is more important than just the DE. While I don’t personally run mint anymore, it is what got me to try Linux. Cinnamon may not follow current design trends, but I don’t think it looks outdated just yet. More importantly though it has an excellent onboarding process, an excellent graphical update tool, it pushes timeshift, and it comes with pretty much all the packages you need to have a functionally complete base system without being bloated. My recommendation may change if cinnamon begins looking too out of date, but for now I haven’t found a distro that is quite as polished as mint.

[cevmantius]

If you are a beginner on linux and gained some confidence dont hesitate to trying other DE's and WM's on some kind of virtual machines etc. Evantually you'll find which one fits you best. Personally, i am a window manager user but my fav DE is xfce. I install all of my systems with xfce so i can use some of the tools that included in xfce on my window manager setup.

[soulstenance]

I totally agree with your initial argument - first impressions matter. However I don't think saying Cinnamon is flat or less polished than KDE is entirely fair. I think they're both very polished and pretty straight out of the box. I see Cinnamon as a kind of middle ground between KDE's extreme customizability (I managed to break KDE in my early Linux days) and Gnome's almost non-existent customizability. Cinnamon is the best choice in it's official distro unless you have a low spec PC, but even on other distros, I feel it does its job well. The Mint team did a great job "fixing" Gnome. Just my take, I may be a little biased haha.

[Prophet]

Your Gnome videos turned me from one of the biggest tiling window managers to Gnome fan lol. I've spent time on Gnome on a laptop and it is great.

[dfs-comedy]

I use XFCE4 for muscle memory and because I like a lightweight desktop that stays out of my way. Choice of desktop is a very personal thing, I guess. My non-technical sister and *very* non-technical brother-in-law also use XFCE4... because that's what I installed for them.

Yes, they run Linux. They know if they want tech support, I won't support Windows. :)

[TheZedrem]

I jumped quite a bit when I switched back in 2020. I used a bit Cinammon, Gnome (Vanilla and Pop OS), LXQt and many others, but KDE always felt like the 'right' choice for me, with all the customization I need.
Been running Fedora KDE Edition for about 2 years now, and Idon't plan on switching. Maybe I'll give Cosmic a shot if it comes to Fedora or on my Laptop.

[Redmage]

For personal use, KDE Plasma 100%. I do enjoy Cinnamon and Mate, but I reserve them for my absolutely slowest systems.

I like Cinnamon for its Vista-looking interface with modernizations, and I love MATE for its easy plugins on its taskbar - CPU/GPU/HDD/Network graphs are quite easy to set up with it, so good for servers where I want a desktop. This is all home-based, I don’t have clients or anything.

My dad did get a 2-in-1 laptop with touchscreen recently, and I used GNOME for that machine because of its tablet optimizations. He loves being away from Windows!

[themadoneplays]

I say show off XFCE at least as it is the "ol reliable" of linux DE's
Sure it still uses xorg and some versions of it look old-fashioned but it would be a way to show off XFCE's amazing customization capability.

[turbofox]

I left windows 11 and went straight to hyprland lol. I figured that if i had to learn something new, why not challenge myself a little. I’m now on dwm and it’s amazing! Plasma 6 is nice too but imo too much like windows (whom I now hate with a passion). Great content sir! Keep up the good work!!!!

[BrianMcKee]

XFCE will be getting wayland support in 4.20.