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
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    30
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 month ago

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

    • aksdb@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      1 month 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.

      • jamie_oliver@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 month ago

        I’m running XFCE (but you could do KDE) on my intel Mac, you can get best of both worlds. I heard silicon is more difficult with Linux tho.

    • hddsx@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 month ago

      Has KDE improved since 2010-ish? I gave up KDE because gnome was just a better DE at the time. Gnome sucks now, but I found i3/sway. Haven’t given KDE a second chance yet

  • warmaster@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    14
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 month ago

    KDE Plasma.

    It has been great for gaming, adopting Wayland protocols at a faster rate than other DEs due in part thanks to Valve’s contributions.

    I freaking love GNOME & Adwaita, but I’ll switch back when I deem it better than Plasma.

  • slembcke@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 month ago

    Definitely Gnome here. Though I have a long list of notes, it mostly just works exactly like I expect with little friction or guessing. I donate $100/year to both Gnome and KDE since they are both good pieces of software, and I love that I get to chose mine. Further, I think KDE is the logical choice for something like the SteamDeck where it’s going to have a lot of gamers that expect computers to work like Windows. (even if I don’t like it, >_<)

  • potemkinhr@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    1 month 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.

  • ikidd@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 month ago

    Plasma for the last decade. Then probably XFCE, then Cinnamon.

    I try Gnome every year or so, but every time I get pissed off with it within a few minutes and wipe it off my machine.

  • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 month 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

  • lengau@midwest.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 month 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.

  • nafzib@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 month ago

    KDE for sure. The modern versions look exactly like how I want a desktop environment to look out of the box, and they keep the full range of customizability that a desktop should, IMO, allow it’s users to have. Which is something Windows just kept slowly getting rid of over the years.

    I also prefer to have a taskbar that is ever present with a traditional start menu that’s cleanly organized by category rather than the current full screen pop up “activities” search thing gnome does nowadays.

  • GustavoM@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 month ago

    I don’t mind a little “change” every now and then, but still – “Sway” on my “potatoes” (Orange pi zero 3 and Orange pi 5 max) and “Hyprland” on my x86_64 PC.

    • aedyr@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 month ago

      My daily driver is Arch running sway. Would be hard to go back from the simplicity and elegance.

    • hddsx@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 month ago

      Isn’t sway based on i3? i3 is a WM not a DE. But as sway is not X11, I’m not sure if it’s just a WM

      • Static_Rocket@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 month ago

        Sway still primarily counts as a WM + Compositor, but considering it has keymaps, autostart, and libinput config mechanisms embedded in it, I would say it borders a desktop environment.