Linux Format forums

Re: Preferred Desktop/WM

tandyn — Wed Nov 16, 2011 12:52 am

Author: tandyn

Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2011 12:52 am

I used to use Gnome2 and XFCE but since Gnome3 is default on Debian Testing, now its just XFCE.

The Two Cents part: Gnome3 would make a great desktop for my tablet, but not on the desktop. I dont use a touch screen, and I want my program icons on the panel so I can click and go, not click and search. When I am able to get Debian to replace Android on my tablet, I will be using Gnome3 where it feels like it should be.

Edit: After looking at Mints MGSE proposal for Gnome3, I will have to try it out.

Re: Preferred Desktop/WM

wyliecoyoteuk — Wed Nov 09, 2011 8:06 pm

Author: wyliecoyoteuk

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 8:06 pm

more detail:
Ubu 11.10 with Unity on
our 2 AA1 netbooks
wife's desktop
Atom based miniITX kitchen PC (unity 2D)
Work laptop triple boot with XP and 7pro
Ubu 11.04 with Unity on
My desktop
XFCE (not that I see it much, I have MythTV on there!) on
my Media PC.

Test and writing rig: 7 Ultimate, and various distros, but at the moment Ubu 11.10 server with no gui at all

does that get me more votes?

Re: Preferred Desktop/WM

heiowge — Wed Nov 09, 2011 7:30 pm

Author: heiowge

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 7:30 pm

My systems:

Main PC - Win 7 / Mint 11 (customised to de-mintify it and get Gnome 2.xx)
Wife's Laptop - Win 7
My netbook - Kubuntu 11.04 (KDE)
Kid's PC - Ubuntu 10.10 (Gnome 2.xx)
Daughter's laptop - Mint 11 (Gnome 2.xx mint version)
old netbook - Lubuntu 11.04 i think (LXDE)

Re: Preferred Desktop/WM

Ram — Wed Nov 09, 2011 4:10 pm

Author: Ram

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 4:10 pm

I have 4 systems, Server down to Netbook.

Server KDE3.x (OP11 needs updating)
Desktop GNome 2.x (U lst 10.04)
Laptop GNome 2.x (U lst 10.04)
Netbook Default Mint 8 customised to look like GNome2.x but without the bottom panel.

I voted for GNome2, I just like it's simpicity with the menu system.

Re: Preferred Desktop/WM

Spangwiches — Tue Nov 08, 2011 5:57 pm

Author: Spangwiches

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 5:57 pm

Bruno, I did have a category for Black/Flux/Openbox but it said I had too many categories

I'm surprised how popular KDE is. I mean I know it's popular but I thought the march of the Ubuntus and their (earlier) Gnome-ness, along with the KDE 4.0 shenanigans would've made more of a dent in KDE's popularity.

I'm also surprised how unpopular Gnome 3 is. Again, I know it puts a lot of people off being as heterodoxal as it is, but I thought it would've won a few more people over by now.

I am unsurprised at how popular Xfce is. It's a nice basic desktop.

Interesting stuff. Both the poll and all your comments.

Re: Preferred Desktop/WM

wyliecoyoteuk — Tue Nov 08, 2011 4:46 pm

Author: wyliecoyoteuk

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 4:46 pm

Unity on all my PCs except my Mythbuntu box, which is XFCE

Re: Preferred Desktop/WM

Bruno — Tue Nov 08, 2011 2:40 pm

Author: Bruno

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 2:40 pm

KDE for the win! Like many I thought 4.0 was a bit ropey but then we were told this by KDE themselves. However, since 4.3 I've found it stable, usable and very presentable. Although some of the default presentation settings offered in recent versions are starting to grate, I can get it looking how I like it very quickly and easily. Forgive the flame bait, but I find it much prettier than Gnome/GTK based desktops.

Re: Preferred Desktop/WM

pastychomper — Tue Nov 08, 2011 1:29 pm

Author: pastychomper

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 1:29 pm

Fluxbox all the way for me. I got converted to Blackbox back in the day when my box was just too slow for KDE (at least for Mandrake's interpretation of it). Then having got used to the Slit, and moved to Fluxbox with its tabbed windows, I haven't really looked for or found anything better.

Re: Preferred Desktop/WM

ajgreeny — Tue Nov 08, 2011 1:24 pm

Author: ajgreeny

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 1:24 pm

roseway wrote:

ajgreeny wrote:

I am aware of the menu editor for LXDE, lxmed, which works extremely well, and looks just like alacarte, but it is only for LXDE, and does not work for XFCE. Have I missed something here? A search has not shown anything available.

Lxmed is what I was referring to. There are some people on the debian forum who say that it works with XFCE (and some who say it doesn't ). See http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=71586

That being said, I tried it on a new XFCE 4.8 installation and it didn't work for me (I couldn't edit anything).

No, it didn't work for me either. Great in Lubuntu, but not Xubuntu.

Re: Preferred Desktop/WM

SpecialStuff — Mon Nov 07, 2011 5:25 pm

Author: SpecialStuff

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 5:25 pm

Well it was Gnome 3 all the way for me until Ubuntu 11.10. Loving Unity.

Re: Preferred Desktop/WM

roseway — Mon Nov 07, 2011 4:17 pm

Author: roseway

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 4:17 pm

ajgreeny wrote:

Re: Preferred Desktop/WM

ajgreeny — Mon Nov 07, 2011 10:45 am

Author: ajgreeny

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 10:45 am

roseway wrote:

I use KDE, and that's what I voted for, but in truth its features are way over the top for me. The only reason I stick with it is that the small subset of its features which I do use can't easily be fulfilled in the other desktops. The main difficulty with XFCE and LXDE has been the lack of a menu editor, and now that one is available I might soon be moving to one of those.

Re: Preferred Desktop/WM

paulm — Sun Nov 06, 2011 6:49 pm

Author: paulm

Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 6:49 pm

I've been using Xfce for several years now. I find it provides the best balance between features and bloat, as well as providing a good level of customisation without making me spend hours trying to get things set up the way I want them (which KDE does) or leaving me annoyed by things that I can't change (which Gnome has done for a long time).

Its not bug free, but works well and is light enough to allow me good good performance. Can't ask for much more.....

Paul.

Re: Preferred Desktop/WM

roseway — Sun Nov 06, 2011 7:18 am

Author: roseway

Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 7:18 am

I use KDE, and that's what I voted for, but in truth its features are way over the top for me. The only reason I stick with it is that the small subset of its features which I do use can't easily be fulfilled in the other desktops. The main difficulty with XFCE and LXDE has been the lack of a menu editor, and now that one is available I might soon be moving to one of those.

Re: Preferred Desktop/WM

Rhakios — Sat Nov 05, 2011 10:10 pm

Author: Rhakios

Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 10:10 pm

nelz wrote:

KDE4 is not KDE3 in the same way a Ford Focus is not a Ford Escort, even though both are replacements for the older product.

Having used KDE since one of the 1.x versions, I found the transitions up through 2.x and 3.x pretty smooth, things just seemed to get better looking and gained more functions (despite the odd hiccough). Even though KDE4.x has worked pretty well since about 4.4, I still can't get used to it...
As for the "semantic desktop" aspect of it, I've not seen any apparent practical functionality arise out of all that indexing going on. OTOH, when Kontact came along as a wrapper for KMail, Kaddressbook and the rest, it made some sort of sense, it was useful.
Oh well, I'm not going to ramble on about this any more, KDE4 gripes are old hat and not what this thread is about.