Desktop Environment Usage On GNU/Linux

[lxskllr]

Someone posted this poll on reddit, and I thought the results were interesting. It only lists the big guys, but KDE4 is far and away the most popular listed. I didn't realize it was that widely used. I would have expected a better showing from the other desktops.

http://pollator.com/polls/which-linux-desktop-environment-are-you-using

 

[weovpac]

Interesting, nice too see Xfce keeping up with Gnome 3 and Unity. The poll should have had an No Desktop option.

 

[lxskllr]

Interesting, nice too see Xfce keeping up with Gnome 3 and Unity. The poll should have had an No Desktop option.

What do you use, and how do you use it? I think you've mentioned it before, but I can't remember the details.

 

[Cerb]

Someone posted this poll on reddit, and I thought the results were interesting. It only lists the big guys, but KDE4 is far and away the most popular listed. I didn't realize it was that widely used. I would have expected a better showing from the other desktops.

http://pollator.com/polls/which-linux-desktop-environment-are-you-using

IMO, of the more common ones, XFCE > LXDE > KDE4.4+ > * > Gnome.

XFCE has nice applets, and a container for Gnome applets, so there is a lot more you can cram into a panel than LXDE.

LXDE is awfully minimal, but works very well. IMO, XFCE and LDXE are best used with full installs of Gnome and KDE on the machine, so you can configure the behavior of Gnome- and KDE-dependent applications with relative ease. Either LDXE or XFCE are quite nice with Openbox, too.

Unity might be OK with touch, but with KB/mouse (or trackpad, or titmouse), it plain sucks.

Gnome is always frustrating to use, and Gnome applications tend to lack useful features (where is the test integrity button in File Roller? That was my most recent, "ugh, Gnome!" moment, after transferring some backup tarballs over an unstable connection).

E17 can be nice, but it takes a lot of tweaking for good UI efficacy on a halfway normal computer (I'd like to try it on a space-constrained touch system one of these days, to see if the defaults work out better with that kind of situation).

KDE is good, but busy, kind of a pig, and configuration tends to be non-intuitive. Little things, like how to make shortcuts on the panel, how to move things, how to get or get rid of those folder box gizmos, etc.. However, it has a lot going for it, including system-wide configuration options (instead of just WM/panel-related), and acts close enough to the way Windows 7 does, for anybody used to Vista or 7 to be able to just sit down and start using it.

I notice a comment mentions RazorQt. I haven't tried that one. I aught to make myself a reminder about it.

 

[weovpac]

What do you use, and how do you use it? I think you've mentioned it before, but I can't remember the details.

I just use a WM[window manager] xmonad[1] being my preference. Use terminals for most tasks; rxvt-unicode and zsh for my shell. It just feels more natural and faster to me. But for others I install Xfce.

[1] http://xmonad.org

 

[Puddle Jumper]

I'm surprised KDE4 is so popular, whenever I have tried it in the past it always felt bloated compared to the alternatives.

 

[Jodell88]

Gnome is always frustrating to use, and Gnome applications tend to lack useful features (where is the test integrity button in File Roller? That was my most recent, "ugh, Gnome!" moment, after transferring some backup tarballs over an unstable connection).

File-roller has that ability for me.

 

[insect9]

Interesting, nice too see Xfce keeping up with Gnome 3 and Unity. The poll should have had an No Desktop option.

Agreed.

 

[lxskllr]

I just use a WM[window manager] xmonad[1] being my preference. Use terminals for most tasks; rxvt-unicode and zsh for my shell. It just feels more natural and faster to me. But for others I install Xfce.

[1] http://xmonad.org

I don't think I'd enjoy that for day to day use, but if I worked in IT, I could see the appeal. I like eye candy, even useless stuff like snow on the desktop and burning windows :^D Unfortunately, Compiz seems to want to use GTK3 on my system. I finally got a single GTK3 theme that looks ok, but I'm stuck with that unless I place another theme in a tedious method. That'll work for this fall/winter when I put falling leaves and snow on my desktop, but not for year round use. I'd love to purge my system of all GTK3, but I have a couple Gnome programs that use it, and I don't feel like hacking up my whole system for a trivial appearance tweak.

 

[Cerb]

File-roller has that ability for me.

On whatever version is used in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (moving CMS-based websites, forget newfangled anything), there is no button, and option under the file menu is always grayed out.

 

[Nothinman]

On whatever version is used in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (moving CMS-based websites, forget newfangled anything), there is no button, and option under the file menu is always grayed out.

It's probably only enabled whenever you're looking at an archive that can be tested, e.g. gz, bzip2, zip, etc.

 

[Cerb]

It's probably only enabled whenever you're looking at an archive that can be tested, e.g. gz, bzip2, zip, etc.

Like tar.bz2 files made using the tar command, which half definitely were (the DBs I got lazy on, and used the server's web interface for, so I can't be sure it actually called tar in a shell)?

 

[Nothinman]

Like tar.bz2 files made using the tar command, which half definitely were (the DBs I got lazy on, and used the server's web interface for, so I can't be sure it actually called tar in a shell)?

Yea, I just tried here and the option is there for zip but not .bz2 or .gz either.

 

[zokudu]

I voted other, for Cinnamon of course. This really is just the bees knees for DE's since I moved off Gnome 2.

 

[earthman]

Xfce is my current favorite, seems to have just the right balance of speed, features, and eye candy (of which I don't need much). I think it would be more popular if the default installs weren't so butt-ugly. The Mint version looks nice, though. I've also used KDE and Gnome (2) as well for extended periods, I don't have a beef with either of them. I even used Unity for a few weeks and managed to live with it. I'm not that hung up on the desktop as some are, I guess.