Is gnome claiming to be older than kde? 'cause it isn't. Gnome was started because decades ago, the license for the qt library used by kde wasn't quite open enough.
It was. I think I used CDE very briefly on some Sun workstations back around the kde 1.x times. But lowly undergrads mostly got ttys and not X terminals.
After Plasma 6 released I prefer KDE over Gnome every day, I found that Plasma 5 was too messy, inconsistent and unintuitive even if Gnome was lacking in functionality. Even then I decided to move to i3 "just because" and now I'm transitioning to Sway. So far I think Sway is my favorite.
MHH interesting. I honestly haven't really given kde a fair shot since KDE4 maybe I need to force myself to use Plasma 6. Gnome has really gotten on my nerves lately. But I also know that on Plasma I will mostly recreate my gnome experience (Super key, hot corner ...) since these are so ingrained in me from over a decade of using gnome.
KDE4 was a mess, and it annoys me when people that haven't used it since 4 shit on KDE as "buggy". Plasma has been fixing so many things since and 6 has done the upgrade to QT6 for future proofing, but it's a bit buggier than late 5.
Give it a try, but you're going to have to wait in more stable distros like Ubuntu and Fedora since they don't have it out yet. If you wanted to try it in Fedora, the Nobara spin uses the latest 6. Otherwise, Arch and a few other more cutting edge distros are running it, like maybe OpenSuse Tumbleweed.
As far as my experience goes, Gnome workspaces and workflow is still more intuitive and simple. But Plasma 6 workflows has integrated modes where it can work the same if not very similar to Gnome. So in that regard Plasma has been taking notes and bringing all the good things from Gnome.
I feel like the "desktop environment" is a Faustian bargain. You get a plateload of software that looks consistent, but none of it is best of breed.
I can recall being a bit wowed by the original KDE 1.0 betas on my old 486, when Konqueror was the file manager as much as the browser, but in the end it felt like thry were trying to recreate the experience you got wth the pack-in software of Windows 95.
And **** GNOME for really pushing the client-side decorations model. I configured my window manager to put the title bar and close button where I want it, thank you.
KDE. I don't have to change anything (other than taskbars on all monitors rather than just the main one) for an experience I like. Everything just works. Wayland support is best in class.
I don't like gnome's workflow and it takes COSMIC level customization for me to like it. And technical issues are common for me. Namely windows constantly spawning off screen and delayed reactions.
XFCE's default layout is absolutely horrible and there's no Wayland support. Mint XFCE's implementation is good though.
Cinnamon, in my experience, is buggy and has similar technical problems to gnome.
I've used i3wm and it's okay, but I would never use it on my main desktop. Takes a certain kind of workflow.
I've messed with AwesomeWM and can say it's very ok.
LXDE/LXQT are obsolete. Not old school, obsolete. And in the case of QT, there's absolutely no reason to use it when XFCE has the same ram usage anyway.
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I haven't used any other desktops other than these.
I'm using herbstluftwm and am happiest with it, but spent years on i3, almost a year in bspwm, and a hot minute on sway. All after years of mostly KDE, some Gnome, and a few years (concurrently w/ Linux) on Macs from work.
Any tiling WM over any DE. I'd go back to i3 before choosing either Gnome or KDE. The one exception would be a fully feature-complete NeXTSTEP clone. I'd switch to that in a heartbeat. Not OpenSTEP, not Windowmaker; NS was beautiful, functional, fully integrated in all aspects - like MacOS, but without the dumbed-down idiocracy.
I've ran GNOME for years until this month. Something randomly broke and then on fresh install the dark theme wasn't working correctly. Switched to KDE and everything looks and works perfectly. Think I'll hang out here for the foreseeable future.
Wrong. I don't like themes. I turn on dark mode, move the default panel up top and setup papirus icons and breeze white cursor theme. This is about as basic as it gets.
WM (Edit: compositor, you know what I mean): Hyprland, Wayfire (close second)
I really like how stable and polished XFCE feels, but I've got into tilling/dynamic window managers over the past few years so I just use Hyprland now. It's not as stable and whenever there's a bad commit and I can't be bothered looking into it I just use Wayfire and praise the spinning cylinder and rotating windows for a few weeks.
I agree but recently the user themes extension broke notifications and I've already slimmed down my extensions to only the most necessary ones ... So now I'm honestly thinking about trying Plasma properly.
I really wish DE + auto tiling combo was more of a thing. Like what Pop! has going with gnome currently. The convenience of a DE with an actual WM. Yes I know there are extensions, qtile, etc. Having this out of the box would be fantastic, so much time is wasted moving windows around... tiling then manually.. or having windows overlap, oh the horror.
both /
conjunction /
—used as a function word to indicate and stress the inclusion of each of two or more things specified by coordinated words, phrases, or clauses
A DE tries to be a full operating environment, it has panels and configuration tools and (...) all as part of the package
A WM only does window management, and other things need to be added separately. The line blurs a bit since most people who use WMs end up adding a lot of other stuff to them to the point it might as well be a DE, only it was built piecemeal.
KDE Plasma -- It's pretty, it's customizable. Workflow is customizable
XFCE -- Honestly I consider XFCE to be like Plasma's sibling, in that its workflow is also very customizable and there is a lot of space for theming, but is lighter and acts nicer on weaker hardware
I tried Gnome and I just hate it? It needs a lot of fennagling to look and act in a way I find enjoyable. Cinnamon is eeeeeeeeehhhhh.
WM-wise, I played with Hyprland and I3WM, but tiling WMs aren't for me. They just aren't. For what convenience I gained from being able to use Super+something to do basically everything, I don't enjoy the workflow.
I also used Wayfire for a bit -- Writing my own configuration file and customizing everything IS fun, but like.... Nah?
Maybe because I used windows first and not Mac, but KDE. Gnome is just opensource Mac DE/WM with the same mentality "we know what's best for you and you'll like it".
Gnome, hands now.
Before coming to Linux, I was an Apple user. I was a fan of their design philosophy - minimalism, clarity and simplicity. Well, I can't tolerate Apple as an enterprise, and there are also a lot of very weird design desicions which I discovered while using their devives - but the core principle is something I stand by.
Gnome in my opinion is exactly that - KISS, and all the options are really polished.
I've tried KDE as well, and have a lot of respect for the developers of it. But after using it for a few days, there are just a lot of inconsistencies in the KDE applications which don't make sense to me.
XFCE with OpenSuse style is my favorite. Low resource usage, windows-easy ability to put shortcuts all over the desktop (fuck you, Unity), searchbox that just works. I don't need to spend hours or months customizing the setup for it to work as I want.
I currently use Plasma 6 on both my laptop and my desktop, but XFCE has a special place in my heart, due to it being right in the middle between being lightweight with resources and still staying usable for a buffoon like me.
I primarily use Plasma, but I have GNOME and Hyprland also installed so that I can switch between them and give 'em a try every now and then, just to get a feel for their workflows.
Since we're all here, any chance we can make a small push in the direction of having a standardized "style"/"theme" file that we can plug into the different systems?
From unity to gnome for Wayland support from gnome to KDE because of painful stutterstthough now I use both on wayland, just dep3nding on which syst3m I'm on at th3 time.
Great DEs over all, though in excited to try outt cosmic once I get past some systems projects :)