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Which Linux Desktop

Captain_Snort

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Captain_Snort
Joined
Feb 8, 2002
Messages
699
Location
Scotland
Over on another forum (about linux) there is the constant arguement about the 2 big desktops for *nix KDE or Gnome. Now I note there are quite a few linux users here so I thought I would ask.

I believe that you use what you like and if its good for you fine. I personally prefer KDE as I just find it nice, but other may prefer Gnome.

I recently downloaded and installed the latest version of XFCE (4.0.4) and find it nice, but not that great an improvement over version 3. Anyway, I have been using it a far bit over the last week or two. For about a 16mb download you get a window manager and desktop environment that uses few resourses whereas KDE or GNOME can be quite instensive to run at times.

I find KDE is well integrated and a rich diversity of apps available, but all you really need is the libraries installed to run them on any desktop.

So what desktop to you like to hang your terminals and apps on?
 
Installed Mandrake Linux onto a computer... hated it.

Installed KDE onto a computer... hated it.

Installed Gnome onto a computer... hated it.

I prefer WindowsXP.
 
I dont want or need a desktop. I just use a window manager (fluxbox). I customize it for me needs including integrating the freedesktop menu system with it and making the default theme look like BlueCurve. I even have a hack to add a menu button to the toolbar.
 
When I had an active Yellow Dog partition I was using that conjoined GNOME/KDE environment called Wonderland or some such. I think Red Hat has the same thing only under a different name since Yellow Dog is basically Red Hat for the Mac. I liked both and thought that either was more responsive than Aqua as it was implemented under Jaguar. Then Panther and X11 1.0 came out and Linux suddenly lost its allure for me.
 
Captain_Snort said:
Yahweh, I do believe you know nothing of what I speak about.

Omnipresent my backside
Click to expand...

I'm not thrilled with any Linux WM or desktop environment. KDE is pretty good, and the kioslaves are really neat, but Windows XP just feels more responsive. And yes, I am running kernel 2.6.5.

The clipboard and save/open dialog are also in great need of work. Oh, and fonts. No matter what I do, I can't get Firefox on Linux to display pages like Firefox on Windows. I've installed a billion fonts and set up all the directories properly.

But the main reason I love Linux is the power of the command line. Try doing:
Code: 
find . -name some_pattern -exec some_command {} \;
on Windows. Shell scripting is such a time saver.

But back on topic, KDE works well enough. Or fluxbox and an xterm if you just want to run a couple programs.
 
My personal preference is KDE; though I can see that many folks would quite reasonable prefer Gnome or some other window manager - the joy of having a choice.

The XP window environment is very good too, but I find Windows too annoying and frustrating - I can't do the things I want to.

For servers I prefer no X environment at all - manage them on the command line and minimise the amount of buggy software an attacker can exploit.
 
I seem to have ended up using KDE but have tried many. On a slower machine, like my laptop, I like using Blackbox. Although recently I installed Mandrake 10 on it and with KDE 3.2 and kernel 2.6 that machine can run just fine.

Almost every time I use a Windows machine it crashes on me. I also can't get things to work the way I like. I don't like desktop icons and I absolutely demand sloppy mouse focus. I carry a Knoppix disc for those times as I refuse to do anything that requires any security on a Windows box (like check my email, banking or credit card) with all the spyware and keystroke loggers that they are plauged with.

I may revisit the latest Gnome version but things work just fine the way they are right now with KDE. I use a terminal window frequently. It is the most powerful file manager / program launcher ever. (Also gives me access to a whole slew of very powerful command line utilities.)
 
Window Maker with KDE apps. I'm very interested in getting KDE 3.2 with the next version of SUSE Linux.

I chose Window Maker originally because it was so much faster than KDE on my PII 400. Now I use it because I've got into the habit of using it and because I like altering its appearance (which is easy to do).

Also like the fact that it has no task bar as most WMs and both the desktop enviroments do. It's different.

My first experience with Linux was with Gnome and, after a month, I didn't see how I could switch to Linux. An hour after trying out KDE, I had made up my mind to switch. It was less buggy, 3 years ago anyway.
 
KDE vs GNOME

Running Mandrake 10.0 and I much perfer KDE.

Why? Because it's prettier. I'm not going to lie and pretend it's for any other reason. But When I feel like a change I use IceWM or Gnome or some of the others it haves.

The ability to choose and modify what you have is the best part!

And I find it painful on XP now. The Desktop Switcher thing is amazing. Instead of having one desktop with a hundred applications allong the task bar. I have four desktops that I switch between by rolling the thrid mouse button or clicking the appropiate icon. Desktop 1. word processing (Open Office) Desktop 2. The Internet (Mozillia Firefox) Desktop 3 The files Im reading from to write my stuff. And Desktop 4 running my mp3 player (xmms). Its so less cluttered and lets me focus.

I'll post a picture of my desktop later but theres some on

http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en-gb/fscreenshots.php3

for those interested in what we are all talking about.
 
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