After 2y on Linux I can say with full confidence that switching from GNOME to KDE (for me) is a bigger barrier than switching from Windows to Linux ever was.
I’ve tried a lot to like KDE but I just can’t. I usually see people discussing distros but I feel like picking the right DE makes much bigger impact. I’m yet to try Hyprland though.
Considering the fact that I’m itching to get Steam Frame and VR on GNOME will likely be broken indefinitely, idk what to do.
When going over to Linux from Windows full time I landed on Gnome. Despite KDE being superficially like Windows, Gnome keyboard shortcuts are closer to what I’m used to, the defaults feel more sane to me, and the DE gets out of my way faster when in the terminal. I really want to like KDE but it hasn’t clicked for me.
One of the early irritants was way back in the KDE v1 days- the injection of the letter ’K’ in the app names - it harkens back to frat house level shenanigans (at least in the college I attended, except they liked the letter ’Q’). It hasn’t felt right with me.
Dash to panel and a couple of other extensions fixes the main gripes I have with Gnome DE. After testing Cosmic recently I am pretty close to that with my current configuration, and will likely try a transition that DE once it stabilizes.
I can technically manage in any DE generally - heck, I ran CDE on Digital OpenVMS back in the day and it did the job then. It a tool. The terminal is still where things happen for me.
Edits: reformatting the wall of text, added nuance.
Interface matters a ton, of course. But once you switch between a few it gets easier, even if you retain your preferences.
Distro is more an alignment of philosophy between you and the distro. Something slowly updated but really stable? Debian. Something cutting edge, but with lots of guides? Arch, etc. etc.
Any of them can pretty much run any shell, DE or WM, and as that’s what you spend the most of the time interacting with, that’s a more personal touch point. The distro is really just the package manager that you regularly interact with, and thats easy enough to hide behind something like topgrade.
I have only used Sway for a few years and anything else feels bloated and slow to use to me now. I spent a long time tweaking to get it how I wanted both in terms of add ons and config, then setting the keyboard shortcuts that work for me. I even have a bunch of them configured on my actual keyboard on layers to make them even easier to activate.
Its worth the investment for me as its now transparent to my workflow. I run the same config across all my machines and its been a stable config for the longest time. Long term stability is the key for me.
I currently use KDE Plasma, Cinnamon and LXQt on three different computers. On most DEs I can manage myself just well. I never liked GNOME post 2. I have recently used MATE, LXDE and Xfce
I used to feel the same. At some point I put some time into setting up KDE how I wanted it and then I just kinda kept using it. Still use it today. I do find the editing tools of the toolbars etc to be extremely chaotic. But once that’s in place it’s actually nicer than Gnome imo
i’ve tried gnome, cinnamon, hyprland, lxqt and whatnot… but everything i have settles on KDE
I’ve used several iterations of Gnome, several iterations of KDE, Mate, Cinnamon, Hyprland, XFCE, LXDE, Fluxbox, and several other things I can’t be bothered to remember. I can be productive on any of them given some time to set them up.
I do have preferences though, and I like KDE on a laptop/desktop and Gnome on a tablet. I just wish Gnome would do something about its horrid onscreen keyboard.
I’ve changed DE multiple times, most of them are fine. KDE is a bit obtuse but it’s ultimately what I settled on because I want good built-in themes. If KDE didn’t exist I’d go with Xfce, followed by LXQt (never tried LXQt though).
In terms of how important a DE is, I think picking the right distro is more important. This basically means staying away from anything Ubuntu or Ubuntu-based because in my experience those are the least stable.
What DE you like is very much dependant on your work flow and how well you can adjust to changes.
Personally, I love KDE Plasma. It’s the right amount of “bling”, bells, whistles, aestetic and settings for me. Gnome feels way to “simple” and XFCE feels reliable but old.
For me, the DE is often more important than the base underneath, but I do like my rolling release. :)
For me it’s pretty important because I want my computer to feel good to use, so I’ll spend quite a lot of time making sure everything’s set up the way I like it. In terms of GNOME vs KDE, I’m definitely a KDE person. Not that I hate GNOME or think there’s anything wrong with other people using it, I just don’t get along with it personally. For me it feels like there’s too much stuff in GNOME that should be part of the core DE that relies on extensions, which tend to break with updates so there’s always something that’s not quite working.
I’ve also tried Gnome very briefly before going back to KDE. I never went deep enough to try extensions, as I’d also agree that most of that stuff should be built in to the DE, and I was annoyed by it missing these features that KDE just had out of the box. Hearing that extensions exist kinda reminds me of what I’ve heard about MacOS, where features that have existed on Windows for over a decade and Linux for years still require third party applications.
I only use one extention “Dash to Dock” and I had no issue of it breaking from Fedora 38 to now Fedora 43.
On the contrary, I had to use so many widgets and addons on KDE to get a somewhat passable experience that it took me over 5h of customising and still felt not enough… also no “Latte Dock” on KDE 6 :(
Yeah I do miss Latte Dock. I’ve managed to get my docks pretty much back to where I had them using Panel Colorizer though.
I haven’t seen this one yet, looks definitely nicer than what you can do with the dock by default
^ All part of the fun of KDE.
So much to fiddle with.
And never perfect.
Even from a development side, not just user configuration side. They mend something and break something else. Many perfect features, but never at the same time.
Back in the X11 days, I actively avoided GNOME, because Cinnamon, KDE and XFCE were so much better. I had so many issues with the design philosophy, that using GNOME felt impossible.
However, when Wayland started having some support in GNOME, I got very curious and gave it a try. Then, I also bought my first touch screen laptop, and simply had to try GNOME with it. Turns out, GNOME wasn’t that bad, as long as you’re not trying to tweak every little thing about it. If you’re a tweaker, KDE is definitely the way to go. If not, GNOME might be tolerable or even good.
I’ve done so much tweaking already, that I don’t really have that itch any more. Sure, some things like custom keyboard shortcuts have to be just right, but that’s why you have GNOME Tweaks and the dconf Editor.
About 0.00001% of my worth as a human being. Wait till you venture out of the DE world and into the WM world. i3, BSPWM, Openbox. Go even farther and try Wayland with Sway, Hyprland, Niri, MangoWC. Make your own bars. Configure your own keybindings. Cuss a lot. Pull your hair out. Feel the pain. When you come out the other side you’ll wonder why you ever bothered with so much bloat to begin with. And all of a sudden you might know some CSS and json.
Pretty?
In my mind, I equate Gnome with OS X, while KDE is more like Windows.
I can use both competently, but I prefer KDE. Back when I used Ubuntu, I’d always use Kubuntu.
After 2y on Linux I can say with full confidence that switching from GNOME to KDE (for me) is a bigger barrier than switching from Windows to Linux ever was.
Huh?
How’s that a bigger barrier?
You install it, you select it from your login(“display”) manager on next login, et viola, you’re using it… and you still have access to all your prior installed programs too. No backup required, no complete operating system install, no great leap of learning an entirely different operating system paradigm, no reading new software licenses… it’s just install it, and log in to it.
How important is a DE to you?
None at all.
Xmonad’s been my fave since around 2007-2008ish.
Tried dozens of other window managers. [Special honourable mention to herbstluftwm.]
Tried over half the desktop environments too.
Much more nice without unnecessary clutter and resource wastage and faff of a desktop environment, and just a window manager.
And, as for trying new DE/WM, and needing to log out and back in to try them… even that hurdle can be eliminated. ;) There be ways to switch them without losing everything you’re currently running. https://codeberg.org/Digit/wminizer
Your perspective is valid, though a lot of window manager/DE preference is completely subjective. So everyone’s going to have a different experience.
I prefer KDE. It works well out of the box and offers a good amount of customization. I tried gnome for a bit and didn’t like it.
What I like about Linux is that it’s easy to switch between DE. Just try out a few ones until you find something you like. I can recommend looking into Cinnamon (the DE of Mint).
Interesting, I feel like it is not easy at all to switch between DEs. Going from KDE to Gnome? Better rip out KDE first before you install Gnome, no way to keep them both. I really want to try more DEs but for me it feels like work to figure out how to do it without breaking anything existing.
I’ve had both installed on my machine without issues. Jumped back and forth until I decided Gnome wasn’t for me.
Generically speaking, nothing should break.
But if you want to just try out different environments without making any changes, I’d lean toward a VM for testing.
i prefer WMs
I really need to give WMs a try again. It’s a huge switch in Streamline, but I think that if I push through with one of the best WMs for a week or 2, I could get use to the new interactions,eventually.
Any suggestions for a long-time Gnome user that feels very comfortable with CosmicDE as it is right now?
Cosmic has a Tiling WM bundled into it. So, i think you’d prefer it, correct?
NOTE: WMs are only part of what you need for a proper GUI, you’ll need to add other components to get a nice desktop GUI.That’s what I’m trying to do, have a very minimal interface and handle as much as possible with keyboard while still having a usable system with only the minimum necessary GUI. It’s going to take a lot of unlearning/learning. I don’t want to rely on pointer as much. And I get that this is not for everyone, I’m already test-driving Niro since it’s closer to my Gnome work flow and may be a learning curve with a bit less friction that Hyprland or Swey.
I tried the last Cosmic, but found it lacks some of my wokflow parts, such as infinite auto-generated virtual desktops. Plus, Cosmic is still pointer first.
If you’re looking for something minimal, Sway is the right choice. oh, and also if you come from i3 ig.
