Top 10 Best Linux Desktop Environments

With so many different Linux desktop environments out in that location, it can exist hard to cull i, especially if you're a beginner or a user who is just switching from Windows. In instance you're unfamiliar with the desktop environment concept, it boils downwards to a set of libraries, toolkits, modules and applications that make the desktop visible and functional on the screen, and enable the user to "communicate" with the system.

A desktop environment includes components like the window manager, icons, toolbars, panel, widgets, wallpaper and screensaver, as well every bit a basic gear up of applications (file manager, browser, media player, text editor, image viewer…). It's not such a foreign idea; later on all, Windows also has a desktop environment. In versions 8 and eight.1 it'southward chosen Metro, while Windows 7 had Aero, and XP had Luna.

A great thing well-nigh Linux is that you're not limited to whichever desktop environs ships with the distribution y'all installed. If you dislike the default DE, just install some other one – or 2, for that matter. Simply which one? Perhaps this article can help you determine.

Here is a list of Top 10 Best Linux Desktop Environments

i. KDE

KDE is one of the oldest desktop environments – the evolution started in 1996, and the first version was released in 1998. It's a highly customizable DE based on the Qt framework, and many pop Linux distributions, including Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora and openSUSE, offer it as either the default DE or as ane of the "flavors".

While beginners are often overwhelmed by the amount of options in KDE, it'south a perfect desktop environs for people who want to tweak everything, because KDE makes that possible. There are 2 branches of KDE currently in evolution – iv.10 series (beginning released in 2008) and KDE Plasma five & Frameworks five, first released in July of last year. Plasma five brings many improvements, mostly focused on a streamlined visual experience (amend launchers, menus and notifications) and usability beyond different devices.

However, KDE 4.x series is notwithstanding supported and used by the majority of KDE users. Its main feature is the Plasma interface, which comes in three forms: for desktops, netbooks and tablets. Plasma is basically the workspace you lot see when you boot up KDE, and you can add widgets and panels to it, have multiple desktops and use the feature called Activities to organize your widgets and apps into groups according to their purpose. For example, you can keep all your social media tools in i Activeness, and switch to it only when you want to apply these apps.

KDE offers a heap of applications in its Software Compilation; it's probably the best equipped of all desktop environments. Some KDE applications are: Dolphin (file manager), Kate (text editor), Konsole (terminal), Gwenview (image viewer), Krunner (launcher), Okular (certificate and PDF viewer), Digikam (photo editor and organizer), KMail (email client), Quassel (IRC client), K3b (DVD burning application)…

Best for: advanced users, those who want improve command of their organization, users who love desktop effects and endless customization.

2. GNOME

Since its commencement release in 1999, GNOME was ever seen as KDE'south principal competitor. Unlike KDE, GNOME uses the GTK toolkit, and its aim was to provide simplicity and a classic desktop experience without also many options. Nonetheless, in 2011 a major redesign was introduced in GNOME 3, and the traditional desktop was replaced past GNOME Vanquish. Many users and developers were unhappy nearly this, and some even went on to fork GNOME 2 and create entire desktop environments based on information technology.

Still, GNOME 3 prevailed, and today it's just as pop as KDE. Nowadays it offers a Classic Mode to please the nostalgic GNOME ii fans. The GNOME Shell is its most distinctive feature, and it offers a handy Activities Overview where y'all can see all your tasks, apps and notifications at a glance. The Nuance is the launcher with shortcuts to your apps, only yous tin too access them from the Search box.

GNOME three wants to provide a workflow in which everything is connected and hands accessible, and some of its features are similar to OS X, so it appeals to ex-Mac users. Like KDE, information technology boasts a bunch of applications, including Nautilus (file manager), Evince (certificate and PDF viewer), Gedit (text editor), Eye of Gnome (image viewer), Totem (video player)…

Best for: touchscreen devices; users who desire to endeavour a non-traditional approach to desktop, users switching from OS X.

3. MATE

Basically, MATE is GNOME 2 resurrected – it preserves the await and experience of the sometime desktop environment while providing software updates and interface improvements. MATE is also friendly towards old hardware, because it doesn't require compositing, so information technology'south great for depression-stop computers. Information technology was introduced in 2011 equally a fork of GNOME 2; apart from forking the DE base, the developers of MATE too forked a number of GNOME applications.

MATE is supported by several major Linux distributions, including Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Debian, Mageia and PCLinuxOS. The applications bundled with MATE are Caja (file managing director), Pluma (text editor), Eye of MATE (image viewer), Atril (document viewer) and others. It'due south a simple and lightweight DE for users who don't need all the bells and whistles of other characteristic-packed DEs.

All-time for: users with erstwhile computers, beginners, those looking for a lightweight DE with a traditional approach to the Linux desktop.

iv. Trinity

What MATE is to GNOME, Trinity is to KDE. It's a continuation of the KDE iii series. When KDE 4 was released, information technology was (arguably) quite unpolished and not stable for everyday employ, which left many users disgruntled. Then Trinity was created; a forked desktop surroundings compatible with older hardware and customizable just like the practiced, sometime KDE 3.

However, Trinity is not just a "re-create" of KDE 3; rather, information technology's a standalone desktop environment with features that are not identical to KDE's. Namely, Trinity doesn't take Activities nor the semantic desktop component with file indexing, PIM and search (the "infamous" Nepomuk-Strigi-Akonadi services that and then many KDE users turn off as soon as they install KDE). What it does accept is an impressive list of applications, some of which are ShowFoto (photo editor and viewer), Konversation (IRC client), Konqueror (file manager and spider web browser), Kaffeine (media player), KWord (discussion processor), Basket (note-taking app), KEdit (text editor)…

Best for: users who love the look of KDE iii and those looking for a lighter version of KDE.

5. XFCE

XFCE has been present on the Linux desktop environment scene for a long time; specifically, since 1996, and current release is 4.12 from February of this year. It's a lightweight DE based on GTK+ 2, and information technology's fully theme-able, with features like window tiling and Preview Manner (similar to Mission Control on Os Ten). Information technology's aimed at beginners who want a stable DE that'south non complicated to maintain. Customization is made possible by helpful dialogs, but XFCE has always been focused on simplicity.

The default desktop has a panel, a dock and a few icons, thus providing a familiar interface even to users who have never touched Linux. Like other major desktop environments, XFCE offers its own prepare of applications: Thunar (file manager), Leafpad (text editor), Parole (media player), Xfburn (DVD called-for application), Midori (spider web browser), Ristretto (paradigm viewer)…

All-time for: beginners, users with older hardware, and those who want a simple, uncluttered DE.

half-dozen. LXDE

LXDE is a super-lightweight desktop environment that first appeared in 2006. Today it's supported past all major distributions and often recommended every bit the best choice for reviving one-time computers. LXDE is easy to customize, and its strongest feature is the fact that the applications it provides don't have many dependencies, so they can exist installed without much fuss on any other DE.

In terms of advent, it's very traditional and somewhat reminiscent of the Windows XP interface. LXDE has extremely depression system requirements and reportedly takes up merely l MB of RAM upon startup. It comes arranged with all the applications an boilerplate user might demand, some of which are: PCManFM (file managing director), GPicView (image viewer), Leafpad (text editor), LXMusic (music player)…

All-time for: beginners, older users, users switching from Windows and those who have low-end hardware.

seven. Enlightenment

Believe information technology or not, Enlightenment is older than GNOME and KDE – it was released in 1997. However, it's non every bit popular or equally widely used considering it was stuck in development for a long fourth dimension. These days, some distributions (well-nigh notably, Bodhi Linux) ship information technology as their main DE, but you can install and try information technology out on whatever distribution, of class.

Enlightenment is primarily focused on the visual experience and innovation in the field of graphics. Several astonishing features bear witness this: desktop animations, window grouping (lets you resize, move and close several windows at once), minimizing windows into icons on the desktop, calculation up to 2048 (!!) virtual desktops on 32 possible grids (each with its own wallpaper), and stacking desktops nether each other, then sliding them similar layers to work on more than desktops simultaneously. Applications offered by default include, but are not limited to Terminology (terminal), ePad (text editor), Ephoto (image viewer), Epour (torrent client) and Rage (media player).

Best for: users who want to endeavor a unlike DE and anyone interested in desktop customization.

8. Cinnamon

Cinnamon was created by the developers of Linux Mint in 2012 and based on GNOME Crush, but with a unlike vision. The thought was to create a uncomplicated desktop environment that volition wait modern, run smoothly, and won't go out new users confused and frustrated. Since information technology'southward a young project, it'south still in development, but it already has many fantastic features and virtually all major Linux distributions offering information technology every bit 1 of their flavors.

Cinnamon supports desktop themes and furnishings, and yous can add applets (panel widgets) and desklets (desktop widgets) to your workspaces. At that place's a versatile, customizable menu on the console, but you can supervene upon it with other applets or extensions. Cinnamon supports handy features for window management such as edge tiling and snapping, and upcoming versions will provide improve support for multiple monitors. Some of Cinnamon'due south applications were forked from GNOME, nearly notably Nemo (file managing director).

Best for: beginners, users looking for simplicity and ease of apply, and those who want a lightweight yet bonny DE.

ix. Unity

Some readers might fence that Unity is technically non a DE, and they would be right, because information technology was built every bit a vanquish for GNOME and it doesn't come with a set of applications. Withal, it'due south ane of Approved's biggest projects, and they call it a desktop environment, which is why it's included in this listing. Unity was developed with netbooks and touchscreen devices in heed, and it aims to optimize screen space, every bit well as make all applications, files and features of Ubuntu easily attainable to the user. The beginning release came out in 2010, and today Unity tin be installed on other distributions, like any other DE.

Several features brand Unity stand out from the residual. Information technology has dissever indicators for applications and system functions, a head-up display for quick searching and an entire search overlay called Dash. The Dash contains Lenses, which are used to transport search queries to Scopes and display the results. The Scopes can search for content on your hard bulldoze or across various services on the Internet, including Google Drive, Github and Wikipedia. By installing Scopes and Lenses, you can extend Unity's functionality and brand it more than suitable to your needs.

Best for: users who spend a lot of fourth dimension searching for files or content, as well as those who desire a different DE than the traditional ones.

10. Pantheon

Pantheon is the youngest project on this list. Developed by the elementaryOS team in 2013, it's surprisingly not a fork of something else, but an independent DE based on GTK3. Pantheon is frequently described as similar to OS Ten and praised for its clean, modernistic appearance and simplicity. Information technology has a customizable carte, subtle desktop effects, and supports multiple workspaces and filigree-based window tiling. Since it's pretty light on system resources, it's a not bad choice for users who want to adorn their erstwhile reckoner with a new Linux DE. Pantheon offers some applications by default: Midori (web browser), Geary (e-mail customer), Racket (audio player), Plank (dock), Switchboard (settings director), Scratch (text editor), Slingshot (launcher) and Pantheon Files (file manager).

All-time for: beginners, users looking for a lightweight DE, and everyone who enjoys responsive, uncluttered interfaces.

Encounter Besides: 15 Best Linux Games For 2015

As you tin see, all these desktop environments look very similar by default, so don't forget that you can customize them to a bully extent. It'due south even possible to make KDE look like Unity or Cinnamon to emulate Windows vii!

And now, over to you – what is your favorite desktop environment for Linux? Tell u.s. in the comments beneath.

Source: https://beebom.com/best-linux-desktop-environments/

Posted by: kettnerhent1962.blogspot.com

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