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09-19-2015, 06:22 AM
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#31
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Member
Registered: Oct 2007
Location: albuquerque
Distribution: Debian, Arch, Kubuntu
Posts: 366
Rep:
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HusseinMoussa
I just would like to know if there's any numbers-based source that shows which desktop environment is more popular or least buggy.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HusseinMoussa
I just want to "settle down" on one choice
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HusseinMoussa
I just would like to know the most popular...that's all
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It seems that either GNOME or KDE is the most popular DE, but different polls/surveys show different results (as you'll see by doing a quick web search).
Least buggy... Xfce? Maybe, but good luck actually finding any numbers-based source that shows which DE is least buggy.
I've got a handful of distros installed here, with a good variety of DEs and window managers. On any given day, I might be using KDE, Xfce, GNOME Shell, Unity, Cinnamon, or LXDE, and I also have a few desktops set up with Openbox or Fluxbox (I'm typing this from Fluxbox in antiX-15, for example).
I don't even have a favorite anymore, and wouldn't be able to settle down on one choice. From one to the next, there are so many pros and cons to consider.
For me, one of the nicest things about Linux is that I don't have to use the same distro or DE/WM day after day. So I don't.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidMcCann
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Excellent article.
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09-19-2015, 09:18 AM
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#32
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Member
Registered: Sep 2014
Location: Madrid, Spain
Distribution: Mageia (Cauldron)
Posts: 71
Rep:
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Agreed, this is a good article. It is slightly dated, but in general holds true. Many programs have been renamed (Nautilus --> Files), replaced (KOffice --> Calligra, ETerm --> Terminology) or interred (Eve). Razor-qt has since merged with LXDE to produce LXQt. I have followed the latter a bit and tested the Manjaro LXQt Community Edition in Live mode. It is rock solid and very light. The only strangeness is the contrast between the less elegant theming (very squared off, think Win95/98) and the KDE-style DE configuration windows. It uses a Qt port of PCManFM as its file manager which is lighter, but less capable than Thunar.
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09-19-2015, 12:27 PM
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#33
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Sep 2014
Location: Montreal QC Canada
Distribution: Xfce
Posts: 7
Rep:
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Variety
Quote:
Originally Posted by m.a.l.'s pa
It seems that either GNOME or KDE is the most popular DE, but different polls/surveys show different results (as you'll see by doing a quick web search).
Least buggy... Xfce? Maybe, but good luck actually finding any numbers-based source that shows which DE is least buggy.
I've got a handful of distros installed here, with a good variety of DEs and window managers. On any given day, I might be using KDE, Xfce, GNOME Shell, Unity, Cinnamon, or LXDE, and I also have a few desktops set up with Openbox or Fluxbox (I'm typing this from Fluxbox in antiX-15, for example).
I don't even have a favorite anymore, and wouldn't be able to settle down on one choice. From one to the next, there are so many pros and cons to consider.
For me, one of the nicest things about Linux is that I don't have to use the same distro or DE/WM day after day. So I don't.
Excellent article.
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Couldn't agree with you more, the almost infinite variety of Linux Distros is the greatest appeal! You could have a different distro every week of the year!!
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09-19-2015, 02:53 PM
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#34
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Senior Member
Registered: Nov 2005
Location: USA
Distribution: Mageia 7 - Debian 10 - Artix Linux
Posts: 1,142
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As the others have said, different people different opinions. I guess the best thing is find one that you like and stick with it. Use the distros default DE and add a second one that you may like.
My current desktop system, I have Mageia 5 and been using it since v1. Default DE is KDE4 but I also like Mate, it has been stable for me. I also have Fedora 22 with Gnome 3, I like to play around with new stuff also, but again, I have Mate installed and I have Funtoo Linux for when I'm bored with the others and want to do something completely different, I have only Mate & Openbox installed on it. I prefer Mate over most of the other DE, it's easy & simple for the wife & grandkids to use also.
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09-22-2015, 08:16 AM
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#35
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Moderator
Registered: Mar 2011
Location: USA
Distribution: MINT Debian, Angstrom, SUSE, Ubuntu, Debian
Posts: 9,900
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Qwo
... The reason being that for too many years all Linux systems where and are buggy....
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I know I cut a lot of the comment out, but this part here as well as the original question asking about a least buggy desktop made me say, in kneejerk .... "Buggy? Where?!?" I see a ton of other comments about Ubuntu and MINT and as much as Ubuntu takes criticism, I'm glad that people are recognizing that (and I'm talking the LTS releases) it is stable and I can't say that I have ever encountered a bug in the desktop. While I may not like certain desktops and the way they operate, I can either tweak them, or just use a different one and once again, I have never encountered a desktop bug, and this is with about 20 years of everyday use mainly between SUSE, Ubuntu, MINT, Debian, and Fedora. I also do not grab the most latest, edge releases, so hence I do not end up with "new" and unproven distributions. I do try them, I have used Slack and Arch and many others to try.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Burrhead
Just my experience and opinion: I've been using Ubuntu LTS series and Gnome for as long as they have existed. Currently I'm using a Dell 1545 laptop with 3 gig memory. Runs great. Never a problem....
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I concur.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 9Linux9
I've tried a dozen different distros over several years. Always go back to Mint. (17.0 Cinnamon now.)
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If I were to recommend I would recommend MINT Cinnamon Debian MATE desktop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jailbait
The solution to how buggy a desktop is has more to do with what distribution you use than what desktop you use. All desktops go through development cycles and are buggier at some points in time than at others. Different distributions have different philosophies on the trade-off between bleeding edge and stable code. If you are worried about bugs in your desktop then you should pick one of the more conservative and stable distributions whatever desktop you use....
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This is very much my point. I do feel that stable distributions do not have very many bugs and as a result their desktops are much more stable.
As many have said, it's up to you @OP to choose the desktop which you prefer. But I'd also recommend that you explore customizations, and not "installing extensions" and such, but instead just normal "settings" which you can vary and then see what works for you. Maybe I'm just too complacent. Sure I love a great background as much as anyone else. But .... sitting here writing this and and surely an astonishing image of Mt Everest technically IS in the background, but I can't really see it, my screen is filled with my working windows.
As far as my desktop? My system has been up for however long it's been since the office last lost power and either case I still stand by my comment that I have zero recollection of ever encountering a desktop bug .... in Linux.
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09-22-2015, 03:21 PM
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#36
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Senior Member
Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Virginia
Distribution: Slackware = Main OpSys
Posts: 4,967
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Apparently quite a few here read "DE" and translate it to "Distro". OP specifically asked for DE data - What is popular in general and what is popular with you, the responder. He didn't ask for distro recommendations. There are far too many threads on that here at LQ and yearly polls exist for BOTH for Distro and DE.
I think we also need to be very careful when talking about "bugs". Being a resource hog is not a bug. It is a condition you either put up with or you don't. Also some so-called bugs are entirely misunderstood. It fascinates me (when it doesn't wrinkle my brow) how people refer so commonly to buggy apps or buggy distros. Not only do I not have buggy issues on the vast majority of apps, Linux, in general is most definitely NOT buggy compared to Windows and vastly easier to troubleshoot and fix when some problem occurs. True some distros seem to be more stable than others but distro-wide bugs are uncommon, especially among "the Big Boys". More often than not it is setup, and often user-controlled setup that creates problems of any kind.
If you play an online game in Wine and experience game crashes it does not necessarily mean the game is buggy, Wine is buggy, or the distro or Linux as a whole is buggy. It could just as easily be a server fault that disconnects you or crashes the game.
Back Firmly On Topic - In polls all over the Internet KDE is the most popular DE. If all of the integration functions primarily offered for office workers were still important to me I'd run full blown KDE. As it is I also game some so I use a stripped-down KDE and very commonly use Xfce for consistency from version to version with the Box checked for "Load KDE libraries upon startup".
I also like to play around with different DEs and WMs, especially Enlightenment (it is just so lightweight for as gorgeous and intuitive as it is). If it didn't have some minor graphics issues and a file manager I liked, I'd likely use it fulltime and it does seem it may soon achieve that.
TLDR version
For now, a recap - I mainly use Xfce with LOTS of KDE apps and functions such as the Kwin compositor.
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