hello & as probably most topics start, "i am windows user", tho i used it since '95

lately i started to look through few Linux distors via VM (vmware) but there are some very basic starting things that confuse the shit out of me...
and these are i would nicely say fault of Linux either dev community or its general comunnity

so here it goes...
Desktop, Shell, UI

in past i think it was easier, there were distros that really were different
from each other so you could really decide what is what
an example i'd say Ubuntu, K-Ubuntu, Lubuntu (most likely others too)
but each of these were just ONE, and they used different Shell/UI
and thus they behaved differently

these days, all i see is alot of same Distro's and they all come in
mixed variations and this kinda makes me not only confused but annoying alot,
alot of different distros now come with KDE and XfcE and LXDE and Gnome UI
and these all are portraying as "alternatives" but what gives versus this main ones ?

and why do so much distributions even exists ?
for some time i couldn't understand difference between KUbuntu and KDE Neon

then there are distros that are pure Ubuntu just with different Shell (like said above, use kde or xfce or lxde or some 4th thing)

if i go to either Mint or Manjaro site, i can't decide which "type" is
better, and for what, and why

all i see is difference in Shell/UI which more-less user can change
by hand to what wants if you take time
so again, what gives ?

do these distros only provide different "types" of programs to download with "app store"
or is it more to it... ?

i know supposedly LXDE distros should be lighter (i guess) but they dont always seem so comparing to xfce or gnome

then there are the namings itself which additionally confuse,
if you go for example linux mint
"it comes in Cinnamon, MATE and XFCE" shells
but then if user goes on wilipedia to look what it means
Cinnamon came from GNOME 2
MATE came from GNOME 3

then why don't distro's write this and name their distros by that ?
why all the convoluting names ?
why not Mint Gnome 2. Mint Gnome 3
(and im not now just picking on Mint, but any distro thaz does this...)
Budgie also seems to came from Gnome ...

-----------

wooh, now onto next questions haha
what is difference between Play On Linux and Wine ?
is it better to have Virtual Box and some Windows OS init and emulate like that ?
(yes/no and why)

-----------

why are Linux Distro's being so ugly ?
i mean i get it there was time when they really copied how MS WIndows looked
from Classic look, to more XP-ish look, then came KDE with (very nice look) at the time

but now they are ALL plain FLAT, flat and ugly, which again makes me angry as
user if i want to find as Linux community praises Linux distros as
"nice, elegant, fluid, user friendly" bla bla bla, and really if i didnt
install 5 different versions with every of them had 3 variants, and
they are all flat and ugly, yes you can change some things manually
and probably download some skins, but by default they are ALL flat and ugly - why why why ?


----

i have noticed some distro's offer during disk format different file systems
how do you decide which one is better ?
for lame example on Windows at least in last 20 years NTFS was
/is default
Linux offers again alot different ones...

Welcome to LinuxQuestions.
PlayOnLinux is basically a "graphical frontend" to wine. Many linux utilities are command line programs but have lots of options and can be quite complex to use. A GUI interface makes them simpler to configure setup and use. Not all Windows programs work or work as well using wine. You can check the Wine application database to see how well your particular programs work. https://appdb.winehq.org/
Most generic Windows applications have a comparable native linux application and it just is a matter of getting used to using them. Otherwise you need to use some sort of virtualization and run Windows.

In my opinion just go with the distributions default selection which in most cases is ext4. There are lots of filesystems and many are designed to be used for a particular purpose.

Because you can. Windows tries to be a one size fits all but it does not work for everyone. Since linux is open source and the operating system is separate from the desktop anyone can modify and create their own distribution. In many case distributions like Ubuntu are based on one of of the main stream distributions but you can always create your own.

https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major

1 members found this post helpful.

think it as software Darwinism, only good / somehow special / best Distro's survive.

Linux gives you choice - Windows makes you do it their way!

Once you start using Linux, you will find what is best for you, isn't for someone else.

That's where all this choice shines through, you can make it what you want.

Underneath every distro is the same basic Linux system, the major difference is in the way package managers work.

What you are calling a Shell, most refer to as a Desktop. There are two BIG Desktops and number of Minor ones. KDE and Gnome are the best known. In 2008 Gnome completely changed, and due to that Mate and Cinnamon came in and filled that niche. Xfce and LXDE are light desktops and fill the niche of supporting older computers. Most Distributions use one of these desktops. One can run multiple desktops on the same computer, just not at the same time. Different distributions differ themselves by the Desktop they use, software selection that comes preinstalled and artwork.

I do not find these desktops ugly, I think they are functional. I am a Mate user and use Xfce for older computers. These different desktops give us choice while a Mac or Windows person is forced to use that companies per-installed desktop.

1 members found this post helpful.

i use xfce4 desktop on my gaming box, its not ugly imo.
i like desktop that isnt using large amounts of ram, i prefer to save ram for games / programs that i use. my distro uses 7% of my ram when it has spotify, conky(system information program), tilda(terminal) and chromium(browser) in use.

This is a good example of choice in Linux. When Windows changes its desktop with a new release, users just have to put up with it. Whether they like it or not is irrelevant. Wasn't there a release once that did away with the Start button? And when people complained, they were told that this was the way MS wanted it and sucks to them!

When the same thing happens in Linux, people who preferred the old version take its code, rename it and develop it further alongside the new version. It's called forking. So those who like the new version can use it and those who prefer the old one can use that. I believe Mate started out as a fork of Gnome2 and Cinnamon of Gnome3 minus gnome-shell.

On ethical grounds alone, that has to be a better way of doing business.

hello & thanks for some answers.

when talking about choice
what about type of linuxes ?

how does a user, especially a NEW one, know which to take, if you can have Gnome or KDE or whatever shell

how does for example Ubuntu (base) differs from (i'm talking out of my butthole now) versus Debian or Fedora or Mint ?

well, new user has to be brave enough to ask old linux users for hints.
and here at LQ we have a screenshots of different setup's at : https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...creenshots-94/

take a look at em and if something looks nice try to make your system to look like one you like.
or just modify your own setup to look like how you want it to look.

What is your definition of linux? Linux has no GUI, it is kernel and GNU/Linux is generally a bunch of command line tools bundled with kernel. Thus, there really is only one Linux. Since it is open source then anyone can shape and configure it to meet their needs. Popular choice is to install some GUI, nowadays a desktop computer without GUI is not very attractive, I may say. This is where choices come in, but it is no longer Linux. KDE for instance runs on many platforms, Linux is just one of them.
New user has no clue. Depending on his/her temperament possible reactions are:
a. Oi-oi, I'm lost, and there (s)he goes, back where (s)he came from;
b. WTF, lets post in some Linux forum, lets see what all those bored blabbermouths have to say, at least some fun to read Sunday morning - and then back to the OS (s)he is used to. At least something to tell kids, hey I tried Linux once;
c. without making much noise and asking provocative questions download some Linux install images and start trying them.

Well, variant c here is not ...

1 members found this post helpful.

Possible differences to look for:
1) Point release (new versions periodically) versus continuous rolling release
2) Stable and reliable versus bleeding edge software
3) Internally simple and therefore easy to understand versus internally complex but easy for a novice to use
4) Type of package manager that you use to update
5) Default graphical desktop at installation (though you can always install a different one later)

Fedora is bleeding edge but has point releases and uses rpm packages and a gnome desktop. Debian comes in both stable and unstable/bleeding edge forms and uses apt/dpkg. Mint and Ubuntu are newbie-oriented and use apt because they belong to the Debian family. Mint uses Mate or Cinnamon for a desktop; I think Ubuntu uses Unity but there are variants like Kubuntu (KDE desktop) and Xubuntu (xfce desktop).

You choose the combination you like best. Distrowatch will give you a lot of information including excellent reviews.

2 members found this post helpful.

+1 for DistroWatch. It gives an overview of what each distro consists of.

Think of it like: furnishing a residence, art, a food meal, a garden, ... Total customization.

You could create your own distro. What if you had all the pieces to make any variety of M$Windows that you preferred?

Have a look at LFS. And my strange no-gui favorite: distrowatch.com/mll which is just the kernel and one cli program: busybox.

We live in the M$world, where most everyone chooses the exact same: residence, car, meal, art, ... Everything: M$Windows10.
But you don't have to. @OP: Do you like that freedom of choice? And for $0!

Distrowatch.com summarizes most distros, listing the foundation on which built, default desktop environment, and other DE's available directly via the distro's own repos and/or alternate installation media. I suggest new users take advantage of its summaries, but pay much less attention to its "rankings", which are essentially hit counters. Experienced users don't have much use or time for hit counters.

Fedora is generally considered a bleeding edge distro, with new releases at 6 month intervals, and support that expires after 2nd following release, so roughly after 13 months. Some other distros are based upon a time-fixed Fedora foundation, generally releasing less often and maintaining support for a longer period, so bleed less. The commercial distro RedHat is roughly based upon Fedora, but with radically longer support periods, and trivial bleeding.

Debian is a foundational distro, with recent releases coming at roughly 2 year intervals. Many distros are build upon either Debian, or some other distro that is built upon Debian. Ubuntu is the original still existing popular direct derivative of Debian. MX is another direct Debian derivative. Mint is a derivative of Ubuntu. Xubuntu, Lubuntu and Kubuntu are Ubuntu except with different default DE's, with Gnome featured on Ubuntu itself, while Xubuntu features XFCE, Lubuntu LXDE/LXQt, and Kubuntu KDE/Plasma.

Another commercial distro is Suse Linux Enterprise (SLE), in Desktop (SLED) and Enterprise (SLES) flavors. SLE is the foundation of openSUSE Leap, a FOSS distribution that releases majors in conjunction with SLE (15 vs. 15.0 last), and minors in conjunction with SLE fixpacks (15 SP3 due in about a month vs. Leap 15.3 due June 2). openSUSE also has a rolling release Tumbleweed, from which much of SLE and openSUSE are derived. Upgrades of TW are available on average several times every week, eiver via burning of a downloaded .iso, NET installation from burned CD or directly downloaded installation linux and initrd, or online via the package manager.

The above distros provide pre-compiled software and OS packages that are installed via a particular package management system, rpm for Fedora (DNF) and openSUSE (cmdline Zypper & GUI YaST), dpkg (via apt/apt-get/aptitude/synaptic and others) for Debian and its derivatives. There are other distros that are likewise based, e.g. Mageia, PCLinuxOS & Manjaro. Others are designed to be "built" on your own PC, with software and OS packaged to be compiled with their simple or not-so-simple package management "systems", such as Gentoo, LFS and Slackware.

As to hardware requirements, not all live up to their reputations. Gnome clearly is considered highly demanding of the hardware. XFCE's reputation is rather lighter weight than Gnome. KDE/Plasma has a reputation as a heavyweight, while in testing in the past year or two it has proven approximately equal to or lighter than XFCE, and via custom configuration, can be made quite light on resources.

Gnome is vastly different from KDE/Plasma. The former is more of a Windows-like one-size-fits-all, while the latter is extremely configurable to the wants and needs of its users, and can perplex newer users how to achieve the exact custom tailoring desired with its vast amount of available custom settings. It's great for tinkerers and perfectionists whether on a pre-built distro, or a build-your-own. Other than Gnome and KDE/Plasma, other DEs mostly have shorter life histories and fewer steadfast users. Many are derivatives of current, recent or former Gnome or KDE releases. These and other bits are generally reported on Distrowatch in one fashion or another. Just don't take in all you find there as "the truth".

What you really want to know is what types of users does a particular distro attract, and which type am I, in order to find the best place or places to start.

3 members found this post helpful.

vinifera,

Test drive any Linux distro you like from DistroTest:
https://distrotest.net/index.php

You can test directly online without making an installation.

Out of the top 5 distros on Distrowatch, perhaps try MX Linux, Linux Mint MATE and EndeavourOS (rolling release based on Arch):
https://distrowatch.com/

2 members found this post helpful.

oooh nice, thank you guys (or girls)
there are some nice answers here, this kind of description does help alot to kill confusion
very much thanks to "mrmazda", gonna save this info on disk for future use

as for Test drive link, for some reason i always get Failed to connect to VNC, even tho i allowed all popups and killed all blockers :/