KDE vs Xfce?
Hello guys, I am new to slackware and I am loving it thus far. I am interested in what WM fellow slackers use and for what reason. I currently use Xfce and was a big GNOME2.xx fan back when I was in grade school/high school, everything changed (for the worst as most of you know) after GNOME 3 was released and I was "forced" to use Xfce which is a very pleasurable alternative. I always hated KDE, it just doesn't "feel right" - especially if you are a programmer, what ever that is suppose to mean by that. So what is the opinion of the forum? KDE or Xfce?
I like Xfce because it is not buggy or feel as if it is "buggy", what ever that is suppose to mean, as opposed to KDE. KDE apps somewhat scare me from a more minimalist perspective and I believe Xfe embodies the spirit of simplicity with POWER more so than GNOME did and to some extents was better than GNOME in that aspect. Xfce is fast and gets the job done, is straight forward and doesn't hurt or over stimulate the mind or EYES. What's your opinion? AND why?? ALSO: btw, how do I change the default "file manager/viewer"? I keep having |
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I run XFCE, it gets the job done, and doesn't get in the way. Easy enough to get it configured. I do used KDE apps from time to time, so having both installed is the best of both worlds for me. |
I've been using KDE for quite some time and have switched to Plasma 5 after Eric started updating that. Recently though Eric seems to have left the Plasma 5 updates due to time constraints so I am looking to other DE's. Want to give Mate a look in the future. Xfce is always a good fallback option for me.
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:) I have tried and did run an "Xfce only" desktop for a while, but came to the conclusion Dolphin or Konqueror are better file managers than Thunar and Kwrite is better than Leafpad or Mousepad. Konsole is also very good, but the Xfce Terminal gets the job done. While searching for KDE app replacements, I discovered XnView-MP and it beats the pants off of Gwenview. Every now and then I run KDE-4, but not for long, and go back to Xfce. I won't be running KDE-5, but when the time comes I have already figured out the minimum KDE-5 dependencies necessary to run a few KDE-5 applications. |
Who is Eric and Alein and how can I start contributing to there works and the community? I am 24 and I want to dedicate the rest of my life to the community.
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https://alien.slackbook.org/blog/ And, WillySR, https://slackblogs.blogspot.com/ And, Ponce, https://github.com/Ponce And, Rworkman (aka, Robby), http://rlworkman.net/pkgs/ There are several others who have contributed their talent and hard work, so I didn't mean to leave anyone out, but these are the only links I've collected over the years. Then there is, Slackbuilds.org http://slackbuilds.org/ And, of course, Slackware.com (check the change logs every now and then :) ) http://www.slackware.com/ and the Slackware Documentation Project, http://docs.slackware.com/start If you like Mate, check out WillySR's blog at the link above. |
Horses for courses. KDE Plasma 5 has some excellent multimedia apps (kdenlive video editor and kaffeine for DTV to name but two) and runs fast and well on a decently specced machine. Xfce is better on a machine with limited resources.
I usually run Plasma 5 on my desktops and Xfce on my laptop. However, since I have to have the Plasma 5 libraries installed to run the multimedia apps on the laptop, running Xfce offers only minima advantages. Just my 2p worth - if your not using heavy multimedia apps, Xfce may be a better choice. I couldn't say about other apps, either way. -- Pete |
I, too, belong to the 'install everything - use xfce' crowd. I'm one of those that gave up on kde as a desktop when it was in its version 3 to version 4 teething stages. My understanding is that version 5 will be better, but I found everything akonadi related to be way more trouble than it was worth. On the other hand many of the kde apps included in 14.2 (my daily driver) are gems. For one, I really love wasting time with shisen-sho.
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I don't run Slackware anymore, unfortunately, but the following are my favorite WMs in no particular order:
Openbox - I like Openbox because it is really lightweight and allows for almost endless customization. Xfce - It Just Works™ and you can make it look nice pretty easily. dwm - If you want minimal, dwm is the way to go. |
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Or try Willy's MateSlackBuilds. |
I notice that hardly anyone here voted for gnome. May I try to guess why?
1) KDE is big and complex but it comes with the full install 2) Gnome is big and complex and you have to install it explicitly. Looks like people who install their own desktops prefer to use something simpler. I swear by Fluxbox. I use it on all my systems. |
One is apples one is oranges. What fruit do you like. Thunar or dolphin.
I like kde4 and really like kde5 aliens build. just as light now. Xfce4 is a tool. rusty on my pc. I think Willy's builds Mate desktop blows away xfce4. My opinion. XFCE4 getting bloated these days. Just a Tool. Kde very polished and I prefer it over all of them. |
Interesting poll. Thanks. I voted for XFCE because I mostly use XFCE. However, I do use KDE on my slackware64-current box that I dual boot with OpenBSD 6.5.
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I've been using KDE since the early 2000s (I think my first introduction to it was Redhat 7.2 back in 2001 during college). A few years ago, I did a massive upgrade of packages on Slackware 14.1, basically upgrading X and mesa (and the required dependencies -- I think it was over 200 packages in all). When I did that, KDE broke. I don't even remember what it did, but I couldn't use it. So, I switched to XFCE... and I found it was still lacking and missed some, what I'd consider, necessary components, like power control. As cwizardone stated above, I found that the default xfce apps where drastically inferior to the KDE apps (at least in how I used them).
I was able to live with xfce for the 6-12 months it took until 14.2 was released and I was able to switch back to KDE when I upgraded my system to 14.2. If I need to, I can run xfce, but I definitely prefer KDE. NOTE: I have not tried Plasma 5 yet, as I tend to stick with stable releases of Slackware, so I can't comment much on that. From what I've read on the forum, I don't think it will be nearly as big of a change as KDE3 to KDE4. I'll probably continue to stick with KDE/Plasma5 when Slackware 15.0 is released (if it is included with it, which I suspect that it is, even though the changelog is mostly silent about it). |
FOR ME:
KDE > Trinity > LXQT > Cinnamon > FVWM > Fluxbox > Openbox > Blackbox > LXDE > XFCE > just about every other WM > Windows > Gnome I actually use Gnome at work (Ubuntu, but regardless). It works. It works well. I hate everything about how it does anything. And it makes Windows look fast It's so horrendously bloated and slow. It is, IMO, the worst desktop there is on any OS despite being functional. But that's what my developers use, so that's what I use. |
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I bounce around periodically, but I am currently using and enjoying Cinnamon. 4.0 is very nice.
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WHO IN THE H*LL IS cloudfare and why did they intercept my attempt to post?!!!! |
MATE is the default in Slint, partly because it is by far the most accessible to blind users (using the Orca screen reader) and to users with a low vision (for instance with a zoom that keeps the cursor in the center of the screen when typing in a terminal or in a text editor).
It is also reasonably fast, has all features expected of a desktop, actively maintained and relatively easy to integrate. I also like LXDE that is good enough and modular, but now use almost exclusively MATE. |
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Depends. On my 2in1 I use XFCE because it's underpowered and XFCE is a surprisingly good touchscreen interface.
Workflow wise though, nothing beats KDE5 on my desktop with a big monitor, krunner and all of its terrific apps. So KDE gets my vote though both have their place. |
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https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...bs-4175652815/ |
I use KDE when I'm not using Fluxbox. I prefer KDE applications, and I like KDE's configurability. Also, per a little item I saw recently in Linux Magazine (unfortunately, this story is not online, at least not publicly), KDE is lighter-weight in usage than most give it credit for.
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Additionally, I find it annoying that Gnome seems to spell "simplify" as "d-u-m-b d-o-w-n." |
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This is certainly the great thing about Linux. What is awesome for me may suck for others, but we're given the ability to choose various aspects of our OS so it works best for us. |
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Linux is amazing! :cool: |
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Xfce: for me it feels like the 'default' Slackware DE. I just can't get on with KDE, though it looks very nice.
Even my rather beefy desktop runs Xfce. It's fast, stable, customisable and no-nonsense. You can make it can look like you're in 1995 or 2019. All my Slack machines run it apart from my netbook - that runs LXDE. |
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KDE because it enables me to be productive. It is far and away the most feature complete desktop available.
The small things which some would consider to be "bloat" are the things that enable productivity... well for me, anyway. If KDE weren't available, I'd use XFCE and add the little bits and pieces I need. |
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I find KDE applications under the Fluxbox window manager to be my favorite combination. If you do Fluxbox right, it has all the eye candy anyone might want.
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I voted for XFCE, which I not just use, but also which I have made quite a few bug reports for recently.
However, I am planning to write a SlackBuild for CDE when time permits. It would be nice to have a 'True UNIX' flavour of Slackware, and I don't feel that would require that much of work. Essentially setting --posix-me-harder where needed, installing CDE, hacking on the SysV emulation a bit and doing a bit of fs linting should be enough. Having said that, I still believe that KDE applications are great, and I use Dolphin for heavy file management, Okular for reading pdfs and some other tools when I feel they are good. |
It is my opinion that what we like most and tend to prefer is that which we are used to, especially in the areas we value most. I started with DOS 3 because my first PC (an 8086) I bought Used. Very soon after I upgraded to DOS 5,and the DOS 6.22. I actually can't recall if I was still on 5 or had moved to 6.22 but somewhere around then I got my first GUI which was PCTools and the PCShell File Manager dug it's hooks in me deeply. My next system was OS/2 2.2 and I loved the overall system but hated that it didn't have a proper File Manager. Soon though users and some IBM employees who apparently agreed made some nice File Managers and it was great from then on.
My first Linux WM/DE was actually Enlightenment on OS/2 and I keep trying out new releases of it to see how it progresses and tried to go full time when they developed a quick way to switch from WM/DE to a Tiling Desktop, combining the areas I've worked in most, but a few bugs and the fact that by booting to Slackware Runlevel 3 (MultiUser Console) and launching KDM, switching Desktop types is almost just as fast with far more options. Also I've loved every File Manager KDE has ever offered KFMClient, Krusader, and after a few minor fixes Dolphin which I now dearly love and use almost exclusively. I never liked either Gnome or Xfce File Managers. For me they lack organization, configurable options and features. I used Xfce nearly exclusively for about 2 years when KDE v4 went through it's unfortunate growing pains but I kept trying as new releases came out, largely because to use Xfce I relied heavily on it's ability to handle KDE apps, like Dolphin. Xfce had a few annoying issues, especially in configuring Taskbars and Menues and sometimes in remembering those very settings that made it somewhat serviceable for me. Once KDE got solid again I was only too glad to go back. I recently installed Trinity on my laptop thinking of how fast and efficient v3 KDE was and soon found there were improvements in v4 that I very much missed. I am somewhat concerned with the problems that seem to be a headache with Plasma 5 but I hope they all finally pan out because I really don't want to stop using KDE. |
Can I vote both? I am a heavy KDE Plasma user, although I am disappointed by some aspects of the latter KDE releases. However, I still think it's the best desktop there is by far.
But Xfce is fantastic. Really. And a great desktop with solid functionality and superb performance, so it's a great choice for Slackware. Willy also offers Mate and Cinnamon. Both of them are great desktops and you should check them out. I personally prefer Mate over Cinnamon but that's obviously personal. EDIT: There's also LXQt, a great desktop but I think that its dependence on OpenBox is a minus. I would choose as follows: Plasma > {Xfce,Mate} > {Cinnamon, LXQt} > IceWM > others. |
Personally I don't know why people like Gnome 2 / Mate so much. Full disclosure, I haven't actually tried Mate, but I always felt Gnome 2 was nothing special at all. Xfce is more flexible and otherwise very similar. Personal opinion only, of course.
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sombragris, LXQt does not depend on openbox, you can easily use Kwin, XFWM, or any other WM. To select kwin (or anything else) as window manager, select it from the Preferences > LXQt settings > Session Settings panel menu item. |
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I've started with KDE distros a long time ago with Mandrake Linux (I think KDE is easier for newbies.. :) ), but then switched to XFCE when started with Slackware 9.0 and currently enjoying the lightweight i3-gaps!!
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KDE sucks... imo
I've always liked Gnome 2 but also switched when Gnome 3 came out, I hate it. So I switched to XFCE. |
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https://gitlab.com/SlackDesk/gnome/3.30 No warranty on those scripts, I haven't messed with it in a while because as you can tell from the poll, no one runs Gnome on Slackware. I actually have a few DE's that I've built here: https://gitlab.com/SlackDesk/ Those are not all my own works, some I'v borrowed from SBo and some from other places. |
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