Six Clicks: The best Linux desktop environments

I agree seatex.....but I am also watching articles like this with some interest. I'd love to know if KDE5 has ironed out the semantic mess for instance. I have also seen comments that KDE5 is much faster than KDE4. However, since my OS is always openSUSE, there are now a few comments on KDE5 on this openSUSE thread that I find relevant:

http://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/498266-Switching-t...

It is not as clear cut and simple as SJVN seems to be indicating - certainly not for me anyhow.

@seatex

> I think XFCE should definitely be in the Top 6 Linux Environments. Big omission.

Right on! Also seems to me all too suspicius how Baboontu's own L00nity gets placed so high among the others(#3!!) So SJVN is now a Baboontu fanboi or somethin???

2c

Elementary OS' Pantheon desktop is definitely missing from this list. I'm an old-time Linux user who started out on WindowMaker and KDE 2.x running on Slackware 7.1 and Debian Potato. At one time, I've been running everything from Fluxbox to Xfce to Unity. Now it looks like I've settled for this nifty little desktop. Love it.

http://kikinovak.wordpress.com/station-de-travail/

Ridcully - I am also following developments with KDE5. KDE 3.x was my main DE, but I never adjusted to the quirks and bugs in KDE 4.x, along with the increased system resource usage. I have been extremely interested in the developments with LXQt as well. I love the idea of having Qt in a lightweight DE for older machines.

flufferbeer - I left Ubuntu for Linux Mint when LOOnity was thrust upon us. Honestly, how many people install LOOnity on other distros, because they prefer it as a DE? I don't know any. I tried Ubuntu with LOOnity again recently with the 14.04 LTS release, just to see what all the improvements were that everyone kept talking about. It only took a few minutes to remind me why I still don't like LOOnity.

kikinovak - Pantheon is nice. I do admire a good looking DE that doesn't need half a GB just for the DE, and I appreciate the virtues of its design for people who prefer a simpler DE. However, I do feel it is trying to mimic some of the OSX paradigms a little too much. Having said that, I can't wait to test the upcoming Freya release of elementary OS. I would easily recommend it for people used to Macs.

seatex - Don't wait for Freya. Just use Luna 0.2 alongside with a few custom PPA's. My main workstation is running it with applications galore, and it's great for a nice workflow. Nothing's missing, *and* it looks great.

The absence of Xfce is notable. Mate and LXDE don't beat it for top 7. Neither does KDE.

He should have gone for top 10 and covered all bases.

Interestingly there have been a couple of comments about Unity's inclusion but for me it is far better than Gnome and yet no mention as to why that is included.

We all have our own opinions as to which is the best for us. The title of the article pulls in the readers by using the words "The Best" which instantly adds the competitve element.

"Competitions are for horses." (Bela Bartok)

I am using LXDE right now with my Linux Mint install. The old..old hardware I am using likes it. It has made my compy I dare say snappy. :-)

I used mate and liked it when I was using OpenSUSE recently but the old hardware I am on made it almost unusable..:-(

@Scott_Rueckr,

> I am using LXDE right now with my Linux Mint install. The old..old hardware I am using likes it. It has made my compy I dare say snappy. :-)

How'd you manage to get LXDE on Mint?? Seems that MATE, Cinnamon and Xfce have almost INTENTIONALLY been the default DEs for quite awhile, no? When doing a search on theMint forums to figure this out, I get

"The following words in your search query were ignored because they are too common words: lxde. You must specify at least one word to search for. Each word must consist of at least 5 characters and must not contain more than 14 characters excluding wildcards." Yeah right..... :with rolling eyes:

LXDE on LM17???

fb

I used the software manager and looked for LXDE and installed it, it was that easy for me I swear. I will take a look at my settings to be sure.

> I used the software manager and looked for LXDE and installed it, it was that easy for me I swear.

Okay, great! It's a pkg for after-installation. Just thought that there might have beena relatively unknown LM mirror that had something new like linuxmint-17-lxde-dvd-##bit.iso

fb

I'll join the chorus of those saying that XFCE belongs on the list. I think Unity is only on the list because Ubuntu remains very popular.

LM17 XFCE user here also although slightly customised with Compton and Dockbarx, also can't understand why it isn't on the list been using it since XFCE 4.6 came out and its been great.

I like LXDE also but it was not as good as XFCE on a dual monitor setup last time I tried it.

I reiterate my point that it is because there are only 6. If the article had listed XFCE but omitted Unity then there would be people saying "Can't believe Unity was missed out".

Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Everton. Top 6 football/soccer teams in England. Anyone notice the obvious omission? Manchester United. Sometimes 6 just isn't enough.

I think that most would agree that six is not enough. However, since six is not a traditional number to stop a 'top x things' list at, I would say that the list was amassed and then counted to get the rather arbitrary number 'six' rather than the other way around. Of course it is possible that someone thought of the title 'Six Clicks' and was determined to use the oh so clever rhyme for their article.

He's been doing a series pf "six clicks" quickie slide-show overviews so I guess he was a little stuck.

(I suppose he didn't think "6 best alternatives to Ubuntu Unity" was snappy enough).

Just get rid of GNOME and Unity and replace them by Xfce and Elementary's Pantheon, and you have your six great desktop environments.

:o)

Elementary OS Freya Beta 1 has been made available for download and testing now.

http://elementaryos.org/journal/freya-beta-1-available-for-d...