KDE Plasma. It works for me, and it has enough features so that I can adapt it to my workflow as my workflow changes.
KDE was first.
FVWM.
I feel like the "desktop environment" is a Faustian bargain. You get a plateload of software that looks consistent, but none of it is best of breed.
I can recall being a bit wowed by the original KDE 1.0 betas on my old 486, when Konqueror was the file manager as much as the browser, but in the end it felt like thry were trying to recreate the experience you got wth the pack-in software of Windows 95.
And **** GNOME for really pushing the client-side decorations model. I configured my window manager to put the title bar and close button where I want it, thank you.
MINT 👏,MINT 👏,MINT 👏,MINT 👏,MINT 👏,MINT 👏,MINT 👏,MINT 👏,MINT 👏,MINT 👏,MINT 👏,MINT 👏,MINT 👏,MINT 👏,MINT 👏,MINT 👏,MINT 👏,MINT 👏,MINT 👏,MINT 👏,MINT 👏,
(mint cinnamon)
I ended a 30-years Windows streak BECAUSE of KDE Plasma 6 (among other reasons)
KDE. I don't have to change anything (other than taskbars on all monitors rather than just the main one) for an experience I like. Everything just works. Wayland support is best in class.
I don't like gnome's workflow and it takes COSMIC level customization for me to like it. And technical issues are common for me. Namely windows constantly spawning off screen and delayed reactions.
XFCE's default layout is absolutely horrible and there's no Wayland support. Mint XFCE's implementation is good though.
Cinnamon, in my experience, is buggy and has similar technical problems to gnome.
I've used i3wm and it's okay, but I would never use it on my main desktop. Takes a certain kind of workflow.
I've messed with AwesomeWM and can say it's very ok.
LXDE/LXQT are obsolete. Not old school, obsolete. And in the case of QT, there's absolutely no reason to use it when XFCE has the same ram usage anyway.
--
I haven't used any other desktops other than these.
Hyprland for now, but I'll probably switch to COSMIC, once it's available on NixOS
Used i3 and then sway almost a decade. When Plasma 6 arrived, I just wanted to try it out and it just kind of stuck to me. Lovely desktop.
DE: XFCE
WM (Edit: compositor, you know what I mean): Hyprland, Wayfire (close second)
I really like how stable and polished XFCE feels, but I've got into tilling/dynamic window managers over the past few years so I just use Hyprland now. It's not as stable and whenever there's a bad commit and I can't be bothered looking into it I just use Wayfire and praise the spinning cylinder and rotating windows for a few weeks.
Wrong. I don't like themes. I turn on dark mode, move the default panel up top and setup papirus icons and breeze white cursor theme. This is about as basic as it gets.
I've ran GNOME for years until this month. Something randomly broke and then on fresh install the dark theme wasn't working correctly. Switched to KDE and everything looks and works perfectly. Think I'll hang out here for the foreseeable future.
Gnome, hands now. Before coming to Linux, I was an Apple user. I was a fan of their design philosophy - minimalism, clarity and simplicity. Well, I can't tolerate Apple as an enterprise, and there are also a lot of very weird design desicions which I discovered while using their devives - but the core principle is something I stand by. Gnome in my opinion is exactly that - KISS, and all the options are really polished.
I've tried KDE as well, and have a lot of respect for the developers of it. But after using it for a few days, there are just a lot of inconsistencies in the KDE applications which don't make sense to me.
Gnome for the win!!!!!!!1!1!1!1!1!
KDE on steamdeck, because it came preinstalled
Gnome on work-pc, because it came preinstalled
also gnome on notebook, because the multi-workspace thing works very nice OOTB in gnome
GNOME for sure
For out of the box looks, personally like KDE more than any of the others I've seen.
Gnome for me. I used to love kde and still do but fedora made me love gnome
XFCE
Generally depends on the device. Overall, KDE for desktops, Gnome for laptops. Xfce on older devices.
My personal favorites in order from most to least favorite:
- XFCE
- KDE
- Hyprland
- Cinnamon
- i3
- CDE
- LXQt
- Deepin
My DE choices:
- KDE Plasma -- It's pretty, it's customizable. Workflow is customizable
- XFCE -- Honestly I consider XFCE to be like Plasma's sibling, in that its workflow is also very customizable and there is a lot of space for theming, but is lighter and acts nicer on weaker hardware
I tried Gnome and I just hate it? It needs a lot of fennagling to look and act in a way I find enjoyable. Cinnamon is eeeeeeeeehhhhh.
WM-wise, I played with Hyprland and I3WM, but tiling WMs aren't for me. They just aren't. For what convenience I gained from being able to use Super+something to do basically everything, I don't enjoy the workflow.
I also used Wayfire for a bit -- Writing my own configuration file and customizing everything IS fun, but like.... Nah?
Xfce just works, but I wanna switch back to kde someday
Maybe because I used windows first and not Mac, but KDE. Gnome is just opensource Mac DE/WM with the same mentality "we know what's best for you and you'll like it".
Anti Commercial AI thingy
XFCE with OpenSuse style is my favorite. Low resource usage, windows-easy ability to put shortcuts all over the desktop (fuck you, Unity), searchbox that just works. I don't need to spend hours or months customizing the setup for it to work as I want.
Gnome on my desktop, LXQt on my laptop.
plasma
I'll be switching to COSMIC DE as soon as it gets into the beta phase.
Good job in fitting the personalities of the DE to the girl.
GNOME. Also, trying to use as many apps as possible that follows its guidelines.
From unity to gnome for Wayland support from gnome to KDE because of painful stutterstthough now I use both on wayland, just dep3nding on which syst3m I'm on at th3 time.
Great DEs over all, though in excited to try outt cosmic once I get past some systems projects :)
cosmic
I currently use Plasma 6 on both my laptop and my desktop, but XFCE has a special place in my heart, due to it being right in the middle between being lightweight with resources and still staying usable for a buffoon like me.
AwesomeWM
I primarily use Plasma, but I have GNOME and Hyprland also installed so that I can switch between them and give 'em a try every now and then, just to get a feel for their workflows.
I miss my E17 and windowmaker, when I had the time to fiddle with config files...
xfce
Since we're all here, any chance we can make a small push in the direction of having a standardized "style"/"theme" file that we can plug into the different systems?
cinnamon.appimage
Xmonad
I switched to Niri recently, and find it much better than most of the wlroot tiling options.
