Linux mint which environment to choose. Linux GUIs

Diversity is one of the best features Linux community as users can try various options and choose which one suits them best. But sometimes this can create confusion. If you are new to Linux world, you will be overwhelmed by the quantity available options. There are no exceptions regarding the desktop environment. But trying out every desktop environment is not an easy task.

This article summarizes the best Linux graphical shells available for various distributions, along with their pros and cons.

1.KDE

KDE is not just a desktop environment, it is a set of programs, including the desktop shell - Plasma. Latest version KDE is called KDE Frameworks and comes in two editions - Plasma Desktop and Plasma Netbook. KDE is the most customizable and flexible desktop environment Linux desktop.

Unlike other graphical environments where you need various utilities to configure the environment, KDE has all the settings in special utility System parameters. You can customize the graphical environment according to your taste without third-party tools. You can also install themes, widgets and wallpapers without even opening your browser.

KDE has an excellent set of applications and also supports other applications even if they are not built using the KDE development platform. Some KDE applications don't even have alternatives in other environments.

If you want a desktop environment that works out of the box and at the same time want to be able to customize everything, you can confidently choose KDE.

OpenSUSE and Kubuntu distributions use the KDE desktop environment by default.

Pros:

• The most powerful, multifunctional
• Modern and beautiful user interface
• Highly customizable and flexible
• Wide range of application compatibility

Minuses:

• Consumes more resources than lightweight environments
• Some things may seem too difficult to use

2. MATE

The MATE desktop environment is based on a code base in this moment not supported by Gnome 2. It was originally developed for users who were disappointed with the latest version of the Gnome 3 shell. Using the code previous version does not mean that the shell runs on outdated technologies. This means that MATE developers took what already works and continue to improve it using modern technologies.

MATE is a traditional desktop environment with a touch of modernism. It is based on what has been fine-tuned and tested over the years. It works without problems. MATE supports a panel system with various menus, applets, indicators, buttons, etc. All this can be customized the way the user wants.

MATE comes with standard set applications, most of which are taken from Gnome 2. Another great feature of MATE is that it consumes only very little a large number of memory, and therefore can function on older and less powerful computers.

Only Ubuntu MATE uses MATE as its default desktop environment. MATE is also used in editions of several other distributions.

Pros:

• Intuitive interface
• Simple and easy
• Highly customizable

Minuses:

• The interface may seem outdated

3. GNOME

GNOME is, if not the most popular, then one of the most popular Linux desktop environments. Many distributions use GNOME as the default Linux desktop. Gnome also has several popular forks like Unity, Cinnamon, etc. GNOME is designed to be easy to use and highly customizable. The latest version of GNOME 3 features a modern and attractive user interface and the best support for touch devices.

GNOME has almost everything a modern desktop environment should have. For those who do not want to use the modern interface and prefer Gnome 2, there is a classic mode, as well as the main menu, system-wide search, powerful applications by default, many themes, support for extensions and that's not all its features.

However, to set up this environment you need additional utilities eg Gnome Tweak Tool. In version 3.18 some interesting features, for example integrated into file manager disk Google Drive.

One of the disadvantages of GNOME is that it consumes a lot of memory due to its heavy GUI.

Gnome is used in many large distributions, for example: Debian, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Ubuntu Gnome.

Pros:

Modern, touch-ready interface

• Shell extension support
• Beautiful interface

Minuses

• Resource intensity
• Extension management is poorly implemented

4. Cinnamon

The article on the best graphical Linux shells would be incomplete without this shell. Cinnamon, a fork of GNOME 3, was originally designed as a desktop environment for Linux Mint. It is known for its user interface similarity to Windows, which helps new Linux users get rid of the feeling of discomfort in a still unfamiliar system.

Cinnamon contains various customizable elements such as panels, themes, applets and extensions. The panel is located at the bottom of the screen, it has an application launch menu, a list open windows and system tray.

Cinnamon comes pre-installed with a large number of applications, most of them coming from Gnome 3, but some developed by the Linux Mint team.

Pros:

• Sleek, Professional Look
• Familiar interface
• Quite customizable

Minuses:

• Sometimes glitchy

5. Unity

Technically, Unity is a Linux graphical shell that runs on top of the GNOME 3 desktop environment. It comes with a large number of GNOME applications. Unity was developed by Canonical for use on Ubuntu, and is based on GNOME 3.

Unity is a simple and pleasant environment that integrates well with applications. New technologies such as the search lens, launcher and HUD have been implemented within this skin to improve the workflow. One of the poles of Unity is that it implements the concept of interaction between the user and the computer using a mouse, keyboard, touchpad, or even a touch screen. The panel in Unity and the application launcher is located at the top of the screen. The panel also contains the main menu of the currently active application.

Some people find Unity bloated and slow, while others are fans of it. But despite much controversy, Unity has a large number of users as it is the default desktop environment on one of the most popular distributions - Ubuntu.

Pros:

• Easy and intuitive
• Beautiful interface

Minuses

• Lack of customizability
• Not available for other Linux distributions

6. LXDE

LXDE is a very fast and lightweight Linux desktop environment. It is designed to be lightweight and comfortable while using minimal amount resources. It uses a modular approach, so each of its components can be used separately from each other. This feature makes it easier to port LXDE to other distributions, as well as BSD and Unix.

LXDE comes with various applications, such as setup utilities, file management applications, audio and video players. It is used as the default desktop environment in Lubuntu.

The successor to LXDE is a project that combines two projects - LXDE and Razor-Qt - LXQt. Currently, this environment is still at a low stage of development and development. It aims to be lightweight, fast and convenient and is available for many distributions.

Pros:

• Fast and easy
• Supports almost all distributions

Minuses:

• The user interface may seem unattractive

7. XFCE

Linux Mint is one of the most popular Linux distributions among new users. It is easy to install and use, comes with all the necessary software, and has fewer errors and bugs than Ubuntu, which is why many users choose this system. Linux Mint comes with several desktop environments. The default is Cinnamon, but there are versions with MATE and XFCE. For a beginner, this article will help you decide which one to choose: Linux Mint Mate or Cinnamon

The system remains the same, but the environments are very different, despite being based on Gnome. We'll look at the main differences between these distributions.

As I said, both Cinnamon vs Mate environments are based on Gnome. But they are developed by different teams.

Cinnamon

In those distant times, when Ubuntu switched to Gnome 3 and then to Unity, the Linux Mint developers wanted to maintain a convenient and familiar interface for users. They created a set of extensions that brought back the panel and menu in Gnome 3, as well as other familiar features. But they soon saw that Gnome 3 was going in the wrong direction, and forked the Gnome Shell and several other components from Gnome 3, including the Mutter composite manager. Then they began to develop their shell called Cinnamon. Now this is what is used in Linux Mint by default, and it is being worked on Linux team Mint.

MATE

The MATE environment appeared around the same time. And it was a fork of the final state, no longer supported by Gnome 2. Many users didn't like the new Gnome 3 and wanted to keep old interface. For this purpose, a fork was created. This was announced by one of the ArchLinux users, and then several more people joined him. The team currently has about 10 active developers.

2. Appearance

Although both shells are based on Gnome, they have different appearance.

Cinnamon

The Cinnamon shell maintains a more Windows-like appearance. Here the panel is located at the bottom, there is a menu in place of the button "Start", and this classic menu Gnome 2. But the shell is based on Gnome 3 and uses GTK3, so it looks quite modern. New topics are constantly being created, e.g. Linux versions Mint 18 has been added Mint-Y theme With flat design which looks very nice. From additional features I would like to note the support for widgets for the desktop, the so-called desklets.

MATE

MATE is more like Gnome 2, although Lately the developers abandoned GTK2 and remade almost everything in GTK3. In terms of the interface, it remains the same Gnome 2: the panel here is also located at the bottom. Widgets like Cinnamon are not supported. In general, both shells are not very different in terms of appearance, excluding the menu: in MATE it is wider and more beautiful, you can add your own applications; at Cinnamon, the menu simply lists the categories. For many users, appearance is very important parameter when selecting "Linux" Mint Cinnamon or Mate".

3. Performance

The environments are approximately the same in terms of performance. According to tests from Phoronix, Cinnamon is faster in some cases, and at the same level as MATE in most cases. In terms of resource consumption, Cinnamon loses, however, this is normal, considering that it is based on Gnome 3. Cinnamon consumes 100-150 megabytes random access memory more than MATE. This comparison of Mate and Cinnamon wins for MATE.

4. Community

In a few recent years The Cinnamon shell has become one of the most popular desktop environments among Linux users. It has a large team of active developers: the system is constantly improving. Great amount people use Cinnamon - LinuxMint is one of the most popular distributions, and this shell is installed by default. You will be able to find solutions possible problems on numerous Linux Mint forums.

Most MATE users are Gnome 2 enthusiasts, some of whom migrate to other shells over time. The number of MATE developers is not as large as that of Cinnamon, so new features are added more slowly and there are fewer forums.

conclusions

In this article, we looked at the main differences between Cinnamon and MATE. As you can see, there are not many of them, and the shells are generally very similar. But your choice will depend only on your personal preferences. What do you think, which linux should I choose? mint mate or cinnamon? Write in the comments!

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If you use Windows or Mac OS, you access your computer using a graphical desktop environment such as Windows XP, Windows Vista/7 or Mac OS X. You can choose from three main desktop environments: GNOME, KDE and Xfce.

All of these Linux desktops are good in their own way. And although in fact there are many more of them, we will only talk about the main ones.

GNOME

The GNOME environment is used by default in Ubuntu. It was created as working environment, providing simplicity and ease of use and “making everything work.” arose because the more popular KDE desktop environment at the time was built on top of the Qt development toolkit. At the time, this tool was not licensed under the GPL and was subject to potential conflicts of interest.

Thus, the GNOME environment was created entirely as a GPL- and LGPL-licensed software and is an example of combining different projects.

Based on the GTK+ toolkit, it is not too different from Windows or Mac OS X, featuring movable windows that can be resized, a start menu, a taskbar, and a status bar. Distributions that also use GNOME include Fedora.

KDE

The KDE desktop is based on the Qt development tool, currently licensed under the LGPL. This desktop environment is used in Kubuntu and was first released in 1998 as a modern UNIX desktop that gives all applications a similar look and feel. In 2006, Mark Shuttleworth became KDE's first patron of the arts, providing the highest level of sponsorship possible.

Typical worker Ubuntu table using GNOME. The main difference between Ubuntu and Kubuntu is that by default, Ubuntu uses GNOME applications such as Evolution Personal Information Manager (PIM) and Synaptic Package Manager, while Kubuntu uses the KDE equivalents: Kontact PIM and the KPackageKit package manager.

There are many programs written for KDE, but you can usually run them in GNOME if you want. It is also possible to run KDE and GNOME on the same machine, since Ubuntu and Kubuntu share the same repositories. You can even install Ubuntu and then add KDE to it. This will add multiple KDE programs to your GNOME menus and vice versa.

While choosing a Linux desktop is a personal choice, many users feel that KDE provides a bit more options in terms of options and configuration compared to GNOME, but at the cost of little system overhead and ease of use. Thus, KDE will likely be installed by more experienced users. Besides, Windows users system menu The "K" located in the lower left corner may resemble the Start menu.

Xfce

The Xfce desktop environment is used in the Xubuntu Linux distribution (as well as UNIX-like operating systems Solaris and BSD) and is based on the same GTK+ toolkit as GNOME, but uses the Xfwm window manager.

Xfce's credo is "small means simple." Due to its ability to run on low-performance hardware, it is most often installed on systems with older hardware and limited resources. This means that games will run faster on such a system.

This is exactly how Android works, because it’s the same Linux, but with a very light working environment. Therefore, games on tablets simply fly. (A good set of programs, by the way, is here http://glafi.com/games.html) Setting up the environment is done with the mouse, and that’s all Extra options hidden from casual users.

There is an option in Xfce preload libraries for GNOME and KDE, which allows it to connect faster than other major desktops different applications. Although it is very fast, some users have noted that the Xubuntu desktop is slower than other Xfce implementations.

Xfce is the least used of the three major environments, accounting for less than 10% of Linux desktop installations. However, it is very similar to the classic worker Windows table XP and perhaps deserves attention from more users than it currently has.

Just like KDE in Kubuntu, Xfce comes with the Xubuntu distribution. But it’s also easy to add to the main Ubuntu distribution and I'll show you

Variety is one of the best things about the Linux ecosystem, as users can try different variants and find those that suit them the best way. However, sometimes diversity can lead to confusion. If you're new to the Linux community, there's a good chance you'll be overwhelmed by the number of options to choose from. Desktop environments are no exception. Having said that, trying out every desktop environment is a very time-consuming task.

In this article, we have tried to collect the best desktop environments available for Linux distributions and list their strengths and weaknesses.

I must immediately warn you that the presented list is not a list of the best environments for programming or other specific tasks. And one more thing - the environments listed are not arranged in any strict order.

1.KDE

KDE isn't just a desktop environment; it's actually a collection of applications, one of which is a desktop environment. The latest version of KDE is called Plasma and is available in two flavors - Plasma Desktop and Plasma Netbook. KDE is the most customizable and flexible environment listed.

While other environments require additional tools to configure, in KDE they are all available in the system settings. You can customize it for yourself without using third party utilities. You can download widgets, wallpapers and desktop themes even without launching the browser.

KDE provides a good collection of core applications and is compatible with any other application, even if it was not originally built on the KDE platform. The applications included with KDE provide a variety of features that are not available in alternative programs.

If you want a desktop environment that works right out of the box, or if you want a completely customizable solution, KDE is definitely worth a try.

Some basic Linux distributions KDE is used by default, such as openSUSE and Kubuntu.

• The most advanced, powerful and multifunctional environment
• Modern and elegant user interface
• Great customization options and flexibility in operation
• Large amount of compatible software

• Requirement for resources
• Some components may seem too difficult to use

2. MATE

The MATE desktop environment is based on code from the GNOME 2 project, which is no longer supported. MATE was originally developed for those users who were disappointed with the latest version of the GNOME shell - GNOME 3. Although it is a fork of an older environment, this does not mean that it uses outdated technologies. This simply means that the MATE project took what already worked and continued to improve it with new developments.

MATE provides a traditional desktop environment with a few tweaks. And due to the fact that it was created on the basis of a project that was debugged and improved over many years, it works flawlessly. MATE supports a panel system with a variety of menus, applets, indicators, buttons, etc., which can be customized as desired by the user.

MATE comes with a set of core applications, most of which are descendants of the corresponding GNOME 2 applications. Another great feature of MATE is that it requires very little memory to run, so it will work well on older and less powerful computers.

Ubuntu MATE (new news!) uses MATE as its default desktop environment.

• Intuitive and reliable environment
• Simple and lightweight
• Great customization options

• The interface may seem a little old-fashioned (but that's how it was intended)

3. GNOME

GNOME is one of the most popular desktop environments in the Linux world. Many popular distributions use GNOME as their default environment, and there are several popular forks like Cinnamon, Unity, etc. GNOME was designed to be easy to use and customizable. The latest version, GNOME 3, has a modern, attractive user interface and is optimized for better support devices from touch screen.

GNOME contains almost everything a modern desktop environment should have. Users who do not feel very comfortable using the modern GNOME 3 interface and prefer the good old GNOME 2 interface can choose classic version. Taskbar, system wide search, powerful built-in apps, themes, extension support, window sticking are just a few of its features. key features. However, setting up this environment will require installing an additional tool gnome-tweak-tool. Version 3.18 introduced some new features, like integrating Google Drive into the file manager.

One of the disadvantages of GNOME 3 is the consumption of a significant amount of RAM due to the use of a “heavy” graphical interface (compared to some other environments).

The main distributions that use GNOME are Debian, Fedora, openSUSE and Ubuntu GNOME.

• Modern and user-friendly touch devices user interface
• You can increase functionality using shell extensions
• Customizability

• Requirement for resources
• Inconvenient application management

4. Cinnamon

Cinnamon, a fork of GNOME 3, was originally developed as the default environment for Linux Mint. It is known for its similarity to Windows interface, which helps new Linux users adjust to new system without the inconvenience of an unfamiliar user interface.

Cinnamon contains a variety of customizable components such as panels, themes, applets, and extensions. The panel, initially located at the bottom of the screen, has a main menu, an application launcher, a list of open windows, and a system tray.

Cinnamon contains a variety of basic applications, including those ported from GNOME 3.

• Stylish appearance
• Familiar interface
• Good customization options

• Errors may occur from time to time

5. Unity

Unity. Technically, it is a graphical shell that runs on top of the GNOME environment and contains most of the main GNOME applications. Unity was developed by Canonical for use with the Ubuntu desktop OS. The Unity shell is based on GNOME 3.

Unity offers a simple, touch-friendly environment into which your applications integrate seamlessly. Unity introduced some new ideas and technologies, such as lenses, scopes, and HUD-style displays. One of strengths Unity has excellent support for keyboard, mouse, touchpad and even touchscreen controls. Unity by default has a menu located at the top and an application launcher in which the taskbar is available and can be pinned individual applications and navigate through open windows.

Some users find Unity too cluttered and sometimes quite slow, while others are simply crazy about the environment. But despite many controversies, Unity has a large number of users, since it is the standard desktop environment of one of the most popular Linux distributions - Ubuntu (the Unity project may soon be folded by Canonical).

• Reliable and intuitive environment
• Excellent application integration.

• Lack of customization options
• Not available on major Linux distributions

6. LXDE

LXDE is an incredibly fast and cost-effective desktop environment. It is designed to be lightweight and user-friendly while consuming few resources. The modular approach allows each of the components to be used independently, and this is what makes LXDE easier to port to almost all Linux distributions, as well as BSD and Unix.

“Under the hood” of LXDE there are various system components, applications and configuration tools. LXDE is used by default in Lubuntu, a flavor of Ubuntu.

It is worth mentioning LXQt - the “descendant” of LXDE, combining two projects with open source: LXDE and Razor-Qt. LXQt is currently in development and should eventually become a lightweight, modular, incredibly fast and user-friendly environment. It is already available for a wide range of Linux distributions.

• Incredible speed and small size
• Supports almost every Linux distribution

• The user interface may seem unattractive

7.Xfce

Xfce is one of the lightest desktop environments for Linux, BSD and other Unix-like distributions. Xfce provides a lightweight yet modern, attractive and user-friendly interface. It contains all the necessary basic functions and a good set of applications.

Xfce is used as the default environment in Manjaro Linux and Xubuntu.

• Small size, suitable for old equipment
• Modern attractive appearance
• Customizable

• Has fewer apps by default than competitors

So which environment is better than others?

Each desktop environment is different in nature and purpose. Which one is best for you will depend on what exactly you are looking for. To do this, you just need to try a few of them and decide.

What environment are you using? What exactly attracted you to it? Write in the comments!