Comments on: GNOME vs KDE: Which Linux Desktop Environment to Choose

By: dkeats

dkeats — Fri, 07 Jun 2024 07:17:56 +0000

Thanks for a good article. I have dozens of Nautilus scripts that I use every day, and that is all that is keeping me from a rolling KDE distro. One day I will have to figure out Service menu entries and go to KDE. On the matter of extensions, it is not really that different than KDE customisations.

By: martin-ribot

martin-ribot — Sat, 03 Dec 2022 10:44:46 +0000

In reply to Onan the Barbarian.

As much as I like many aspects of GNOME, I do feel there should be much more user research done. Especially using it on Fedora as opposed to Ubuntu is not a good experience overall in terms of usability (and having to “complete” Fedora with GNOME extensions and tweaks doesn’t make so much sense, since the words “Extension” and “Tweaks” seem to imply “extended/specialized functionality”, which is in many cases not what they’re used for: adding a maximize/minimize button, tray icons, etc., is not anything remotely “extended” nor is that something truly “customized” when I’m not alone in having the need to have those features). Unfortunately, looking at the way some GNOME developers speak about what they do (“the concept is this and not that, so expect/do this instead of that”), shows that they have little understanding of user research (and of research in general). Being user-friendly means also knowing the user, which is something that in some regards they simply don’t do and impose instead a certain “concept”, which for the arts is okay, but for a desktop (which has a practical value as opposed to art) is not. Ubuntu on the other hand has very likely done some more user research and it shows.

By: MIke

MIke — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 14:54:16 +0000

In reply to Onan the Barbarian. With bikes and cars your wrong !! Bikes have 2 wheels ( tires ) Cars have 4 wheels ( tires ) !! Bikes have a set of handle bars to to turn the front wheel left or right and keep you straight .. You said car has a wheel.. That is a steering wheel that does the handle bars do !!

By: Roy

Roy — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 15:18:59 +0000

@Gérard: I managed to get those scrollbars back by using the Oxygen Application Style.

I wish Firefox was that easy, it took using the Mint-Y-Pop GTK3 theme, and about:config to change “widget.gtk.overlay-scrollbars.enabled” and “widget.non-native-theme.gtk.scrollbar.allow-buttons”

By: Morris

Morris — Sat, 28 May 2022 10:37:54 +0000

By the way, I switched to KDE when PLASMA 5 was developed. It has a polished and refined graphics and a good management in the resources. I like its modern appearance. The previous releases were rather overwhelming and the appearance rather coarse.

By: Morrs

Morrs — Sat, 28 May 2022 10:29:40 +0000

Gnome is just good for the implementation of modern features, but as desktop environment is limitated. Every time, I had installed Fedora or Ubuntu in a partition I deleted it just after 2 or 3 weeks. Gnome desktop environment is easy as appearance, but it forces the users to make useless step to get any application isn’t in the dock. Then, the upper taskbar is almost useless and steady as well. Now… the expert enthusiasts know the trick but the new end user mentally refuse this environment, because it seems stupid for a desktop. One of the most clever tools in a desktop is the hamburger menu, the other is the unique taskbar in which get the used applications…. gnome needs 2 Taskbars… why? To seem different. The upper Taskbar occupies uselessly space🤔. For what purpose? Likely, gnome environment is more suitable for the tablets or mobile 📱. KDe is the right choice for the desktop environment. It is much more efficient and intuitive.

By: shunjoss

shunjoss — Fri, 27 May 2022 16:29:50 +0000

GNOME is really good on portable pc with touchpad (excellent) and for multitasking and virtual desktop. It is easy to use and on the eye. The search feature is advanced. The elastic behaviors of apps is awesome.
KDE is good, the file engine is better. And it suit better for use with pc and another one. And android. The customizability is fine. But feels unpolished at time. It is lightweight on ressources now. Also Kapps suite is excellent.
So, I use weither gnome or kde.

By: Gavin Wraith

Gavin Wraith — Fri, 27 May 2022 11:22:02 +0000

I use Raspberry Pi OS (LXDE) and Manjaro (Plasma KDE) but come from a background of RISC OS. Of course it is pointless to compare Linux desktops with something as retro as RISC OS, but nevertheless there are features of RISC OS that I miss. 1) In RISC OS the window with the input focus is not necessarily the one on the top of the window stack. It is useful to be able to continue inputting text into a window you may not be able to see, because reading information from other windows may have over-riding priority. 2) RISC OS expects a mouse with 3 buttons. The middle one brings up a context-menu. The left/right buttons offer a convenient duality, so that the right button often does the inverse of the left – scrolling in the opposite direction, for example, so no movement of the mouse is needed for changing direction. Closing a filer-window with the right button will replace it by its parent, so right-clicking does not alter the number of windows open on the desktop. 3) RISC OS uses drag and drop between windows (copy left, move right); an invisible clipboard is a clumsy alternative. You can SHIFT-drag an object’s pathname into a text window.
Sadly the ROX desktop seems to be supported no longer. RISC OS was designed to minimize use of the keyboard and movements of the hand; perhaps it is not surprising that no Linux desktop has adopted such a heretical aim.

By: James

James — Fri, 27 May 2022 10:27:32 +0000

In reply to Onan the Barbarian. I should not have to adapt to a desktop, a desktop should be customizable to my wants and needs. Win 8 proved convergence with smart phones was a failure. Ubuntu's Unity also proved convergence with smart phones was a failure. I was a huge fan of gnome two, but since then I have tried it twice for extended periods of time but still find it unusable.

By: rclark

rclark — Thu, 26 May 2022 16:03:46 +0000

I’ve tried and used most of the DEs in use today. First, never could get used to Gnome (I kick its wheels every now and then). Not my style of desktop computing though. When KDE first came out, it was great. Then they messed with it, and I moved away from it to LXDE. Then Mint with Cinnamon which worked well with my work flow. When I went to Ubuntu (when Ryzen processors first came out), I thought I’d try KDE again. Wow, they have done wonders. Stuck with it ever since. Only gripe was the default menu, put then found I could change it back to ‘classic’ feel which I prefer. So back on KDE … until they screw it up again 😀 ha…. When I changed my dad’s laptop over from Win10 to KUbuntu 20.04, he took right to it. He’s 82 and he is not a computer jockey… has his rabbit trails to follow… Anyway, I always recommend Linux Mint or KUbuntu now when asked what DE to try.

That said it is all a personal preference. All depends on your workflow. Mine happens to be KDE/LXDE/Cinnamon style.