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Which desktop environment is the best for Buster?
- Soul Singin'
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Re: Which desktop environment is the best for Buster?
I use KDE (and have with few exceptions since the 0.9 days), but have used Gnome and XFCE. All are good. I like all of the knobs that KDE gives me to tweak. However, the simplicity of Gnome is also appealing, but its lack of configuration keeps me using KDE (that is just my experience and others may disagree). My advice is try all three and see what you like.
Re: Which desktop environment is the best for Buster?
I prefer the MATE Desktop Environment - it is quite full-featured and integrated, but relatively light weight compared to the Gnomes and KDE's and such. But really, it's just a matter of personal preference.
- Head_on_a_Stick
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Re: Which desktop environment is the best for Buster?
GNOME. It's the most polished option and also the default so it has more people testing it.
deadbang
- Hallvor
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Re: Which desktop environment is the best for Buster?
There is not a "best" desktop environment, just like there is no objectively best flavor of ice cream. It boils down to your own preferences.
For me, it is KDE: Lighter on resources and more options. Gnome will be fine for most tasks. I used it in the past and really liked its simplicity. The downside is this: You must use the command line interface for some tasks that you can point and click in KDE.
Oh, and you get gems like KDE Connect.
https://www.slant.co/versus/1124/4160/~ ... kde-plasma
For me, it is KDE: Lighter on resources and more options. Gnome will be fine for most tasks. I used it in the past and really liked its simplicity. The downside is this: You must use the command line interface for some tasks that you can point and click in KDE.
Oh, and you get gems like KDE Connect.
https://www.slant.co/versus/1124/4160/~ ... kde-plasma
[HowTo] Install and configure Debian bookworm
Debian 12 | KDE Plasma | ThinkPad T440s | 4 × Intel® Core™ i7-4600U CPU @ 2.10GHz | 12 GiB RAM | Mesa Intel® HD Graphics 4400 | 1 TB SSD
Debian 12 | KDE Plasma | ThinkPad T440s | 4 × Intel® Core™ i7-4600U CPU @ 2.10GHz | 12 GiB RAM | Mesa Intel® HD Graphics 4400 | 1 TB SSD
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- Emeritus
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Re: Which desktop environment is the best for Buster?
+1There is not a "best" desktop environment, just like there is no objectively best flavor of ice cream. It boils down to your own preferences.
The nearest to "best" is the one YOU like and which suits YOUR computer...
- stevepusser
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Re: Which desktop environment is the best for Buster?
+1000arochester wrote:+1There is not a "best" desktop environment, just like there is no objectively best flavor of ice cream. It boils down to your own preferences.
The nearest to "best" is the one YOU like and which suits YOUR computer...
MX Linux packager and developer
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Re: Which desktop environment is the best for Buster?
I have to say that I am impressed with the calm discussion. In the old days, Gnome vs KDE would cause horrible fights. I still have nightmares!
To all of you who remember those days, I have only one thing to say. EMACS!!! [sound of me running to hide]
To all of you who remember those days, I have only one thing to say. EMACS!!! [sound of me running to hide]
- NFT5
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Re: Which desktop environment is the best for Buster?
Agree, even though I don't find KDE that light.Hallvor wrote:There is not a "best" desktop environment, just like there is no objectively best flavor of ice cream. It boils down to your own preferences.
For me, it is KDE: Lighter on resources and more options.
I use KDE on my desktop (and love the features and configurability) but MATE on production machines and notebooks. Fewer options means employees aren't as likely to tweak it to the point where it doesn't work. I've also tried XFCE and it is a bit more full-featured than MATE but still very light. All, with the possible exception of Gnome can be configured to look, and work, almost any way that you like.
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Re: Which desktop environment is the best for Buster?
By the way, opensource.com is running a series on Linux desktops that they are calling the "24 days of linux desktop". See
https://opensource.com/sitewide-search? ... %20desktop
https://opensource.com/sitewide-search? ... %20desktop
- eor2004
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Re: Which desktop environment is the best for Buster?
+1sgage wrote:I prefer the MATE Desktop Environment - it is quite full-featured and integrated, but relatively light weight compared to the Gnomes and KDE's and such. But really, it's just a matter of personal preference.
Debian 12 Gnome on a MSI H61M-P25 (B3) PC & on a Dell Latitude E6410 & HP EliteBook 8540p Laptops.
LMDE 6 on a Panasonic ToughBook CF-C1 Laptop.
Bodhi Linux 7 on a HP Compaq DC5750 Small Form Factor PC.
Windows 11 on a Intel DH55TC PC.
LMDE 6 on a Panasonic ToughBook CF-C1 Laptop.
Bodhi Linux 7 on a HP Compaq DC5750 Small Form Factor PC.
Windows 11 on a Intel DH55TC PC.
- None1975
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Re: Which desktop environment is the best for Buster?
Notion wm and old goodcrunchor wrote:I am new and have no idea, any suggestion?
Code: Select all
startx
OS: Debian 12.4 Bookworm / DE: Enlightenment
Debian Wiki | DontBreakDebian, My config files on github
Debian Wiki | DontBreakDebian, My config files on github
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Re: Which desktop environment is the best for Buster?
Best for what?
I use enlightenment because it is the one just after Gnome and KDE that has a near future with wayland. I like wayland since I often experience tearing under Linux and X11.
I prefer Gnome to KDE since I prefer GTK to GT (and I prefer C to C++ that I think is faster at low level). And Enlightenment uses Enlightenment Foundation Libraries which is also in C.
Gnome is the standard, and already has wayland working. Gnome is probably the best to save time. I like not to pick the thing for the masses. I need to remove my old Ubuntu habits. I also belive Gnome takes more resources, especially in the graphics.
I kind not like the gnome monopoly (cf systemd, initd, etc).
I have no issues with enlightenement, except that I don't have time to build it for wayland manually lol.
I use enlightenment because it is the one just after Gnome and KDE that has a near future with wayland. I like wayland since I often experience tearing under Linux and X11.
I prefer Gnome to KDE since I prefer GTK to GT (and I prefer C to C++ that I think is faster at low level). And Enlightenment uses Enlightenment Foundation Libraries which is also in C.
Gnome is the standard, and already has wayland working. Gnome is probably the best to save time. I like not to pick the thing for the masses. I need to remove my old Ubuntu habits. I also belive Gnome takes more resources, especially in the graphics.
I kind not like the gnome monopoly (cf systemd, initd, etc).
I have no issues with enlightenement, except that I don't have time to build it for wayland manually lol.
- Hallvor
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Re: Which desktop environment is the best for Buster?
KDE Plasma 5.17 uses slightly less RAM than XFCE, and the difference increases as you start more and more applications. It is certainly not as fat as the rumor says.NFT5 wrote: Agree, even though I don't find KDE that light.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevang ... 2a30e26d21
[HowTo] Install and configure Debian bookworm
Debian 12 | KDE Plasma | ThinkPad T440s | 4 × Intel® Core™ i7-4600U CPU @ 2.10GHz | 12 GiB RAM | Mesa Intel® HD Graphics 4400 | 1 TB SSD
Debian 12 | KDE Plasma | ThinkPad T440s | 4 × Intel® Core™ i7-4600U CPU @ 2.10GHz | 12 GiB RAM | Mesa Intel® HD Graphics 4400 | 1 TB SSD
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Re: Which desktop environment is the best for Buster?
The load is quite complex to measure. You can't jsut look at the memory used.
KDE is based on QT which is in C++. C++ is often loaded with small memory allocations. And each of them stalls the thread scheduler.
KDE is based on QT which is in C++. C++ is often loaded with small memory allocations. And each of them stalls the thread scheduler.
- Soul Singin'
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Re: Which desktop environment is the best for Buster?
Hallvor wrote:KDE Plasma 5.17 uses slightly less RAM than XFCE, and the difference increases as you start more and more applications. It is certainly not as fat as the rumor says.
How much memory your window manager or desktop environment uses is nothing. What matters is how much memory your applications use.MagicPoulp wrote:The load is quite complex to measure. You can't jsut look at the memory used.
On my system, a fresh boot into LightDM (without logging yet) consumes:
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$ free -m
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 7775 281 7148 18 344 7242
Swap: 11032 0 11032
Code: Select all
$ free -m
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 7775 335 7029 32 410 7172
Swap: 11032 0 11032
Code: Select all
$ free -m
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 7775 373 6900 48 501 7117
Swap: 11032 0 11032
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$ free -m
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 7775 842 6214 79 718 6615
Swap: 11032 0 11032
- Hallvor
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Re: Which desktop environment is the best for Buster?
True. Also, modern computers will run everything out there just fine. Yes, Firefox is quite a resource hog.Firefox alone consumes more memory than everything else. So choosing a desktop environment or window manager based on memory usage is pointless.
Fresh boot:
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hallvor@debian-thinkpad:~$ free -m
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 7668 470 6568 109 629 6852
Swap: 7879 0 7879
Code: Select all
hallvor@debian-thinkpad:~$ free -m
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 7668 492 6494 155 681 6784
Swap: 7879 0 7879
Code: Select all
hallvor@debian-thinkpad:~$ free -m
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 7668 787 6006 191 874 6450
Swap: 7879 0 7879
[HowTo] Install and configure Debian bookworm
Debian 12 | KDE Plasma | ThinkPad T440s | 4 × Intel® Core™ i7-4600U CPU @ 2.10GHz | 12 GiB RAM | Mesa Intel® HD Graphics 4400 | 1 TB SSD
Debian 12 | KDE Plasma | ThinkPad T440s | 4 × Intel® Core™ i7-4600U CPU @ 2.10GHz | 12 GiB RAM | Mesa Intel® HD Graphics 4400 | 1 TB SSD
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Re: Which desktop environment is the best for Buster?
True ... but ...
If you have an old computer, using a window-manager rather than a desktop environment means that the apps will be using the RAM and not the desktop.
eg login to IceWM - it uses lets say 150MB RAM (idle)
Open firefox and it jumps to over 500MB
login to xfce - uses 350 MB idle.
open firefox it jumps to 800MB
If you have an old computer, using a window-manager rather than a desktop environment means that the apps will be using the RAM and not the desktop.
eg login to IceWM - it uses lets say 150MB RAM (idle)
Open firefox and it jumps to over 500MB
login to xfce - uses 350 MB idle.
open firefox it jumps to 800MB
antiX with runit - lean and mean.
https://antixlinux.com
https://antixlinux.com
- Soul Singin'
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Re: Which desktop environment is the best for Buster?
And if you have a new computer, using a window manager rather than a desktop environment means that the apps will be using the RAM and not the desktop.anticapitalista wrote:If you have an old computer, using a window-manager rather than a desktop environment means that the apps will be using the RAM and not the desktop.
Some of us just want something simple.