After some experience with Linux Mint, I gathered the courage to try another distro. I’d like to turn an old laptop into an IPTV receiver plus FTP/OpenVPN/HomeAssistant server with occasional desktop use. I first installed Windows 11 just in case my family needs to use it (it fucking sucks, the built-in PS/2 keyboard doesn’t work half the time but that’s an issue for later) but now I’ll be turning it into a dual-boot setup with Debian as the primary option. Please give me some encouragement, I’m really afraid of new things.
This shouldn’t be a thing of luck, if you are prepared.
No, I’m absolutely not. What desktop environment should I choose? KDE Plasma is tempting - it would be nice to use it before I install it with Arch on my main system - but I don’t need the cutting edge or much personalization. I know XFCE best but GNOME is default… GNOME’s big launcher looks great for the TV but it’s also more resource-hungry and less customizable…
I guess I’ll go with the familiar Windows-style XFCE and maybe add big remote-friendly icons later when I configure an IR receiver.
I have been using Gnome for a few weeks (because I have an issue with my tablet and Plasma works badly with it), and it’s shit. Very locked in, strange choices regarding how information is presented, waste of screen estate (topbar that sits completely unused)… Plasma was a million times better. If I didn’t have this tablet problem… anyway that’s my advice. Have fun. Debian is stable, you should be good
I love this, because I feel the complete opposite in some regards. I love the simplicity of GNOME. There are some weird UI decisions; I much prefer to have the dock available on the desktop than to use the application switcher every time, but that’s about it. GNOME is very thematically consistent, it’s simple, and it works smoothly. It has enough customisation where the sensible defaults fall short, at least for me, but theme-wise I really like Adwaita the way it is.
I use KDE on my laptop though, and I enjoy the tinkering with it. Feel like it’s fairly unstable though, Plasma just crashes at times when you tinker with it (though so far it’s never happened in normal usage). Design-wise it feels much too cluttered, but there’s a lot of options to play with to make things at least almost the way I’d like it.
We’re spoiled for choice, and that’s awesome. There’s something for everyone.
Yea to be frank I also love the simplicity of Gnome. I do apreciate its qualities. It’s consistent, I get that it tries to offer a streamlined experience. I find it sacrifices a lot to get there though. The lack of flexibilty (by default without extensions) wrt window/workspace management feels a bit crippling. I do appreciate the consistency. But that’s not enough for me to make up for other aspects. And for the overhanging feeling that it’s so strongly opinionated, it might just diverge from your sensibilities at some point, without warning.
Yea, the single fact that we’re able to talk about this is a testament to the choice… 👌🏼 Pretty cool. All in all I may like Plasma better, there are true dealbreakers that make its usage impossible for me (tbc). Anyway. For now I work under Windows11. Whatever works
People who hate gnome so much always confuse me.
Yes, I can’t figure why
It seems like the answer might be something like “it’s too different from windows! 😡😡😡”
Yea sure 😁 think before you prejudice !
FYI, I’m not hating. Criticism should be a fine thing to do, enjoyed by all parties, respectful and all. See my other replies for my opinion. I swear it’s not terrible, and you’re free to discuss it.
Your other replies come off a bit more tempered admittedly. As for me, gnome annoys me in a few ways but I’ve adjusted to most of them and I just couldn’t get past the initial steps of customization on KDE. I would honestly prefer to have another option and to use both but I couldn’t see it working out for me. I’m like you, I definitely prefer that another option than my preference exists. Perhaps a future version will win me over. And even if not, choice is good.
For me, I was a long term gnome 2 user and have used gnome 3 and various derivatives. Gnome 2 was still very customizable, but Gnome 3 was very prescriptivist. I feel like KDE gives me the ability to dial in my desktop quite a bit more and I really like dolphin and the KDE apps. With that said, I don’t hate Gnome. I’m glad it exists if only to encourage other DEs to keep getting better. I don’t see myself daily driving it, but I would gladly recommend it to a Linux beginner.
KDE Plasma is very nice if you come from Windows and don’t mind an environment that’s somewhat heavy on performance - personally, I think it’s the closest, modern Windows-like experience. XFCE is very lightweight, but not very modern, as far as I remember.
Don’t forget, you can also install multiple environments and then pick one from your login screen; that way you can try them all and see what fits best
That’s the beauty … You can change any time you want (sudo tasksel) withjout losing your data. or install all of them and choose one each time you login
Well, you can try a Live CD for first contact. Or even a virtual machine, with a complete install of the operating system and desktop environment, without touching your actual system.
I have used gnome, plasma, and xfce and they are all fine. I prefer KDE personally but they’re all going to do what you need to do. It’s all down to personal aesthetic preference, and picking one won’t hinder you in any real way. KDE to me just looks super nice out of the box for my taste, and I like the customization.