13 replies to this topic

[raymac46]

OK OK, I'll admit it - I still like GNOME 3. So sue me.
I've been roamin' with the GNOMEies for a decade now - ever since I started using Linux with Ubuntu. Right now I have GNOME in Stretch on my Thinkpad and Ubuntu 18.04 in Virtual Box.
I have plenty of reasons to switch away though:

• The default desktop sucks. It's like using Windows 8 for a new user.
  
• Certain components like GDM are buggy.
  
• Right now there is a massive memory leak and it isn't getting fixed anytime soon.
  
• The memory footprint is yuge compared with just about anything else - even without the leak.
  
• GNOME developers specialize in customizing the user to the desktop rather than vice-versa.

There are plenty of great alternatives as well:

• MATE - Ubuntu's flavor is awesome.
  
• Plasma - it never has looked better or been easier to use.
  
• Cinnamon - a new user's dream and it just keeps getting better.
  
• Xfce - a bit old but very customizable and lightweight - MX Linux has made it beautiful.
  
• LX** - the lightweight champion.
  
• Not to mention Budgie, Enlightenment and all the ultra-lightweight window managers.

So why stay with GNOME? Well I don't exclusively - I run at least 3 other DEs. But here are some reasons:

• GNOME is the default for many mainstream distros like Debian, Fedora and now Ubuntu (again.) It must have something going for it.
  
• With some minor tweaking I can get GNOME to look right and work right for me.
  
• Maybe I just like hitting my head with a brick. It feels so nice when I stop.

I justify my continuing use of GNOME 3 by the fact that it HAS improved, it is a default DE in Debian so I want to use it there - if only to know what's going on with that distro to offer support. My go-to DE is still Cinnamon in Linux Mint. But wow- has MATE ever gotten better. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[saturnian]

"GNOME 3.28.2 Released with Memory Leak Fixes for GNOME Shell, Update Now" -- https://news.softped...ow-521088.shtml

[Hedon James]

I guess I'm just an LXDE man to the core.  Love the modularity and the ability to mix & match components as I see fit.  With that said, I'm very interested in LXQT.  The QT toolkit is interesting to me, although it's going to throw me into a different software ecosystem.  I tend to like Gnome/GTK software, but it's not a conscious decision.  I do prefer some KDE/QT apps.  K3B is probably the best disc burner in linux, although that technology is becoming marginalized by usb drives; and Okular is the most reliable and full-featured PDF software for Linux, along with MasterPDF Editor.  There are some others...

As it stands today, a snapshot in time, LXDE is still my choice but the clock is ticking for that DE.  When LXDE is no longer a viable option, I'm very interested in LXQT and Mate.  And given recent information and benchmarks, it sounds like KDE may now be an option too?!  Whoda thunk it?!

[raymac46]

Having used Xfce all these years on old equipment, I am really getting interested in MATE now. When MATE came out I saw it as a boring substitute for GNOME 2 but lately the developers have really polished it up. The Brisk desktop is very nice in Ubuntu 18.04. Plus you can use all the GTK apps with it.
It'll be interesting if MX Linux comes up with a MATE version.

[saturnian]

Maybe I'll take a look at MATE sometime. I preferred KDE when I started out with Linux. My first look at GNOME 2 was with Ubuntu 15.10, and my intro to GNOME Shell was in a live session of Fedora 15. I thought KDE 3.x was a lot better than GNOME 2, but GNOME Shell was kind of a game-changer for me -- I bought into the basic design kinda early, once I learned stuff like what's at this page: https://wiki.gnome.o...hell/CheatSheet

raymac46, on 10 May 2018 - 08:20 AM, said:

The default desktop sucks.

Lol. Not for me, I think it's great!

I've tried several GNOME Shell extensions over the years. Some of them became unneeded after the devs made some improvements to the desktop, but with each extension I've used, eventually I decided that I didn't need it after all.

I wonder if a "young newbie" will tend to take to GNOME Shell easier than an "older newbie" would. In any case, Mint's Cinnamon and MATE are great, just not what I want. I did like Cinnamon's Nemo better than GNOME's Nautilus, though.

I haven't ever noticed any performance problems from that memory leak issue, but I use GNOME 3 on my two fastest computers only. So I've kinda flip-flopped, because I had been using KDE on my fastest hardware. I've gone over to the dark side, oh no!

[saturnian]

Hedon James, on 13 May 2018 - 08:57 AM, said:

As it stands today, a snapshot in time, LXDE is still my choice but the clock is ticking for that DE.  When LXDE is no longer a viable option, I'm very interested in LXQT and Mate.  And given recent information and benchmarks, it sounds like KDE may now be an option too?!  Whoda thunk it?!

The Stretch repos have LXQt v. 0.11.1, but Testing and Sid have 0.12.0, which I guess is current. I'll try it sometime. I have LXDE in Arch. I'm using KDE Plasma in Stretch and also in Kubuntu 18.04. I like to go to the Settings and turn off most of the effects, and that does seem to speed things up somewhat, makes it run better on older hardware.

[Hedon James]

LXQT 0.12 is the most recent, and reputed to be the most stable.  Something to do with an update to the QT toolkit.

FWIW, Siduction LXQT is probably the flagship distro for LXQT, IMO.  Done very well, polished, and stable.  I am so tempted to make it my daily driver on production machines.  Siduction devs warn NOT to, so I won't...but I am tempted!  I like Siduction's take on LXQT, as it has caused me to re-think my opinion of LXQT.  I now think it IS ready for primetime...it just needs some "uptake" to gain recognition and momentum.  JMO...

[saturnian]

I had a short run with Siduction, some years back. For me, Arch is better option than Sid; Arch also has LXQt 0.12, so maybe I'll try it there sometime. Looks like the Lubuntu devs are gonna switch from LXDE to LXQt for the 18.10 release; I'm looking forward to seeing that.

[Hedon James]

saturnian, on 14 May 2018 - 03:14 AM, said:

I had a short run with Siduction, some years back. For me, Arch is better option than Sid; Arch also has LXQt 0.12, so maybe I'll try it there sometime. Looks like the Lubuntu devs are gonna switch from LXDE to LXQt for the 18.10 release; I'm looking forward to seeing that.

You can check out daily snapshots of Lubuntu LXQT, which they refer to as Lubuntu Next.  I've been tinkering with it in a VM, but it's a bit of a mess out of the box.  Once I got it setup, I kinda like it though.  It's hard to find documentation for LXQT customizations though.  I'm hoping that changes with some more uptake.

[crp]

I was never a GNOME liker. Always preferred KDE back in the days before version 4. Nowadays i just suffer along with what ever the default of the distro is.

[raymac46]

I've always been a default desktop guy as well. I used GNOME 2 when it came with Ubuntu back in the day. The only KDE distros I knew were PCLOS and Mandriva. PCLOS always crashed my system when it had one of its massive updates. Mandriva meant I had to learn and use a new package system.
I never liked KDE 3.X because it seemed to me to be "death by menu." Also, I preferred the GTK apps like Rhythmbox and Abiword.
When GNOME 3 came out I hated it and switched over to Linux Mint - Cinnamon for powerful computers, Xfce for older ones.
Nowadays although I still use the Cinnamon desktop I have developed a renewed appreciation for both GNOME Shell and KDE Plasma. It's all good.

[securitybreach]

Graphical interfaces? Such a waste of resources...

[raymac46]

Horses for courses. Don't tell me you are using Lynx, Pine, Telnet and Gopher exclusively. I started with GUIs 30 years ago and still like them.

[securitybreach]

raymac46, on 22 May 2018 - 03:26 PM, said:

Horses for courses. Don't tell me you are using Lynx, Pine, Telnet and Gopher exclusively. I started with GUIs 30 years ago and still like them.

No, but I use i3wm and the only graphical application that I run is google-chrome.