this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2025
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I know Gnome is the default on popular distros: Fedora, Ubuntu, Rhel, Pop OS (it's Cosmic Desktop yes but it is still based on Gnome)...etc. But Gnome just doesnt work for me. I would pick XFCE - stable and no BS.

Before Manjaro and their cetificate shenanigan, I used to use their XFCE version. At the time, it was marketed as the "Flagship Manjaro version". I went 4 years without any problems and I did tinker a lot, just couldnt get their XFCE to break.

After a tough Arch or Gentoo installs, I just want to put XFCE on and call it a day.

What about you guys?

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I've been using spectrwm for over a decade https://github.com/conformal/spectrwm and have no plans to change

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Interesting, do you know i3wm? If so, what is the advantage of spectrwm over it?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I've looked at i3wm, but I never used it, so I don't know. If I had to move to another wm, i3wm seems like the first one that I'd look at, since they seem so similar

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I have a whole system around it, different machines sharing their config files (over a git repo), so if I tweak one, the others catch-up.

Also, you can "build the config file" (I am cat-ing several dynamic blocks depending on the machine I am sitting on) and then init the DE.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Ah, nice. I have a similar setup, I have a repo, and for each rc-file, I do:
cat shared/${general_config} ${machine_name}/${machine_specific_config} > ${rc_file_name}

So for spectrwm it does: cat shared/spectrewm.conf laptop/spectrewm.conf > ~/.spectrewm.conf

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Hahahah, same! I use a folders named as the hostname to build that machine's config on the fly. And all my config files are in one repo that then I stow

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

True people only use i3 or the-other-i3-for-wayland

/s, of course. But still my personal choice

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

Not a DE, but I've been using sway for around 5 years now, and I have no intention of moving away from it unless something really bad happens. I love using it, and it's been behaving perfectly all tgis time.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago

Call me basic, but mint xfce. It’s light, customizable, and so damn stable. That’s all I really want. I love messing with other distros but this one is my baby

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago

I'm using PopOS Cosmic alpha (not based on Gnome) on my new laptop and like it a lot so far. It has a few rough edges, but nothing I'd switch to something else over. (In fact, I did use the Gnome version of Cosmic until my previous laptop broke.)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago (2 children)

DK (similar to BSPWM or i3/sway). I have zero interest in "DE's" like KDE or Gnome, or anything heavily reliant on using a mouse.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Why did you pick DK among the "same kind" ones? (like i3wm, which is what I currently use)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

DK is really small, and doesn't try to do anything other than manage windows, and has a very simple shell script for configuration. I use sxhkd, polybar, and bemenu (with a frequency script) for everything else that I need.

I ran sway for a few months but it was missing one crucial ability that I've grown used to, which is to rotate the windows through the stack.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

Finally a cultured person!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago
[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

The amount of not KDE answers here surprises me. Y'all a bunch of nerds [endearing]

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

Sway for a laptop, Plasma for desktop.

Had you have asked me a few weeks ago, I probably would have said Sway for both,.or maybe Gnome for the desktop... But I decided to check out KDE again for the first time in like 20 years, and while it's still kind of a hot mess it has come a long way.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

I'll stay on XFCE until I die ... or until my Hyprland config is finished. Whichever comes first.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

Herbstluftwm with dmenu. Just a windows manager. I've gotten used to using the command line for things I used to rely on a DE for.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

Ran KDE then Gnome a long time ago. Now it's openbox wm.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

Had To scroll way too far to find Cinnamon so here's back to the top.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago
[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

I've only tried KDE and i'm pretty happy with it. I dunno why I'd want a creepy foot gnome on my computer, and I don't really know of any others by name yet so.... I'mma pick KDE

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