Difference Between Gnome, KDE,

[hootmon]

Would someone please explain to me the difference between the following:

Gnome
KDE
Fluxbox
XFCE

To a Newbie, they are confusing!!!

Thank You

Hootmon

[paradigmX]

They are all Desktop environments that you can setup on linux, Gnome and KDE are the more well known of the 2 and are the most feature-filled, which is better is for you to decide as I don't want to incite a huge argument over which is better. though I will say Gnome is usually easier to use and uses less screen space and KDE has more options for modifying and customising.

The other 2 are low-resource windows managers that are highly customisable but take a little more understanding of the linux system to use well as they rely on you knowing how to edit config files.
wikipedia has a good guide to compare between each enviroment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison ... vironments

[McLovin]

They are all dif types of desktop environments, or DE, and the differences are too numerous to list here. The best thing for you to do is to go their respective home pages, and look at them see what they ar what they can do and decide for yourself what is best for you.
http://www.kde.org/
http://www.gnome.org/
http://www.fluxbox.org/
http://www.xfce.org/

[hootmon]

I want to thank both paradigmx and Mcovin for excellent advice.
I guess the way to go is to experment an choose.
Thank Both of you.

Bob Gibson

[cutiger95]

Just to add to the confusion there are even more than the 4 you have listed. E17 is enlightenment and I am anxiously awaiting it's arrival for Linux Mint E17. That desktop is different than any other that I have seen.

My advice for a newb is to stick with on of the big 2 until you get your bearings. Gnome or KDE. I flopped back and forth back and forth until settling on Gnome with an OS X slant.

[Zwopper]

Just to add to the confusion there are even more than the 4 you have listed. E17 is enlightenment and I am anxiously awaiting it's arrival for Linux Mint E17. That desktop is different than any other that I have seen.

My advice for a newb is to stick with on of the big 2 until you get your bearings. Gnome or KDE. I flopped back and forth back and forth until settling on Gnome with an OS X slant.

Don't ditch XFCE though, which is kind of a mix between Gnome and KDE - but unlike those two, it's fast as h€LL!

[belovedmonster]

In terms of deciding which one is right for you, just download all the different versions of Mint and try out them out using the live disc.

[molom]

Just to add to the confusion there are even more than the 4 you have listed. E17 is enlightenment and I am anxiously awaiting it's arrival for Linux Mint E17. That desktop is different than any other that I have seen.

My advice for a newb is to stick with on of the big 2 until you get your bearings. Gnome or KDE. I flopped back and forth back and forth until settling on Gnome with an OS X slant.

Don't ditch XFCE though, which is kind of a mix between Gnome and KDE - but unlike those two, it's fast as h€LL!

A mix between KDE and Gnome? I will have to disagree there. XFCE is more like fluxbox and gnome or just a stripped down version of gnome, which is fast. Once the E17 edition is out, I would recommend it to anybody though (Don't try elive to destroy your E17 taste ).

Cheers,
molom

[Zwopper]

A mix between KDE and Gnome? I will have to disagree there. XFCE is more like fluxbox and gnome or just a stripped down version of gnome, which is fast. Once the E17 edition is out, I would recommend it to anybody though (Don't try elive to destroy your E17 taste ).

Cheers,
molom

...well I did mean in terms of operation, not in load, because in my mind Fluxbox has nothing to do with the others, a good wm for lower spec'd pc's though.
I DO look forward to the e17 edition, I've been trying out OpenGEU & gOS 2 just for fun...
WHEN can we expect a release!?

***** Excuses to hootmon for hijacking the thread!!! *****

[molom]

A mix between KDE and Gnome? I will have to disagree there. XFCE is more like fluxbox and gnome or just a stripped down version of gnome, which is fast. Once the E17 edition is out, I would recommend it to anybody though (Don't try elive to destroy your E17 taste ).

Cheers,
molom

...well I did mean in terms of operation, not inload, beacause in my mind fluxbox has nothing to do with the others, a good wm for lower speced pc's though.
I DO look forward to the e17 edition, I've been trying out OpenGEU & gOS 2 just for fun...
WHEN can we expect a release!?

***** Excuses to hootmon for hijacking the thread!!! *****

I can not give any date, because its unpredictable due to the developers (Maty) wedding arrangements. I'm not going to pester him for dates because his wedding is far more important than an OS. But believe me, I'm as eager as you to see his amazing creation .

Cheers,
molom

[MALsPa]

GNOME, KDE, and Xfce are desktop environments. Fluxbox is not, it's a window manager. The first three have many apps that you can also run in other desktop environments or window managers. I have all of them installed on different systems, as well as Openbox and Enlightenment, but I use certain KDE apps (Amarok, Konqueror, etc.) with each of them. Just looking at file managers, GNOME has Nautilus, KDE has Konqueror, and Xfce has Thunar. There aren't any Fluxbox apps that I know of that can be used under KDE or whatever.

Xfce is really a "lighter" desktop environment than GNOME or KDE. Some folks say it's the fastest one out there. It does seem much quicker than GNOME or KDE.

KDE seems to provide the user with more configuration tools than GNOME. Some people like that, some don't.

I think Enlightenment is perhaps the most fun to use, but KDE is my fav. Fluxbox and Openbox are nice for low-resource computers. GNOME and KDE may be the easiest to use if you're not comfortable with the command line.

[belovedmonster]

One thing that kinda confuses me is when ever I see Xfce distros it always seems to have the exact same apps as Gnome. So I guess my two questions are: Are they ported gnome apps or can Xfce just run Gnome stuff? And if all the apps are more or less the same why isnt everyone using Xfce since its faster?

[MALsPa]

One thing that kinda confuses me is when ever I see Xfce distros it always seems to have the exact same apps as Gnome. So I guess my two questions are: Are they ported gnome apps or can Xfce just run Gnome stuff? And if all the apps are more or less the same why isnt everyone using Xfce since its faster?

One reason is that speed isn't the only issue. KDE and GNOME do have some things that Xfce doesn't have, which is partly why Xfce is faster.

But also, I think some people simply prefer the "looks" of one environment over another, or feel more comfortable using KDE or GNOME.

I don't use an Xfce distro, but I do use Xfce on top of other distros' GNOME or KDE. Seems to me that, at least for the most part, Xfce runs GNOME and KDE apps with no problem.

[BadFish]

Great question!

Go to this page: http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
Take the time and download each of the 4 ISOs, make 4 live discs and try each of them.
XFCE Community Edition BETA 008
Main Edition (Gnome)
KDE Community Edition BETA 044
Fluxbox Community Edition BETA 028.)

Someone suggested going to the web page of each and read about them. That is a good start but as one newbie to another, reading about it is no replacement for trying it. You don't buy a car based on the brochures, you test drive.