Poll: Desktop environments

[bamm]

Gnome Shell makes you perform 3 actions for simple tasks you do a million times a day, MATE/Cinnamon achieve the same in a single action. Do I care if it looks like Windows? No.

Perhaps that is one reason why Windows was succesful.

[Iamwithin]

I haven't been around for awhile because I deleted Mint 12 w/cinnamon and went with Xfce. I now have everything I had with Gnome 2 and it uses far less resources than MATE, even though I am running Compiz, Emerald Theme Manager, Fusion Icon, Conky, Checkgmail, Firestarter, BitDefender, and Cairo-Dock with effects. I don't miss Gnome 2 at all now, and I wish Cinnamon all the best and donated to the project. Thanks.

[cwwgateway]

I haven't been around for awhile because I deleted Mint 12 w/cinnamon and went with Xfce. I now have everything I had with Gnome 2 and it uses far less resources than MATE, even though I am running Compiz, Emerald Theme Manager, Fusion Icon, Conky, Checkgmail, Firestarter, BitDefender, and Cairo-Dock with effects. I don't miss Gnome 2 at all now, and I wish Cinnamon all the best and donated to the project. Thanks.

You mention bitdefender and (although this is off topic) is there a consumer bitdefender antivirus for linux? (If this post is too off topic, please remove it).

[awi]

I have tried several times Unity, Gnome Shell and KDE and I have to say that I don't get any of them. Can somebody please explain me two things:
1) Why on earth, why ohhh why, is a taskbar so bad for these two desktops (unity and gnome shelll)?
Many of Unity's "improvements", were make the launcher behave like a vertical taskbar, are you kidding me?
2) Why do they have to take the whole screen to paint menus?
Have they ever used their computers for heavy computations?, is everybody just using 1% of their CPU that they have that many CPU cycles to spend on menu and 3D rendering? Not to mention the 3D acceleration that is needed.
And none of them are suitable for a two monitor desktop.
That said, I've tried Cinnamon, and I think I will be using it in the future, but for now I'm happy with Gnome session-fallback. I'm glad to see it supported in 12.04, so I'm wating for a more stable cinnamon or will stick with fallback for a while.
I've also tried Mate, but the filemanager lacks some important functions for me, like good sftp and samba management.

[bimsebasse]

This thread is quickly becoming laughable. By sifting through the comments it is pretty clear that most of the people use KDE or XFCE, which would make sense as they are the only sensible choices for the Main and LMDE editions respectively. Moreover, it is already accepted in the rest of the Linux world that KDE and XFCE are already more widely used than GNOME variants. This is what the original poll, which had been "corrupted", depicted, alongside with a preposterously large Cinnamon adoption, which makes no sense given the life span and maturity of the project.

This new, "clear" poll still shows the same preposterously large Cinnamon adoption. However, I am very hard pressed to believe that this poll is accurate given the comments and the current state of linux. My guess is the result was, in both polls, pushed towards Cinnamon by the dev. as a means of propaganda. The obvious high usage of KDE/XFCE is being hidden to discourage the rest of the community from making the switch like the rest of the world and encourage the usage of Mint's own product, Cinnamon. Pathetic.

I guess this will be the last thread I post in in these Mint forums. I've already made the switch to Arch from LMDE on my desktop machines and I'm not looking back. When the holidays arrive, or hopefully perhaps even sooner, I'll be making the final switch on my laptop, and bidding the world of Mint goodbye forever. The distro just doesn't cut it anymore, after becoming the apparent "no.1" everything went downhill for me, and this is yet another french developer operating in the same way that all french devs I've met in my life do. I'm waiting for my ban, because I highly doubt anyone will be inclined to "argue". So long, Linux Mint. Thanks for teaching me about Linux, and for giving me the skills and knowledge to move away from you.

I missed your pointless bitter rants, Aethyr! How many times a month do you feel compelled to a histrionic public proclamation of leaving Mint?

Cinnamon is developed by the creator and main maintainer of Linux Mint. This is a Linux Mint forum. I'll give you some time to do the math figuring out why Cinnamon is more popular in this poll in this place than it would be elsewhere

[flebber]

Honestly I like cinnamon but it just isn't stable enough yet for me. In most ways I really wish the revs had not wasted time with Mate ! They could have created a far better desktop with KDE.

[tux-sven]

I try to introduce new Linux-users by using Linux MInt. The MATE-desktop is perfect for this purpose. I almost have to do no introduction at all to the former Win-users.

Of course I use it myself also.
1. For the reason it's easy and mature.
2. Because it's easier to help someone when you are using the same DE.

I have also used KDE, and think it's beautiful and has some very good applications. (I use some of them in Mate too)
But I also think KDE is too complicated with too many settings and possibilities for a new user.

I use to install Mate with Compiz Cube and Zoom. Then the DE becomes very easy and pedagogic to use.

Myself I can also use the other desktops with ease but I think MATE is the best experience if I consider all aspects.

Thank you for listening to the users!

/Sven

[andesho91]

My experience of all of most of the given DEs in Mint 12 and Precise is pretty varied.

Cinnamon tops it for me with as it loads up in three seconds after logging in, with GNOME3 Classic coming in at 8 seconds. Unity takes well over a minute and a half and unsets all the locales if it does successfully load, so you can tell I will be staying away from Unity for the forseeable future. I did manage to completely knacker Linux Mint KDE, but then again, I'm not a big fan of KDE myself, even with all the eyecandy.

[Fajah]

Right now I'm using Gnome and like it. Mostly because I like having the taskbar on the top. I was using Cinnamon (which is my preference) but for some reason, the taskbar only shows up when on the "bottom" setting. When set it to the top (or both bottom and top), nothing at all shows up on my desktop.

[bamm]

I know that most Linux Mint users have tried Cinnamon 1.4, because it is easily installed in Lisa and is preinstalled in the latest LMDE.

However, I am curious as to how many Linux Mint users have tried Mate 1.2? Lisa repositories only allows Mate 201112 (pre-1.0) to be installed. LMDE includes it, and even makes it the default. Is it safe to say there are an equal number of LMDE and Mint-Ubuntu users? That would mean half of Mint users have tried Mate 1.2.

[z06gal]

This thread is quickly becoming laughable. By sifting through the comments it is pretty clear that most of the people use KDE or XFCE, which would make sense as they are the only sensible choices for the Main and LMDE editions respectively. Moreover, it is already accepted in the rest of the Linux world that KDE and XFCE are already more widely used than GNOME variants. This is what the original poll, which had been "corrupted", depicted, alongside with a preposterously large Cinnamon adoption, which makes no sense given the life span and maturity of the project.

This new, "clear" poll still shows the same preposterously large Cinnamon adoption. However, I am very hard pressed to believe that this poll is accurate given the comments and the current state of linux. My guess is the result was, in both polls, pushed towards Cinnamon by the dev. as a means of propaganda. The obvious high usage of KDE/XFCE is being hidden to discourage the rest of the community from making the switch like the rest of the world and encourage the usage of Mint's own product, Cinnamon. Pathetic.

I guess this will be the last thread I post in in these Mint forums. I've already made the switch to Arch from LMDE on my desktop machines and I'm not looking back. When the holidays arrive, or hopefully perhaps even sooner, I'll be making the final switch on my laptop, and bidding the world of Mint goodbye forever. The distro just doesn't cut it anymore, after becoming the apparent "no.1" everything went downhill for me, and this is yet another french developer operating in the same way that all french devs I've met in my life do. I'm waiting for my ban, because I highly doubt anyone will be inclined to "argue". So long, Linux Mint. Thanks for teaching me about Linux, and for giving me the skills and knowledge to move away from you.

I missed your pointless bitter rants, Aethyr! How many times a month do you feel compelled to a histrionic public proclamation of leaving Mint?

Cinnamon is developed by the creator and main maintainer of Linux Mint. This is a Linux Mint forum. I'll give you some time to do the math figuring out why Cinnamon is more popular in this poll in this place than it would be elsewhere

Agree wholeheartedly bim

[harvi]

Right now Im using Mate. It looks good like the old gnome2 and its stable. Sometimes I'm using XFCE, but Mate is now the best solution for me.

[just1acc]

This thread is quickly becoming laughable. By sifting through the comments it is pretty clear that most of the people use KDE or XFCE, which would make sense as they are the only sensible choices for the Main and LMDE editions respectively. Moreover, it is already accepted in the rest of the Linux world that KDE and XFCE are already more widely used than GNOME variants. This is what the original poll, which had been "corrupted", depicted, alongside with a preposterously large Cinnamon adoption, which makes no sense given the life span and maturity of the project.

Just because NOT all cinnamone voters are b1tch1ng about their choice doesn't proves data corrupted or KDE's popularity. Even xubuntu hits in distrowatch is more than kubuntu.

About comments: The guy named 'guy' posts more than the sum of others about 'gnome 2'. So gnome 2 should be default according to your approach.

[Tpiom]

I use MATE but I find it a bit sluggish... perhaps I should try out Cinnamon. I haven't heard of it until recently.

[Jawz]

Ok - Im a socalled newbie......

Im using LISA and gnome 3.2.1

What exact environment is on, I actually dont know.

I dont understand what "Cinnamon" is, what "mate" is.
So - I didnt vote because I dont know what Im using..

Yours is called Gnome Shell.
Gnome version 3 that is.

Gnome version 2 was very different, so you joined us at an interesting time.
LinuxMint and Ubuntu which are somewhat "mainstream" distros of Linux
opted to use more "User-friendly" Desktop environments, Ubuntu chose "Unity"
which is their own and LM chose Gnome3 (which is what you are using)

Distros = distributions. These are different groups of individuals that cultivate Linux.
Other famous distros are Fedora and OpenSuse.
Then you get alot of others... see:
http://distrowatch.com/

So as I said you are using Gnome Shell DE.
These are known as Desktop Evironments or "DE"s.
K-DE (K stands for Konqeror)
Gnome DE
XFCE (which doesn't stand for anything... ...long story)
etc.

Then you get, what are known as "WM"s or Window Managers:
Enlightenment WM also known as e16 or e17 (Which are versions)
Awesome WM
(Being new, don't worry too much about these right now)

I started using Linux Mint 8 (Helena) which was Gnome2 and
I've loved this distro ever since. Now I use KDE with LM12.
Gnome3 might be perfect for you though, that's the beauty of
Linux, choices choices choices, FREEDOM!

Still, this time is the first time Im going to stick with a Linux. Mint works for me, in a lot of ways - not all. Wine cannot work satisfacory at all, as an exampel. Soundprogrammes freeze quite easy.

Wine can be tricky at times, it may need a little tweaking now and again.
This week I just got my company's Windows ERP Software written in Microsoft DotNET4-C# to run on my LM12 KDE.
I would be lying if I said it was easy. There was alot of tweaking/ tricking that was necessary.

Programmes like WinAMP should work 100% but, incase you want something more:
I'll give you a small tip, install something called "winetricks" from the 'Software manager'
Winetricks will help you install some other frameworks or apps you may need such corefonts, Internet Explorer, work-around bugfixers etc etc. I heard this one guy was able to even run Guitar Rig on Linux almost perfectly using jack audio/ jackd, WineASIO and other stuff with his wine.

Peace

[birchy]

I just realised that when I voted last week, I voted for Cinnamon whereas I actually prefer Mate. I've only recently moved from Mint/Ubuntu to LMDE as I wanted a system that won't be updated too often. I liked the default desktop and thought it was Cinnamon, but have just discovered that it is actually Mate. I played around with Cinnamon for a few hours earlier today but couldn't get rid of that ugly greyness and the dark panel was appalling. I got it working fine with Clearlooks (my fav theme) but then I couldn't find an easy way to change the minty greenness that surrounded everything. Then the whole panel editing thing was a bit weird and wouldn't let me re-organise the quick launch applets or space them further apart.

First impressions of Cinnamon: looks like it *may* mature into something decent, but at present it's too difficult to customise and it looks all dark and depressing to me.

First impressions of Mate: great to see an old mate in the shape of "Gnome2", but it doesn't seem quite as stable as Gnome2 was. Or maybe it's just my imagination as Mate *IS* Gnome2 as far as I know?

[Nexus]

I really want to like Gnome 3 w/Shell. I can see much potential in it in the future if they get the kinks worked out. But I also like Cinnamon, so if a new direction is to be taken, that is the one I'd go with.

[ImaginaryFriend]

On my ancient Dell Mini 10 Netbook: Cinnamon with Ubuntu 12.04 (wanted to see if the much-vaunted power-saving features of Pangoline were up to the hype). The two Cinnamon add-ons I find indispensable (in a hyperbolic sense, of course) are Classic Menu (the one that roughly simulates the old MintMenu), and Window List With App Grouping (the icon-based one with previews). I like where Cinnamon is going, and 1.4 is developed enough that I can tolerate my few issues with it in the meantime. My biggest issue with it is theming, but that's sort of across the board with anything Gnome 3-related, especially while we wait for applications to update. (Right now I have no visible window control buttons on some applications.)

That said, there are a couple of things I'd like to see in future iterations of Cinnamon.

Right now I have a single bottom panel, set to autohide, and pop-ups for certain non-Cinnamon app indicators--notably DropBox and Jupiter--come up behind it so that the bottoms of the pop-ups are obscured, making them harder to use. It'd be nice if they were automatically given a bottom margin.
I'd like to see the classic Mintnmenu and icon-based running application list with window previews as the default. Yes, I know I can do this with add-ons.
Theming issues are, as I said, across the board, but I'd like to see one interface to handle all theming, much the way the Gnome 2 Appearance control panel did. I don't know if that's practical or not, of course. (And again, while this is not a Cinnamon-specific issue, as new themes are developed, I'd like to see some more netbook-friendly ones. Go on and try to set preferences for, say, Nautilus on a Dell Mini 10 in most themes without resorting to rotating the screen, because the bottoms of so many un-resizable and un-scrollable windows go below the bottom of the screen.)

My old laptop: Mint 11 Katya with Gnome 2. Beautiful.

(I'm going to break with the long and hallowed traditions of Internet discourse by resisting my urge to rant about DEs I dislike. You're welcome. In return, I request that no one assume my preferences are based on simple resistance to change or some such nonsense--If I objected to change, I would never have made the switch to Linux being my primary OS to begin with. )

[lotharjade]

My vote is for Cinnamon.

But look. I don't really care a whole lot. Just pick one and stick with it. This fracturing of the desktops sucks. Last I used was Mint 10 and it worked pretty good. The only problem was drivers and what not started to fall behind the times, so I jumped to Mint 12. Mint 12 is newer, but is BUGGY and lost quite a few basic features that we all rely on (just creating an icon on the desktop became a pain). This really fractured system of desktops for mint has created much debate (that didn't move anything forward), and spit developers between setups. There was less time making things work right in one desktop, and that is just bad.

I want something solid that WORKS, and I can rely on it. I went to Mint and stuck with it because it seemed to work better than 'Buntu right out of the box. It WAS solid. Sadly the great controversy created due to those upstream (Ubuntu/Gnome), has hurt Mint and its reputation.

So lets pick something and move forward. Lets regain the reputation and standing.

[windsphere]

I look forward to LM13 LTS. I am also dreading it because I can kiss my time good bye, as I search for what GUI works for me. The Linux open source community giveth and taketh. or let the old parish and plant new seeds to see how fast they can grow. I do like grafting, since we do not have to start from seed again. So I tend to like the idea of MATE'. Alas I will not be voting, for who can see into the future. I do not want to pay for psychic even though one just moved into my neighborhood. I salute you LMTeam for I am a follower of your fine work and tell all about it. In my residential building I have put 5 mints on others computers and they all love it. Come October I will truely have to find one GUI that will suitably replace Gnome 2 because they will want me to upgrade their computers to the new LM and I do not want to spend hours explaining all the hopla with this GUI headlock we are in.