yonnie wrote:Not interested in spending the hours of investment of time I don't have, just to discover the LM flavor I spent time on doesn't do the application I might need a month from now.
I think you might be operating under a misconception, here. Your choice of desktop environment does not restrict you in terms of which applications you can or cannot run. KDE uses a different toolkit than Xfce/GNOME/etc., true - but you can install the alternate one. Actually, this part should be taken care of for you when you install the application (if, in fact, it uses the other toolkit).
I haven't liked KDE for years, so my default setup never has the Qt (KDE's) toolkit installed to begin with. When I still had a functional optical drive, my optical burning application of choice was always KBB. When I ran Synaptic Package Manager, typed KBB into its search box, and then chose to install KBB...
...the Qt toolkit was automatically installed along with KBB.
I'm not the one to explain the technical whys and hows of a thing. But, basically, when you install something, it will include a list of "required things" that must be installed for the application to properly install and function. The installation process is sophisticated enough to recognize this.
yonnie wrote:Do all the LM flavors do essentially the same thing?
Yes. Analogy: All automobiles do essentially the same thing. Buy the one that you like the best without worrying that you'll have to walk to the grocery store (unless you end up purchasing a Ford, of course).
If you don't want to create and boot into the various live versions of Mint in order to decide which one you like the best, and - as appears to be the case - your motivation is simply the wish to be able to use your computer, then I suggest you go with the Xfce flavor of Mint. I have (in the past) used KDE, GNOME, MATE, and Xfce (and I have "played" with Cinnamon for a brief period of time). At no point with any of them did I find myself unable to accomplish a task (at least insofar as it could be attributable to my choice of DE - my level of technical ignorance in terms of linux OS is in no way relevant here, lol, and I would have experienced the issues stemming from
that regardless of which DE I was using). So. All of them do what I need a DE to do...
...Xfce does nothing that I
don't want it to. When I turn my computer on, my
task is not to use the computer; that is just how I perform the task. My task is to check my email, browse the world wide web, type a document, read an ebook, view a video, listen to music/podcasts/live news, et cetera. And that means that an ability for my display to suddenly begin showing rain hitting it, a set of windshield wipers appearing and squeegeeing off said rain is not helpful. Neither is having the ability to write on my display (via my mouse) in fire. Or, when I minimize an application window, to see that window fold itself into a virtual paper airplane and fly itself to the Window Buttons area of my lower panel (and back again, when I maximize it later). I also have no use for the ability to view and manipulate my multiple virtual desktop screens as if they were different sides on a virtual cube. In outer space. While the interior of the cube is an aquarium filled with cute virtual fish.
In fact, given my attitude about the purpose of a computer - which, again, is to make it possible for me to do a thing, instead of becoming the thing that I do - you would probably agree that all of those things I listed above (which, if I remember correctly, are possible in linux
)
are a hindrance to me.
When I walk from my living room into my kitchen, lol, I do not want to have to notice my dining room floor each and every time I set foot upon it. I don't want to find myself stopping to notice just how firm that wood feels, how glossy it is (or isn't), and that, considering that it was installed in a house during the time when said house was built pretty much single-handedly almost 100 years ago by a man who - to be charitable - I will state probably shouldn't even have been allowed to build a small and simple cabin out of Lincoln Logs when he was a wee lad... has held up well.
No, I do not wish to have to do any of those things. I just want to actually make it to the kitchen instead of ending up flat on my back in the basement
. So I use Xfce.
You can visit the YouTube website and type the names of various DEs into that website's search box one at a time, and then view some of the videos that are listed in your search results. But be aware that even the simplest linux DE can easily be customized in a great many ways, so you'll tend to see the desktop environments' after they have been changed to suit their individual users.
I just did a quick search. Here is a video that covers Xfce, MATE, Cinnamon, GNOME, and Plasma:
Code: Select all
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBz5A-fqnb4
It's not my video and I did not view it, so I don't know how much it could help you.
Regards,
MDM