Cinnamon VS Mate VS KDE VS XFCE. A list of comments I found around.

Please post suggestions for improvement of Cinnamon on:
https://github.com/linuxmint/Cinnamon
Forum rules
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
winxpwasgreat

Cinnamon VS Mate VS KDE VS XFCE. A list of comments I found around.

Post by winxpwasgreat »

I will have to reinstall linux again as a result of a few upgrades which unrevertably consta-crashed the system.
I've been using Cinnamon so will give a go to one of the other 3 main desktop environments.
Not KDE since it's more resource-intensive therefore the choice is left between Mate and XFCE.

The overall impression I have got reading from various sources:

1. Mate is more user-friendly and graphically-oriented than XFCE (slightly more designed for terminal nerds).
2. XFCE has a blockier appearance.
3. XFCE is the best desktop environment option for more Linux distros because of its track record of development.
4. With Mate you will have greater support for bugs over time because of more coders.
5. In terms of memory usage they are both great however Mate is about 20% less resource-intensive.
6. The initial impact of XFCE is more bare bones than Mate..
7. ..however XFCE grants the best possibilities for customization.
8. XFCE development is growing whereas Mate is losing pace.

Some of those statements could be trolls, some true, some completely false, some partial truths, and some other could have been true in the past but are not anymore.
Would be great to hear what you guys think about those points,

About me, I have an OK machine and just need something that works. No need for rounded corners and flash animations. However as an ex xp user I am unfamiliar with console dialog. Paramount for me are stability, widespread use / community, usability (hate mocking around with consoles) and low ram usage.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
User avatar
catweazel
Level 19
Level 19
Posts: 9763
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2012 9:44 pm
Location: Australian Antarctic Territory

Re: Cinnamon VS Mate VS KDE VS XFCE. A list of comments I found around.

Post by catweazel »

winxpwasgreat wrote: Mon Apr 16, 2018 4:03 am 8. XFCE development is growing whereas Mate is losing pace.
Hardly. Xfce is considered feature complete.
"There is, ultimately, only one truth -- cogito, ergo sum -- everything else is an assumption." - Me, my swansong.
User avatar
jimallyn
Level 19
Level 19
Posts: 9075
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2014 7:34 pm
Location: Wenatchee, WA USA

Re: Cinnamon VS Mate VS KDE VS XFCE. A list of comments I found around.

Post by jimallyn »

When I first started using Mint, I installed the Cinnamon version. Later I got an old laptop and decided to try XFCE on it as I didn't think it had enough oomph to run Cinnamon. I like XFCE enough that when I install a newer version of Mint, I am planning to install XFCE. There are a few features in Cinnamon that I rely on that don't seem to be available in MATE, and I couldn't figure out any way to add them. I was able to get XFCE to do everything I needed it to do. I will agree with catweazel that XFCE is quite feature complete. A while back I installed XFCE and MATE on an old laptop to check CPU and memory usage. XFCE is better than MATE.
“If the government were coming for your TVs and cars, then you'd be upset. But, as it is, they're only coming for your sons.” - Daniel Berrigan
User avatar
Pjotr
Level 23
Level 23
Posts: 19885
Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2011 10:18 am
Location: The Netherlands (Holland) 🇳🇱
Contact:

Re: Cinnamon VS Mate VS KDE VS XFCE. A list of comments I found around.

Post by Pjotr »

KDE is on the way out (no KDE edition in Mint 19). So I wouldn't select KDE. For the rest, it's simply a matter of personal preferences:

- Cinnamon: most "bells and whistles", latest technology, fastest pace of development, heaviest

- Mate: somewhat less frills, slightly older and perhaps somewhat more stable technology, medium weight

- XFCE: rather minimalistic, glacially evolving stable technology, lightweight

Personally, I tend to install Cinnamon on my fast modern machines, and XFCE on the older and weaker ones.
Last edited by Pjotr on Mon Apr 16, 2018 6:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
Tip: 10 things to do after installing Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia
Keep your Linux Mint healthy: Avoid these 10 fatal mistakes
Twitter: twitter.com/easylinuxtips
All in all, horse sense simply makes sense.
winxpwasgreat

Re: Cinnamon VS Mate VS KDE VS XFCE. A list of comments I found around.

Post by winxpwasgreat »

Useful information - thank you for your feedbacks.

What would you say about the first point:
"1. Mate is more user-friendly and graphically-oriented than XFCE (slightly more designed for terminal nerds)."?

I am leaning towards XFCE because I highly value stability and speed, however I don't really want to mess around with terminal console any more than I have been already doing with Cinnamon.
User avatar
kc1di
Level 18
Level 18
Posts: 8146
Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2008 8:44 pm
Location: Maine USA

Re: Cinnamon VS Mate VS KDE VS XFCE. A list of comments I found around.

Post by kc1di »

winxpwasgreat wrote: Mon Apr 16, 2018 4:03 am I will have to reinstall linux again as a result of a few upgrades which unrevertably consta-crashed the system.
I've been using Cinnamon so will give a go to one of the other 3 main desktop environments.
Not KDE since it's more resource-intensive therefore the choice is left between Mate and XFCE.
Actually KDE plasma 5 is less resource-intensive than Cinnamon most of the time. But KDE is not going to be supported when Mint 19 comes out.
Mate and Xfce are great choices but best way to find out if they fit your needs is to run them both and choose the one that suits you the best.

Happy seeking :)
Easy tips : https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.com/ Pjotr's Great Linux projects page.
Linux Mint Installation Guide: http://linuxmint-installation-guide.rea ... en/latest/
Registered Linux User #462608
User avatar
Pjotr
Level 23
Level 23
Posts: 19885
Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2011 10:18 am
Location: The Netherlands (Holland) 🇳🇱
Contact:

Re: Cinnamon VS Mate VS KDE VS XFCE. A list of comments I found around.

Post by Pjotr »

winxpwasgreat wrote: Mon Apr 16, 2018 5:20 am What would you say about the first point:
"1. Mate is more user-friendly and graphically-oriented than XFCE (slightly more designed for terminal nerds)."?
I'd say that's nonsense. Both are equally graphically-oriented. :)
Tip: 10 things to do after installing Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia
Keep your Linux Mint healthy: Avoid these 10 fatal mistakes
Twitter: twitter.com/easylinuxtips
All in all, horse sense simply makes sense.
MtnDewManiac
Level 6
Level 6
Posts: 1491
Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2013 5:18 pm
Location: United States

Re: Cinnamon VS Mate VS KDE VS XFCE. A list of comments I found around.

Post by MtnDewManiac »

catweazel wrote: Mon Apr 16, 2018 4:05 am
winxpwasgreat wrote: Mon Apr 16, 2018 4:03 am 8. XFCE development is growing whereas Mate is losing pace.
Hardly. Xfce is considered feature complete.
Lest people misunderstand your comment and get the idea that it is no longer being actively developed, it is. They seem to be on 4.13 now, although that is a "development version," if I understand correctly, and 4.14 will be the next "released for general consumption" one.

I do, however, agree that Xfce is feature-complete. By that, I mean it has all the features that I require - or even want.

I don't really follow the developers' email list, but I do know that they're more or less focused on changing things from GTK2 to GTK3 (ongoing). I glanced at a review of 4.13 the other day. I didn't read it thoroughly, because a review of a development version is useless to me, but I did notice that the reviewer stated Xfce is (IIRC) using more of the modern OpenGL features... or something like that, lol, and as a result, the reviewer found that his screen tearing issue (that many seem to have?) disappeared.

Regards,
MDM
Mint 18 Xfce 4.12.

If guns kill people, then pencils misspell words, cars make people drive drunk, and spoons made Rosie O'Donnell fat.
Dot_mdb
Level 2
Level 2
Posts: 78
Joined: Sun Apr 08, 2018 9:16 pm

Re: Cinnamon VS Mate VS KDE VS XFCE. A list of comments I found around.

Post by Dot_mdb »

I have a bias toward Cinnamon because I have run it on my main machine doing 99% of what I do for the past 3 years. But I have experimented with XFCE on an older less powerful machine. I found it to be acceptable but not as good an experience as Cinnamon. I pulled 18.3 XFCE off that machine and put on Cinnamon and I don't see any drop off in performance and it has become a pleasure to use. I have done some experimenting with some lightweight distributions. I am now playing with LXLE. Not bad, but not Cinnamon. What I am seeing is that to run a modern browser like Firefox you need a decent amount of RAM. I'm not going to fool around with SeaMonkey or others just so I can say I ran a machine with a little less RAM. I am starting to think that 4GB is the baseline. No question machines can boot and run on less but from what I am seeing if it takes a different operating system or desktop it is not going to be worth the sacrifice in experience. So if it takes a $40 investment in RAM to upgrade a machine so be it. If it isn't worth the investment than I declare the machine obsolete.
Hoser Rob
Level 20
Level 20
Posts: 11806
Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2012 8:57 am

Re: Cinnamon VS Mate VS KDE VS XFCE. A list of comments I found around.

Post by Hoser Rob »

winxpwasgreat wrote: Mon Apr 16, 2018 4:03 am... Not KDE since it's more resource-intensive therefore the choice is left between Mate and XFCE. ...
KDE is not the resource hog, Cinnamon is (seriously, 1.2G RAM usage with a Linux DE that isn't even all THAT powerful?). I wouldn't run KDE on my 1Gb netbook but it tuns about as fast on my laptop as Xfce did. I always disable KDE file indexing because, like most user, I don't need it. But if I did it'd still work out as fast as Xfce on that machine.

The only real suggestion I can make here is to just dl the isos of the different DE versions. Then boot them up from a USB stick and see for yourself. I don';t think this discussion is going to enlighten you any more than that will.

A few years ago I would have suggested Xfce over Mate for speed but ever since Xfce 4.12 came out I rescind that. They've bloated it (I use barely more RAM in KDE than XFce 4.12 needs and it's as fast as Xfce), they haven't added any real functionality, and it's still buggy. Mate is better sorted.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong - H. L. Mencken
winxpwasgreat

Re: Cinnamon VS Mate VS KDE VS XFCE. A list of comments I found around.

Post by winxpwasgreat »

I tried the live cd of xfce 18.3.
Certain pages such as idex.market/guidelines still kinda freeze the whole thing, same problem I get when I run my cinnamon 17.3.

It puzzles me how I get this issue when using a live freaking cd
Any explanations? My laptop isn't old.
User avatar
catweazel
Level 19
Level 19
Posts: 9763
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2012 9:44 pm
Location: Australian Antarctic Territory

Re: Cinnamon VS Mate VS KDE VS XFCE. A list of comments I found around.

Post by catweazel »

winxpwasgreat wrote: Sat May 05, 2018 4:39 am Any explanations?
Start a new thread.
"There is, ultimately, only one truth -- cogito, ergo sum -- everything else is an assumption." - Me, my swansong.
rado84

Re: Cinnamon VS Mate VS KDE VS XFCE. A list of comments I found around.

Post by rado84 »

Imo XFCE is better than KDE because XFCE's settings are more intuitive and easier to find. Not only the panel settings but also those in the menu. KDE settings are grouped by type while XFCE are not which makes them easier to find for newbies like me. Besides, XFCE has more colors while KDE looks like it was built up in a hurry - the damn thing is so ugly that I'd prefer XFCE any time.
aes2011
Level 4
Level 4
Posts: 498
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2011 10:39 pm

Re: Cinnamon VS Mate VS KDE VS XFCE. A list of comments I found around.

Post by aes2011 »

rado84 wrote: Mon May 07, 2018 5:47 am... Besides, XFCE has more colors
What does that mean?
User avatar
JerryF
Level 16
Level 16
Posts: 6554
Joined: Mon Jun 08, 2015 1:23 pm
Location: Rhode Island, USA

Re: Cinnamon VS Mate VS KDE VS XFCE. A list of comments I found around.

Post by JerryF »

Most of those statements are hogwash.

I started with Cinnamon; love it and still is my go to. I then started experimenting with MATE. For some reason(s), don't care for it as much. Now I'm trying out Xfce, so I can't comment fully about it but so far, I think I like it more than MATE.

As for memory usage, when I run Cinnamon, MATE, or Xfce from a live USB flash drive, I found that all were in the same ballpark at the starting point at desktop after one minute's wait.
exploder
Level 15
Level 15
Posts: 5623
Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2007 10:50 am
Location: HartfordCity, Indiana USA

Re: Cinnamon VS Mate VS KDE VS XFCE. A list of comments I found around.

Post by exploder »

KDE has gotten considerably lighter over time. I have Kubuntu 18.04 installed on one of my desktops and memory use at start up is only 364 MB. :D
User avatar
lsemmens
Level 11
Level 11
Posts: 3936
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2014 9:07 pm
Location: Rural South Australia

Re: Cinnamon VS Mate VS KDE VS XFCE. A list of comments I found around.

Post by lsemmens »

I use Cinnamon, the question I would ask is "What do you prefer">

It matters not which DE you run, provided it does what you want, and you are happy with what it provides. This is not unlike the Linux/Windows/Fruit debate. If you like Apple, then bits of fruit are your preference, if Windows, ditto, If Linux, then at least you are intelligent...........whoops.....did I just say that? :mrgreen:
Fully mint Household
Out of my mind - please leave a message
User avatar
Hypersphere
Level 2
Level 2
Posts: 65
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2011 1:51 pm

Re: Cinnamon VS Mate VS KDE VS XFCE. A list of comments I found around.

Post by Hypersphere »

KDE: I test KDE from time to time, but each time I give it up because of its instability and high resource utilization. In addition, despite its detailed customization offerings, I find it difficult to find the features I want for the panel. The main thing I have liked about KDE is its management of multiple displays through FolderView -- it is possible to show desktop icons and desktop files on any monitor in a multiple monitor setup. Nevertheless, Mint is my favorite linux distro, and the KDE edition has been dropped from the lineup. Therefore, KDE is no longer a DE that I would consider.

Cinnamon: The flagship LM desktop keeps getting better, and like KDE, Cinnamon can manage multiple monitors quite well, enabling placement of desktop icons and desktop files on your monitor of choice -- even the right-hand monitor. However, in my most recent testing, there are still bugs and instabilities. Moreover, the options for panel applets do not quite give me the features I am seeking. I also find it irritating that there seems to be no straightforward way to rename "My Computer" in the navigation pane of the Cinnamon file manager, Nemo.

MATE: This is my second-favorite DE. It is stable and seemingly bug-free, and it offers a high level of customization. However, it does not provide the multiple-monitor management of Cinnamon or the panel features of Xfce. If Xfce were not available, I would probably go with MATE.

Xfce: The Mint implementation of Xfce is beautiful right out of the box, and it has all the features I want or need, with the exception of the multiple-monitor management provided by Cinnamon. I have used the Xfce desktop in Mint for many years, and it remains my choice in LM 19. However, it is frustrating not to be able to place the desktop icons or desktop files on either the center or right-hand monitor in my triple-monitor setup.
MtnDewManiac
Level 6
Level 6
Posts: 1491
Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2013 5:18 pm
Location: United States

Re: Cinnamon VS Mate VS KDE VS XFCE. A list of comments I found around.

Post by MtnDewManiac »

Hypersphere wrote: Thu Jul 12, 2018 12:14 pmI also find it irritating that there seems to be no straightforward way to rename "My Computer" in the navigation pane of the Cinnamon file manager, Nemo.
I just did a quick search of the forum about that. As it was a quick one, I might have missed a few threads/posts. But you do appear to be correct. What I did find to be interesting in regards to this was that it has been mentioned here as far back as three years ago:
viewtopic.php?t=199245
I'd also like to rename the My Computer subsection
The thread received one reply:
What you want is currently not possible. I also don't know any tweak for that.
Assuming that is still the case... I wonder if the OP - or anyone else - ever bothered to file an enhancement request, either at that time or in the time since? This thing does not seem to be of the "urgent" variety, but it does seem like a thing that a fair amount of people (albeit, perhaps not a great many) would be interested in. IF it is a thing that could be changed without a lot of developer time, perhaps the reason it has not been... is that either no one has filed an official request or that this was done but the report did not receive much or any activity by other users?

As far as I know, this is still the official place to file such requests (along with bug reports) for Nemo:
https://github.com/linuxmint/nemo/issues
I have not searched that in order to see if anyone has already done so.
Hypersphere wrote: Thu Jul 12, 2018 12:14 pmThe Mint implementation of Xfce is beautiful right out of the box, and it has all the features I want or need, with the exception of the multiple-monitor management
That has always been Xfce's weak spot. Someone actually has a current thread about that on Xfce's community web forum (might that be you?). The official "place" to report bugs/issues and enhancement requests for Xfce is:
https://bugzilla.xfce.org/

Additionally, for Xfce, there are developer email lists. While these are not the official places for filing such things (see above), you might be able to discuss things with the developers on them. See:
https://mail.xfce.org/mailman/listinfo/
Unfortunately, the Xfce developer team is pretty small. This means that they have to... Well, to rank issues and requests by both importance and by (I assume) estimating how much "want" there is for any given thing by its user base. Therefore, one assumes that the more people who request a thing, the higher up on the To Do list it will rank.

There might be such things for Nemo and/or Cinnamon. I do not personally know of them, but (if they exist) perhaps someone here does?

Regards,
MDM
Mint 18 Xfce 4.12.

If guns kill people, then pencils misspell words, cars make people drive drunk, and spoons made Rosie O'Donnell fat.
User avatar
Hypersphere
Level 2
Level 2
Posts: 65
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2011 1:51 pm

Re: Cinnamon VS Mate VS KDE VS XFCE. A list of comments I found around.

Post by Hypersphere »

@MDM: Thanks for your helpful comments!
Locked

Return to “Cinnamon”