Are Multiple Desktops Bad?

[Ow That Hurts]

Also, I heard that MATE is probably a LITTLE BIT more stable than Cinnamon.

There are rumors and there are facts.

Where are those rumors?
I am normally using MATE--but Cinnamon is a snappy-fast modern desktop---hence it's popularity.

From the linux mint download page:

Although it misses a few features and its development is slower than Cinnamon’s, MATE runs faster, uses fewer resources and is more stable than Cinnamon.

See the full descriptions here:
https://linuxmint.com/download.php

[all41]

Ow That Hurts @Ow That Hurts
Something from the horses mouth--yet
I ponder the basis of that statement
Quantification would be important.

[legacypowers]

Question 1) Is it bad to have more than one desktop installed in an LM20.3 installation?

I believe I read somewhere that it can cause problems that are particularly difficult to diagnose.

I installed the Cinnamon edition of LM 20.3, and then later used the terminal to install MATE.

Question 2) If I stick with Cinnamon (and remove MATE), is there a way to make Cinnamon less resource heavy? (The machines I installed it on are an i7-3700 and i7-4700 just using built-in graphics with about 8GB RAM each.)

Question 3) Is there a best way to remove MATE if it turns out I SHOULD remove it? And aside from themes / icons / desktop wallpaper, will there be anything "lost" by removing it?

Thanks in advance.

It can be a problem if you have Full DE's just because you will have a lot of duplicates.
With enough experience you can pretty much apt purge anything leaving just what you need, but then again if you're up to configuring everything from the ground up you are better off with another distros.
I would still not recommend Arch to a beginner(rolling release, i have used it a lot and it never broke on me like people says that it do, but i mostly knew what i was doing), but with the archinstall they made getting into it a lot more easier for beginners.

[all41]

If you must have multiple desktops at least make a new user (in Users and Groups) for each one
This keeps potentially disagreeable files separated

[Moem]

Mod note:
A post, and the reply, removed in order to stay within forum policy.

[Cosmo.]

Where are those rumors?

Rumors are opinions without any proof or source. One can endlessly produce one after the other, because this does not need more time, than the needed time for typing.

From the linux mint download page:

Although it misses a few features and its development is slower than Cinnamon’s, MATE ... is more stable than Cinnamon.

I don't know, why they say so; how can I, as there is no more than this short sentence. They have probably the respective experience.

My experience is from the point of view of a supporter. I see complaints for every edition of Mint, only a part have something to do with the desktop environment itself. Another part are simple questions for understanding the functionality of something. When I look at the threads about real problems, I cannot see, that any of the DEs is superior in regard of stability, if I consider the number of installations. I admit, that I do not make a statistics, it is out of a stomach. If I now would say, the one or other is more stable, I would not have any proof for that, it would be a rumor.

Besides that: I use Cinnamon since it exists. Cinnamon saw the light of day with Mint 13, this is now exactly 10 years back. There were and there are bugs, but bugs exist anywhere. Overall I don't saw in those 10 years a principal stability problem. So despite, what the devs say (they might have a reason, but they don't tell their reason) I see the stability of Cinnamon equal to the other 2 DEs, which are used in Mint. This is the result of supporting experience and usage experience.

I can imagine, that with some hardware circumstances Cinnamon gives more trouble. This might be, I cannot judge about unknown hardware. Perhaps the devs mean this aspect, but I cannot know, what I cannot read.

My reaction to the post by Ow That Hurts had the reason, that (s)he used the words "I heard that ...". I could have answered: "I heard, that Elvis is still alive" and I would not have said the least about the facts. It would have been a rumor.

[Cosmo.]

It can be a problem if you have Full DE's just because you will have a lot of duplicates.

Question 1: Which duplicates?

Question 2: Why is this a problem? If you login, you have to decide for one (and not more than one) of the installed DEs.

[Jymm]

Multiple desktops on one installation can give you problems with default applications like file browsers, text editors and terminals. If I was going to do that I would partition the hard drive if it was large enough and have two separate installations, one LM Mate and one LM Cinnamon.

Personally I like Mate better, I find it easier to configure myself, but if it ever went away my next choice would be Cinnamon, followed by Xfce and last KDE. Yet they are all good traditional desktops that can help a new user from Windows transition, unlike Gnome3 or Unity.

[Cosmo.]

Multiple desktops on one installation can give you problems with default applications like file browsers, text editors and terminals.

Which? Precisely?
What you say is strange. Each DE has its own file manager, how should they get into trouble, because there exists another one?

[Nikolai5]

Multiple desktops on one installation can give you problems with default applications like file browsers, text editors and terminals.

Which? Precisely?
What you say is strange. Each DE has its own file manager, how should they get into trouble, because there exists another one?

The problems are near mythological. Turns out many Linux distributions can handle the fact you have two text editors installed without self-destructing, shorting your PC, electrocuting your cat and blowing your fridge up, but you read what some people say you'd think it's that bad.

[Cosmo.]

With mythology we will not solve the smallest problem. If such a point of view comes into play, we can forget all facts. Then only hoping and praying can help. But for such "procedure" we don't need a forum.

As I already wrote, I find the idea of using more than 1 DE counterproductive, and I dis-advice out of this reason - and only out of this reason. If needed, I find a virtualized solution superior. Bad that is something different to "bad".