I've been using Linux Mint almost exclusively for the last 10 years. I've always stuck with Cinnamon, it just works for me. I'm not into fiddling around or fancy effects, my computer/desktop environment is a means to an end for me, that is, using my computer for a purpose, not to spend too much time fiddling around with the computer itself or having the desktop get in the way. Mint also has XCFE and and Mate editions, and I suppose there are ways to put the other desktop environments on it too. What say you? What's your favorite Linux Desktop Environment.
Windows responses get the :gamer-gulag:
What is this "desktop" of which you speak?
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Personally, I mainly use Sway, but it's definitely not a ready-to-use desktop environment for most people. I find GNOME 40 to be basically trouble-free, so on any computer big enough to handle it, I consider it my fallback, especially when I want family members to be able to use my login. I like the "TIling Assistant" extension for improved tiling with it, and Dash-To-Dock and Blur My Shell for aesthetics.
I3 or sway are nice to try but have a steep learning curve. Plus is no one will be able to use your computer :sicko-blur:
Non-tiling? Gnome. I like the ability to hit super and search things. I've always been more of a dock person over a task bar person too. I never liked the windows UX that cinnamon, xfce, mate like to slightly imitate.
As far as what I actually use, I've been a minimal config i3-gaps user for a few years, but I recently started getting into xmonad due to better control over having multiple super keys. Additionally, overlapping windows is my pet peeve and nothing annoys me more than alt-tabbing through a pile of windows looking for the right one.
I don't do a lot of ricing aside from transparent terminals so I can see my wallpaper, but I do enjoy high levels of customization so I can create an environment that mostly gets out of my way and lets me operate my computer more directly with my train of thought.
Gnome when I'm taking depressants. Herbstluftwm when I'm taking stims.
I highly recommend hlwm for anybody who likes i3 but finds its configuration system too constraining. Hlwm does all configuration through IPC, so your configuration file is normally just a bash script, however you can use python or ruby or whatever you want. It also allows your scripts do a lot of introspection of the state of the window manager and its clients.
One trick I like to do is using awk to scrape the Xresources color scheme so the colors can be used directly in various scripts. i3 eventually got this functionality built-in, but that would never be an impediment if you're simply writing bash scripts.
That's the one for me as well - tiling's awesome but it's nice to switch over to a regular desktop when it becomes inconvenient/unnecessary.
I also use Mint and haven't bothered with looking at alternatives since it works :shrux:
You can go ahead and install as many desktops as you like and switch between them on the login screen. Doing this will leave a lot of garbage behind so it's better to go this if you can reinstall easily, but it's a good way to try everything out.
I run xfce and sway. Mate is really nice as well.
KDE Plasma. IMO it's the most feature-complete, still being updated, and uses less resources than GNOME or Cinnamon.
I like working with GNOME 3, and KDE Plasma is really nice and polished-looking too.
I want to try GNOME 41 & some others
Been using Fluxbox for more than a decade. Lightweight, configurable, awesome. Though I've considered switching to ion on occasions.
