I wanted to get a feel for everyone’s thoughts on desktop environments (or window managers if you don’t use a DE). I’m new to Lemmy, so apologies if this is too low-effort a post.

Personally I’m running KDE on my main computer, but I have an Arch virtual machine I use for more experimentation. That VM has seen KDE, i3, and will probably see hyprland at some point soon

  • RainRaining@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I use a window manager, Openbox. It’s great once you have your personal config file and shortcuts! Also, I can’t be sure but I think @[email protected] recently switched to Hyperland lol

    • ABeeinSpace@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      I’ve seen people mention Sway every once in a while. What’s the benefit over i3 if you don’t mind me asking?

      • fox@vlemmy.net
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        1 year ago

        it comes down to wayland, i3 only supports Xorg, sway only supports wayland.

        as far as features goes sway was built to be pretty much a drop in replacement for i3 with a few improvements.

  • Admetus@sopuli.xyz
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    1 year ago

    I’m using xfce. It’s on endeavros as I like to belong to the arch crowd without working with the lengthly set up from scratch.

    I prefer xfce as anything of note is accessible with a few minor exceptions due to endeavros security concerns such as Bluetooth which requires a quick systemctl command.

    I started off with it after discovering ubuntu and trying the xfce version. I liked it and went through a few distros including crunchbang with openbox but ultimately xfce is a very straightforward experience for me and fairly customisable. The only drawback is it doesn’t look like some of the awesome screenshots I’ve seen of i3 or other tiling managers but as a teacher I don’t do development or have that much knowledge to tinker so xfce is my go-to.

  • CocoLopez@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Kde, let me change everything every time I get bored instead of switching to a whole different WM.

  • boerbiet@feddit.nl
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    1 year ago

    I have tried tiling WM’s but they are not for me. KDE Plasma offers the right balance of customisability, look consistency and features to always come back on top again. It’s been my go-to desktop environment since KDE3.

    • ABeeinSpace@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      That’s the setup I tried to get used to. I miiight still have it, although it was on my testing VM so I think I have reinstalled since then

  • Martin@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I used to build e17 / Enlightenment on Arch for years, was kinda cool and I learned a lot about building packages, but now I don’t care anymore and I just use gnome. Or rather I’m using Firefox and a terminal and that’s pretty much it. Oh and Gimp every once in a while. But most of the time it’s fullscreen Firefox so who cares what de is behind it as long as it just works

  • myxi@feddit.nl
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    1 year ago

    I have Plasma installed on my Arch based installation, but I hardly use it since I also have i3 installed which I adore.

    My i3 setup looks very similar to my Plasma setup, I prefer window managers because they are more productive to use.

  • kyub@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 year ago

    Gnome. It just seems simple, elegant and smooth. It does what I need from a DE (not that much, I do a lot in terminal and Emacs). It has good keybindings out of the box and good virtual desktop mechanisms. It was also the first DE with good Wayland support. At first I was unsure if I liked Gnome’s concept and restrictions, but I’ve grown to like it fast.

  • user68k@wired.bluemarch.art
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    1 year ago

    I use Xfce on my computers except my Pi where I use Window Maker. Window Maker with its lower resource needs really helps when the Pi is used with resolutions over 1080p.

  • Jason P@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    XFCE with the WM replaced with Openbox. Ask me about my Openbox keyboard bindings for window moving and resizing :)

    I kind of want to try KDE again, but I still feel it’s too laggy, at least on my machine with intel graphics.

      • Jason P@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Win+ijkl moves the window to the next edge with the “MoveToEdge” function, snapping it around the screen.

        Win+Shift+ijkl grows the window from any edge.

        Win+Ctrl+ijkl shrinks the window from any edge.

        Win+Cursor switches desktops, Win+Ctrl+Cursor sends window to other desktops.

        It seems intuitive to me because ijkl is used for actions within the desktop, cursor keys (reaching farther) are for between desktops.

        https://pastebin.com/N2w84aEx