Posted on 09/06/2021 5:53:07 AM PDT by ShadowAce
This is a series that offers a gentle introduction to Linux for newcomers.
A desktop environment is a collection of disparate components that integrate together. They bundle these components to provide a common graphical user interface with elements such as icons, toolbars, wallpapers, and desktop widgets. Additionally, most desktop environments include a set of integrated applications and utilities.
Desktop environments (now abbreviated as DE) provide their own window manager, system software that controls the placement and appearance of windows within a windowing system. They also provide a file manager which organizes, lists, and locates files and directories. Other aspects include a background provider, a panel to provide a menu and display information, as well as a setting/configuration manager to customize the environment.
Ultimately, a DE is a piece of software. While they are more complicated than most other types of software, they are installed in the same way.
Ubuntu 21.04 uses the GNOME 3 DE.
Ubuntu flavours offer a unique way to experience Ubuntu, each with their own choice of default applications and settings. To date, this Linux for Starters has focused on the GNOME edition of Ubuntu. But there’s other official flavors including:
It’s possible to install these flavours (and others) as a fresh installation. But what if you want to try a different desktop to GNOME 3? It’s easy to experiment with different desktops without wiping Ubuntu and installing a flavour from scratch.
First, we strongly recommend you create a separate user as DEs can share the same configuration files causing strange things to happen, especially with theming.
Running multiple DEs is possible and a great way to experiment, but you may need to resolve minor issues (which can be a good way of learning in itself). But if you want everything to “work out of the box”, you might wish to experiment running multiple desktop environments in a different way (such as using another machine or with virtualization software such as VirtualBox).
Let’s start with KDE Plasma 5.
You’ve installed Ubuntu with its GNOME desktop. If you want to try KDE, you don’t need to remove the present Ubuntu and install Kubuntu from scratch. Instead there’s a few different metapackages you can install. You can still switch back to GNOME 3 whenever you want.
Before we start, open up a Terminal and make sure your system is up-to-date with the command:
$ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
This metapackage pulls in the core modules released with the KDE Software Compilation including the basic KDE Plasma Desktop, together with a minimal set of basic applications (browser, file manager, text editor, system settings, panel, etc.), important libraries and data.
No other applications are installed, but they can be separately installed later. The download size is around 247 MB and uses 957 MB of disk space. Install with the command:
$ sudo apt install kde-plasma-desktop
Once the metapackage is downloaded, you’ll be asked to configure SDDM (stands for Simple Desktop Display Manager). This is the recommended display manager for KDE Plasma. Select ‘sddm’ from the list and press Enter.
The remaining packages will then be unpacked and installed.
Once this is done, the remaining packages will be unpacked and installed. Reboot your system, and you’ll be welcomed by the SDDM Lockscreen.
Here’s an image of the desktop.
Click image for full size
One of the aspects that stands KDE Plasma head and shoulders above its desktop peers is extensibility. Plasma lets you configure the desktop to your specific preferences.
KDE Plasma widgets (also known as plasmoids) are a smart way of customizing the desktop. There’s an abundance of widgets available that act like building blocks, constructing a desktop that’s perfect for your needs and requirements. We explore the best KDE Plasma widgets in this roundup.
It’s easy to switch between GNOME and KDE Plasma using the “Desktop Session” dropdown available from SDDM’s lock screen.
There are other metapackages available:
The standard KDE includes Plasma desktop with a selection of the most common used applications.
The download is 351 MB in size, using 1,378 MB of disk space. You can install it using the command:
$ sudo apt install kde-standard
This is the complete package and core KDE plasma desktop. This metapackage includes all the official modules released with KDE Software Compilation that are not specific to development and as well other KDE applications that are useful for a desktop user. This includes multimedia, networking, graphics, education, games, system administration tools, and other artwork and utilities.
This is the largest of the metapackages. It’s a whopping 1,109 MB download, and will use 3,282 MB of disk space.
$ sudo apt install kde-full
Depending on your internet connection, you might want to put some filter coffee on while the process completes.
XFCE is a lightweight and versatile desktop environment that utilises a classic drop-down or pop-up menu to access applications. A little time and effort is needed to properly customise the desktop to suit personal taste.
Before we start, open up a Terminal and make sure your system is up-to-date with the command:
$ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
We can install xfce with the command:
$ sudo apt install xfce4
This will install 45 packages. It’s a 16.9 MB download and uses 84.9 MB of additional disk space.
To get the full experience, we recommend you install the xubuntu-desktop package that offers several applications of its own.
$ sudo apt install xubuntu-desktop
This metapackage installs 280 packages. It’s a 157 MB download using 590 MB of additional disk space. It installs useful programs such as xfce4-terminal (a lightweight terminal emulator) and engrampa (an archive manager).
Once the xubuntu-desktop metapackage is downloaded, you’ll be asked to configure LightDM, a display manager that aims to be lightweight and fast. While Ubuntu 21.04 uses GDM as its display manager, several Ubuntu flavors still use LightDM. It’s the recommended display manager for XFCE too.
Select ‘lightdm’ from the list and press Enter.
We can now reboot our system, and XFCE will be your resident DE.
The MATE Desktop Environment is the continuation of GNOME 2. It provides an intuitive and attractive desktop environment using traditional metaphors for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. MATE is under active development to add support for new technologies while preserving a traditional desktop experience.
Before we start, open up a Terminal and make sure your system is up-to-date with the command:
$ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
There’s a couple of ways of installing MATE. We can issue the command:
$ sudo apt install mate-desktop
This installs 4 packages including the desktop environment and its user guide. It’s a small download (approximately 8.2 MB) and uses 87.6 MB of additional disk space.
We recommend you install MATE with this command:
$ sudo apt install mate-core
mate-core is a meta package. It installs 46 new packages including mate-desktop. It’s a 41.6 MB download using 300 MB of additional disk space.
Here’s an image of MATE in action. We’ve added a few things to the desktop.
Click image for full size
The Budgie Desktop is a modern desktop designed to keep out the way of the user. The desktop focuses on simplicity and elegance. It provides a traditional desktop metaphor based interface using customisable panel based menu driven system. Budgie-Desktop is written from scratch using many GNOME based sub-systems such as GNOME-Session and Mutter.
Before we start, open up a Terminal and make sure your system is up-to-date with the command:
$ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
We can install Budgie with the command:
$ sudo apt install budgie-desktop
This package installs the minimal GNOME based package-set together with the key budgie-desktop packages to produce a working desktop environment. It installs 8 packages including budgie-core. It’s a download just over 1 MB and uses nearly 6 MB of additional disk space.
We also suggest you install budgie-extras-common which provides applets for the desktop.
$ sudo apt install budgie-extras-common
Here’s an image of the Budgie Desktop in action.
Click image for full size
All articles in this series:
| Linux For Starters | |
|---|---|
| Part 1 | What is Linux? Why use Linux? What do I need? |
| Part 2 | Choose a Linux distribution meeting your specific needs and requirements. |
| Part 3 | Make a bootable Ubuntu USB stick in Windows. |
| Part 4 | We show you how to install Ubuntu 21.04 on your hard disk. |
| Part 5 | Things to do after installing Ubuntu. |
| Part 6 | Navigating your way around the Desktop. |
| Part 7 | Updating the system, install new software. |
| Part 8 | Open source replacements for proprietary Windows desktop software. |
| Part 9 | Get started with the power and flexibility of the terminal. |
| Part 10 | We cover the basics of files and permissions. |
| Part 11 | Getting help from your system. |
| Part 12 | Learn all about the file system. |
| Part 13 | Manipulating files from the shell. |
| Part 14 | Maintain your system with these simple tips. |
| Part 15 | Managing users on your system. |
| Part 16 | Explore different desktops to GNOME 3. |
Yes I do.
Yeah I noted a few years ago that it is the case that they’ve improved the installation and update processes. However, they still have to address the Plug and Play subscriptions. I think the issue is that the developers do not write applications, drivers and API’s for linux distributions as they probably should. When they do it’s an afterthought and not as a primary or even secondary business goal. Those targets are reserved for Apple and Microsoft.
Until they address that problem then sadly, Linux will always be most suitable as an appliance driver. But it wont stop me from trying it.
Until Linux comes where you can install it out of the box and it looks and works exactly like windows it will never be more than it is right now.
This article sums it all up.
Imagine trying to explain this article to grandma who just wants to turn on the inter-webs and see pictures of the grandkids.
Seriously, just try to picture how that conversation would go
I’m running Docker Desktop on my I5 Windows laptop, and it’s a dream for running non-gui Linux containers. Because the containers don’t require allocation of storage or CPUs, I could probably run 10 Linux containers concurrently.
Containers are a great way to run Linux security tools, BTW.
My desktop is Elementary OS, a Linux-based MacOS look-a-like.
Good info. No one will learn anything g unless they try it.
Bkmk
...and yet you didn't actually read it, did you?
This article is about alternatives to the default installation. It is *not* about the basic installation.
Ace is right. Now there are GUI addons for everything. “Update Manager” is fantastic at keeping up with all the updates and such.
But most full distros now come boxed with all those addons included. We are now at a full point and click, PnP GUI OS like windows with newer Distros.
For Windows users who want something almost the same as Windows 7 I highly highly suggest Mint Cinnamon...
The references in those sources are obviously older. None of that is needed anymore. If you get a fully loaded boxed package like Mint Cinnamon it comes with about all the GUI programs you will ever need.
Very seldom will you ever need the command line. Only if you are doing something more technical like building a local VPN server or similar.
“Until Linux comes where you can install it out of the box and it looks and works exactly like windows it will never be more than it is right now.”
And Mint Cinnamon does... Anyone who is familiar with Windows 7 can feel right at home right away, all point and click. My Grandkids jumped on my Mint cinnamon from Win 7 and were jamming with it in half an hour.
Bookmark
Bkmk - Elementary OS
Ahhhh...the sudo boundary.
The line is between Morgan Hill and Gilroy.
In fact with Cinnamon you can make it look like Win 10 or even XP if you like.
https://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/themes/view/Windows-10
https://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/themes/view/Mint-XP
Your hard drive can fill up pretty fast installing multiple DEs. I don’t really see the point when most distros of linux will run as a Live USB allowing you to test drive the DE.
I don’t worry too much about what programs come with a given distro because over the years, I’ve found favorites for everything. I’m running Kubuntu/KDE with Plasma desktop but I’m not a big fan of KDE programs. They need to do more work on them and some haven’t been touched in years. They also, imho, need to get away from the kstupid knaming konvention of putting a K in front of every program name.
Programs, I searched for "Office Suite"
Updates, same program called Discover
I use Discover for all updates and to find and install most any program using a GUI. I do have a couple of favorite programs that I've found over the years that aren't in the official software repositories. In that case, I copy and paste a few commands to use that repository and install them. The average person who checks emails and surfs the web and maybe does some word processing or uses a spreadsheet would not have to type in any commands at all.
Thanks a bunch, I was just looking for this exact info, great timing!
I just loves me some compiz 3-D desktop.
Not that I use it that much, but it's great to have the option.
I guess a better intro to Linux would be,
1) Install Rufus, a free windows program that burns Linux Live to a USB drive.
2) Download a version of Linux/Ubuntu that looks interesting to you
3) Burn that downloaded ISO file to a USB drive using Rufus
4) Restart your PC and have it boot to the USB (many will do this automatically. Tapping the F12 on most systems will bring up a boot menu where you can choose to boot to USB. A few systems won’t so you may have to find instructions for your PC on “how to boot to USB drive”.)
5) Upon booting to the USB drive, you will be running a Live operating system from that USB drive. Test drive to your heart’s content but keep in mind, no changes will be saved.
6) If you like what you see, you can install Linux directly from within your Live instance. You can overwrite Windows(save your files first) or you can install Linux alongside Windows for a dual boot system(provided you have the hard drive space) and choose which one to boot to whenever you start your PC.
7) On a dual boot install, when starting the PC, after several seconds, it will boot to Linux unless you choose to boot to Windows. To change that default Operating System to Windows, install Grub Customizer which will allow you to change the order of the boot list. You can also hide the advanced choices on that list that most people won’t use.
With links given to various Linux distros, Rufus. Rufus tutorial and Linux install tutorial would be next with screenshots for all the GUI screens that are used.
No commands required.
Having a second PC, tablet or even a phone helps so you can have the tutorial open while you go through the process. Then again, you’re either running Windows or Linux Live USB and can use a browser in both cases.
I need to start an e-commerce website where people can rent a dozen USB drives, each with a different Linux Live distro burned to it. Test drive them all, install one, mail back the USB drives and get most of your money back. Would save people the download time and the slightly scary step of making sure you burn the image to the correct drive using Rufus or one of the other USB image burning programs.
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