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. |
You can’t convince somebody by discussion that user friendly isn’t as important to them is they think
Why didn’t Linux take over the world? Because it didn’t do what Microsoft does and it still doesn’t, And listening to you linux geeks here try to explain that all the way I don’t think it ever will.
Grandma will never want to check out the latest ‘distro or experiment to see which desktop fits her computer lifestyle.
Why do I waste my time on these Linux threads...? Because we have to work with you guys. We just fired a guy who spent a month making C make batchfiles out of a Microsoft solution file because it was “so much better”. After we threw that all away I’m fixed the original Microsoft solution in about 30 minutes.
It’s not just a difference of opinion, It’s actually lost production Because some people just cannot get it into their heads that Linux is not the solution for everything
Best thing about Linux is it does not spy on you like Windows 10/11 does.
You have a real difficult time reading for comprehension, don't you?
That passage was not about the importance (or lack thereof) of "user-friendly" interfaces. It was about the fact that "user-friendly" means different things to different people, and that you cannot just throw that term around and expect it to mean the same thing to everyone.
You are coming at this discussion from a Windows developer viewpoint. I get that. I come at this from a Linux admin viewpoint. Our needs/wants are vastly different than yours.
Grandma will never want to check out the latest ‘distro or experiment to see which desktop fits her computer lifestyle.
Of course not. No one is claiming she will. However, her grandson, who has been tasked with replacing her computer, might be interested. Once it is set up, Grandma doesn't care what OS is on it, as long as it works. This particular article is not aimed at those people, anyway. This is for a home user who knows his way around, and perhaps is starting out in the Linux environment. This is letting those people know about alternatives they might be interested in. Just like articles about editing the registry are not geared towards Grandma, neither is this. Yet you continue to try to make these posts all about Grandma sitting at home, reading her e-mail.
Even though the work *you* do is far beyond that, Linux *must* pander to the most basic requirements. "Rules for thee, but not for me" indeed.
We just fired a guy who spent a month making C make batchfiles out of a Microsoft solution file because it was “so much better”. After we threw that all away I’m fixed the original Microsoft solution in about 30 minutes.
OK. Let me get this straight. You fired a MS developer who didn't do things the same way you would have done them, you then created a MS-oriented solution for a MS application to run on Windows. You then blame Linux for that whole fiasco.
Got it.
"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."
Then tell the newbie how to do it.
"Before we start, open up a Terminal and make sure your system is up-to-date with the command:"
Likewise. A newbie has no idea of what a Terminal is and can have difficulty readily finding it. Windows users often do not know about the Run command. Thus I tell them to use the Windows key and r combo, likewise Ctrl+Alt+T for Terminal, at least in in Ubuntu and Linux Mint (I looked it up!).
"Let’s start with KDE Plasma 5."
Yes, KDE seems to be the best for me.
"Linux For Starters "
But please address the legal issues in multimedia codecs, though less of an issue today due to YouTube streaming.
“OK. Let me get this straight. You fired a MS developer who didn’t do things the same way you would have done them, you then created a MS-oriented solution for a MS application to run on Windows. You then blame Linux for that whole fiasco.”
Lol, I caught that too...
But you can just right click on a program and go Properties>Advanced and choose Run as Administrator. I have Linux installed on 2 rigs, and it is fine for basic Internet us and word processing, but as a heavy customizer I find Linux lacks lack the wealth of easy customization and wealth of free software Windows has, despite some attempts at alternatives (nothing replace AutoHotKey for instance). Like over 200 tweaks available in in Ultimate Windows Tweaker 4 for Windows 10 From the Windows club.
Add to this Winaero features of the Winaero Tweaker
Then there is Right-Click Extender (add items to many right click menus) , and T-Clock Redux and Classic Shell, now called Open Shell (https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu/archive/master.zip)
Composite (with my own Quick Launch menu) using T-Clock and Open Shell, by the grace of God.:
You kind of missed the entire point didn’t you.
But I expected no less from you Linux devotees.
We fired a developer who gave us a month-long fix rather than a half hour fix.
All because he had the similar mindset to you. Anything we asked him to do would be so much better if we did it in Linux, which is just not true.
The Y38 problem? Had to look that one up. But there are possible solutions it seems.
Three words: Gnome Shell Tweaker.
How do you know my mindset? Are you a mindreader now?
FYI--I work in a mixed environment. We have Windows and Linux servers. I totally understand the need for Windows. However, I am a Linux Admin. So I post Linux articles.
I try not to post on Windows threads as they are not my forte.
LOL you caught that?
HA HA I guess the jig is up- you got it that we fired someone because he liked Linux- not because he took a month to do a half hour’s worth of work and created a Linux batch file solution that would have required us to retool the entire build process to accommodate it, rather then the half-hour visual studio fix it turned out to be.
HA HA HA good on you!!
So do I. If you tried to comprehend my post rather than just knee-jerk react to it you would have seen that what I said makes perfect sense.
After DECADES of Unix/Linux (and other variants) Windows won the marketplace.
And it is because of the suoerior attitude of Linux geeks who failed to understand the market and think people want to spend all day discussing the various benefits of the latest 'distro'.
I never said Linux was bad, or that I would never use it. I clearly stated (in my first post) that Linux is superior but failed to capture the market because of technical geeks - I did not say you personally.
But every time I mention how much of a market failure Linux is (compared to Windows) the discussion immediately devolves into name calling by the same Linux techno-geeks who are like religious zealots in the inability to see the truth or understand anything other than their point of view. (about operating systems).
Calm down, try to discuss the point rationally, without name-calling.
PS there is a rumor that windows from version 10 onwards is actually Linux under the hood. (which would probably be a good thing)
“PS there is a rumor that windows from version 10 onwards is actually Linux under the hood.”
Oh Awesome so Windows 11 is the New Linux Distro with a serious PnP capacity?!
Why didnt they just say so!!
Here's the problem. There are several definitions of "marketplace." You limit your definition of it to newbie grandmas sitting at home running e-mail.
Linux has won the HPC marketplace, the Top500 marketplace, the networking marketplace, and the embedded marketplace. Well over 90% of all websites run on Apache/nginx, running on Linux servers.
"Linux geeks" did not fail to understand the market. First, it was never developed to be a commercial product. Second, it *was* developed to meet certain needs--and it has done so spectacularly. It was so successful that it found a consumer market for itself. It was never forced on people like Windows was (and still is).
Rather than contributing to whatever topic is being discussed, the first thing you typically do is say how bad Linux is while claiming to use it (or least claiming to admire it), and to say how awful Linux people are. All this is based off of your rather dated experiences.
... the discussion immediately devolves into name calling by the same Linux techno-geeks who are like religious zealots in the inability to see the truth or understand anything other than their point of view.
Calm down, try to discuss the point rationally, without name-calling.
Wow--been reading Alinsky lately, have you?
I never said how bad Linux is, in fact I urge you to go back to my very first post- where I CLEARLY said “Linux is a superior operating system”
But, to make my point, you missed that. AND NOW you try to explain how I think, which is what you accused me of doing.
I have never once said Linux is bad- just the attitude of the Linux Zealots.
And what does Alinsky have to do with anything? He advocated what the Linux techno-geeks are doing, if anything.
But I have KDE! Also, 10 Ways to Customize Your Linux Desktop With GNOME Tweaks Tool is a start, but that seems to come far short of what I mentioned. And yet what is most essential for me with my stuff arthritic finders is a proven (I have been the "try this," "this should work" route) simple way to remap the CapsLock key to crtrl+c (not just ctrl, which is offered by default in KDE) and then Esc to ctrl+v. With an AutoHotKey script that is easy (CapsLock::^c and Esc::^v and also NumLock::Esc and mbutton::^x), thank God!
I hear you loud and clear on arthritic fingers. 35 years of keyboarding for work hasn’t helped. That and a surgically reattached right wrist.
I personally found KDE a little more limiting for me, I switched to Gnome, installed Plank and Gnome Tweak Tool. Love my Ubuntu desktop now. Nice, clean, easy to use and all the apps I use are never more than two clicks away. If you want to try it and need help let me know. You can always revert back to KDE by logging off, choosing it and logging back on.
Thanks for your empathy and offer! As for Gnome, I have Kubuntu installed on an old rig (it would take too much unwarranted time to replace Linux on the main PC) and can install Ubuntu instead if you want, but the main issue is to remap the keys described is due to our shared condition, as well as speed in general, as I do a lost of copy and pasting, even of my previous responses, as applicable. But no "try this" has worked yet.
You are blaming the tool brand for the incompetency of the mechanic. The tool brand does not make one a good mechanic or a bad mechanic. The tool is not smart enough to know what brand it is. A bad mechanic is a bad mechanic no matter what brand of tool they use.
I am in the vehicle service industry. Over the years I have fired more bad Snapon brand mechanics than I have Craftsman mechanics... And some of the best mechanics I have ever worked with used cheap Harbor Freight brand Chinese tools.
A wrench is just a wrench. A bad mechanic is just a bad mechanic no matter what tool brand they use. It’s not quite honest to blame the wrench for the bad work that the mechanic did with it.
Just to share for future reference guys... Mint “Cinnamon” version is Gnome based... So all Gnome apps should work with it also. :)
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