Solved GNOME desktop environment

[Emanate Presence]

KDE Plasma is an excellent choice. It has a LOT of options and can be a little daunting at first, but it is worth the effort to explore it. It's one of the best.

Here are a couple of related links I think you will like:

Distro Chooser gives you an "interview" to help you decide on a distro to try.

DistroSea actually lets your run a live Linux desktop through your web browser... if everything works as it should. I don't know if your iPad can do this, but it's worth a try.

Fedora is a Red Hat backed distribution with a large focus on free software
Enforces usage of free software
User has to select the software to use
Requires reading up in manuals for usage
Suitable for daily use
Usable without fee
Installs all needed programs
We cannot recommend this distribution for you because:
Not suitable for beginners
Installs a range of programs by default

Every distro came up
We cannot recommend this distribution for you because:

I am not dissuaded.
Probably no one knows if IBM will try to turn free into for profit.
Of the corporate entities out there, I am least wary of IBM... maybe due to ignorance. But it seems the darker ones are on the west coast.

From the screenshots, Plasma looks doable for me. Especially with help from the forum!

 

[kc1di]

Debian with the Plasma DE

Can you give me a link to that?

Then I need to get off the ipad for awhile. It's so delayed and jumpy it's hard to stay calm and peaceful.

sure here you go

Debian -- Getting Debian

With debian you may want to try the live session first, but I recommend if you choose to install that you use the net install image. As that would give you the latest updates.
Also here is a place where you can see many distros.

DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.

News and feature lists of Linux and BSD distributions.

distrowatch.com

You may want to start with a Distro that's more complete than Debian for desktop use. Say Kubuntu which is ubuntu with Plasma DE.

Kubuntu | Friendly Computing

kubuntu.org

Start with the LTS 22.04 version.

 

[Emanate Presence]

That's the one I am currently most attracted to:

'Say Kubuntu which is ubuntu with Plasma DE'

Someone said avoid Plasma version 6 but it doesn't look like an issue?

 

[Emanate Presence]

sure here you go

With debian you may want to try the live session first, but I recommend if you choose to install that you use the net install image. As that would give you the latest updates.
Also here is a place where you can see many distros.

You may want to start with a Distro that's more complete than Debian for desktop use. Say Kubuntu which is ubuntu with Plasma DE.

Start with the LTS 22.04 version.

Thought Plasma is Fedora, but it's Kubuntu?

Will this forum support Plasma?

 

[Emanate Presence]

sure here you go

With debian you may want to try the live session first, but I recommend if you choose to install that you use the net install image. As that would give you the latest updates.
Also here is a place where you can see many distros.

You may want to start with a Distro that's more complete than Debian for desktop use. Say Kubuntu which is ubuntu with Plasma DE.

Start with the LTS 22.04 version.

Start with by installing, then changing later?

Maybe I will feel differently, but currently I am inclined to make a full install from the get-go. Not sure I have the energy for dual boot or testing several distros.

Maybe one distro on a Pen ️ and only another if issues are encountered.

 

[Emanate Presence]

sure here you go

With debian you may want to try the live session first, but I recommend if you choose to install that you use the net install image. As that would give you the latest updates.
Also here is a place where you can see many distros.

You may want to start with a Distro that's more complete than Debian for desktop use. Say Kubuntu which is ubuntu with Plasma DE.

Start with the LTS 22.04 version.

"Kubuntu 22.04.4 LTS
The latest Long Term Support (LTS) version of the Kubuntu operating system for desktop PCs and laptops, Kubuntu 22.04 supported with security and maintenance updates, until April 2025."

What happens after April 2025?

Do I understand that this is Ubuntu with the DE Plasma?

So Kubuntu is not corporate sponsored?

Sounds like my distro!

Will explore more tomorrow. Thank you!

 

[atanere]

Thought Plasma is Fedora, but it's Kubuntu?

Plasma = KDE Plasma = a Desktop Environment (used by many distros)

Fedora = Linux distribution (uses many different DE's as "spins")

Ubuntu = Linux distribution (uses many different DE's as "flavors")
Kubuntu = Ubuntu with KDE Plasma desktop
Xubuntu = Ubuntu with XFCE desktop
Lubuntu = Ubuntu with LXQT desktop
(as already mentioned by @kc1di above in post #3)

Not every distro makes a spin/flavor with KDE Plasma, but you can usually install it into a distro that does not have it. Far better to start with one that includes it as you get started.

 

[MikeWalsh]

That isn't the way Gnome is meant to be used, since those extensions give you a more classic desktop experience. You can, but you might as well use KDE Plasma then.

@f33dm3bits :-

Well.....no; that isn't the way GNOME is meant to be used, I agree. We of course have no time for it with Puppy (too "heavy" for us); the JWM/ROX-filer combo is still very popular, and XFCE is a well-tested and frequently-used lightweight alternative. We also have a sizeable section of the community who have for some time been experimenting with various window manager only-based setups.

Trouble is, the "vision" of the GNOME top brass is for many pretty unpalatable! Some of their design decisions in recent years have NOT been at all popular with many users, which is - as I understand it - why so many folks install the GNOME shell thingy to get it nearer to how they want it....

(shrug...)


Mike.

 

[f33dm3bits]

Some of their design decisions in recent years have NOT been at all popular with many users, which is - as I understand it - why so many folks install the GNOME shell thingy to get it nearer to how they want it....

I use Gnome with a few extensions but only one that is absolutely necessary, a notification extension so that I can see when someone or an application sends me a message or something like that because even though I keep all my windows open it is still nice to see if something important came up. They are doing something right if several distributions(including RHEL) use it as their default DE(desktop environment) and not KDE Plasma.

 

[kc1di]

"Kubuntu 22.04.4 LTS
The latest Long Term Support (LTS) version of the Kubuntu operating system for desktop PCs and laptops, Kubuntu 22.04 supported with security and maintenance updates, until April 2025."

What happens after April 2025?

Do I understand that this is Ubuntu with the DE Plasma?

So Kubuntu is not corporate sponsored?

Sounds like my distro!

Will explore more tomorrow. Thank you!

Kubuntu is an offical flavor of Ubuntu. When 22.04 reaches end of life you would need to upgrade to the next version which in Kubuntu's case will be 24.04 for the LTS version. But if you like KDE then Kubuntu is a good place to start.
Good luck what ever you choose.

 

[MikeWalsh]

@f33dm3bits :-

Oh, I'm not saying anything about why many distros use it OOTB. That's their decision, of course, and such things are up to them. Long-standing habit appears to play a big part in it, though...

I've not been using Linux anywhere near as long as some of you, I'll be the first to admit. But from what I've been able to glean over the past decade, GNOME's history is long, yet somewhat chequered; GNOME 2 appears to have been universally liked by everyone. Ever since the move to GNOME 3, it seems like hardly a release goes by without creating a storm of protest somewhere within the community at large. It kinda makes you ask yourself "Why? What's going on?"

It also seems that almost every release breaks compatibility with the previous releases.....or have I got this wrong? From what I understand, the view of the "top brass" seems to be that you should always use GNOME in bog-standard "vanilla" format, as it comes OOTB.......because only by so doing can the "vision" be truly appreciated.

Which in all honesty sounds to me like a load of old cobblers!

(shrug...)


Mike.

 

[The Duck]

I've used Gnome DE OOTB and had no complaints with it you just have to get used to it.

Learn to use Gnome DE as it comes and you may find it works OOTB.

 

[Condobloke]

For those of you who have no clue (and likely couldn't care less) which desktop session/type you are using...

echo $DESKTOP_SESSION

 

[MikeWalsh]

I've used Gnome DE OOTB and had no complaints with it you just have to get used to it.

Learn to use Gnome DE as it comes and you may find it works OOTB.

@The Duck :-

Aye, that's probably a valid observation, for most people. But for the inveterate "tweakers" amongst us - like myself - that doesn't hold water.....and is barking up completely the wrong tree, to boot!

I wouldn't use it, personally; myself, I just don't like the look of it. Doesn't appeal to me...

Each to their own, of course.


Mike.

 

[The Duck]

I've used Gnome DE OOTB and had no complaints with it you just have to get used to it.

Learn to use Gnome DE as it comes and you may find it works OOTB.

@The Duck :-

Aye, that's probably a valid observation, for most people. But for the inveterate "tweakers" amongst us - like myself - that doesn't hold water.....and is barking up completely the wrong tree, to boot!

I wouldn't use it, personally; myself, I just don't like the look of it. Doesn't appeal to me...

Each to their own, of course.


Mike.

Gnome is a DE you either like or you don't.
I used it because it was what came as default.

The only tweaking I do to my Linux installs is remove the unnecessary useless default software that comes OOTB.

I use Xfce and jwm and icewm it does all I need.

 

[Emanate Presence]

@The Duck :-

Aye, that's probably a valid observation, for most people. But for the inveterate "tweakers" amongst us - like myself - that doesn't hold water.....and is barking up completely the wrong tree, to boot!

I wouldn't use it, personally; myself, I just don't like the look of it. Doesn't appeal to me...

Each to their own, of course.


Mike.

Like the Cardano developer wrote to me, people like spaghetti , and just have different tastes for the sauce.

 

[Emanate Presence]

For those of you who have no clue (and likely couldn't care less) which desktop session/type you are using...

echo $DESKTOP_SESSION

What does that command return?

 

[Condobloke]

Run it and see....

It will tell you which desktop/session you are running

Mine is Cinnamon (Linux Mint 21.3 (Cinnamon)

 

[Emanate Presence]

Run it and see....

It will tell you which desktop/session you are running

Mine is Cinnamon (Linux Mint 21.3 (Cinnamon)

Have no clue how to run it, but will add it to my links list for future reference.

 

[Condobloke]

Open Terminal (ctrl+T)

Copy and paste it in and hit enter