I still like the look and feel of GNOME a lot so I spent a little time putting it together that way. I want a simple desktop with small elements to maximize real estate for windows. I also use the small taskbar on my work computer for the same reason. But with my work computer, I do show window titles because I usually have at least 5 workbooks open at once so it’s nice to see which is which when I need to switch between them.
I love KDE’s application launcher. It feels very Windows XP with the way it sorts things. It just makes complete sense.
Century Gothic may not be the most readable font in the world, but I think it has an old school charm to it.
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OK. They aren’t products. Not really sure why you feel the need to announce this.
I just switched from GNOME to Plasma in the past week, after a long time on gnome, and Plasma 6 is great. The only thing I miss so far is viewing all my windows on the desktop when I push the meta key - alt-tab seems clunky in comparison.
Any suggestions there?
Meta + w
I believe it’s called “overview” in shortcut section.
Amazing - Thanks for that!
You can also change it to literally anything you want.
Plasma is great for the flexibility (shortcuts), and so easy these days.
I was searching for task switcher, expose, etc. And just completely gapped on searching ‘overview’. (Web searches didn’t show it either, possibly because it’s too simple, so nobody posts about it.)
Next up I might have to play some window tiling (e.g. like i3, sway & hyprland).
KDE: With too much power comes too much responsibility. 😉
I set it up once on install, 4 years ago. I have never needed to tweak any settings after that. Even when installing a different distro (config lives in the home directory)
I was mostly being facetious. I haven’t tried it in decades, but I’m pretty happy with Cosmos.
I stopped using gnome after they removed the ability to edit the menu without going through a bunch of hoops. Their idea of removing complexity involved removing choice and customization. KDE has had superior multi monitor support for a long time.
And as a multi-monitor user, I’m finding that part to be true. I’ve got my panels set up on each of my monitors exactly the way I want. Plus, controlling the wallpaper independently on each monitor as a built-in feature is dope.
I’m not a KDE user, is it possible to have the upper bar all the way up without showing the wallpaper above?
Yes, basically pretty much everything you may want is possible. OP just uses the bar in floating mode.
Yes it’s a configurable property on the panel called “Floating” I believe.
Yes, in fact that’s the default for panels.
Ty
Lol, not sure why a “thank you” got downvoted
seems like you have recreated cosmic de ^^
GNOME lost the plot when they abandoned the 2.x design philosophy.
I totally agree.
GNOME 2 was fun and easy. It felt like they were trying to learn from the mistakes of Windows and Mac UIs.
It’s been a bumpy road. I have strong memories of Gnome devs explaining to users how wrong they were to dislike Nautilus’s awful spatial mode. And when that guy refused to implement a switch off option because users were wrong to ask for it.
Now really, it’s quite functional once you’ve tweaked with gnome-tools and added vital extensions. You also have to remember useless stuff such as “Video” means “Totem”. I’ll just never understand why they don’t really care about sane defaults.
Nautilus’s awful spatial mode
I looked this up. Yeah, it’s awful, and the defense seems unhinged, really blaming people who dislike it.
except that extensions are second class citizens at best, on gnome. Some (or all, sometimes) of them will break after an update.
Care to explain what that is?
GNOME 3 introduced the current shell paradigm where you don’t really have a start menu but a variety of searches, integrated indicators, per-app desktops with a dock etc.
Before, it was far more conventional experience like Plasma/Windows/Cinnamon are now. GNOME 2 was forked to be the MATE desktop if you want to check it out.
And most importantly for me personally: they seem to disregard people using multiple windows.
I rarely work in one window, and having a large screen for only one app is pretty stupid.
Gnome feels like it’s intended for small screen devices like tablets.
What dock are you using?
Latte. I run Debian so this is Plasma 5. As I understand it, Latte doesn’t work in Plasma 6.
You don’t need special docks in KDE, its all configurable through the default desktop settings. You have enough knobs to make it look like anything.
Any chance you’ve replicated gnomes dynamic workspaces?
I’m the opposite, after plasma I went gnome
Better than any plasma experience I tried to craft myself – and it’s the default setting – so I have no reason to come back. But I still could switch, as long as cosmic is good
I love the “Windows Just No” Button :D
I recognize many of the deficiencies of Gnome but on balance I still like using it.
I never migrated from Windows or Mac desktop. I got into Linux before WIndows 95 came out and although I had used Mac and Amiga desktops I never owned one myself. I have used tiling wms and plain wms with no desktop environment and I can find my way around on Windows 11 or Mac but I don’t like either as much as Gnome. KDE generally has a better foundation thanks largely to qt but I never enjoyed using KDE. Not surprised it is very popular with the new influx of Windows refugees. To me KDE always had a slightly dated Windows look and feel to it. It is still a very solid choice ofcourse.
Gnome hate became fashionable when they moved forward from Gnome 2 and some people never shut up about it. We get it. Your favorite band aren’t teenagers anymore and decided to make an album you don’t like. It is ancient history. Just use something else guys. Plasma is pretty damn good so use it. Whats the point of a free OS if you can’t accept people want the freedom to develop and enjoy different computing experiences.
I want a simple desktop with small elements to maximize real estate for windows.
While using a top AND bottom bar on the screen. Thats exactly my humour. I am specific about that, because its what confuses me the most about many gnome distros when they so that. The vertical space is the most important one, don’t waste it with additional bars.
The dock auto hides lol
I want a simple desktop with small elements to maximize real estate for windows.
Maybe a tiling (or optionally-tiling) window manager would be a good choice then? No elements! :)
I’ve considered this in the past, and I might toy around with it in the future once I get the motivation to
ublic market⏲ center
