Trying Plasma for a bit to see how green the grass is as a longtime Gnome user. The last time I ran Plasma on my main desktop was version 5.11, I think? It’s been a while…
Plasma is so good nowadays compared to some years ago. I remember suffering a lot in those early times too.
I love plasma. For the longest time there was just something that felt off about it and I could never get into it.
Once I started using it with the steam deck I fell in love with it. Whatever visually thing irked me was gone and it’s such a good looking DE.
I have a colleague, who’s super deep down the Linux rabbit hole and he always ran GNOME. I was never quite sure, if he actually prefers it, or if he just does not care, because he’s doing most things in a terminal anyways.
Recently, our IT department made a change, which accidentally switched him over to KDE. He could easily switch back, but he’s been checking KDE out instead, and yeah, it’s been super interesting.
He definitely has some of that GNOME workflow baked into him. For example, under GNOME you can use Alt + the key above Tab to switch between windows of the same application. In KDE, that shortcut exists, but the default keybinding isn’t exactly usable.
Another minor complaint was, for example, that using Meta + arrow-keys doesn’t move windows between screens automatically when you press it repeatedly. That’s a separate shortcut under KDE, with Meta + Shift + arrow-keys.
EDIT: Apparently, I misunderstood him, his complaint was that Meta + Shift + arrow-keys moves the window between screens in a weird way. It just picks some kind of order for the screens and then goes between them as previous/next, even though you press the left/right arrow keys. There even is the more appropriate shortcut key for left/right, but it’s just not the default binding.
Meta + arrow-keys does work for moving windows between screens.
He’s aware that he may need to relearn some of his workflow, but yeah, will have to see, if he sticks to it. His emotions are nigh impossible to read, unfortunately. 🙃
To clarify, those are the default keybindings, but you can change them to match your needs or expectations. I like the alt tilde for windows within a program switching, it works fairly well though I have not set it up on my current machine yet.
Yea, my sister, for example, had changed all keybinds in GNOME to be the same as they are in macOS
Lol, about that, while changing keybinding on spectacle (kde app to take screenshots/screenrecording) seemed to work, changing key bindings to launch keepass, somehow de-activated the key
y. I noticed that rebooting fixed it, until I pressed any keybind (even ctrl+c). I had to reset the keybindings.Not sure exactly what is going on, but I noticed that if I opened discord it would type
ycontinously whenywas disabled.Somehow this happened again with
xwhen I launched outerwilds and discord.Very weird bug, but I was too busy setting up linux to report it. I’m just being a bit hesitant to change any system keybind now😆
Woah, that is wild, I hope you did some bug reporting about that, for something to go so insanely wrong it would have to be a fairly bad bug but also hard to find. Cool trick though, “Check this out, Copy ate my Y key, I am without purpose!”
I didnt report that bug cuz I ~just had installed nixos on my laptop and wanted to get things working again (it was some tedious 4 days after ~4months of preparation).
Once I get enough time again (now that my system seems stable enough), I might play around and try to file a proper report(s).
(There was also another issue with file associations preventing kde apps from exporting to some types of files, like png, jpg etc. I had set some file associations, differrent from the default and somehow it caused that bug. Check the step 13. in my guide if you want more info.)
Good comment ! I laughed at “the key above Tab”. So useless nobody remembers caps lock. Do we need an international caps lock day ?
Well, caps lock is below the tab key (still useless tho). The key above is the weird backtick or tilde key.
Thanks for correcting me !
Yeah, I specifically wrote “the key above tab”, because on our German keyboard the ^ is there, but it’s still the same keybinding, so presumably GNOME determines it based on key location rather than the produced symbol.
Until you remap it in Plasma. You can actually do things with it then.
I have changed them to pretty much like how windows has it.
man, I love the workflow of meta-arrow switches desktops, and meta-shift-arrow takes your current window with you.
Is that the default on GNOME? I happen to have the same workflow configured on KDE, except I use WASD instead of arrow keys. 🙃
not sure of it’s the default, but I change Gnome or KDE to that. I think it’s KDE’s default.
. For example, under GNOME you can use Alt + the key above Tab to switch between windows of the same application. In KDE, that shortcut exists, but the default keybinding isn’t exactly usable.
KDE’s shortcut key options are endlessly customizable. I’d be shocked if you couldn’t get this functionality after like 30 seconds of tinkering.
Oh yeah, we did find out right then and there how to set it like in GNOME. But well, you know how it is, if there’s potentially dozens of these tiny differences, then finding the correct customization does become tedious and there is a chance of some things just not being configurable in quite the same way.
So went frivolous, and installed KDE after years of Xfce.
Wierd interactions everywhere, ctrl f4 doesn’t close windows, the terminal is called “Konsole” lol
Would not recommend, i m going back.
alt+f4 closes windows, like it did in Windows. Where does ctrl+f4 come from?
Even in Xfce ALT+F4 closes windows. Maybe bro changed it at some point and forgot about it
And the RAM usage!
XFCE for life!
Lol ram usage. If you are trying to split hairs between KDE at about 800 mb and XFCE at 400 mb when a browser is going to hit you for at least a gig these days, I am not sure it matters that much.
Funny thing, I used Xfce pretty much everywhere. When I recently had a work laptop I tried KDE seriously for the first time ever, and I was like, oh, this is just a sensible desktop nowadays.
Clearly meant for nice hardware though. Sometimes a bit slow on my Raspberry Pi 4. Might switch back. But otherwise, no complaints.
Just looks like windows to me and I don’t want it
Just change the theme, no?
Yes, but unlike some others, Plasma allows and encourages you to rearrange it to your heart’s content. Mine looks nothing like Windows.
Share?
Dude. You can make that shit look like Amiga if you want. Whatever floats your boat.
Look like Amiga Workbench sure but certainly not feel like it.
Just looks like windows to me […]
That’s because Windows copied KDE Plasma, obviously. /j
The Windows 11 look was basically stolen from Plasma’s breeze theme. But obviously 30 years ago the story was different.
Even the win11 tagline lol
I’ve got mine set up to run somewhat like OS X, since I like the top bar and the disappearing dock. Modern Plasma is very customizable and easy to customize.
This right here plasma is literally anything you want it to be. And I’m a pop os guy.
Ironically, so is Gnome (unlike I used to think). I’ve been toying with setting up an OSX-like experience in both via VMs, and they each have pros and cons, as it turns out.
its very customizable, not just in appearance.
I’m tired of fighting GNOME 3 to make it feel like GNOME 2. My next reinstall is going to be KDE. I just want a traditional desktop metaphor. 😩 Next major overhaul Kubuntu here I come!
You don’t even need to reinstall. You can have both at the same time and chose one or the other at each login.
Check out Cinnamon for that GNOME 2 feeling.
Yeah if you’re looking for a traditional/Windows-like metaphor, you’re WAY better off with Plasma than trying to wrestle Gnome into that shape.
There is always Cinnamon for you.
Or MATE.
Kubuntu has always been a buggy mess for me, might not be the best way to judge Plasma. Unfortunately, I think that’s where people develop their poor opinion of it from.
Gnome 3 is long dead.
It is now gnome 40+
And it’s still confining unless you add buggy addons that often crash after an update.
Nah, I think if you’re on e.g. Debian oldstable you could still be on Gnome 3. That’s not “long dead”.
Old stable is going EOL fairly soon.
Maybe not long dead but it is long past its prime.
I’ve never been a real plasma user (played around with it sure but never more than a week or something) and have been using GNOME since ~3.10 the whole workflow is just ingrained in my mind and simply works. So I’d be happy to hear how you’re doing on Plasma even if I don’t see myself switching anytime soon.
Got used to the Steam OS Desktop on my steam deck. I used Ubuntu a decade ago and went with Kubuntu on my gaming rig which won’t support windows 11 but I wanted the same desktop like my steam deck.
More than 6 months and no regrets. Since 24.10 you even get wayland natively. Even my old NVIDIA 1080 Ti works good.
I last tried KDE when it was KDE3. Then Gnome, xfce, and finally settling on i3/sway
But I got given an old Windows tablet so decided I’d see what is usable as a tablet and I was pleasantly surprised by KDE.
So much so, I’ve ostree-rebased all my machines to it.
The tiling could be better (and it sounds like it was, then wasn’t?), but it’s passable. And simple stuff actually seems to work. Unlike the gnome+sway kludge I have now.
What is this place?
Windows minus Microsoft BS.
Windows
Take that back… /s
How is it??
I last used it a little while back but there were some issues with polish. I’d like to come back and check it out again now that there’s been a major update if I remember right
I love the GNOME user experience and apps (I know many don’t, that’s fine) but don’t so much love the way GNOME as a project often struggles to play nicely with others 😅
How is it? Well it feels like an environment where developers actually care about users. I love it.
Happy for y’all! I’ll have to give it a try again sometime soon
I’m amazed by the level of polish overall, I’ve encountered very little jankiness that used to be super common with Plasma when I last tried it. Plasma feels like a really mature desktop now, which is awesome. I’m running Plasma 6.2 at the moment, and I think 6.3 is right around the corner as well.
My problems so far are more subjective. Gnome may be a very opinionated desktop, but I happen to agree with most of its opinions. Gnome’s workspaces feature is miles better than Plasma’s virtual desktops, which feel tacked on in comparison. I’m still trying to tinker with this to make it work for me, but honestly this seems like the thing that will push me back to Gnome if I don’t find a workflow I like.
KDE obviously has more features overall though, HDR support happens to be the one that I’m interested in at the moment since I’ve been toying with the idea of buying a new monitor.
As a long time KDE user I have to agree with you.
I hated the turn things took from Gnome3 onwards but I really like the “workspaces per demand” feature of it. It makes much more sense than having a static number of virtual desktops.
Though I concede KDE did not do much about virtual desktops but concentrated on activities instead - but it seems like with Plasma 6 they are backpedalling on that as it would require integration from everyone, most of all non KDE apps to make it make sense.
Do not even get me started on not being able to set a different wallpaper for each virtual desktop.
I recall there was a kwin script somewhere to emulate the dynamic virtual desktops thing, but that would be much better if it was an upstream feature.
Plasma’s Activities are more like workspaces than virtual desktop is.
I think the Internet would be a better place if people would give a reason to why they believe something.
That way people could get a bit more informed about the subject and make rational decisions based on nuance.
Virtual desktop doesn’t segregate running applications and all the rest of the things you can configure in Activites like wallpapers and themes. I much prefer it for organizing my, well, activities when I have a bunch of tasks on the go. I can run an activity for coding that’s distinctly different from personal tasks and I don’t see the programs in the task list from other activities.
It’s almost like running another plasmashell on an alternate TTY but I can move running applications between Activities or have them show up in multiple Activities, or always have them open on a certain Activity that I’ve dedicated to that app. And I can distinguish between them easily at a glance because I might have an entirely different Global Theme,
panelsand widgets applied to that ActivityProtip: set a shortcut for switching activities to Meta-Tab and it makes it way more likely to use.
Better?
the things I wanted to do required a non-standard dock (latte?), but made activities so much nicer.
my dock only had icons on it that reflected the current activity, my backgrounds were different, all the tools for the specific activity that I was doing were immediately available, but weren’t cluttering up the dock when I switched to other activities.
activities really are sweet, I’m sad to hear KDE is backpedaling on them.
That said, I’ve been using Gnome because the blended workflow of interacting with desktops, searching for applications, and working with open applications in the overview is just as sweet as it comes.
Well, they haven’t let it go yet, I think it really just takes people keeping up usage and following up bug reports. Latte dock wrapping up did put a wrench in things, because panels aren’t Activity unique, unfortunately. You might be able to bodge something with widgets that works since those are per-activity still.
And I just can’t swing Gnome, there’s so many things about it that piss me off within minutes of booting into it. If Plasma went away tomorrow, I’d probably have to make do with XFCE or Mate.
Better?
By far.
We have fixed the internet.
I haven’t really used them since I don’t have any reason to, but perhaps Plasma’s “activities” would be a better substitute for workspaces?
I believe there’s an extension for plasma to automatically create and destroy desktops based on need like gnome but I haven’t used it.
Thats honestly really exciting to hear, I’m curious to give it another try again. No idea if I’ll ever switch from GNOME, but it makes me happy to see the project doing well
i hadn’t used kde (on my own systems) in over twenty years. i downloaded a bunch of ISOs over the last month or so, mainly looking to see what installs easiest and runs best on some old systems here. among them were several with plasma 6.
one of those kinda ‘stuck’ in my head and i had to go back through several until i ‘found’ it again. been messing around with it now for a couple weeks trying to figure out what i’d want for a ‘working’ setup. might just end up switching one of my ‘working’ desktops over.
been meaning to try it again forever now
Definitely worth a try, especially if it’s been a few years since you’ve last played with it.
I’ve been wanting to, it’s good to hear this vote in favor.
KDE + Arch is such a great combo. I’m using it on a 10yo laptop (though admittedly it’s a rather beefy lappy for it’s gen, a 2014 ZBook g2, with 32 GB ram)
KDE can be slow on lower spec devices but it is so great to use and it was trivially easy to alter keyboard shortcuts, default application, startup behavior, etc.
KDE can be slow on lower spec devices
Not any slower than anything else. KDE is surprisingly light for all it does. I am using it on a laptop with an Intel N processor and 4gb ram. I also use it on modern stuff, but it works better than gnome and about equal to xfce on this old hardware.
Yeah I used to do consumer computer recycling and the really old laptops that were not worth a Windows reseller’s license we would just slap Linux on I tested just about every de out there and plasma was shockingly fast on some of these ancient Celeron laptops. Gnome was like molasses, I’ve never understood where people get the idea of the plasma is heavy
The couple of times I have decided to switch to Plasma I somehow get pulled back to GNOME. Like, I tried out earlier Plasma 5 on my system76 laptop and then s76 announced Pop!_OS. Then I tried again when I came across Nitrux which was essentially a heavily customized Plasma. Then I got a Librem 5 which uses phosh, based on GNOME.
I really liked it though, and have thought about trying Plasma Mobile.
I just installed plasma and I love it. I have no experience with it before this year.
