Ultimate Guide to Linux desktop environments

Ultimate Guide to Linux desktop environments

Last year, Bryan Lunduke, a veteran Linux supporter of the Network World website, set a goal for himself, that is to say, I went deep into various Linux desktop systems and used it for at least one week to complete my work and personal computing tasks. Then I recorded his experiences in the Linux Tycoon blog.

Finally, he wrote ten evaluation reports, and we collected and sorted out the content so that everyone could draw conclusions from different desktop environments through today's articles. Of course, you are also welcome to use this article as a reference for those who have not yet experienced the Linux Desktop System.

Pantheon of elementary OS

First, you need to clarify that this evaluation report is for the Pantheon desktop environment rather than elementary OS.

However, this environment is indeed a surprise to our evaluation expert. Pantheon stands out from the competition by virtue of its concise and elegant user experience. For example, Bryan realized the true meaning of the word "practical" in its application initiator:

"This app starter is not intended to act as a music player, nor does it keep searching for users on Amazon.com. It is just to do its own job, help users find and start the desired application, and then completely disappear into our sight. At present, most desktop environments (including Linux and other operating system types) suffer from severe function expansion syndrome, which leads to slow system running and even a series of bugs ...... We can call this kind of solution a 'trouble' operating system. However, Pantheon has no such problems. In the Pantheon environment, every design step exactly meets the user's usage expectations ...... There are no other redundancy settings. This outstanding feature covers all of its default applications, including system settings, text editors, and video players ."

Its application starter is just a microcosm of the entire environment, but it is enough to highlight the prominent style of Pantheon. This OS is easy to learn and use, bryan recommends it to new Linux users who have never been familiar with Linux systems before, or Linux experts who have long-term experience but want to quickly and efficiently achieve specific operation objectives.

Ubuntu Unity

In this evaluation, Bryan needs to face the Linux desktop environment, which once forced him to turn to another alternative solution-Unity. This environment imposes many restrictions on customization, especially prohibiting users from moving the dock from the left of the screen to another location, which forces Bryan to embrace other system environments.

After returning to the Unity platform, Bryan found that its availability was greatly improved, both in terms of speed and reliability. Although he still insists that Unity does not feel as fast as other environments-such as Enlightenment and MATE-he acknowledges that this speed difference is not intolerable, it will not cause frequent crashes in the use process. It is particularly worth mentioning that the Unity Dash function that provides tag groups to start applications or access target files is indeed very practical.

However, user-defined restrictions and poor design (at least compared with GNOME Shell and elementary OS) are still deeply plagued by Bryan. He did not explicitly state that Unity is a good environment, but stressed that Unity may be quite limited to users who prefer to stick to their Linux desktop environments.

ChromeOS with Aura and ASH

This evaluation does not intend to use Chromebook as the user's preferred PC device-although Bryan has previously made such an attempt-rather than simply recording that he is running the Aura hardware accelerated Display System and Aura Shell on ChromeOS (ASH) the actual feeling of the desktop environment.

ASH is widely regarded as a set of outstanding desktop system standards because it allows users to manage windows and has a "very traditional" navigation bar Design for application access operations. Its navigation bar is on the right hand side of the screen. It includes status indicators for functions such as volume adjustment and Bluetooth switch, and is "extremely obvious and intuitive" in terms of simplicity ". The following describes how Bryan evaluates the overall usage of the environment:

"This is where ASH is the most brilliant feature-convenient and exquisite. It provides users with ample functional options to start the desired application (or open the web page), and after the task is completed, 'Let's go '. The entire process is extremely fast and elegant ."

When talking about the applicable audience of ChromeOS, Bryan says it is very suitable for users who want to easily find and start the target application in their desktop systems, in addition, the system boot mechanism will completely hide itself after the application is started. For this reason, Bryan said he would consider the environment as one of the best operating systems he has ever used.

The only downside is that ASH cannot process Linux applications running in a standard desktop environment, such as Gimp and LibreOffice. With this capability, Bryan thinks it is likely to be the preferred Operating System for daily use.

Android is the desktop environment

After a one-week test of ChromeOS, Bryan entered the new field of Android desktop.

In its default settings, there is a set of options that can be regarded as an important highlight and may cause a serious drag, depending on the type of the device you are using. Android uses a single window interface, which means that users who always use a single application in full screen mode can improve work efficiency, that is to say, they will not be distracted by the existence of multiple windows or labels.

However, if you need to use two applications at the same time, this setting will be extremely frustrating or even violent-for example, you want to input data to another workbook while reading one document. Bryan also found that every time he receives an instant message, he needs to start a full-screen communication interface, which is really unbearable.

In general, Bryan admitted that as long as the above short board can be overcome, users will find that "Android is actually a desktop environment with excellent availability, easy to learn, flexible operations, and relatively good appearance ".

LXDE

Although this desktop environment is worthy of the "fast" rating and "extremely lightweight design", Bryan still believes that it lacks the core highlights necessary to catch the customer's eye.

This is not to say that LXDE lacks practicality-Bryan said that its default appearance and usage experience are indeed "poor"; its file manager is perfect in file management, but its design style is somewhat outdated; the interface uses "basic style of General desktop environment ".

To sum up, the above factors are enough to make LXDE a practical desktop environment, especially for users who do not pay too much attention to the design effect. And, as Bryan said, LXDE may "be the best fit for compatibility with lightweight resource devices such as Raspberry Pi that primarily targets education ."

Cinnamon

It should be pointed out that Bryan once made a severe criticism on the Cinnamon system, saying that it was "A waste of time ". However, this evaluation has changed Bryan's opinion. Although "there are still no bright spots to be overjoyed", this desktop environment is "really amazing ".

From the traditional user experience perspective, Cinnamon has nothing to stand out from other desktop environments-including Linux and Windows. However, using Cinnamon does help Bryan make full use of its advantages.

I found that after using it for about a week ...... I began to like this system environment. Its appearance and usage are exquisite. I rarely encounter errors during use (even if there is a negative bug ...... Most of them are irrelevant issues), and their performance-even if not surprisingly-is at least "very abundant ". I have never found myself waiting for the response from Cinnamon. When I click an object, it can respond immediately. Very good, very powerful.

The system provides a wide range of configuration options. It covers almost Some customized content that can enrich user experience in various aspects, including shortcut buttons such as closing, downgrading, and others in the title bar. I am deeply immersed in this outstanding flexibility.

And finally won my praise.

Bryan can't help but point out the similarities between it and MATE. He believes that the two can go hand in terms of running speed and lightweight features. However, he is still cheering for the excellent performance of the Cinnamon Development Team, saying that it has created a "high quality and glorious desktop environment.

Ratpoison

Please read the evaluation comments provided by Bryan and determine his mental journey in the week with ratpoison on his own:

Generally, I will post articles to share my experiences after the entire experience process is over. But this time I really cannot. I believe everyone can see that ...... It really upset me. No, it's not enough to express my feelings. My little heart is filled with anger or hate, just as burning down the sun in one thousand. The evil operating system should be sent to the Hague International Court of Justice to receive its due trial on crimes against humanity.

First of all, those who are used to the traditional keyboard and mouse operations will certainly not be able to stand the design, because ratpoison only supports keyboard control (so they get the ratpoison name, which means "rat killer '). Bryan found that simply using the shortcut key combination for operations is like suddenly inserting people into the construction machinery on the construction site, the huge contrast is simply impossible to start. What's even more frightening is that this system environment does not provide clear and detailed shortcut key operation instructions.

Therefore, ratpoison is worth a try for those who are willing to experience the hard work without a mouse in a desktop environment. But if you don't have the patience to say goodbye to it, ask Bryan's suggestion.

KDE Plasma

As a resource-intensive system environment, KDE Plasma indeed exceeded Bryan's expectation in terms of speed and performance-but its poor visual design was disappointing.

KDE Plasma 4.13 is highly praised for its response speed, it is widely believed that the performance is far better than the original version-at least on a 8 GB laptop (according to Bryan's speculation, the speedometer may shrink on devices with low memory capacity ).

However, some of the default mechanisms in the design are still very frustrating, from the default "Flash" effect in the activity window to blank areas of unknown significance in the toolbar, such. This environment can be customized, but the small issues at the above design level make it completely farewell to the Evaluation of "Excellent user experience.

Awesome

Awesome appears to be a desktop system tailored for Bryan-a lightweight and easy-to-use environment that provides a wide range of custom options.

However, this customization capability makes our evaluation experts feel a bit confused. Awesome uses the Lua programming language in its functional components and themes. It is a powerful language, but it requires a lot of work to create its own customized components. In this experiment, Comrade Bryan suffered many ups and downs, which eventually caused him to completely delete all faulty functional components.

But after deleting it, Bryan found that Awesome finally presented its own practical side. Therefore, in essence, awesome can be an outstanding desktop system for users who are confident and capable of playing Lua programming language-and even those who intend to enjoy out-of-the-box convenience-but from a layman's perspective, it is indeed too difficult to use.

Enlightenment (E17)

The first in this series of evaluation reports is for E17, which is also the second young version of the Enlightenment family. The reason why E17 is selected is that it is more stable than E18, which is still in the development stage.

Bryan found that the design and layout of the E17 system was "very gorgeous" and pointed out in the evaluation that the system could respond well when he was using a touch screen device. In addition, E17 also provides a set of "most eye-catching terminals" solutions. Its level can be described as the absolute king of all competitors so far, and its performance in startup is extremely fast.

E17 also promises to provide a variety of custom functions, but Bryan has encountered some obstacles in this regard. He was annoyed by the need to adjust the window size through "an incredible small area in the lower right corner" and decided to modify the theme. However, it turns out that this work is extremely difficult and he can only choose one from other available topics.

These problems exposed in the evaluation work seem irrelevant, but this is indeed an important factor worth careful consideration for those who are willing to customize the system environment.

Original article title: Ultimate Guide to Linux Desktop Environments

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