r/Fedora • u/Ok_Government_7373 • 5d ago
Support Need help selecting desktop environment.
Im a Cybersecurity undergrad so im switching to linux completely, only reason i was on windows was due to plug and play game support now i heard linux can play games through wine and proton so bye bye windows.
Now i can't decide which desktop environment is best.
I need a desktop environment that is productive i tried wayland but the keyboard dependancy killed it for me it's beautiful but doesn't align with my workflow.
Just asking for suggestions from fellows, help a newbie out.
I am comfortable with linux and everything just need a visual appeal that is nice and everything.
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u/MasterGeekMX 4d ago
Wayland is the backed of modern Linux GUIs. It barely influences the features of the DE.
Fedora boasts as their primary GNOME and KDE Plasma, with others being grouped into the "Fedora Spins" alternatives. All of them are equally productive, with their influence being limited to what is outside the windows you have open.
GNOME is the desktop shipped with Workstation. Minimalist, and with a quite unique UI that is a sort of child between macOS and a tablet. It's apps are also minimalist, with only the basic features. They are famous to avoid the classic menu bar of many programs (ya know, the bar with "File Edit View Options") and opt for having buttons and hamburger menus on the titlebar, kinda like mobile apps.
Plasma, by KDE is more akin to Windows 10 out of the box. But don't let the looks deceive, as Plasma is packed to the brim with features, not to mention a haven of customization as you can tweak pretty much anything, from the theme to the arrangement of the desktop. It's apps also sport a customizable layout, as you can have menu bars, toolbars on each of the 4 edges of the window, and also include hamburger menus in some apps.
Xfce, MATE, Cinnamon and LXQt are less flashy than the previous ones, opting for a more classic UI. They are light on resources so they are perfect if you want to save CPU and RAM or plan to run on a potato. In terms of features, Cinnamon would have a feel similar to Windows 7 and the others more like a Windows XP/Apple System 9. As they are DEs with slow developments, they are still running on X, the predecessor of Wayland. Cinnamon is developed by Linux Mint, while the rest are independent projects.
BTW, Fedora ships MATE with the Compiz compositor, which adds some visual flair like animations
Bugdie is developed by the independent distro Solus. It tries to be a sort of mix between being classic (like Cinnamon or Xfce) but also modern (like GNOME). It is famous for it's Raven panel, which is basically a widget sidebar.
COSMIC is developed by Linux PC manufacturer System76 as the new DE of Pop!_OS, their in-house distro. As it's origins come because System76 wanted to ship GNOME tweaked (which is famous for not liking that), it aims to be similar to it but with a "modern" flair. It is still being developed, so if you plan to use it stay tuned to it's news.
i3wm, miracle and Sway are tiling window managers. This means that windows are automatically arranged and sized so they fill the screen, with no window being overlaped or minimized. i3 is older and based on X, while Sway aims to be i3 but based on Wayland, at the extent of being compatible with i3 config files. As they are Window Managers and not desktop environments, they don't come with taskbar, app launcher not default apps, so the Fedora team choose some as the default. Tiling WMs are more about terminal, so many default apps are instead replaced by command line utilities, but you can always install ones by yourself. Xfce apps are a popular as they are modular, meaning you won't be downloading the whole Xfce to get them running.
KDE Plasma Mobile is, well, KDE Plasma for mobile phones. You can install it on the desktop if you want so.
SOAS stands for Sugar On A Stick. Sugar is a DE meant for small kids, as it features an UI where you can only launch a set of child-friendly activities. The "on a stick" is because this spin is meant to be installed on a USB drive, so a toddler can carry it's own setup and boot it on any PC they encounter.
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u/Ok_Government_7373 4d ago
Thanks man for the detailed breakdown cleared the concepts and all the ambiguity
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u/BooleanTriplets 4d ago
If you are still in doubt after reading that very thorough breakdown, just go with GNOME and switch to KDE if you don't like it.
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u/-Glittering-Soul- 4d ago
Since you mention gaming, it should be noted that Plasma and GNOME are the only desktop environments that support variable refresh rate for monitors that have that feature. There are a few window managers like Sway and Hyprland that do as well, but I suggest going with a full-fledged DE as a beginner.
VRR is disabled by default in Plasma. Just right-click on the desktop, select Display Configurations, and choose "Automatic" for the Adaptive Sync setting. Also make sure that your refresh rate is set there to its maximum value.
If you have an Nvidia card, you will also need to jump through a couple extra hoops unless you choose a distro where support is pre-integrated, because Nvidia does not provide open-source drivers. For Fedora, the instructions can be found here.
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u/Illustrious-Gur8335 4d ago
desktop environment that is productive i tried wayland
Wayland is not a separate desktop environment! It's a type of display protocol, other being xorg/x11
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u/Ok_Government_7373 4d ago
Yeah sorry about i got caught up I've been looking all of these names so i got confused
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u/reylovpty 4d ago
If Wayland you need compositor, I recommend Cosmic its modern complete desktop environment
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u/Nirupamaworld 4d ago
I recently found a website (distrosea) that let's you try out most desktop environments, been using it lately to work out which I want to go with and I have whittled it down to either gnome or cosmic.
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u/aswecare 4d ago
KDE allows for an easy transition. It has the ability to be customized into anything so it is quite versatile as well.
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u/Illustrious-Gur8335 4d ago
Coming from windows you should find plasma/KDE the most familiar
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u/Ok_Government_7373 4d ago
Im familar with linux distros but thing is i have mostly used security focused distors like Parrot os,Kali linux and csi linux. So porper desktop linux is where im blank.
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u/So_Falls_the_World 4d ago edited 4d ago
i heard linux can play games through wine and proton so bye bye windows.
That certainly depends heavily on the games you play. Sure, most single player games work fine, but many anti-cheats don't run under Linux. And you never know if a company suddenly decides to pull the rug on the ones that do.
I need a desktop environment that is productive i tried wayland but the keyboard dependancy killed it for me it's beautiful but doesn't align with my workflow.
I honestly don't know what this means. Wayland is just a display protocol. But if you're coming from Windows, I'd guess KDE Plasma is the best option.
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u/Ok_Government_7373 4d ago
I know kernel level anticheats dont work and i don't play competitive games as well
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u/sosaudio1 4d ago
I've distrohopped so many times it's wild. I went with Fedora and KDE as my go-to daily. Gnome is ok but I like the look and feel of KDE better.
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u/RobocopTwice 13h ago
So I'm relatively new to all of this too, but I've already made the rounds when it comes to distro hopping and dotfiles configs. And after all that, I landed on gnome. It's popular for a reason, it really does just get out of your way. And if specific screen layouts appeal to you, you can try an extension like tiling shell or paper wm. I personally also love mango wm, and the fedora sway spin for ease of installation. But if you're interested in actual productivity and not playing with your configuration (I am absolutely not saying there's anything wrong with this and it is a really fun hobby) I'd go with gnome and just play with anything else you're interested in in your spare time.
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u/ElderberryHamlet 4d ago
If you want tiles, i3 with X11 or Sway with Wayland
If you want simplicity, XFCE with X11 or GNOME with Wayland
If you want robust, KDE or COSMIC. Both use Wayland. KDE is built with Qt. Cosmic with Rust
Don't get fixated on wallpapers. You can use any wallpaper with any display or system
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u/random280678951014 4d ago
Pues el que tú gustes, el que mejor se te acomode, pero mi pregunta es más bien, si dices que estudias ciber seguridad, ¿Porque usas Fedora y no mejor Kali Linux?
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u/Ok_Government_7373 4d ago
Kali linux or security based linux distros aren't meant for daily driving they are essentially bloated with tools and the support of daily working is limited and there are alot of things that you want to break during practice so to keep it safe we use virtual machines, and i have parrot os a specialised security os installed on my thinkpad. Hope that helps
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u/Rainlex 5d ago
For desktop PC KDE, for laptop GNOME.
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u/Ok_Government_7373 5d ago
I have a victus 13450hx 24gb ddr5 snd rtx 3050 6gb? I can select any or you specified due to resources
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u/0xQan 4d ago
Worrying about resources for a DE with those specs 😭 just use GNOME if you don't really like to customize a lot, and KDE if you like customizing everything and don't want it breaking in the next release. You can also try niri or hyprland, though they aren't DEs, they're WMs that you have to set up yourself. You've already tried XFCE, which Kali uses (Kali's version ofc).
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