Weighing the less mainstream Ubuntu remixes: Including China's Kylin

Alongside the official flavors, some of Ubuntu's other remixes have new 22.04.1 versions out: Unity, Cinnamon, and Kylin. We looked at Ubuntu Unity and Ubuntu Cinnamon for their 22.04 releases not long ago. The new versions are not big changes so we're not going to re-review them so soon. The main purpose of today's update is …

[G40]

Thank you, Mr Proven

For a very interesting series. Long may it continue.

One wonders how the Linux desktop would look with more cooperating resources…

[Dr_Bingley]

Re: Thank you, Mr Proven

Not so very different, I imagine. KDE, the DE I am the most familiar with, is a mature desktop environment, and I found the same thing was true of Gnome when I used it a few years ago.

Although there are inconsistencies within the environment, this is also true of MS Windows 10/11, in spite of all the money that Microsoft has spent on redesigning the desktop since the Win8 era.

[Arkeo]

Re: Thank you, Mr Proven

I agree, 11 is a total disaster, but funnily enough Liam mentions 7 and 10, the best versions since the NT days... When time comes for an upgrade I'll spend a couple of extra days trying out different versions...

BTW, I only have little familiarity with KDE, but between Kubuntu and Neon I'd go with Neon, plain vanilla, no strange stuff installed...

[Arkeo]

Re: Thank you, Mr Proven

The Nemesis of the Linux world, everyone reinvents the wheel, *every single time*... :(

[Liam Proven]

Re: Thank you, Mr Proven

Yes indeed. That was the point of this article:

https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/17/linux_desktop_feature/

[Arkeo]

Re: Thank you, Mr Proven

Wow, very nice! I missed it when it was published -- a very fascinating read...

[unimaginative]

Some of us like theming, and I like being able to customise the desktop even more. Gnome sounds like it is becoming unbearable. It has been going this way for a long time though. It looks like it is increasingly aimed at corporate buyers rather than geek users. People who do not care about theming or customisation, who want to reduce support costs but do want support contracts/licences, and minimise training costs too.

The article contains another link to the article that claims (entirely wrongly) that Linux desktops all look Windows 95. The fact that the author does not change themes or default config explains this.

Enlightenment is an excellent, and very different, lightweight DE so I look forward to seeing what Budgie do with it.

That said, I choose a desktop for functionality and configurability rather than bling or initial config. I like being able to configure it so I have what I want on screen at a glance (e.g.. time and stats widgets) or at a click (clipboard, switch desktop, some shortcuts etc.) without take up a lot of screen space and eliminating the unnecessary (no need for a taskbar/icon bar/whatever) when you can use the keyboard or "present windows" or a few other things to switch between applications.

[Arkeo]

Hi, I agree -- there's been a paradigm shift when GNOME 3 came out. They wanted something extremely vertical, Apple-like, now they have and it they have to live with that (GNOME 3 does *not* even have a Desktop, because so it's been chosen by the gods and we mortals can't say anything about it, for goodness' sake).

And as you said a Win95-like experience is by no means a 'plus'... I've been following Enlightenment since its very beginnings but never actually used it, I *do* hope to try it out and be pleasantly surprised! :)

[Liam Proven]

You are wrong, as I explained here:

https://www.theregister.com/Print/2013/06/03/thank_microsoft_for_linux_desktop_fail/

Refute, with dated citations, my points about the Win95 functionality, not its theme, and then I will consider to the rest.