Favourite features of favourite DE
In another thread SuperTramp83 asked me:
what is it exactly you like about [cinnamon] that you miss in other DEs?
(https://trisquel.info/en/forum/cinnamon-again#comment-110655)
That's a good question and I decided to make a new thread on this topic, to share amongst fellow trisqueleers: Which are our favourite features of our favourite DEs?
I suppose I have a rather simple use case. And I suppose my favourites belong to the quite low end features, in the sense that I just do basic stuff.
The reasons I keep coming back to cinnamon is
* application search bar
* when scrolling applications in the menu of a category (e.g. accessories) you can scroll infinitely op or down. This means that if you are scrolling for the last application in that list, you don't have to scroll all the way down, just a little up.
* There is a menu point to open recently used applications or documents
* In my case I have found it much easier to access and work with e.g. network management
* Easy to customise
These are some of my favourite features of my favourite DE. What are yours?
These features are also available in GNOME Shell, but I like simplicity and speed, then I prefer MATE and Xfce (Gnome Fallback is OK too).
I tested Cinammon, and it looks very great! It has some similarities with KDE.
I have never tried KDE.
[Cinnamon] has some similarities with KDE
Do you mean in looks or functions?
In looks only. I know that KDE has very more functions than Cinammon. I recommend it if you have at least 4GB RAM, but with 2GB should work too.
I would have said LXDE a few years ago, but I've come to like Window Maker a bit more. I like the clip, the configuration software, the low RAM and CPU usage, the stability, etc. LXDE is a close second though (as I type this from Trisquel Mini's LXDE)!
I like MATE. Here is Why:
1) It is simple. Just do what it has to do.
2) I don't care about the look of DE.
3) It's lightweight. Quite clean and smooth.
4) Looks like Gnome 2. Witch I loved, before the whole story that we all heard about it plenty of times.
5) It hardly will cause you any trouble, although it won't be so beautiful and feature rich as the other DE's. But, it is being quite improved latter. I don't really care thought.
From my own list
* when scrolling applications in the menu of a category (e.g. accessories) you can scroll infinitely op or down. This means that if you are scrolling for the last application in that list, you don't have to scroll all the way down, just a little up.
This is not true (any more?)
I am a translator!
Xfce, no doubt. I fell in love with it when I first installed Xubuntu a few years ago. Its clean and intuitive interface and the sexyness. I fell in love even more when my old powerful laptop died and I got me an old second hand one with very limited resources. The performance compared to anything other (well, besides LXDE) is incredible on old hardware. Also, the stability of the system, never a crash, never a bug. I have been using it exclusively for almost 2 years now, I don't plan to switch. It might be that I am a lot more familiar with it than with anything else, but really I find it so easy to customize and you can change everything to suit your needs.
Sure, I'm biased though, I need to point out that in general as far as software goes, I tend to value minimalism and lightness above everything else. LXDE is good but it's not as functional and complete (at least it wasn't for me last time I tried it). My second favorite would be MATE.
P.S: Can we also have a "what's the worst DE you ever used?"
I'm thinking Unity right now, the tablet DE. :)
I also would say unity is the worst DE I ever experienced.
Ah, got it.
When entering one or few letters in the search bar, a list of possible destinations appear. In the list I can move the curser up as well as down. Such little details matter to me.
I am a translator!
>waste all that power on dancing icons and cube thingies that make me so sick to my stomach I can't even read that text file or remember what I was going to type into the terminal when it finally opens?
:'D
Well, no surprise here, but I like i3wm. Why? Because:
-it's keyboard driven. I can forget about the mouse for most tasks
- the config file is plain text (with some specific syntax), not a complex programming language (though it's needed to be aware of hidden space or other unwanted characters etc.)
- Mostly no icons or complex theming to take care of.
- dmenu (though I added xfce appfinder to visualize a standard menu when needed. It also works with keyboard only).
- Tiling. I rarely resize windows, putting two windows side-by-side is automatic. I can switch to floating a window when tiling isn't so practical.
Else, for use with a mouse, I like Openbox with tint2 (the way Crunchbang was configured, basically). I liked :
- the classic menu than can be opened from anywhere on the screen.
- Easier to make it look nice (less clutter/useless stuff)
- also very lightweight
But now it's i3wm.
Most of the features can be found in the other DEs with some plugin maybe.
But the best thing about i3wm is nearly no mouse use by default. And lightness/minimalism one step further than XFCE/LXDE.
The idea of this thread is not to discuss specific DEs.
The title expresses the intention quite well: What are the specific FEATURES, i.e. functions, that you like about your DE.
Thanks to those of you who posted yours.
OK- The things I like in a DE are:
*Low computing power consumption
*Minimal electricity consumption
*A Microsoft Windows 95-XPish feel
*Easy configuration (i.e. GUI or at least Curses-based)