Quoting: Purple Library Guy

Quoting: pleasereadthemanual

Quoting: fagnerln

Quoting: pleasereadthemanualI tried out KDE for a while due to a missing feature on GNOME, but KDE then broke a similar feature, so I went back to GNOME.

Yeah, that's exactly my experience. I really like the Gnome workflow, but because of disliking some of the dev's attitudes/opinions, and the fact that there's a lot of people hyping KDE (and now companies like Valve funding it), I keep an eye on every KDE release, but it's always the same: I try it, it breaks, I regret.

Maybe it's a "me" issue, but even on Windows, if I use it a bit, I find some bugs, even doing nothing. Gnome is just fine.

I just hope that Fedora Cosmic become a fantastic distro.

I really like GNOME, but it has a few deficiencies that are unlikely to be fixed for a very long time. I like KDE too, but the UX is not as good. In some places it's much better, but overall it's not as well-constructed. Both have bugs.

COSMIC is a great desktop. I ran it as my main desktop for a few weeks. I'd love to try it again when it's stable and has more features like support for graphics tablets and integrated input methods :)

My needs are fairly simple, so I ended up using Mate. When Mandriva died I was looking around for a bit, and found myself using Mint. At the time
--Gnome UI was weird and for me counterintuitive; they had just gone to Gnome 3, with the unofficial motto "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". So that was out.
--KDE was theoretically great with everything I could need, but wonky; whenever I tried it there always seemed to be things that annoyingly didn't work right. That was out.
--Mint's flagship Cinnamon was still kind of rough and also at the time wouldn't let me put an extra panel up the right hand side of the screen. With wide screens, I figure that's a good place for a panel; I like to put my launchers there. That was out.
--Mate was comfortable, not buggy, let me do my panel thing, felt like Gnome 2 or maybe Windows without the annoying shit and with better customization. Went with that. Since then, has never gotten in my way so I've stuck with it.

If I had to decide today, the state of various desktops is way different, so don't know where I might have ended up.

Which is no coincidence, since MATE is the continuation of GNOME 2.

I got my start in Linux-land with MATE, Ubuntu MATE to be exact.
Initially from finding it to be the better available desktop when playing around with a Raspberry Pi.
Then once I got an ancient netbook going again to have something not as awful as my school iPad, I went with Ubuntu MATE since I was somewhat familiar with it.
Ended up sticking with it for 3 years, also on my new laptop where I did not like how Linux Mint Cinnamon (nor it's factory Windows 10) felt and worked.

Though as Ubuntu's snaps doubled the boot time of that machine, I started trying different things again, switching to GNOME 3 for a bit as I figured it would work well with a drawing tablet.
Which it did not, along with relying on extensions that break on every major update and the new UI design not being to my preference, modern GNOME is not for me.

So on my desktop I ran XFCE for a bit, which was quite good if a bit basic and the only animation being an annoyingly delayed panel auto-hide.
It's panels being both less and more versatile than MATE's in differing ways, despite being similar.
Stuck to that for a short while on my desktop, while keeping the heavily tweaked GNOME 4X I got working to my needs on my laptop.

After getting a Steam Deck and finding out how stable Plasma had gotten, I quickly gave it another spin on my desktop.
And while before it was too buggy for my needs, the later 5.2X releases have gotten very polished, ran those with a Windows 7-esque theming.
Then transitioned to Garuda Linux's MacOS like lay-out on both my machines, since theming aside I prefer it.
This lay-out has stuck to this day for me, though I revert it to resemble an older version of Garuda's layout and occasionally change the theming.
It works way better than GNOME 3/4X when operated with a drawing tablet too, something I was a bit afraid of when moving my laptop over.

And with Plasma 6.1 it has gotten to the point where I currently only consider KDE Plasma for general usage and find it polished enough to almost universally recommend.
Stretching from the MacOS like layout I run on my laptop and desktop to standard Breeze on a media PC and backup OSes.
Also moved my father over to it, who I initially got started on GNOME 4X but had to move distro due to Clear Linux having become unsuitable on desktop (still great for servers though, my home server will continue to run it).

Currently I consider TuxedoOS the distro to experience Plasma 6.1 with, if Arch Linux(/Garuda/EndeavourOS) is not a suitable option and KDE Linux/OS is not out yet or unsuitable (will be like SteamOS's desktop mode, so image based and Flatpak reliant).
Which has generally proven to be a good Ubuntu derivative for me, akin to Linux Mint but shipping more modern software and sticking closer to the base project defaults, but replacing Snaps with Flatpak by default.
This in addition to the standard repositories, to which they also added a normal Firefox packages.

Noting that Fedora KDE seems like a good option too, simply not one I have experience with.
Circling back to the subject of the article, glad to see KDE Plasma get this recognition.
Which matches my experience of 6.1 and beyond to be the best I have used yet.
And it helps people who would be put off by GNOME to give Fedora a try.

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Quoting: CanadianBlueBeerNope. ANY game that requires me to make an account with them does not get purchased.

Except for MMO type, where duh, you do NEED one.

Single player? Frack no.

Of course, I could make another new gmail acct just for them, but honestly,
none of their games are appealing to me anyway.

Even for MMOs this need can be disproven by counter-example.
Guild Wars 2 lets you play on Steam and log in to arena.net (account management site) with a Steam account.
Though that does restrict what codes can be claimed, so an actual account does have benefits.

On which I lost all interest for the in attempting to create one before the Steam account option existed and learning how non-functional that process was.
Down to not being able to open a support ticket normally, having to dig through the site for another way to initiate one and ask them to fix the account.

Followed with horrendous onboarding ingame, making this another example of them clearly not wanting my money for expansions and other items, so also not receiving it.

I would still consider Horizon Forbidden West if it comes on a decent sale.
But any game which requires (it being optional is fine) a PSN account is a no-go.
This since it adds an unneeded point of failure to the game, outside of Steam's control and with Sony dirextly being able to sabotage it after purchase.

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Quoting: ElectricPrism...
CoreCtrl has been fairly good. It's just too bad that they don't have a systemd service or daemon -- Sometimes our Linux users forget to put in the password after login and then their machines overheat and have to stay powered down for a few minuets to boot.
...

Their GitLab wiki actually has a page on setting up polkit to give CoreCtrl the access it needs.
After this setup it does not need user authentication to work on startup, this is how I have been running it for over a year on my systems with no issues.
This also explains how to enable more advanced controls with a kernel parameter, which I have also done from the start so I can not comment on the difference without it.
See: https://gitlab.com/corectrl/corectrl/-/wikis/Setup

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Quoting: CZiNTrPTI'm using Manjaro on my desktop and I'm happy with it? What's so wrong about it that it's usage stats are shrinking?

While the above is true and while I still actively recommend against switching to Manjaro, it has been almost two years since they made such a mistake, as found on: https://manjarno.pages.dev/
There is also the whole shippong of work in progress debacle around the M1 drivers, Firefox GTK theme and possibly other ones, leading to: https://dont-ship.it/
But if you are on some standard x86_64 systems thus avoiding the former, do not use the AUR and know to blame Manjaro first if shipped software has issues or problems, you do not have to switch.
A well working system is a well working one.
Heck, I stuck with Manjaro back during the aforementioned screwups, only changing as I wanted to change things about on my desktop and after learning how good Plasma 5 had gotten with a similar layout there also wanted to jump ship from GNOME on my laptop, another project that degraded my trust in it.

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Quoting: Jarmerhttps://boilingsteam.com/linux-distro-july-2024/

Manjaro seems to be fading away according to those stats. Over the past two years it's lost a ton, and if that continues, in another two years (or less) it'll be totally gone. I know those stats don't represent every single linux gaming computer out there, but still, it's something to go on. I am a direct contributor to those stats though. I used to use manjaro, but didn't like it and switched from it to opensuse and have been very happy ever since.

BoilingSteam specifically says this about Manjaro:

QuoteThe one thing I’m confident about is the fact that Manjaro is probably going to fall even further. I just don’t see a reason for it to exist, and it has destroyed its own credibility over and over again.

I am surprised that Garuda Linux is showing up on their graph and isn't grouped in with Arch, along with even surpassing OpenSUSE.
This as it's a layer-distro on top of the base Arch repos, though the tweaks made to the standard installation are significant if still reproducable on Arch.
OpenSUSE seems like a more established distro, one I consider my backup for Garuda or Arch as a whole and on paper more to my liking.
Contrary to what me daily-ing Garuda would suggest, this is not an attempt to advertise the distro, it's an expression of surprise to see it appear.
There is some relevancy in this off-topic ramble, as I tried out Garuda as an experiment between switching from working Manjaro installs I did not trust in tbe long term to EndeavourOS as a pre-installed Arch Linux, sticking as I like most of the (deeper) pre-done tweaks.

Continuing this distro-ramble, my recommendation for newcomers and personal choice for a versioned desktop is TuxedoOS.
This next to also recommending Mint, which I greatly aporeciate for their X apps project, having my Linux roots on Ubuntu MATE.
Which I switched to and now avoid from how snapd doubled my laptop's boot time, after which Pop!_OS gave a poor experience due to technical problems with their configurations changed from Ubuntu.
Which circles back to TuxedoOS, which makes the tweaks needed to the (KDE Neon) Ubuntu LTS base for a good experience, along with properly testing a modern Plasma 6 desktop on it.

While in the end "distro doesn't matter" in the sense of it being a different means to distribute the same software, as proven by Manjaro a few years back a surprising amount can be messed up by that.
And having a good supported base configuration which you can expect to work without tinkering is very nice to have.
This is why both of my picks have a supported Plasma 6 desktop, this being my weapon of choice in navigating Linux Land.

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Quoting: Kimyrielle

Quoting: cameronboschIf you want something like Linux Mint but with KDE Plasma I'd go with Tuxedo OS for now, as all of the other distros I'd recommend using KDE Plasma with are rolling releases (for example, EndeavourOS or OpenSUSE Tumbleweed).

While I have used many distros over time, I have no experience with TuxedoOS. On their website they mention their kernel being optimized for their own hardware. Not sure what exact kind of optimizations they did, but is it safe to assume that this won't make the kernel perform less well on non-Tuxedo hardware?

And yea, rolling releases are not my thing, really. I know some people love them, but I don't want to flush new software on my system that might nor might not play well with what's already there. Also, supply chain attacks are a bigger problem for rolling releases, and I can do without that, too.

Mentions like that can simply be ignored, it usually boils down to non-breaking configuration and parameter settings that help pretty much universally or do not get in the way at least.
Much of the information on TuxedoOS's webpages seems old and borderline out of date, which is a shame as this misrepresents a well maintained and sensible distro as an afterthought.
Again, as far as I have tried it, TuxedoOS is extremely solid and my recommendations to newcomers are well-considered.

Conversely, I am all-in on rolling releases.
While on paper OpenSUSE seems like the best choice for me, I have found my long-term home in Garuda Linux of all distro's.
After changing it's default theme, I actually like the deeper kernel and other installation tweaks it makes out of the box, which are beneficial for me but do not seem to affect stability.
Another pararel I can draw between a distro I use and TuxedoOS is how Clear Linux's bluntly put broken and neglected website ruins the impression of what is an incredible server OS.
I have been using both for 2 years at this point myself and encourage other more tinker-happy folk to explore either.

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Quoting: sonic2kkAlthough I still like my Steam Deck and use it a few times a week, after the initial honeymoon period wore off (which admittedly took a good year) my Arch Desktop PC has certainly dethroned it. There's something that is just so much nicer for those long 8hr+ gaming sessions on a Desktop versus my Steam Deck. For short bursts the Steam Deck is nice but when I want to play a game I don't reach for my Steam Deck by default anymore.

Plus being able to tab out of my game and use Discord on one of my other screens is nicer than grabbing my phone to do the same. At this point I am too used to my 4-monitor setup and multitasking that the Steam Deck ends up feeling restrictive after some time.

When it's warm though it is nice to grab my Steam Deck and stream from my PC to a TV in a cooler room. It's easier to put a controller down and grab my phone than to put my Steam Deck down and grab my phone.

But although I do like my Steam Deck, to me it's an accessory more than anything else. Like a phone or a laptop, nothing can replace my everything-PC for my use-cases.

Actually at time of writing, I haven't charged my Steam Deck in over a week...

While I am in a similar position, I have found a fee other usecases for my Deck.
As it's built-in controls are the most comfortable to me, it's my controller for the non-M+KB games I play on my desktop.
As the built in streaming is not fully reliable or flexible, I use the Steam Link Flatpak as a "non-Steam game" in the situations where the built-in streaming does not work.
With the original Steam Controller and a USB-C dongle, I found it to be a great improvised media console too, with full access to the better UI on the full websites compared to Android TV apps.
And finally with a custom Desktop Layout, the device is a great Linux Tablet, for casual webbrowsing and even some chats with the Onscreen Keyboard, with Trigger Clicks enabled.

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Quoting: KimyrielleI used Mint years ago before switching to Ubuntu. Funnily enough the only reason for me doing that was that I had new hardware back then not yet supported by Mint, but Ubuntu did. I am thinking of going back to it, as I am tired of surgically removing an increasing number of snaps with every new release. I really don't like snap.

Not sure I want to use Cinnamon again though, despite its their main selling point. In the meantime, KDE really grew on me, so I guess I need to find it how well Mint supports it...

Then perhaps give TuxedoOS a try, which next to Linux Mint is my recommendation for beginners.
This is simply Ubuntu LTS with Flatpak instead of Snaps and up-to-date KDE Plasma as the Desktop.
Unfortunately the default theming is pretty hideous, but this is easy to revert to Breeze or something different in casr you dislike the new flatter look (as I do).
While my main systems run Garuda Linux, with the theme changed of course, my emerciency bootable USB-stick runs TuxedoOS and it has been extremely solid there.

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I'll crost-post the comment I left on Brodie Robertson's video here, given the relevancy and greater persistence of a forum like this:

QuoteWhile the name "global theme" is a major part of the problem, the way it can also completely overwrite the desktop layout if this checkmark is set makes obvious that a global theme does a lot more than just change some CSS and colours.
Perhaps another checkmark with "allow executing code" can be added to this popup before enabling the theme, blocking the added plasmoids and arbitrary code if not enabled.
Along with a rebrand, like how Minecraft renamed it's Texture Packs to Resource Packs as they added model and sound support, to reflect their actual abilities.

This has made me aware to that I should be careful with them, having stuck to my distro's included global theme and using the separate Style configurations to tweak/rice it to my liking.
Which has let me achieve what I want fully in Plasma 5, though currently changing these settings have been broken for me in Plasma 6, so I've been sticking to my mostly functional but lightly borked old Plasma 5 themes.

Plasmoids executing arbitrary code was obvious to me, especially with how Windows supposedly removed them over concerns over malicious RCE using them.
I am okay with them executing arbitrary code as this is needed for their level of functionality, but do limit my use of extensions to a minimal set of ones I trust, similarly to how I treat my browser.
Of course this is not how everyone treats their software, that said, KDE Plasma is designed expecting users to tweak it more, whereas GNOME's over-reliance on extensions for basic features makes it as if not more concerning.

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The SteamOS integrated Steam Link has consistently been so broken for me that I have moved to using the Flatpak as a non-Steam app for streaming from my Desktop.
This results in both the Desktop and Deck's client's input layout being applied, neither having the option to be turned off and the latter being buried in Steam settings and staying active when in the Deck's settings.

Which is annoying as I use my Steam Deck as my primary controller now, thankfully the above can be worked around by creating an empty layout in one of the two settings.
On the Desktop side hardware acceleration is disabled too, I'm not sure if this is still necessary, but it was needed some time back to avoid system crashes.

But once it works it just works and works well, it's just very silly having to apply such a workaround on an integrated system with a dedicated shortcut and library synchronisation for streaming in the same way.
I'm not using the internet aspect of remote play (yet) and am sticking to X11 for various problems which I've tried solving but didn't quickly find working solutions for.

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