another post about mint cinnamon vs mate vs xfce

[76561198285398721]

i found heaps of stuff about this but nothing actually told me what i want, theyre all just like, xfce has less features and runs better, cinnamon the opposite with mate in-between

but that doent tell me anything, what features do i actually lose out on depending on what i use? im leaning away from cinnamon because i read it uses more of the gpu

what does cinnamon have that mate doesnt, and what does mate have that xfce doesnt

[Kepos]

During my testing of different DE's (desktop editions) I found several quite promising desktops I do like. To find out and put them on a ranking list was the #1 decision when you change over to Linux from my perspective. You will control your whole OS with your desktop, except some necessary terminal codes, so one should concentrate on that first.

Most of the desktops are aligned toward a special distribution, like Cinnamon is a project of Linux Mint, so it will have the best overall integration level with that distribution and so are the others. You could run nearly every distribution with any kind of desktop, but if the developers don't provide a certain level of integration for your preferred desktop, then you have a hard time.

To come to the point, you make a ranking list of your desktops and try to attach that list to your preferred distributions. What will match is almost a compromise. There is no 'better' or 'worse', as it all depends on your preference lists.

I do actually use Garuda Linux, what is an Arch based distribution, they offer 5-6 different desktops, which they support. My most preferred desktops are not on that list (Deepin or Budgie) so I started to compare my list with the offered ones. Cinnamon is well known for good overall support and so I can use Cinnamon for my main computer with Garuda, but also for second computers with let's say Debian, Mint, Manjaro and don't have to worry about the desktop and how-to's.

That said, back to your real question:

Cinnamon would be my preferred from your list. It's nice, fast and works on nearly every distribution.
Mate is fine, but from my view it has less option for fine-tuning or it is costlier to fix it, plus it isn't offered for all distributions.
Xface is slim and fast and doesn't need too much resources to work. It would be my choice out of the three, if it comes toward older computers or less powerful laptops.

Cinnamon and Mate are both based on Gnome, or are a fork of earlier versions, while a lot of distributions prefer KDE instead. Xface is a choice of need/use from my perspective, but others might disagree.

As for technical differences, you should search the net. There area a few comparisons out there.

[76561198285398721]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von catbox:

cinnamon and mate use gtk
both cinnamon and mate are forks of gnome2

xfce does not use gtk by default but you can still run gtk applications

xfce is widely a more minimalistic lightweight desktop enviornment
but there are lighter, and with much less features out of the box.


in the real heavy long term of it, dont worry which one uses more ram or CPU cycles
just pick the one with the tools and design/style you like

ok but idk what tools i like the most because idk what they are

[kitty]

best desktop is no desktop :)
less issues. but even then some game or even steam app can have issues with openbox. you'll never know which DE is the safest bet because none is prone to bugs and incompatibilities when using 3d party apps like steam.

all DEs are the same, just different looks and different menus.

[Sally2Decks]

I would argue that it doesn't matter which DE you go with, just make an arbitrary decision and roll with it. Experience one for your self and if you like it, stick with it. If you don't, you can always wonder around into another DE. If you're coming from Windows, the KDE or MATE DE should feel more like what you're use to. If you're coming from Mac, the Pantheon DE may suit you best.

I believe that with Linux, you are best overcoming the paralysis of too many options and not caring about if you made the "right" choice as the "right" choice can only be made by you for your use-case. One thing you can do to make your life easier is to pick a popular distro because there will be more people that can offer help. I use Ubuntu because Valve officially supports it and it was my first experience.

[lsdninja]

These distros all typically utilise a live installer allowing you to “try before you buy” (that’s figurative ESL peeps), so you could just download a bunch, put them on a USB stick and see which one you find the most comfortable.

[D. Flame]

Cinnamon is made by the same people who make Mint. It also feels the most natural to people who are used to using Microsoft Windows.

[76561198285398721]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von D. Flame:

Cinnamon is made by the same people who make Mint. It also feels the most natural to people who are used to using Microsoft Windows.

i know, this question is really about the differences between the different offerings of mint, they say some have less or more "features" but they dont say what those features are, so idk what to get

i can see how they look different, but i want to know what i can and cant do with each version, and what makes them functionally different

[D. Flame]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von 76561198285398721:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von D. Flame:

Cinnamon is made by the same people who make Mint. It also feels the most natural to people who are used to using Microsoft Windows.

i know, this question is really about the differences between the different offerings of mint, they say some have less or more "features" but they dont say what those features are, so idk what to get

i can see how they look different, but i want to know what i can and cant do with each version, and what makes them functionally different

Google it:

https://itsfoss.com/linux-mint-cinnamon-mate-xfce/

[76561198285398721]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von D. Flame:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von 76561198285398721:

i know, this question is really about the differences between the different offerings of mint, they say some have less or more "features" but they dont say what those features are, so idk what to get

i can see how they look different, but i want to know what i can and cant do with each version, and what makes them functionally different

Google it:

https://itsfoss.com/linux-mint-cinnamon-mate-xfce/

already been there and it tells me the same stuff