From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Kubuntu or KDE Neon 100%
Ultimately they both use the KDE Plasma desktop environment, which is the only DE I've ever seen that has a proper modern look by default (others IMO look like either the 2000's or an OS 4 Kidz), as well as being pretty featurful for multi monitor productivity
Arch+KDE Plasma is what I personally am gonna switch to this summer
Check out KDE Debian spin too. I booted the live iso to check some stuff and was seriously impressed. Gave me the early ubuntu 10-11 vibe where the OS just stays out of your way.
I've been preferring KDE lately tbh. Very flexible and familiar. Still don't know what that activity thing is for though lol
Fedora with Gnome
I'm using Fedora with GNOME now and enjoying it. If you want a more Windows-like experience, go with Fedora KDE spin.
The last “beautiful” out the box distro I tried was a small one based on arch called XeroLinux that was just a customised KDE Plasma.
I'm an arch kde user, but I gotta say Elementary / pantheon is / was incredibly beautiful. They took a lot of the simplistic design principles from iOS, and made something even prettier.
I love the versatility of KDE and you can make it look amazing but at the end of the day I always end up with a Gnome-based distro for some reason. The simplicity is just so beautiful. Fedora has been my distro of choice for a few years and I don't see that changing any time soon...it just works! With gaming via Steam/Proton I don't see myself ever returning to Windows.
I don't see why distros should be married to a specific GUIs. Any distro can support any number of GUIs. It just seems like a huge waste of effort to make a distro just to support one GUI.
I would encourage people who want to implement their unique vision for a GUI to make their effort easily packagable by any distro and to work with an existing community distro to make their work available widely.
If best GUI means configurable and pretty, I have not yet found an alternative that can compete with good old Xfce. It is the only modern desktop environment for which I can still modify the theme of the window decorations to my liking. It is fast and stays out of the way. Using it both on Ubuntu and MX Linux, both based on Debian.
Imo, I really like linux mint's cinnamon, its so clean and pretty.
I love me some good old MATE desktop. Especially with how Linux Mint customizes it, it's pretty good
i really like gnome, especially with extensions like dash to dock, transparent top bar, etc. really nice, simple, and clean ui imo.
Yup, I tend to recommend fedora to my newbie friends because Gnome is simple to switch to and works really well.
Im honestly a GNOME person. Part of that is due to me needing magnification and a screen reader to use a computer for sure, but its also very keyboard driven and that is how i use computers
I'm not aware of any distro that ships this by default yet, but Hyprland is my favorite visually so far. Excited for it to continue to develop. I'm sticking with Sway for now, Hyperland's grouping isn't nearly as extensive as Sway's tabbing and stacking, hopefully that will come eventually, but Hyprland sure does look amazing.
I have to remind myself to check on Hyprland again too, I'm on the same boat, currently on sway.
My main gripe with i3/sway is how you don't have an easy way to just go to the next window in the workspace... I just want to have a couple of shortcuts for cycling back and forth in the window list (regardless of how that list is ordered). The 4-directional approach i3/sway takes messes up with my keybinding workflow and if you have floating windows it makes it very awkward to try and select them, to the point that I end up using the mouse a lot more than I'd need to.
I fell in love with xubuntu ten years ago. I wouldn't change it for anything.
If you like Xubuntu then you like XFCE, which in my opinion is an excellent DE and WM, light on resources while being highly customisable.
What I run is MX Linux, which is Debian based with a few tweaks, like not relying on SystemD, has both APT and flatpak, and has a few custom tools that honestly makes using linux soooo much easier. The repository manager and gui package mabager is very good.
MX customizes XFCE with simple theming and most importantly puts the panel to the left side, maximizing vertical space. It really gets out of your way.
I've been enjoying Gnome using !pop_os@lemmy.ml. It's not perfect, but good enough. The preinstalled tiling extension also makes using a full DE bearable without spending hours customizing a WM.
I'm looking forward to trying out Cosmic, which I have high hopes for.