Choosing the Best Desktop to use…

Posted by LinuxOSguy on November 6, 2007 under Linux Tips, Uncategorized | 2 Comments to Read

1. What is a “Desktop”
The desktop is the graphical environment where you do most common tasks or run applications. The desktop usually consists of a workspace with program icons, menus, start bars, etc. The most important part of any desktop is the window manager, this is the application that handles window placements and movements. The window manager is what controls the borders around your windows and allows for functions like Minimize, Maximize, Restore, Close, etc.

2. KDE vs Gnome, which is better?
KDE and Gnome are complete desktop environments that consist of a large number of well integrated software packages. GNOME uses a window manager called metacity, KDE uses kwin. Both these desktops can be used with any other window manager if you do not like the default choice.

Linux allows you to build your own desktop environment. Both KDE and Gnome are big packages with software aimed to look and function the same way, work well together and generally provide a pleasant computing experience. If you dislike a component you can replace it with something else. 
Application that are “made for gnome” or “made for kde” can be used with any desktop. This only means that that the program use a set of library functions found in their underlying gnome-libs or kdelibs. You do not need to use the actual desktops to use the applications, software made for KDE and Gnome can be used with any window manager / desktop as long as you got the proper libraries installed. There is no reason to use only applications made for the desktop you prefer, the “best software” for one task is made for KDE, the best for another task is made for Gnome. 

Both KDE and Gnome can be customized to behave exactly the way you want. What desktop you prefer is your own choice and preference. When in doubt, try to learn both. Or experiment with other desktops. There is no answer to the KDE vs. GNOME comparison, its a matter of preference and hardware.

3. Common Standards
Some common standards are being worked on to further facilitate Freedesktop.org is a software project aimed at developing shared technology standards for the X Window System. They provide common protocols like System Tray Protocol Specification, standard that allows developers to write a program that will work in KDE, GNOME, Fluxbox and other desktops who follow the Freedesktop recommendations. The X Window Software Project is a free software project to work on interoperability and shared technology for desktop environments for the X Window System. The most famous X desktops are GNOME and KDE but any developers working on Linux/UNIX GUI technology are welcome to participate.

4. Hardware requirements
Desktop  Required RAM  Required CPU
fluxbox/idesk   48  100 MHz
XFCE4    128  200 MHz
Gnome 1.x   256  500 MHz
Gnome 2.x   384  800 MHz
KDE 3.x   512  1 GHz

These values are general rules of thumb. KDE will start on old computers but will run slow. Any computer box can be used for the right purpose if you select software according to it’s capacity. For beefier systems, go with Gnome or KDE. Although they are known to be “bloated”, there are some nice desktop features and window enhancements that add to the experience albeit at the cost of some system resources. XFCE4 is a very nice complete fast and lightweight Desktop Environment and is probably the best choice for old, but not ancient hardware. For really old hardware try fluxbox (based on blackbox), waimea or icewm window managers.

5. Testing Desktops
You can test different desktops before you install Linux, such as by using Knoppix LiveCD to boot Linux temporarily from a CD-ROM. Try KDE, Gnome, and others before you decide which is the best fit, and look-n-feel for your needs. So, in choosing the best desktop to use, aim for the best overall fit in terms of hardware and usability.