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Questions tagged [desktop-environments]

This tag should be used for questions relating to desktop environments, and not a specific desktop environment such as Gnome Shell, KDE, XFCE, LXDE, Unity.

For more information relating to a desktop environment please click their names and read their tag wiki. Gnome Shell, KDE, XFCE, LXDE, Unity, Mate, Cinnamon, Pantheon.

1431 questions
419
votes
30 answers

What kinds of desktop environments and shells are available?

This question exists as it fills a specific criterion. While you are encouraged to help maintain its answers, please understand that "big list" questions are not generally allowed on Ask Ubuntu and will likely be closed per the FAQ. More…
Amith KK
  • 13,547
146
votes
6 answers

How can I find which desktop enviroment I am using?

as the title: How can I find which desktop environment I am using? I want to accomplish this using command line.
Yishu Fang
  • 2,615
130
votes
7 answers

What is the difference between a desktop environment and a window manager?

I'm having a really hard time trying to understand what the differences between a desktop environment and a window manager are? EDIT: From this article by Jack Wallen: There are basically three layers that can be included in the Linux desktop: X…
Zolomon
  • 1,829
84
votes
2 answers

What is KDE, GTK, GTK+, QT, and/or GNOME?

I'm new to Ubuntu (and Linux in general). Sometimes when looking at programs in the Ubuntu Software Center, I see things about the programs being 'for the GTK+ environment', or 'for GNOME', or a whole lot of other things. All I know is that I've…
HellHarvest
  • 973
82
votes
8 answers

What's the lightest Ubuntu desktop environment?

My computer has 1GB ram and a very end low graphics card, but I don't know how much power it has. Unity is very slow on my computer, and I saw that there are many desktop environments which are much lighter and faster, even for a slow computer. So,…
user242125
  • 891
79
votes
4 answers

Switching window manager/desktop environments?

In general what is the approach to switch the desktop environment or window manager on Ubuntu? The main difference between stock Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Lubuntu is supposedly the use of Unity vs. KDE vs. LXDE. However, in order to try various desktop…
0xC0000022L
  • 5,870
72
votes
10 answers

An easy way to create a desktop shortcut?

I wonder, isn't still there an easy way to create a desktop shortcut in Ubuntu 14.04 (or Unity)? There is no context menu on desktop doing this. So I tried the following: I looked for an app I want to create a shortcut for in the dash, then I…
Incerteza
  • 1,470
68
votes
3 answers

Difference between Unity and GNOME

I often come across the terms Unity and GNOME while reading about Ubuntu. I understand that Unity is the default desktop environment for Ubuntu. What is GNOME and how is it related to/different from Unity?
TheLoneKing
  • 1,425
52
votes
9 answers

Ubuntu boots on terminal only, how do I recover the GUI desktop?

Where is my Ubuntu desktop? Its booting and going always default to terminal screen, if i press Ctrl+Alt+F7 still in terminal Ctrl+Alt+F1 still in terminal. No GUI, how do I recover it? EDIT: sun@e700gent:/etc/X11$ sudo apt-get install --reinstall…
user25165
46
votes
3 answers

What is the difference between Ubuntu+XFCE and Xubuntu?

There are many derivatives to Ubuntu, of which Xubuntu is one, using XFCE as a desktop environment. One can install Xubuntu directly from an ISO or install XFCE as an alternative session on Ubuntu. I am wondering: Is there more difference between…
neydroydrec
  • 4,780
45
votes
4 answers

How do I install and switch to the Unity 2D desktop?

I read that there is now a 2D version of Unity built on Qt. How do I install it, and once it's installed, how do I switch to it?
Jorge Castro
  • 73,717
40
votes
1 answer

Why is Unity a "slow" desktop environment?

Background First of all, this is not a question about opinions. I am assuming that we are talking about Unity 3D and on a computer with decent graphics configuration. By "desktop environment", I am assuming the most generally accepted definition of…
Bharadwaj Srigiriraju
  • 2,198
38
votes
7 answers

How many Ubuntu users are there worldwide ?

Was just wondering if there is any solid data available as to how many people are using ubuntu. I was also interested in the attrition rate with ubuntu users, etc.
Chani
  • 787
38
votes
1 answer

list all installed desktop Environments in Ubuntu

I am Using Ubuntu 13.04 and I have installed many desktops environments to try them. Now I want to know is there any way I can list all the installed desktop environments from the command line tool.
Raja G
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  • 331
37
votes
5 answers

How to safely try KDE?

There's a way to safely try KDE on top of an Ubuntu installation, keeping the possibility to revert the changes in case I dislike how it runs?
dag729
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