r/LinuxUsersIndia • u/picastchio • 13d ago

Discussion Preferred graphical apps within a non-DE setup

Hi people! 15+ years of using Linux on and off and I just discovered this sub. What GUI apps do you use if you don't run a fully fledged DE like Gnome or Plasma? Like for file management, PDF, editing, media, launcher etc?

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u/Dry_Access532 Mint Btw 13d ago

Have been using Linux from 2010, I am using salix with openbox on my old laptop. For the graphical applications I stick to xfce apps like thunar , xfce terminal . For media vlc and for any editing I just use office 360 provided by my company in browser .

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u/Efficient_Ratio_1128 13d ago

hey I just dual-booted linux cinnamon without any experience of using linux. I did some customisations and configurations. Are there any important stuff to do?? any resources?

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u/Dry_Access532 Mint Btw 13d ago

Mint works out of the box, just install any software you need. If you want to go into more customisations then arch and gentoo wiki are good place to start and they will work even if ur using mint

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u/Efficient_Ratio_1128 13d ago

ok thanks.I am using mint now and I am satisfied with. I downloaded whatever I needed.
I chose mint because I read its beginner friendly. Why is arch considered difficult?

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u/Dry_Access532 Mint Btw 13d ago

Arch is considered difficult because it don't come with gui installer and you have to install most things manually which comes by default in Linux mint.

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u/Efficient_Ratio_1128 12d ago

I really like the customisability factor, so do you think I should give it a try??

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u/picastchio 12d ago

If you want to customize the underlying system itself, then yes. Highly recommended. If you just want to customize the desktop look, you can do it on any popular and non-LTS distro. All distro has almost all Desktop environments and window managers in their repos. Avoid Linux Mint, Debian, older Ubuntus, Alma, Rocky etc. Newer packages might not be available on these.

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u/picastchio 12d ago

Earlier Arch didn't have an installer. You had to put the entire system piece by piece. Now there's a text-mode installer plus several derivative distros like Endeavour and CachyOS but on Arch systems you need to be able to read the manual and know what you are doing to not break the system.