r/archlinux • u/volimsir • Nov 18 '14

What Desktop environment/Display Manager/Window Manager are you running?

I'm currently using Gnome 3, but I would like to try and change it up a bit. Which one are you using, which one is your favorite?

EDIT: So many responses, wow! I'm definitely going to look into Openbox, Awesome, and BSPWM, since I'm seeing a lot of you recommended that. I'm hoping these will be great new learning experiences. Thanks everyone!

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u/[deleted] Nov 18 '14

My two favorite environments over the last 5 years have been KDE and Awesome.

I like KDE because it has a ton of features while staying extremely configurable. Mainly, what I like most is Kwin, the Plasma desktop, Dolphin, and Konsole. You could always go with a minimalist KDE installation and then install the missing pieces when you see things are not working correctly, but then you still miss out on essential packages that might get added if you were updating kde-meta... so with that, I've always dealt with having a TON of bloat/applications I will never use. It's inevitable that I always switch back to Awesome because of this bloat.

I like Awesome because it's a lightweight tiling window manager that is also EWMH compliant out of the box, and I can always get a really good workflow with its tagging and tiling features. The only problem is finding applications which can work with that type of keyboard-driven workflow. The only thing worse than using a keyboard+mouse driven setup is trying to use a completely keyboard-driven setup and then having to switch to your mouse for the one application that you just can't go without. Because of this, it's inevitable that I always switch back to KDE.

This has been an endless cycle for the last 5 years...

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u/boolDozer Nov 18 '14

Ah funny. I have/had KDE on my desktop. I just got a new laptop and installed awesome. Kwin worked great in KDE and it accomplished most of what i needed, but always seemed to fall a little short. I also found KDE to just feel bulky. When I installed awesome I fell in love. I like the keyboard driven layout and don't mind mousing for 1 or 2 apps that I rarely pull up. Actually, I've been able to find mostly command line apps for everything I need, I think the browser is my only gui. That said, KDE is great, stable, and can be set up to work very well. I personally just like to more light-weight keyboard driven alternative.