Multiple Desktop Environments

[Ringel05]

As I've stated I'm pretty much using Mint Cinnamon now but there are also aspects of KDE Plasma and the Gnome 3 desktop I really like. Now I can play with all of them at will without dual booting or wiping one out for the other, just load each desktop environment from AppGrid (the software manager I prefer). When I want to play around with Gnome 3 I simply log out off Cinnamon and log into Gnome or Plasma, when I'm done I just log back into Cinnamon.

 

[Ringel05]

Here's Ubuntu's Gnome 3 desktop environment. On mine I have made some changes like installing the Dash to Dock extension and placing the dash panel on the bottom, made the panels transparent and installed a drop down "start" (Windows style) menu extension, all easy to do. I also went into Gnome Tweak and activated the minimize and maximize windows buttons which are not present with the default install.



After playing around with the Gnome 3 desktop I'm finding prefer it over any of the other distros I've tried so far.

 

[Ringel05]

A look at Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon.

 

[Ringel05]

And Kubuntu (part of the Ubuntu family) with Plasma 5.5.

 

[Ringel05]

Sticking with the Ubuntu family here's the XFCE Xubuntu, light weight for older or slower computers but can still be used on new systems.

 

[Natural Citizen]

I've always wanted to try Linux. I'm just afraid I'll mess something up trying to install it.

 

[Ringel05]

I've always wanted to try Linux. I'm just afraid I'll mess something up trying to install it.

You won't. Simply download the distro (version) you want to try, burn it as an ISO to a disc or thumb drive, plug it in and reboot, when it boots up (takes a little while) it will ask you if you want to install or just try it out. Select 'try it out' and it doesn't load on your hard drive then you can play with it a bit. Realize though that since it's literally running of the disc/thumb drive it will run slower than being loaded on your hard drive. As for actually installing it it's easy, just follow the prompts and it will be fine.

Key factors involved are what type of computer you have (desktop, laptop, notebook), how old it is (number of processors - CPUs and how much RAM). The standard Ubuntu/Mint/Fedora distributions use a lot of power and RAM (not nearly as much as Windows does).
If you stick with the big three or really big two if you're a newbie then you won't have any problems.

 

[Marion Morrison]

I've always wanted to try Linux. I'm just afraid I'll mess something up trying to install it.

Buy a separate hard drive for it. I like it for online stuff.

 

[Ringel05]

Here's Ubuntu's Gnome 3 desktop environment. On mine I have made some changes like installing the Dash to Dock extension and placing the dash panel on the bottom, made the panels transparent and installed a drop down "start" (Windows style) menu extension, all easy to do. I also went into Gnome Tweak and activated the minimize and maximize windows buttons which are not present with the default install.



After playing around with the Gnome 3 desktop I'm finding prefer it over any of the other distros I've tried so far.

BTW, just wanted to mention that the flagship Fedora distribution looks identical to the Ubuntu Gnome but is based on 'Red Hat' where Ubuntu is based on Debian meaning they are not compatible. You can't run Fedora packages (programs/apps) on Ubuntu and vice versa. Fedora tends to be more techie oriented while Ubuntu/Mint are more beginner oriented, more user friendly.