I've been using Fedora 43 with KDE on my desktop, but I'm not a big fan of it. I really enjoy Fedora 43 with GNOME on my laptop and I'm considering experimenting with GNOME Tweaks, Budgie, and maybe a few other desktop environments (DEs). I'm curious if there are any significant downsides to having multiple DEs installed, aside from the disk space they take up. Specifically, I'm wondering about potential issues like increased resource usage (RAM, CPU), bugs, visual glitches, or any other problems that might arise. What should I be aware of?
5 Answers
One major downside for me is the clutter that comes with having multiple desktop environments. You'll find yourself with duplicates of core applications like file managers, calculators, and text editors, so your menu will get a bit messy. For example, both GNOME and KDE have their own calculators, so you'll see both in your app list! That's more of a mild annoyance, but something to think about if you're a fan of a streamlined menu.
Generally, installing multiple desktop environments should be fine. Just keep in mind that they might share some configurations, which can lead to weird behaviors when switching between them. A good tip is to create a separate user account for testing these DEs. That way, you can try them out without messing up your main profile. If you go with your original user later on, you might notice some odd changes, but for testing, it helps a lot!
I'm a huge fan of having multiple desktop environments! For instance, my Ubuntu setup has around 12 sessions available, and my Debian system offers 16! However, there are some drawbacks. You'll often see crowded menus with duplicate core applications like terminal apps and music players, which can be confusing. Also, more DEs mean bigger disk space usage, especially when it comes to backups and system updates. Just be ready for a bit of clutter in your app menus, but that's something I've learned to manage and it's not usually a big deal for me!
I totally agree, that menu clutter can be annoying! Sometimes it feels like you have to play a guessing game just to find the app you want.
Yeah, and those duplicates can really slow things down if you accidentally launch a similar app from a different DE!
If you really want to experiment with different DEs, I highly recommend Suse. You can easily install different patterns for various desktop environments, and they all tend to play nice together without major conflicts. Plus, managing them with lightdm makes switching a breeze! It's a great way to explore without getting your system too muddled.
If you’re looking into it, definitely check out some resources on managing different DEs. They can be affected by different kernel updates and your hardware could run into compatibility issues. So, just keep an eye on which DEs interact well with your setup and be cautious with updates! It's also good practice to take regular backups and maybe even try new environments in a virtual machine first.
Absolutely, it can be a pain! I prefer a clean setup, so I try to keep my DEs to a minimum for that reason.