Trying Plasma for a bit to see how green the grass is as a longtime Gnome user. The last time I ran Plasma on my main desktop was version 5.11, I think? It’s been a while…
gnome user getting confused by customization, seems about right lol.
Ironically most of my customization so far has been to make it more like Gnome lmao
Still trying to figure out how to make workspaces/virtual desktops more…usable.
Overall though it’s amazing how solid Plasma is now, it sure as hell isn’t the buggy mess it used to be in the earlier Plasma 5 days.
For me, i made it so pressing Super+<number> switches to that workspace.
Super+Tab to toggle overview (Super+W by default)
And a hot corner, which is set to trigger almost instantly, to toggle overview.
I remapped my side mouse buttons to switching workspaces, and I absolutely love it.
That actually sounds good, but i like to use those in the browser and games
Same here with the Super+<number> to switch (or equivalent function key if you use that binding for something else), and similarly Super+Shift+<same key used to switch to workspace> to send the current window to that respective workspace. For me, without the second one workspaces are waayy less productive.
Same. I have to use windows for work, and the virtual desktops are just mediocre at best to use.
Man, the Windows implementation of virtual desktops is beyond useless to me to the point of exponential loss of productivity. That’s probably my fault for thinking it’s the same use case as workspace switching in Unix–it’s really more like KDE’s Desktop Sessions feature, which is nice, but not really useful for my case.
I just installed a global theme to make it look like macOS 😄 loving it, have now a old unsupported macBookPro (2013) running latest macOS bootleg on latest Linux kernel 😆
Love it!
To be fair customization is a good thing, the problem is it’s too easy to accidentally get into too advanced settings. It feels like the settings most people want 95% of the time are burried in the same place as the niche settings. The gnome tweaks app often gets criticized because it contains basic settings, but I think it could be beneficial for plasma to have the same thing. Only keep the base level user settings the the settings, and put all the customization stuff in a separate tweaks app. The simple by default, powerful when needed moto is true to some extent, but the simple by default part could be much improved and a lot more intuitive
Isn’t there an advanced toggle already in the KDE settings?
confused about
customizationbeing allowed to customize anything…FTFY
Welcome, make yourself at home! Want to put files on your desktop? You can do that here! We’ll still make fun of you for doing it, but you can do it.
I’ve just read this highest rated comment and thought “how is this the best feature of Plasma over Gnome? You can do this everywhere!” And then I realised that I can’t do that on i3 😂
KDE Plasma is honestly impressive in terms of customization, I’m running it on Pop!_OS on an ancient Macbook and I have it customized to look like Window 7.
Good stuff.
NGL, you had me in the first half…
Plasma is so good nowadays compared to some years ago. I remember suffering a lot in those early times too.
What is this place?
Windows minus Microsoft BS.
Windows
Take that back… /s
I have a colleague, who’s super deep down the Linux rabbit hole and he always ran GNOME. I was never quite sure, if he actually prefers it, or if he just does not care, because he’s doing most things in a terminal anyways.
Recently, our IT department made a change, which accidentally switched him over to KDE. He could easily switch back, but he’s been checking KDE out instead, and yeah, it’s been super interesting.
He definitely has some of that GNOME workflow baked into him. For example, under GNOME you can use Alt + the key above Tab to switch between windows of the same application. In KDE, that shortcut exists, but the default keybinding isn’t exactly usable.
Another minor complaint was, for example, that using Meta + arrow-keys doesn’t move windows between screens automatically when you press it repeatedly. That’s a separate shortcut under KDE, with Meta + Shift + arrow-keys.
EDIT: Apparently, I misunderstood him, his complaint was that Meta + Shift + arrow-keys moves the window between screens in a weird way. It just picks some kind of order for the screens and then goes between them as previous/next, even though you press the left/right arrow keys. There even is the more appropriate shortcut key for left/right, but it’s just not the default binding.
Meta + arrow-keys does work for moving windows between screens.
He’s aware that he may need to relearn some of his workflow, but yeah, will have to see, if he sticks to it. His emotions are nigh impossible to read, unfortunately. 🙃
To clarify, those are the default keybindings, but you can change them to match your needs or expectations. I like the alt tilde for windows within a program switching, it works fairly well though I have not set it up on my current machine yet.
Yea, my sister, for example, had changed all keybinds in GNOME to be the same as they are in macOS
. For example, under GNOME you can use Alt + the key above Tab to switch between windows of the same application. In KDE, that shortcut exists, but the default keybinding isn’t exactly usable.
KDE’s shortcut key options are endlessly customizable. I’d be shocked if you couldn’t get this functionality after like 30 seconds of tinkering.
Oh yeah, we did find out right then and there how to set it like in GNOME. But well, you know how it is, if there’s potentially dozens of these tiny differences, then finding the correct customization does become tedious and there is a chance of some things just not being configurable in quite the same way.
I have changed them to pretty much like how windows has it.
Good comment ! I laughed at “the key above Tab”. So useless nobody remembers caps lock. Do we need an international caps lock day ?
Well, caps lock is below the tab key (still useless tho). The key above is the weird backtick or tilde key.
Yeah, I specifically wrote “the key above tab”, because on our German keyboard the ^ is there, but it’s still the same keybinding, so presumably GNOME determines it based on key location rather than the produced symbol.
Thanks for correcting me !
Until you remap it in Plasma. You can actually do things with it then.
I have been a GNOME 2 and then MATE user for over a decade. Now I use KDE since that’s what SteamOS comes with and it’s fine.
Wow, I found the one other MATE user. Cheers.
I will never not up doot an Over the Hedge meme, so underrated in both meme ability and as a movie lmao
I’m tired of fighting GNOME 3 to make it feel like GNOME 2. My next reinstall is going to be KDE. I just want a traditional desktop metaphor. 😩 Next major overhaul Kubuntu here I come!
There is always Cinnamon for you.
Or MATE.
Yeah if you’re looking for a traditional/Windows-like metaphor, you’re WAY better off with Plasma than trying to wrestle Gnome into that shape.
You don’t even need to reinstall. You can have both at the same time and chose one or the other at each login.
Check out Cinnamon for that GNOME 2 feeling.
Gnome 3 is long dead.
It is now gnome 40+
Nah, I think if you’re on e.g. Debian oldstable you could still be on Gnome 3. That’s not “long dead”.
Old stable is going EOL fairly soon.
Maybe not long dead but it is long past its prime.
And it’s still confining unless you add buggy addons that often crash after an update.
Kubuntu has always been a buggy mess for me, might not be the best way to judge Plasma. Unfortunately, I think that’s where people develop their poor opinion of it from.
The couple of times I have decided to switch to Plasma I somehow get pulled back to GNOME. Like, I tried out earlier Plasma 5 on my system76 laptop and then s76 announced Pop!_OS. Then I tried again when I came across Nitrux which was essentially a heavily customized Plasma. Then I got a Librem 5 which uses phosh, based on GNOME.
I really liked it though, and have thought about trying Plasma Mobile.
I installed cosmic the other day. Uninstalled it like 5 minutes later but I enjoyed its vibe. I am excited to see it come out of alpha
Same here, I prefer KDE, but popos has been my daily driver for a while now just for compatibility and ease of use.
Very excited for cosmic as in not a fan of gnome.
KDE + Arch is such a great combo. I’m using it on a 10yo laptop (though admittedly it’s a rather beefy lappy for it’s gen, a 2014 ZBook g2, with 32 GB ram)
KDE can be slow on lower spec devices but it is so great to use and it was trivially easy to alter keyboard shortcuts, default application, startup behavior, etc.
KDE can be slow on lower spec devices
Not any slower than anything else. KDE is surprisingly light for all it does. I am using it on a laptop with an Intel N processor and 4gb ram. I also use it on modern stuff, but it works better than gnome and about equal to xfce on this old hardware.
Yeah I used to do consumer computer recycling and the really old laptops that were not worth a Windows reseller’s license we would just slap Linux on I tested just about every de out there and plasma was shockingly fast on some of these ancient Celeron laptops. Gnome was like molasses, I’ve never understood where people get the idea of the plasma is heavy
Welcome back to the land of the
livingusable UIHow is it??
I last used it a little while back but there were some issues with polish. I’d like to come back and check it out again now that there’s been a major update if I remember right
I love the GNOME user experience and apps (I know many don’t, that’s fine) but don’t so much love the way GNOME as a project often struggles to play nicely with others 😅
I’m amazed by the level of polish overall, I’ve encountered very little jankiness that used to be super common with Plasma when I last tried it. Plasma feels like a really mature desktop now, which is awesome. I’m running Plasma 6.2 at the moment, and I think 6.3 is right around the corner as well.
My problems so far are more subjective. Gnome may be a very opinionated desktop, but I happen to agree with most of its opinions. Gnome’s workspaces feature is miles better than Plasma’s virtual desktops, which feel tacked on in comparison. I’m still trying to tinker with this to make it work for me, but honestly this seems like the thing that will push me back to Gnome if I don’t find a workflow I like.
KDE obviously has more features overall though, HDR support happens to be the one that I’m interested in at the moment since I’ve been toying with the idea of buying a new monitor.
Thats honestly really exciting to hear, I’m curious to give it another try again. No idea if I’ll ever switch from GNOME, but it makes me happy to see the project doing well
As a long time KDE user I have to agree with you.
I hated the turn things took from Gnome3 onwards but I really like the “workspaces per demand” feature of it. It makes much more sense than having a static number of virtual desktops.
Though I concede KDE did not do much about virtual desktops but concentrated on activities instead - but it seems like with Plasma 6 they are backpedalling on that as it would require integration from everyone, most of all non KDE apps to make it make sense.
Do not even get me started on not being able to set a different wallpaper for each virtual desktop.
I recall there was a kwin script somewhere to emulate the dynamic virtual desktops thing, but that would be much better if it was an upstream feature.
Plasma’s Activities are more like workspaces than virtual desktop is.
I haven’t really used them since I don’t have any reason to, but perhaps Plasma’s “activities” would be a better substitute for workspaces?
How is it? Well it feels like an environment where developers actually care about users. I love it.
i hadn’t used kde (on my own systems) in over twenty years. i downloaded a bunch of ISOs over the last month or so, mainly looking to see what installs easiest and runs best on some old systems here. among them were several with plasma 6.
one of those kinda ‘stuck’ in my head and i had to go back through several until i ‘found’ it again. been messing around with it now for a couple weeks trying to figure out what i’d want for a ‘working’ setup. might just end up switching one of my ‘working’ desktops over.
How close to plasma is Cinnamon?
Plasma isn’t as visually polished as Cinnamon. Go ahead and get your clock and CPU temp widgets in the system tray the same font size and positioning.
KDE feels a bit more cluttered because…I’ve said this before, KDE gives you every option under the sun, GNOME software isn’t designed to do anything unless you add extensions to enable features, and Cinnamon is somewhere in the happy middle.
Plasma isn’t as visually polished as Cinnamon.
I’m pretty sure you can get Plasma to look and behave nearly identical to Cinnamon if you wanted.
