What is Desktop Environment in Linux | Linux for Beginners 2021

A desktop environment is the bundle of components that provide you common graphical user interface (GUI) elements such as icons, toolbars, wallpapers, and desktop widgets. Thanks to the desktop environment, you can use Linux graphically using your mouse and keyboard like you do in other operating systems like Windows and macOS. Desktop Environment does exactly this. It is a graphical interface that presents to the User, the bare kernel in a simplified way. Thus, a Desktop Environment presents all the basic functionalities of a Kernel to the user in an elegant and presentable way.

There are several desktop environments and these desktop environments determines what your Linux system looks like and how you interact with it.

Most of the desktop environments have their own set of integrated applications and utilities so that users get a uniform feel while using the OS. So, you get a file explorer, desktop search, menu of applications, wallpaper and screensaver utilities, text editors and more.

Without a desktop environment, your Linux system will just have a terminal like utility and you’ll have to interact it using commands only.

1. Xfce

Xfce is an Open Source desktop environment for Unix-like systems developed in C. Being fast and lightweight, it is less expected to trouble CPU and Memory even on older desktops.

It is composed of separately structured parts that combine to make up for a complete desktop environment.

Some of the components of Xfce include:

• Xfwm : Compositing window manager.
• Thunar : File manager, which resembles Nautilus but is more efficient and hence fast.
• Orage: Default calendar application for Xfce.
• Mousepad: File editor which forked initially from Leafpad, but now being actively developed and maintained from scratch.
• Parole: Media player based on Gstreamer framework made for Xfce.
• Xfburn: CD/DVD burner for Xfce.

 

2. LXDE

LXDE stands for Lightweight X11 desktop environment which is yet another popular desktop environment for Unix-like systems, was developed using C (GTK+) and C++ (Qt).

The biggest advantage of having it as your choice for desktop environment is its low memory consumption which is lower than that of the most popular desktop environments i.e. GNOME, KDE, and Xfce. It includes both GPL and LGPL licensed codes.

Components that makeup LXDE include:

• LXDM – Display Manager.
• LXMusic – Default Music Player for XMMS2.
• Leafpad – Default text editor for LXDE.
• Openbox – Window Manager.
• LXTask – Default Task Manager.
• PC Man File Manager – Default File Manager and Desktop Metaphor provider.

LXDE is the default desktop environment for many distributions including Lubuntu, Knoppix, LXLE Linux, Artix, and Peppermint Linux OS – among others.

 

3. GNOME 3

GNOME is an acronym for GNU Network Object Model and is one desktop environment composed entirely of free and open-source tools. Written in C, C++, Python, Vala, and Javascript, GNOME is part of the GNOME project which is composed of both volunteers and paid contributors largest being Red Hat.

GNOME is currently under active development with the latest stable release being GNOME 40. GNOME runs on X Windows System and also on Wayland since GNOME 3.10.

GNOME 40 replaced a lot of things starting from the default window manager which is now being changed to Metacity instead of Mutter, task switching was attributed to a special area called Overview, GNOME core applications are also redesigned to provide a better user experience.

Components of GNOME include:

• Metacity – Default Window manager.
• Nautilus – Default file Manager.
• gedit – Default text editor.
• Eye of GNOME – Default Image Viewer.
• GNOME Videos – Default Video Player.
• Epiphany – Web Browser.

4. MATE

MATE is another desktop environment for Unix-like systems. It finds its origin from the unmaintained code-base of GNOME 2. It is developed in C, C++, and Python and licensed under multiple licenses with some parts of code under GNU GPL, while other part being under LGPL.

‘MATE‘ name came into the picture to differentiate from GNOME 3 which is yet another desktop environment. It consists of both GNOME originated applications which were earlier part of GNOME 2 and other applications which have been developed from scratch.

Components that makeup MATE desktop environment are:

• Caja – default file manager.
• Pluma – default text editor.
• Marco – window manager.
• Atril – Document viewer.
• Eye of MATE – An image viewer.

Since its release, it has been the default desktop environment for Linux Mint, Sabayon Linux, Fedora, etc. Apart from this, it is available in several repositories including Ubuntu, Arch, Debian, Gentoo, PC Linux OS, etc. Apart from all this, Ubuntu MATE was granted the original Ubuntu flavor status.

5. KDE Plasma 5

KDE Plasma 5 is the fifth generation of KDE desktop environment created for Linux systems. It has been migrated to QML since its development, using OpenGL for hardware acceleration leading to low CPU utilization and better performance even on cheap systems.

Most parts of its code have been released under GNU LGPL. Plasma 5 utilizes X Window System with support for Wayland still to come. It has successfully replaced Plasma 4 on many Linux distributions including Fedora, Kubuntu, and openSUSE Tumbleweed.

Plasma 5 provides improved support for HiDPI, along with migration to Qt5 which takes intensive graphics rendering to GPU making the CPU faster. Apart from this Plasma 5 includes a new default theme called Breeze.

Components that makeup KDE Plasma 5 include:

• Kwin – Default Window manager.
• Dolphin – Default File Manager.
• Kwrite/KATE – Default text editor.
• Greenview – Default Image viewer.
• Dragon Player – Default Video Player.

KDE community also introduced Plasma mobile as a Plasma variant for smartphones. Plasma mobile runs on Wayland and is compatible with Ubuntu touch and eventually Android applications. Its latest interface was released in July 2015, with a working prototype for Nexus 5.

KDE Plasma Desktop

 

• 6. Cinnamon: - Cinnamon strives to provide a traditional user experience. Cinnamon is a fork of GNOME 3.

 

• 7. Enlightenment :- The Enlightenment desktop shell provides an efficient window manager based on the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries along with other essential desktop components like a file manager, desktop icons and widgets. It supports themes, while still being capable of performing on older hardware or embedded devices.

 

• 8. Deepin: - Deepin desktop interface and apps feature an intuitive and elegant design. Moving around, sharing and searching etc. has become simply a joyful experience.

 

9. LXQT:- LXQt is the Qt port and the upcoming version of LXDE, the Lightweight Desktop Environment. It is the product of the merge between the LXDE-Qt and the Razor-qt projects: A lightweight, modular, blazing-fast and user-friendly desktop environment.

10. Pantheon – Elementary OS :- Pantheon is the default desktop environment originally created for the elementary OS distribution. It is written from scratch using Vala and the GTK3 toolkit. With regards to usability and appearance, the desktop has some similarities with GNOME Shell and macOS.

11. Common Desktop Environment :- The Common Desktop Environment is a desktop environment for Unix and OpenVMS, based on the Motif widget toolkit. It was part of the UNIX98 Workstation Product Standard, and was long the "classic" Unix desktop associated with commercial Unix workstations. Despite being a legacy environment, it is still kept alive with support for Linux systems as well.

 

 

 

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