Comparison of X Window System desktop environments explained

A desktop environment is a collection of software designed to give functionality and a certain look and feel to an operating system.

This article applies to operating systems which are capable of running the X Window System, mostly Unix and Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, Minix, illumos, Solaris, AIX, FreeBSD and Mac OS X.[1] Microsoft Windows is incapable of natively running X applications; however, third-party X servers like Cygwin/X, Exceed, or Xming are available.[2] [3]

Technical elements of a desktop environment

See also: Elements of graphical user interfaces. A desktop environment (DE) can be broken up into several components that function independently and interact with one another to provide the look and feel and functionality of the desktop environment. A fundamental part of a DE is the window manager or WM. A window manager creates a certain way for application windows to present themselves to the user. It manages the various application windows, keeping track of which ones are open and providing features to switch between them. Another important element of a DE is the file manager. This application manages files/ folders and presents them in a way that the user finds convenient. It provides file operations like viewing, copying or moving, changing permissions and deleting. DEs usually provide utilities to set wallpapers and screensavers, display icons on the desktop, and perform some administrative tasks. They may optionally include word processors, CD/DVD writing applications, web browsers and e-mail clients.

There are some exceptions: Window managers like Fluxbox, wmii and Ratpoison operate independently of a desktop environment and were written with this objective in mind. Additional hand-picked applications add functionality such as a panel and volume management which gives them some of the qualities of a full DE. This contrasts the behaviour of WMs like Metacity and KWin which were not written with the objective of operating independently of a DE.

KDE Software Compilation and GNOME are written almost completely on special software libraries Qt and GTK respectively.[4] This usually means that virtually every component of the desktop environment including the file manager explicitly depends on that library for its functioning.

Notably, nothing prevents the user from installing any number of software libraries of their choice. In practice, software written on major libraries can be run under any desktop environment. Running a package designed for one desktop (which essentially means that it's written using the same libraries as the desktop itself is) within a different desktop can be visually displeasing, as well as incurring the RAM penalty of loading libraries that wouldn't otherwise be required.

Some of the differences which can influence the choice of desktop environment are:

Desktop comparison information

Overview

NameInitial releaseLatest releaseProgramming languageGraphical toolkitLicenseNotes
Version Date
Budgie2014-02-07C, ValaGTKGPLThe intention was to use GNOME components to create a more lightweight and traditional desktop that still had most of the features that GNOME provided at the time.
Cinnamon2011-04C, JavaScript, PythonGTKGPLForked from GNOME 3 with the intent to create a traditional desktop built on modern technologies.
Common Desktop Environment (CDE)1993-06-302.5.22023-11-18C, C++MotifLGPL-2.0-or-laterPart of the UNIX 98 Workstation Product Standard.[5] Released in 2012 under a free license.
Deepin Desktop Environment (DDE)2015 C++QtGPLThe desktop environment of Deepin.
Enlightenment (E)1997 CEFLBSD licenseComplete environment including centralized configuration of most settings.
Equinox Desktop Environment (EDE)2003-01-06 C++FLTKGPL, LGPLSeldom used environment, has seen little activity in recent years.
Étoilé2006-02-22 Objective-CGNUstepMIT, BSD licenseHas seen little activity for several years, the last sign of activity having been in 2014.
GNOME1999-03-03 C, C++, Vala, Python, JavaScriptGTKGPL, LGPLGNOME is one of the most popular environments. Major design changes with the 3.0 release sparked the creation of Cinnamon (a fork of GNOME 3), Unity (an alternative Gnome Desktop Session to GNOME Shell) and MATE (a fork of GNOME 2).
KDE Plasma 5 (KDE5, KDE Plasma Workspaces, formerly K Desktop Environment or simply KDE)1998-07-12 C++, QMLQtLGPLKDE has a strong and enthusiastic following. The project is largely community-centric, and encompass many other applications and frameworks, many built specifically for KDE.
LXDE (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment)2006 CGTKGPL, LGPLLXDE, with its low resource footprint, is a favorite among developers of lighter-weight Linux distributions. Development has largely moved to LXQt, but it is still maintained and in 2020 ported to GTK3.
LXQt2014-05-07 C, C++QtGPL, LGPLFormed by a merger of LXDE-Qt and Razor-qt, this is a lightweight Qt-based desktop environment.
MATE2011-08-19 C, C++, PythonGTKLGPL, GPLRevival and continuation of GNOME 2 environment after the release of GNOME 3. In recent releases, it has been ported to GTK 3, demonstrating the progress of the project.
Pantheon20112018-10-16ValaGTKGPLThe desktop environment of elementary OS.
Razor-qt2010-09-05C++QtGPLMerged into LXQt
ROX Desktop2000 (?) C, PythonGTKGPL
Trinity Desktop Environment (TDE)2010-04-29 C++QtGPL (and other)Forked from KDE 3.x
Unity2010-06-09 C, C++, Python, Vala, QMLGTKGPL, LGPLDeveloped by Canonical for Ubuntu as an alternative graphical shell to GNOME Shell. Designed with "convergence" in mind, it was discontinued by Canonical in early 2017 because Unity 8 had some problems, including Mir and X app support. Was picked up by UBPorts and renamed "Lomiri."
Xfce1997-earlyCGTKGPL, LGPL, BSD licenseXfce is often used in lightweight distributions targeting lower-end hardware.

Default programs packaged

This table shows basic information on the programs distributed with some desktop environments for the X Window System.

KDEÉtoilé Enlightenment
X window managerKWinMutterMarcoMuffinXfwm4OpenboxOroboROXAzaleaedewmEnlightenment
X display managerKDM, SDDMGDMLightDMLXDMelmaEntrance
File managerDolphin (Konqueror before SC 4)FilesCajaNemoThunarPCManFMROX FilerEfilerEFM, Entropy
Widget toolkitQtGTKGTK+(legacy) / QtGTKGNUstepFLTK (previously eFLTK)Elementary
Terminal emulatorKonsoleGNOME TerminalMATE TerminalGNOME TerminalTerminalLXTerminalROXTermatermTerminology
Text editorKWrite (Kate before SC 4)geditPlumaXedMousepad, LeafpadLeafpadEditTextEditEyesight, Ecrire
Video playerDragon Player (Kaffeine before SC 4)VideosCelluloidParolelxinemplayer-roxEnna (media center), Eclair
Audio playerJuK, AmarokBanshee, RhythmboxLXMusicMusicBoxMelodieEnjoy
CD burnersK3bBraseroXfburnRoxISO
CD ripperK3b, KAudioCreatorSound JuicerRipperExtrackt
Image viewerGwenviewEye of GNOMEEye of MATEXviewerRistrettoGPicViewPickyEimageEphoto
Office suiteCalligra Suite (KOffice until 2011)[6] [7] GnomeOffice
Web browserKonqueror, FalkonWebMidoriEve
E-mail clientKmailEvolutionGNUMail
Personal information managerKontactContacts
Instant messengerKopete, KDE TelepathyEmpathyShotgun
Archive managerArkArchive ManagerEngrampaArchive ManagerXarchiver, SqueezeXarchiverArchive
PDF viewerOkular (KPDF before SC 4)EvinceAtrilXreaderVindalooEpdf
IDEKDevelopAnjuta, GNOME BuilderGorm, ProjectCenterEDI
X session managerksmservergnome-sessionmate-sessioncinnamon-sessionXfce4-sessionLXSessionROX-Session
Widget enginebuilt-in – Plasma (SuperKaramba before SC 4)gDeskletsElementary
Licenses usedGPL, LGPL, BSD, othersGPL, LGPLGPL, LGPLGPLv2 (or later)GPL, LGPL, BSDGPL, LGPLGPLGPL, BSDGPL, LGPLBSD, LGPL

Note that Razor-qt has become LXQt, a port of LXDE to the Qt framework.

Comparison of ease of use and stability

GNOME's graphical file manager Files (Nautilus) is intended to be very easy to use and has many features.[8] KDE's file manager Dolphin is described as focused on usability.[9] Prior to KDE version 4, the KDE project's standard file manager was Konqueror, which was also designed for ease of use.

Both GNOME and KDE come with many graphical configuration tools, reducing the need to manually edit configuration files for new users. They have extensive bundled software such as graphical menu editors, text editors, audio players, and software for doing administrative work. All applications installed in most distributions are automatically added to the GNOME and KDE menus. No major configuration changes are necessary to begin working. However, by using graphical tools, the extent to which the desktops can be configured is determined by the power provided by those tools.

Compatibility and interoperability issues

Some desktop environments and window managers claim that they support applications made for other desktop environments explicitly. For example, Fluxbox states KDE support in its feature list.[10] Using software made specifically for the desktop environment in use or window manager agnostic software is a way to avoid issues. For software developers, the Portland Project has released a set of common interfaces that allows applications to integrate across many desktop environments.[11]

System resources utilization

A 2011 test by Phoronix with the default installation of Ubuntu 10.04 showed that LXDE 0.5's memory utilization was lower than that of Xfce 4.6, which in turn was lower than that of GNOME 2.29, with KDE 4.4 using the most RAM compared to the aforementioned desktops.[12] [13]

In 2015, it was demonstrated in benchmarks that LXDE performed slightly faster than Xfce overall (in the average of all tests), using the Fedora Linux operating system.[14]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86 Official Website
  2. http://x.cygwin.com/ Cygwin/X website
  3. http://sourceforge.net/projects/xming Xming project homepage on SourceForge
  4. Official websites of GNOME and KDE
  5. Web site: Testing requirements by Product Standard. The Open Group. January 31, 2013. September 29, 2013.
  6. Web site: creator) . Aracele Torres, Camila Ayres, Molly White (original wikimedia-timeline . names . Translated by Your . A 27 year timeline of KDE events . 2023-10-25 . kde.org . en.
  7. Web site: Unmaintained / KOffice · GitLab . 2023-10-25 . GitLab . en.
  8. http://www.gnome.org/projects/nautilus/screenshots.html Official Nautilus screenshots page
  9. Web site: Official Dolphin file manager page on KDE project site . 2020-07-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110324033008/http://dolphin.kde.org/ . 2011-03-24 . dead .
  10. http://fluxbox.org/ Fluxbox official website
  11. http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS7768863113.html Linux leaps toward KDE/GNOME compatibility
  12. Web site: Larabel. Michael. Phoronix: Power & Memory Usage Of GNOME, KDE, LXDE & Xfce. Phoronix. 30 July 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20180903042338/https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=linux_desktop_vitals&num=1. 3 September 2018. dead.
  13. http://www.porteus.org/info/features.html RAM use of LXDE vs Xfce in Porteus again confirms that LXDE is about 1/2 of that of Xfce
  14. https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=fedora-23-desktops&num=2 Phoronix