Resources

Major Desktop Environments

The major desktops can be divided by their “widget toolkit” used to create the GUI elements and default applications. This is probably the last time you will ever hear “widget toolkit”, but you might hear something like GTX theme or Qt application. The details aren’t important, but you will see some family resemblance. All desktops can support both GTX and Qt applications, but software in the native toolkit will have more closely integrated and themed.

Major desktops:

• GTX based
  • GNOME. modern, minimalist-style, unique “Activities Overview” (no start menu), extensions add functionality, and themes easily change the look.
  • Xfce. lighter weight, simple, stable, traditional linux desktop. Offered as the default of many distros, often highly customized.
  • Less common:
    • Cinnamon. more traditional desktop with start menu (get newest version with Mint).
    • Budgie. slick, GNOME-based (get newest version with Solus).
    • Pantheon. polished, GNOME-based (developed by ElementaryOS)
    • MATE. traditional, lighter weight, based on an old version of GNOME.
    • LXDE. very light weight, basic features (development has shifted to LXQt instead, so check out LXQt instead).
    • Historic note: Unity. Until version 17.10, Ubuntu shipped with a unique desktop. However, Ubuntu’s GNOME theme emulates the Unity look.
• Qt based
  • KDE. very configurable, complex, windows-like (get newest version with Neon).
  • LXQt. very light weight, basic features (sibling of LXDE).
  • DDE. Polished desktop of Deepin linux (Chinese focused), recently becoming available in other distros.
• Other
  • Tiling window managers (the traditional desktop metaphor is replaced by automatically dividing the screen with your open application windows, controlled by key commands, for a simple and efficient desktop. There is a bit of a learning curve!) Checkout xmonad or i3. For any easy intro, checkout Regolith Linux which combines i3-wm with Ubuntu.

Most desktops support themes which make it easy to change the look and feel. For example check out the themes page at OMG! Ubuntu!.

For a nerdy visualization of DEs over time see Default Desktop Environments for Linux and Unix.

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Major Distro Families

Below is a basic introduction to the major linux families, with a focus on distros with desktop friendly versions.

For a nerdy visualization of all operating system families, see Operating Systems: Timeline and Family Tree.

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Common Applications

This is a basic list of common default software shipped with distros. It is not intended as in depth suggestions or reviews, but just to give you an idea of the apps you might expect to find.

Web browsers:

• Firefox - default on majority of distros. This is a great browser, with good extensions such as Multi-account containers and Facebook container.
• Chromium - the open source browser that underlies Google Chrome, missing some proprietary Google components (which can be a good thing).
• Google Chrome - can be downloaded and installed including all proprietary features as on Windows.
• You may encounter other more obscure open source browsers (particularly on lightweight distros) such as Midori, Falkon, GNOME Web (Epiphany), or Pale Moon.

Office software:

• LibreOffice (Writer, Calc, Impress) - freely replaces MS suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint). It can open the proprietary MS office file formals, but conversion is not always perfect. Interface features are similar to an older version of MS office.
• Thunderbird Mail - fully featured email client replaces MS Outlook. For an alternative, check Evolution Mail.
• Calendar (GNOME) - independent calendar app can be integrated with online accounts.
• Video chat: Zoom, MS Teams, Skype, and Slack all have native apps for Linux.
• Office 365 online / Google Drive - works fine in browser.
• Ubuntu offers Online accounts feature to integrate some web services into default apps automatically.

Media:

• Your disto’s default media apps will cover all the basics just like on Windows and Mac. There are many options out there, but the most common defaults include:
  • Image Viewer (Eye of GNOME) - basic image viewer supports most image file formats.
  • Document Viewer (Evince) - basic document viewer supports many formats (PDF, PostScript, DjVU, CBR, CBZ, etc)
  • GNOME Videos - basic video viewer supports most open and proprietary formats and streaming video. If your distro provides proprietary codex, it can play encrypted DVDs.
  • Rhythmbox - fully featured audio player.
  • Shotwell - photo management app with basic editing features and ability to connect to online services.
  • Cheese - photos and videos from web cam.
  • Scanner - automatically connects to most scanners via USB or on local network.
  • Printers typically just connect with no issues.
• GIMP - advanced photo editing like Photoshop.
• Inkscape - vector editing.

Utilities:

• Basic helpers: Screenshot, Calculator, To-Do List, Text Editor, Terminal.
• Basic games: Solitaire, GNOME Mines, GNOME Sudoku, GNOME Mahjongg.
• Software - an app store like application for installing new programs.
• Software Updater - automatically keeps system up to date, prompting you to install updates. Updates are much more common, but much quicker and less disruptive than on Windows.
• System Monitor - like Windows task manager.
• File Roller - create/open zip and other compressed file archives.
• Deja Dupe Backup - set up automatic backup on internal or external drives.